You may be right. But I do not think Salanne is
a good example. Salanne had bad tendonitis in
his knees. He gained from the lock-out. And then
was again a good player for Anaheim.
Prospect Info: Filip Mesar
- Thread starter Adam Michaels
- Start date
a good example. Salanne had bad tendonitis in
his knees. He gained from the lock-out. And then
was again a good player for Anaheim.
Kudo Shinichi
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I never thought he was a dud. I am sure there were posters who thought he was thanks to Douche Arm. For those with limited intelligence the point is that Mesar played for an incompetent coach as well. There is no way to really know his potential until he plays for a decent coach
as to that, I'm also concerned that Houle might
be the wrong coach for Mesar. And I wonder if he
is phisicly ready for AHL. OHL, regardless of coach,
would give an extra year to mature and build some
muscles.
dackelljuneaubulis02
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Yeah not thrilled about this. He did start out like gangbusters. Kid does have legit upside no matter how you slice it.
Getting buried in Laval doesn’t sound like a great strategy. Not withstanding he just might not be ready.
A lot of us (including myself to an extent) have all but written him off. Would be nice if he could turn it around this year and become relevant again.
Don’t have the greatest gut feeling about him but again there’s plenty of potential.
Adam Michaels
Registered User
What makes you think Houle is the wrong coach for Mesar?
He might not be the best coach, but so far, prospects have developed well under him. RHP and Ylonen were in the Top-6, getting PP and PK in Laval, and when called up to Montreal, fit in with the Habs.
Simoneau was doing great until he got hurt (was on a 50+ point pace at the time of his injury). And when he came back, it took him a while to get his groove again.
Barron & Trudeau were examples among the D who got better as the year went on. Barron got called up and also did well. Barron was even nominated to go to the AHL All-Star Game, but it's when he got called up to Montreal and he never looked back. Trudeau went from scratch some nights to 3rd pairing and then worked his way up to the top pair and PP1 duties. Beaudin also was getting better.
When Struble came in, he was giving him more responsibilities as the kid started to get more acclimated.
And more than just the prospects, guys like Belzile and Anthony Richard would also get called up and not look out of place.
The only prospect I think Houle hasn't done right by is Mysak, because even before the season started, he had pretty much said he was a depth forward and kind of placed a ceiling on him.
But aside from him, I feel JF Houle is doing a better job than most people realize.
MasterD
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Why assume he's getting burried? I don't see that many guys that HAVE to be above him in a lineup, based on skills.
Will he make it? Don't know. Is he ready physically? We'll see. But he has the talent to play in the top 6 easily, if not 1st liner.
JT3
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I still think he should be back in the OHL. He wasn't close to being above that level. I'm concerned he's not ready yet for the AHL, and that's not even considering the depth we have there going into this season. It will be a big step for him to make when he wasn't able to find any consistency multiple levels below.
DAChampion
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It's also the case that the Laval Rockets roster is necessarily twice as impacted by injuries as the Habs roster.
That's because players in Laval can move up a roster spot when either the Habs or the Rocket have an injury.
So there's no excuse for a Mesar-level talent to not get ice time there.
Then again that's what happened to Mysak.
dackelljuneaubulis02
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He’s gotta leap frog a lot guys
Legare, Roy, Farrell, Simonneau, Ylonen/Slaf possibly. Heineman as well.
He didn’t exactly light fire to the OHL. Now he has to fight through a lot of depth and he’s still junior eligible. Don’t really think bottom 6 in Laval is where he should be playing.
It would be a lot different had he dominated in junior. I’d love to be wrong but it almost seems like we’re setting the kid up for failure
MasterD
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Agreed with your post, but disagree on Mysak. As far as I'm concerned, he's far from Mesar's skill level.
I don't know Legare, but from what I've seen in highlights, he's not in the same conversation. Ylonen either, though they don't project in the same roles at all in the NHL. Simoneau either.
Roy and Heineman are Mesar's competition for ice time on the wings. We'll see about Farrell, I'm not sold myself.
And like DAChampion said above, as soon as injuries hit, either in Mtl or Laval, everyone in Laval gets bumped up. Ice time is there for him to take.
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- Jul 21, 2022
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How can you be concerned that he's not ready yet? Lets give him a chance at Camp. He was the best rookie last year at the main camp (offensively).
It sounds like you're baiting, no rational person can make an assessment of his readiness at this point. Yes he looked like shit at the rookie camp but thats probably because he was in between physical training which Slaf was and thats why he dint come this year.
Lets just wait a bit, he's 19 not 28.
Adam Michaels
Registered User
I disagree. I think he should be in the AHL.
For me, a player doesn't need to "dominate" at a lower level to be capable to move up. And in Mesar's case, he played two years against men in the Slovak league before being drafted. And he suddenly went back to playing with 17-20 year olds on top of the adjustment to NA ice, type of hockey and schedule.
I won't be up in arms if they send him back to Junior. But I still don't think he needed to dominate last year to feel he can be in the AHL this year.
- Jul 21, 2022
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And in the areas he was good he literally was dominant:
Puck Control
Deking Skills
Passing
Speed with puck
Offensive Zone entry
High scoring Chance Generated <--- I wont be surprised if he was head and shoulders the best in the league per minutes played in this area.
For the guy you quoted. It doesn't matter if this dint translate in goals and points in the AHL because alot of it was due to his teammates not being fast enough or just dint had the poise to score and the terrible coach Denis who tried to change his game but then got fired and mcKenzie not being a coach at all.
For sure he's lacking in some areas like defensive awareness and his motor without the puck was pretty bad but i think that has more to do with coaching than anything. Coach Denis sat down with him in the begening right after the first few games where he was producing every game and the result was catastrophic. Then Denis got fired, Mckenzie took over but McKenzie is not a coach so he probably choose to use the elements of his team that were the most ready at the time and left Mesar to rot.
Some players were just OK in the AHL, for example, but blossomed once in the NHL with better skilled teammates.
JT3
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Because that was my assessment of his play from the games I saw of him in Kitchener? I'm not saying there's no chance he doesn't belong, and of course he will have to 'make' the team, but by all accounts it sounds as though the decision has been made to have him in the A this season unless he really shits the bed. Not sure why you needed to get aggressive or offended, was just giving my opinion. I still like him as a prospect, just based on what I've seen I'm not convinced he's ready to make the jump yet. He's an undersized prospect that had trouble with consistency. It's a big jump for a guy like him, especially when he's not suited to a bottom 6 role.
JT3
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I'm not saying there's a specific threshold he needs to meet to be 'ready' or anything like that. Like I said in the post above, for all I know he may show up to camp and be a different player. But from what I saw of him last season and the information I have now he was just far to inconsistent to make the jump yet. He was invisible offensively far too often, and that doesn't even consider his play off the puck which will likely never be good.
I think theres a lot of things he can still work on in junior and that level of hockey is FAR from being below him right now. Honestly him having played against men in Slovakia doesn't really factor into it much for me. It's a bigger ice sheet and the quality between that league and the AHL is really not comparable. I know it's a different situation with eligibility but if guys like Suzuki and Roy can go back and learn things and get better in junior then so can he. And he wasn't close to being on the level of those guys.
By all means I hope he shows up to camp and blows our socks off. I'm not writing him off by any means. But from what we've heard through the grapevine this summer it sounds like the front office don't intend to send him back to junior (maybe those are just rumours), and I don't know if he's at that point yet.
Estimated_Prophet
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JT3
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People will take my posts as disliking Mesar but that's not the case. He has excellent vision and his skating is fantastic to watch. I think someone pointed out a few months ago that he had an insanely high amount of chances generated or slot pass assists or something like that which I commented on as a big positive despite the overall somewhat negative season. But you'd have a real hard time convincing me he is a top 12 forward on Laval coming into this season. Hell, Riley Kidney had twice the season Mesar had (a year older, I know), and people are projecting him as a 4th liner/scratch or even ECHL bound. It just doesn't make sense to thrust Mesar into the AHL yet imo unless he really made/makes HUGE strides this summer.
Estimated_Prophet
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Sorry, hope you didn't think I was referring to your post as pessimistic. I think you are being fair and your overall opinion on the matter is measured and is a far cry from the hot takes that seem to plague these boards.
Your concerns are valid and you aren't painting yourself into a corner as you are also leaving room for significant improvement.
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Tim Wallach
Registered User
As a season ticket holder in Kitchener, I am seeing a lot of valid points in this thread but have to say @JT3 is bang on in my opinion. Everything he has said jives with my eye test.
Skip Bayless
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It feels like he undid all of the promise he showed during last season's pre-season with the year he had in Kitchener. He needs to show us once again why he's a first round pick.
I don't like how, according to him, it's NHL/AHL or Slovakia at all costs while not even being PPG in junior. Doesn't seem like a guy who is ready to take accountability for his mediocre season. Put your money where your mouth is kid.
I don't like how, according to him, it's NHL/AHL or Slovakia at all costs while not even being PPG in junior. Doesn't seem like a guy who is ready to take accountability for his mediocre season. Put your money where your mouth is kid.
BJCOLLINS
Registered User
Mesar needs to play where his development is nurtured & challenged.
I’m not certain we have a strong developmental IQ in our coaching ranks other than MSL. As far as I can see the Habs have ONE natural RW in Gallagher. Mesar looks/plays like a natural at RW. Our lineup has lots of converted C’s or left shot wingers playing on the right side. Mesar was a threat every time he hit the ice at last years WJC, I was impressed with his pace of play, IQ & compete. IMHO, given the influx of young draft picks coming up through our system…development is by far the most important aspect of coaching moving forward. Look at our organization, In the AHL/ECHL and even our NHL assistants they are all part of the Habs alumni or just local boys who were fringe players? I’d like to see the Habs concentrate on investing in a professional team of coaches focusing on player development. Cheers.
BTW I like these coaches as people & The Cube was one of my favs
I’m not certain we have a strong developmental IQ in our coaching ranks other than MSL. As far as I can see the Habs have ONE natural RW in Gallagher. Mesar looks/plays like a natural at RW. Our lineup has lots of converted C’s or left shot wingers playing on the right side. Mesar was a threat every time he hit the ice at last years WJC, I was impressed with his pace of play, IQ & compete. IMHO, given the influx of young draft picks coming up through our system…development is by far the most important aspect of coaching moving forward. Look at our organization, In the AHL/ECHL and even our NHL assistants they are all part of the Habs alumni or just local boys who were fringe players? I’d like to see the Habs concentrate on investing in a professional team of coaches focusing on player development. Cheers.
BTW I like these coaches as people & The Cube was one of my favs
JT3
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No worries, I wasn't referring to you. Juat pointing out how some people jump to conclusions based on any kind of criticism of a player. For example, I think it's you that has often pointed out that Hutson needs to work on his back skating and end up having people jump down your throat despite still really liking Hutson.
