Prospect Info: 2022-23 Ducks Prospects

[The Midnight Burrito]

Those are just from tonight?! Wow, nice

Yeah BC is in the ECAC tournament which popped up after the season ended. Selfishly I hope they lose so we can see this kid in SD and have SOMETHING, ANYTHING interesting happen there.

 

[Static]

Hvidston has added a second assist on the night.

 

[All Mighty]

Zellweger scores his 25th of the season.

 

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Zellweger scores his 25th of the season.

Last whl defenseman to score 30 was in 2006-07. Raymond macias...

 

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Zellweger has added an assist in the first period.

 

[Anarchynate]

This kid definitely has talent. (Also shoutout to Derek Lee for watching and clipping highlights)

He plays like Zegras. Maybe not as high an IQ but his speed more than makes up for that. Anyone have a link to the whole game?

 

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Zellweger has added a second assist and is 1+2 tonight.

 

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They've removed one of olen's assists, so he is back to 1+1.

 

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They've removed one of olen's assists, so he is back to 1+1.

Primary assist on goal six, so back to 1+2

 

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Primary assist on goal six, so back to 1+2

Named first star of the game

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Edit: Wrong thread. Zellweger is very good at the hockey

 

[forever1922]

I said it earlier in the TDL thread, getting Nesterenko improved Duckd forward prospect pool signifigantly. That's just because of how bad it was.

Pastujov
Gaucher
Nesterenko

Now the top3 forward prospects outside of the NHL? And these seem like the only guys with varying chances of becoming middle 6 players. Thats honestly the Ducks biggest need outside of top scoring talent.

 

[Anarchynate]

I said it earlier in the TDL thread, getting Nesterenko improved Duckd forward prospect pool signifigantly. That's just because of how bad it was.

Pastujov
Gaucher
Nesterenko

Now the top3 forward prospects outside of the NHL? And these seem like the only guys with varying chances of becoming middle 6 players. Thats honestly the Ducks biggest need outside of top scoring talent.

I’d add Hvidtson to that list

 

[forever1922]

I’d add Hvidtson to that list

Sure, he looks to have more of a shot than Perreault and Tracey at least.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I said it earlier in the TDL thread, getting Nesterenko improved Duckd forward prospect pool signifigantly. That's just because of how bad it was.

Pastujov
Gaucher
Nesterenko

Now the top3 forward prospects outside of the NHL? And these seem like the only guys with varying chances of becoming middle 6 players. Thats honestly the Ducks biggest need outside of top scoring talent.

Odd. I went to look at Minny's top prospect list from Wheeler's farm pool rankings and Nesterenko isn't listed in the top-15 prospects. I know he's producing recently, but another college senior who started producing in their senior season was Blake McLaughlin.

I don't mind picking him up and hope he shows he can make the transition from college to pro ranks.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Sure, he looks to have more of a shot than Perreault and Tracey at least.

Too early to tell if Perreault and Tracey are busts. They both had a down year this year, but so did most of the Gulls players. Tracey is the same age as Nesterenko. Perreault is a year younger than Nesterenko.

 

[Kalv]

Last whl defenseman to score 30 was in 2006-07. Raymond macias...

I noticed with Sam Steel and Emerson Etem, that for some reason, those high scorers in the WHL usually doesn't pan out in the NHL for some reason (unless they're out of their mind pre-draft like Bedard).

So I'm actually afraid Zell might not work out, but idk why exactly
I guess what Verbeek has already said that the way he plays will not exactly work in the pro game. He will need to reinvent himself and we better not rush him.

 

[Gliff]

You guys are way too down of Tracey and Perreault. The Gulls are really bad and 12 months ago Perreault was generally a top4-5 prospect for the Ducks.

 

[Mr Rogers]

I noticed with Sam Steel and Emerson Etem, that for some reason, those high scorers in the WHL usually doesn't pan out in the NHL for some reason (unless they're out of their mind pre-draft like Bedard).

So I'm actually afraid Zell might not work out, but idk why exactly
I guess what Verbeek has already said that the way he plays will not exactly work in the pro game. He will need to reinvent himself and we better not rush him.

Etem was concerning because he did it all with speed, the quintessential one-trick pony. When that skill was neutralized at higher levels, he had no ability to create offense in other ways.

Steel is interesting but I believe Zell is a much better skater and just generally has more flair (skill) than Sam.

That’s not to say that he won’t have to make adjustments but I’m very high on him mostly because of how he thinks the game, which is usually a great indicator for production translation to higher levels.

 

[AngelDuck]

Zellweger has way better quick twitch athleticism than Steel had.

I would be very surprised if Zellweger didn’t become a solid 2nd pairing OFD

You guys are way too down of Tracey and Perreault. The Gulls are really bad and 12 months ago Perreault was generally a top4-5 prospect for the Ducks.

I agree, although it’s tough for me to get excited about Tracey. I just don’t see the skating to dream about him being more than a fringe player. And he’s not big enough or skilled enough to be a Perry type

I still see talent with Perreault but he needs proper development that he’s probably not getting yet

 

[forever1922]

Too early to tell if Perreault and Tracey are busts. They both had a down year this year, but so did most of the Gulls players. Tracey is the same age as Nesterenko. Perreault is a year younger than Nesterenko.

Depends what you consider bust, but I would not expect middle 6 NHL play from either as of now. Nesterenko on the other hand along with Pasta are trending up.

That is why I ranked them as I did.

The AhL duo has potential but Ducks disappointing effort regarding Gulls has done them no favors, IMO. Next season should see some change but I do not expect these lower-in-comparison grade prospects to reap all that much from say, Niedermayer's input.

 

[Kalv]

Etem was concerning because he did it all with speed, the quintessential one-trick pony. When that skill was neutralized at higher levels, he had no ability to create offense in other ways.

Steel is interesting but I believe Zell is a much better skater and just generally has more flair (skill) than Sam.

That’s not to say that he won’t have to make adjustments but I’m very high on him mostly because of how he thinks the game, which is usually a great indicator for production translation to higher levels.

He is also very undersized for his position which will require him to be outstanding in other areas to be successful.

For Etem and for Steel we had a reason to believe they will be the exception. Doesn't mean Zell automatically will be the same, but I'm a bit cautious.

 

[DuckDuckGetz]

You guys are way too down of Tracey and Perreault. The Gulls are really bad and 12 months ago Perreault was generally a top4-5 prospect for the Ducks.

I've said it before and I'm sure I will say it again. Both the Ducks and Gulls are way too bad defensively to make any kind of significant assessment on any of our forwards.

I said it earlier in the TDL thread, getting Nesterenko improved Duckd forward prospect pool signifigantly. That's just because of how bad it was.

Pastujov
Gaucher
Nesterenko

Now the top3 forward prospects outside of the NHL? And these seem like the only guys with varying chances of becoming middle 6 players. Thats honestly the Ducks biggest need outside of top scoring talent.

Nikita Nesterenko also leaps to near the top of our "cool name" prospects.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Depends what you consider bust, but I would not expect middle 6 NHL play from either as of now. Nesterenko on the other hand along with Pasta are trending up.

That is why I ranked them as I did.

The AhL duo has potential but Ducks disappointing effort regarding Gulls has done them no favors, IMO. Next season should see some change but I do not expect these lower-in-comparison grade prospects to reap all that much from say, Niedermayer's input.

It's difficult to compare players when they're all playing in different leagues as well as the factor of team makeup. Case in point, Zellweger's current season.

Zellweger

2021-22, Everett: 55 games, 78 points, +45 rating​

​

2022-23, Everett: 23 games, 28 points, -5 rating​

2022-23, Kamloops: 23 games, 41 points, and +32 rating​

Using your logic, if Zellweger would have stayed with Everett, then he becomes a meh prospect. But a trade happens to put him on a better roster and his production has rocketed with the Blazers.

Let's wait and see how players adapt to the AHL. That's a big threshold to overcome. RD Helleson still hasn't adapted well and Helleson was praised often by Verbeek. He was ranked above Thrun and LaCombe last year when he was added to the Ducks roster. Today, he's not even ranked in the top-15 done by Wheeler. Let's leave the light on for the kids to continue to develop. Terry took 7 years from his draft year to establish himself as a full-time NHLer.

 

[Mr Rogers]

He is also very undersized for his position which will require him to be outstanding in other areas to be successful.

For Etem and for Steel we had a reason to believe they will be the exception. Doesn't mean Zell automatically will be the same, but I'm a bit cautious.

There've been a handful of dmen on the smaller side who weren't ultra talented necessarily but still had success in the NHL. Vatanen and Toby Enstrom are a couple that come to mind. i still think he can be a lot better than both, but they were still nice players.

I personally wasn't a fan of the Etem pick, seems like a great guy and cool how he's part of youth hockey, but I think our scouts should've been able to conclude that how he was putting up points just was never going to translate. like I said, Steel is an interesting one and could be an example of a knock against trusting WHL production, but i still see Zell as being more talented.