Prospect Info: 2022-23 Ducks Prospects

[Masch78]

For some time now I'm asking myself how much of a Adam Fox or Cale Makar is in Olen. I mean Cale and Olen are quite similar in size, both are exceptional skaters and both very offensively minded. Obviously I do not say Olen is Cale but I certainly get some vibes here.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Last shooting Dman they drafted was Montour ?

Montour and Vatanen.

I don't even remember if Lindholm had a heavy shot.

 

[Kalv]

For some time now I'm asking myself how much of a Adam Fox or Cale Makar is in Olen. I mean Cale and Olen are quite similar in size, both are exceptional skaters and both very offensively minded. Obviously I do not say Olen is Cale but I certainly get some vibes here.

Ollen > Cale

 

[tomd]

Zellweger is a supreme talent but when I watch the NHL playoff games I just wonder how well he will do in that physical environment. Same with Drysdale. One wonders that if PV had been GM in 2020/21 whether he would have drafted either of them.

 

[Masch78]

Ollen > Cale

Obviously

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Sherbrooke loses 5-2. Hinds finished with a goal and was +2 (he may have been on the ice for the empty netter against, but it hasn't updated yet).

Hinds kept his +2 rating in the 5-2 loss. Halifax scored one shortie, two PP goals, and two ES goals with one of them being an empty netter.

 

[Kalv]

Zellweger is a supreme talent but when I watch the NHL playoff games I just wonder how well he will do in that physical environment. Same with Drysdale. One wonders that if PV had been GM in 2020/21 whether he would have drafted either of them.

Same here.

Regarding Zellweger, he's also having a long leash in Kamloops. Yesterday he just hung around the opposing net before one of his goals... lol, he will have a very very different situation in the pros. Both our teams largely suck, so he will be trusted to defend first and foremost – if only for the fact that we will not have the puck as much as he's used to for his team to have. I'm expecting quite a long adjustment time for him in the pros.

 

[tomd]

Same here.

Regarding Zellweger, he's also having a long leash in Kamloops. Yesterday he just hung around the opposing net before one of his goals... lol, he will have a very very different situation in the pros. Both our teams largely suck, so he will be trusted to defend first and foremost – if only for the fact that we will not have the puck as much as he's used to for his team to have. I'm expecting quite a long adjustment time for him in the pros.

I'm very optimistic that he will become a regular in the NHL and perhaps even a star. He will have to play with more structure though as you pointed out. It's just that when I watch playoff hockey I realize how different it is to the regular season. Soft and small players tend to disappear. Girard is a perfect example but I really believe that Zellweger has more grit and compete in his game than Girard does.

Anyway, I realize I am the biggest critic of the Gaucher pick but I understand how valuable a player like that can be in the playoffs. If Gaucher can find a scoring touch in the NHL then I can see a very valuable Lawson Crouse type player. Never let it be said I didn't say something positive about him!

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

Zellweger is a supreme talent but when I watch the NHL playoff games I just wonder how well he will do in that physical environment. Same with Drysdale. One wonders that if PV had been GM in 2020/21 whether he would have drafted either of them.

It could also be argued that PV drafted big bodied players because we already had them in the system.

Maybe if we already had a good amount of size he would have been willing to go smaller.

 

[Kalv]

I'm very optimistic that he will become a regular in the NHL and perhaps even a star. He will have to play with more structure though as you pointed out. It's just that when I watch playoff hockey I realize how different it is to the regular season. Soft and small players tend to disappear. Girard is a perfect example but I really believe that Zellweger has more grit and compete in his game than Girard does.

Anyway, I realize I am the biggest critic of the Gaucher pick but I understand how valuable a player like that can be in the playoffs. If Gaucher can find a scoring touch in the NHL then I can see a very valuable Lawson Crouse type player. Never let it be said I didn't say something positive about him!

Yup, very similar here.
For small D with grit, Montour might be a good comparison. He is slighty taller than Zell but really it's not that much. He was always gritty and even pesky tho. He needed longer to put it together as he started playing later but no doubt he also needed to mature physicaly. Vatanen is a good example as well - he excelled with a defensive guy (Stoner).
But yeah I'm sceptical about keeping both Zell and Dry longterm. Zell will for sure need years to reach Drysdales current level

Gaucher really is turning it up. I still have issues with the plays he make (I think a lot of that will not fly in the pros which makes me think he has a really limited toolbox offensively) but he's been real solid anyway and I'm glad he is making me eat a bit of crow

 

[goonsaredumb]

Soft and small players tend to disappear. Girard is a perfect example but I really believe that Zellweger has more grit and compete in his game than Girard does.

I think Krug could be a good example of the kind of player Zellweger could become, he has that grit and compete, is the exact same height as Zellweger, and turns up his game in the playoffs rather than disappearing

 

[Hockey Duckie]

It could also be argued that PV drafted big bodied players because we already had them in the system.

Maybe if we already had a good amount of size he would have been willing to go smaller.

I thought you were gonna say that the Ducks already had a lot of skilled players who are small in the system and Verbeek wanted to balance out that high end skill with bigger, defensive muckrakers with some skills like 6'3 Gaucher and 6'2 Hvidston. PV went out and signed grit players like 6'1 Wiebe and 6'3 Caulfield.

2021 LW Tschigerl is only 6'0 and 189 lbs. He's almost a ppg player with 57 points in 60 games, but he wasn't offered an ELC, but Wiebe and Caulfield did get an ELC from Verbeek.

 

[Static]

Pastujov has an assist tonight.

 

[Static]

Pastujov has an assist tonight.

And added a goal in a 5-2 loss.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Yup, very similar here.
For small D with grit, Montour might be a good comparison. He is slighty taller than Zell but really it's not that much. He was always gritty and even pesky tho. He needed longer to put it together as he started playing later but no doubt he also needed to mature physicaly. Vatanen is a good example as well - he excelled with a defensive guy (Stoner).
But yeah I'm sceptical about keeping both Zell and Dry longterm. Zell will for sure need years to reach Drysdales current level

Gaucher really is turning it up. I still have issues with the plays he make (I think a lot of that will not fly in the pros which makes me think he has a really limited toolbox offensively) but he's been real solid anyway and I'm glad he is making me eat a bit of crow

Thats part of why i think Zell will pan out more than Drysdale. Drysdale is both super soft and small, Zell is short but he plays much bigger than his size and is chirpier like Montour was.
Drysdale also has a muffin shot while Zell has a german panzer cannon of a shot.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

The way the ex Anaheim dmen have performed for other teams over the last few years should be a lesson in not rushing these guys and not giving up too quickly. I hope we get this figured out otherwise it's a waste to have so many talented young guys in the pipeline

 

[GermanRocket7]

Both our teams largely suck, so he will be trusted to defend first and foremost – if only for the fact that we will not have the puck as much as he's used to for his team to have. I'm expecting quite a long adjustment time for him in the pros.

I beg to differ here. We will have a new coach who will, in all likelihood, be a huge upgrade to our team, as abysmal coaching put us in the position we are at in the first place. Furthermore, we "only" need to have a healthy Henrique and Drysdale for having a much higher possession percentage next year. Henrique's face off abilities have been missed sorely and McT and Z should both become better here by next season as well. Not to mention that Bedard/Fantili/Carlsson would also work out well there. Having a true blue line quarterback in Drysdale also will help big time, as we were severely missing the capability of getting the puck carried out of the zone or even just first passes into the neutral zone whenever it was NOT Fowler doing it.

While most of our guys will need 1-2 seasons of maturing before being contenders, I wouldn't count out our team being right in the hunt for a PO spot next season up until game 70 or so. Zellweger being used on a third pairing with a defensive partner and some PP time could work wonders for us and lessen the transitioning he will have to make.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

And added a goal in a 5-2 loss.

He's had a point on 9 of the 15 goals scored by Sarnia in the series so far.

 

[Leonardo87]

The way the ex Anaheim dmen have performed for other teams over the last few years should be a lesson in not rushing these guys and not giving up too quickly. I hope we get this figured out otherwise it's a waste to have so many talented young guys in the pipeline

With how deep our Prospect pool is, Verbeek has an opportunity to make things right. Add a Top 3 pick to that and things are looking good.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

The way the ex Anaheim dmen have performed for other teams over the last few years should be a lesson in not rushing these guys and not giving up too quickly. I hope we get this figured out otherwise it's a waste to have so many talented young guys in the pipeline

I agree, and what worries me is that given their closeness in age and development I don't see how they're all going to get enough NHL time to make an accurate decision on who stays and who goes. Because at the end of the day I don't see a bluline with JD, Minty, Zell, Hinds, and LaCombe all here for the next 10 years, or even 5.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The way the ex Anaheim dmen have performed for other teams over the last few years should be a lesson in not rushing these guys and not giving up too quickly. I hope we get this figured out otherwise it's a waste to have so many talented young guys in the pipeline

Asst GM Madden noted recently that he told his prospect dmen to not get down on themselves if they produce right away and that it might take them to age 24-25 to become a finished product.

As others have mentioned, Monty needed two more organizations to become more refined. As for Mahura, his game was being exploited in Anaheim, but with Florida, it's masked because Florida has far more talent than the Ducks. GM Murray got a first round pick for Monty, but GM Verbeek gave away Mahura for free. If anything, I'm upset we gave away Mahura for free.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I agree, and what worries me is that given their closeness in age and development I don't see how they're all going to get enough NHL time to make an accurate decision on who stays and who goes. Because at the end of the day I don't see a bluline with JD, Minty, Zell, Hinds, and LaCombe all here for the next 10 years, or even 5.

It's a great problem to have to be superfluous in potential talent with our blue line. What we don't know is if that potential talent will be fully actualized.

Right now, we have two defensemen in our system that are made out of glass in RD Andersson (2018, acquired via trade) and RD Warren (2022). Andersson has been good defensively for the past two seasons in the AHL, but his development gets stunted each time he's down for an extended period for both seasons. Warren was injured in pre-season and got injured again before the playoffs started with his CHL/QMJHL team. Fortunately for Warren, he's got a longer leash than Andersson as he hasn't even started his ELC. Warren can be a long term project and provide depth.

Speaking of stunting development, Drysdale lost a year this past season due to injury.

Also, we lost prospect D Thrun because he didn't want to sign with us. At least we got a 2024 third round pick, but Thrun has been tabbed to play at the World Championships this spring/summer.

LaCombe is a 2019 pick. He's the furthest ahead physically due to being part of the NCAA program for the past four seasons. His focus in college was to improve his defense. He's ahead of the learning curve over the rest of our OFD's.

Defensively, we have two other prospects who have been reported to be playing well in their shutdown capacities in RD Moore and LD/RD Hinds. Moore is going into his junior season in the NCAA and is working on improving his offense. The problem here is that Moore is a Harvard student, playing with Thrun for the past two seasons. Thrun didn't want to become Duck. Hinds has had a wonderful development path for the past three seasons in the CHL/QMJHL. His defense is so good that he could be a dark horse to make the NHL club this year.

Our big offensive guns are Zell, Minty, and Luneau. Zell and Minty need to work on their defensive structures, according to GM Verbeek. Who knows how long that will take, but they will eventually get there b/c their work ethic and drive project it. Luneau is flying under the radar, but he's going to stay in the CHL/QMJHL another season due to his age. This is great because he hasn't found that skating burst yet since his knee surgery two seasons ago. I'd rather have him do that in juniors than against men in the NHL (since he can't be in the AHL this year).

There's also Helleson. I thought he was a DFD, but he's not. He's trying to be a two-way D. If LaCombe, Zell, Minty, and Luneau all hit, then Helleson might be the odd man out.

Many of our prospects are at differing levels of development. Fowler is under contract for three more seasons. We need seven NHL roster spots filled as well as developing depth at the AHL levels. When the Ducks do start making the playoffs, depth will probably be the biggest factor in favor of Anaheim with defensemen. We need quality depth in our system. Also, if we continue finding defensive gems, then we can start using some defensemen as trade capital to help fix other deficiencies on the team.

 

[Goose of Reason]

Was at Hinds' game just now. Sherbrooke got shut out and he finished as a -1, but holy hell was he good. Other than Halifax's goalie I think he was the best player out there. Just an unreal defensive player, pucks stuck to him on board battles and his puck movement was on point. As the game got more out of hand he was jumping up into the rush a lot, his offensive game isn't much to talk about but his awareness is excellent. He reminded me a lot of Lindholm today.

 

[AngelDuck]

Was at Hinds' game just now. Sherbrooke got shut out and he finished as a -1, but holy hell was he good. Other than Halifax's goalie I think he was the best player out there. Just an unreal defensive player, pucks stuck to him on board battles and his puck movement was on point. As the game got more out of hand he was jumping up into the rush a lot, his offensive game isn't much to talk about but his awareness is excellent. He reminded me a lot of Lindholm today.

I’m pretty jazzed about him. He’s that sneaky guy that borderline winds up a core player for you

 

[Kalv]

Was at Hinds' game just now. Sherbrooke got shut out and he finished as a -1, but holy hell was he good. Other than Halifax's goalie I think he was the best player out there. Just an unreal defensive player, pucks stuck to him on board battles and his puck movement was on point. As the game got more out of hand he was jumping up into the rush a lot, his offensive game isn't much to talk about but his awareness is excellent. He reminded me a lot of Lindholm today.

It matches my usua viewing of him as well.