Prospect Info: 2022-23 Ducks Prospects

[Gliff]

Everyone has their own perspective.

Power is coming into his own. Maybe it’s because I see more of skilled forwards on this team over skilled defenseman that can play NOW. Power would arguably be our number 1 for years

You’re comparing Power now to Fantilli now. Compare Fantilli to Power in his draft year.

 

[LePerilsofPerreault]

If I had Owen Power on my roster he’d be almost untouchable, same with Fantilli. Just different positions.

 

[Static]

Luneau finished today's game with an assist. I think his team is the best in the entire CHL right now.

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Zellweger has scored and added an assist. 6 points in just over 4 periods to open the WHL playoffs.

Tschigerl scored with 90 seconds left in Red Deer to send that game into OT

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Zellweger has scored and added an assist. 6 points in just over 4 periods to open the WHL playoffs.

Tschigerl scored with 90 seconds left in Red Deer to send that game into OT

Added the secondary apple on the winner. Calgary ties the series.

Zellweger has added another assist (EDIT: he must have had a point taken away at a time, so he has 6 points and is a +7 through 2 playoff games)

 

[Static]

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Guess I can't conclude the night without mentioning the Weeb, who had the OT winner to tie the series for Prince George.

 

[Static]

Man what a weeb goal

 

[Kalv]

I watched Gauchers game last night. I don't think he got any points but he was on the ice when some goals were scored (at least 1 I recall). He does have some intangibles and he looked a bit faster than usual when I see him but he still loses puck pretty fast. He does some nice passes time after time, but there are a lot of times that pass ends up on opponents stick

 

[tomd]

I watched Gauchers game last night. I don't think he got any points but he was on the ice when some goals were scored (at least 1 I recall). He does have some intangibles and he looked a bit faster than usual when I see him but he still loses puck pretty fast. He does some nice passes time after time, but there are a lot of times that pass ends up on opponents stick

He was on the ice for one goal (for) and won the majority of his faceoffs. No shots on goal. Unfortunately, he is one of those guys who you know will be taken in the 1st round but you just hope it isn't your team that takes him.

 

[Kalv]

He was on the ice for one goal (for) and won the majority of his faceoffs. No shots on goal. Unfortunately, he is one of those guys who you know will be taken in the 1st round but you just hope it isn't your team that takes him.

Especially with Snuggerud and Kulich being taken shortly after.

Gaucher will be an NHL player but he is not good with the puck which makes him likely a 4th liner, a Grant type if all goes well.

 

[tomd]

Especially with Snuggerud and Kulich being taken shortly after.

Gaucher will be an NHL player but he is not good with the puck which makes him likely a 4th liner, a Grant type if all goes well.

Exactly who I compared him to in a post a couple of months ago. Spot on.

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

At 22OA you're pretty lucky to get a roster player, let alone a good player. In the past decade, K'andre Miller is really the only good player taken at 22OA. Yamamoto is decent and Kapanen was good for a while but waived this year.

If Gaucher was our only first round pick, I'd be disappointed. But taking the safer pick with our second pick seems like a pretty worthwhile strategy.

 

[Gliff]

Snuggerud is why the pick hurts so much. Obviously we all would rather have the guy taken directly after.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

At 22OA you're pretty lucky to get a roster player, let alone a good player. In the past decade, K'andre Miller is really the only good player taken at 22OA. Yamamoto is decent and Kapanen was good for a while but waived this year.

If Gaucher was our only first round pick, I'd be disappointed. But taking the safer pick with our second pick seems like a pretty worthwhile strategy.

We don't know yet if it was a worthwhile strategy. I know Gaucher was compared to Lundy a lot, but Lundy had mid-teen projections and fell to us at 23 b/c many teams believed he lacked offensive upside. Also Lundy's skating is far better than Gaucher's. Gaucher was projected in the 20s range.

Drafting Gaucher is a different strategy from previous late round picks, which was to try to swing for potential top-6 scorers.

2019: 29th overall, LW Tracey (late bloomer)
2020: 27th overall, RW Perreault (falling talent)

Buffalo was trying to trade up back up into the teens to grab Kulich from 28th overall. And Kulich just dropped into their laps at 28th.

I get that sometimes top-6 scorer will often be worthless if they don't pan out because they can't live in a bottom-6 role. The problem is most top-6 scorers are found in the first round, but bottom-6 scorers can be found from the 2nd round and later. Teams usually keep their top-6 scorers b/c they're difficult to find and expensive to acquire via trade... unless you're selling off at the TDL to rebuild.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Snuggerud is why the pick hurts so much. Obviously we all would rather have the guy taken directly after.

Between Snuggerud and Kulich, I thought Snuggerud would have been a good compromise in size factor with scoring potential. Kulich would be on the smaller side for the M.O. for Verbeek's 2022 draft.

Verbeek's first two forward picks were safe picks in C Gaucher and overager C King. King's problem is he can't skate fast, but he's big and can score goals against juniors. We finally took a swing at potential in the fifth round and college bound Callow.

 

[Static]

Pastujov has an assist today

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

We don't know yet if it was a worthwhile strategy. I know Gaucher was compared to Lundy a lot, but Lundy had mid-teen projections and fell to us at 23 b/c many teams believed he lacked offensive upside. Also Lundy's skating is far better than Gaucher's. Gaucher was projected in the 20s range.

Drafting Gaucher is a different strategy from previous late round picks, which was to try to swing for potential top-6 scorers.

2019: 29th overall, LW Tracey (late bloomer)
2020: 27th overall, RW Perreault (falling talent)

Buffalo was trying to trade up back up into the teens to grab Kulich from 28th overall. And Kulich just dropped into their laps at 28th.

I get that sometimes top-6 scorer will often be worthless if they don't pan out because they can't live in a bottom-6 role. The problem is most top-6 scorers are found in the first round, but bottom-6 scorers can be found from the 2nd round and later. Teams usually keep their top-6 scorers b/c they're difficult to find and expensive to acquire via trade... unless you're selling off at the TDL to rebuild.

Like I've said, if he was the only pick we made in the first round, I would have been disappointed. But he wasn't, and we didn't pick another forward until the 4th round at 107OA, so I have no problem with them going the "safe" route, even if he doesn't pan out - because most players at 22OA don't, whether it's as a top-6 or 4th line grinder.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Outside of the NHL, all of our forward prospects have serious red flags or flaws they'd need to overcome to be productive NHLers. Who's our best forward prospect? Gaucher? Pastujov? Groulx/Perreault/Tracey/Regenda? Hvidston or Callow? Weebee? King? Colangelo? Easy to look at any one of those guys and say ehhhh.

 

[ohcomeonref]

Outside of the NHL, all of our forward prospects have serious red flags or flaws they'd need to overcome to be productive NHLers. Who's our best forward prospect? Gaucher? Pastujov? Groulx/Perreault/Tracey/Regenda? Hvidston or Callow? Weebee? King? Colangelo? Easy to look at any one of those guys and say ehhhh.

Nesterenko? Guy looks pretty decent in the NHL actually. Color me pleasantly surprised

 

[Kalv]

Nesterenko? Guy looks pretty decent in the NHL actually. Color me pleasantly surprised

Would be funny to get a better return from Klingberg than Lindholm

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Like I've said, if he was the only pick we made in the first round, I would have been disappointed. But he wasn't, and we didn't pick another forward until the 4th round at 107OA, so I have no problem with them going the "safe" route, even if he doesn't pan out - because most players at 22OA don't, whether it's as a top-6 or 4th line grinder.

We had two 2nd round picks, ICYMI, but used them both on blueliners Warren and Luneau.

On a tangent, Verbeek picked up 6'5 RW Leason on waivers in Oct. He's a safe project. In Dec, 5'10 scoring RW Eeli Tolvanen was waived and we didn't budge. Tolvanen had shown more at the NHL level than Leason.

If you're gambling already, then maybe gamble on upside. Anaheim's great at that with defensemen and goalies. Should one stop gambling on upside with forwards?

 

[Static]

Mintyukov finished with an assist. Pastujov has two primary assists now, including on the game tying goal with a minute + left. Currently in OT.

 

[LePerilsofPerreault]

Outside of the NHL, all of our forward prospects have serious red flags or flaws they'd need to overcome to be productive NHLers. Who's our best forward prospect? Gaucher? Pastujov? Groulx/Perreault/Tracey/Regenda? Hvidston or Callow? Weebee? King? Colangelo? Easy to look at any one of those guys and say ehhhh.

Must be hoarding offensive defensemen to trade the excess for a winger after another team develops them for us. Genius.

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

We had two 2nd round picks, ICYMI, but used them both on blueliners Warren and Luneau.

On a tangent, Verbeek picked up 6'5 RW Leason on waivers in Oct. He's a safe project. In Dec, 5'10 scoring RW Eeli Tolvanen was waived and we didn't budge. Tolvanen had shown more at the NHL level than Leason.

If you're gambling already, then maybe gamble on upside. Anaheim's great at that with defensemen and goalies. Should one stop gambling on upside with forwards?

Right, and my guess is that they were targeting defensemen in the second round with both of their picks, and that’s why they went with a safe forward pick. If they had picked a high risk forward that didn’t pan out, we would have walked away from that draft without a single forward from the first 3 rounds - a huge failure for a rebuilding organization.

I think passing on Tolvanen was a big mistake. My guess is that PV knew he would hurt the tank, but I have no idea if that is the case.