Prospect Info: 2023-24 Prospect Thread
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SI90
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You can watch Isaiah George in the memorial cup tonight when London Plays Moosejaw on NHLnetwork
Drummondville has already dropped two. I so wish we'd see the Drakkar there instead, but they really blew it in the Q final.
Moose Jaw was supposed to be the powerhouse, but London and Saginaw (who already faced each other in the OHL playoffs where London knocked them off 4-1 or 4-2) have looked pretty good thus far.
Granted, I haven't seen any results from last night yet, if there were any.
- May 17, 2011
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So they’re going to let Ljungkrantz walk? Rajaniemi is on a contract with Bridgeport.
Osakahaus
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On the one hand, there have been very few draftees the Isles don't add to the organization in some way, shape, or form. And I can't remember one guy as of the 4th round or higher than Lou hasn't signed. Also, this past season was clearly Ljungkrantz's best season to date.
On the other hand, his abilities (and he has a few) haven't culminated in indicating him ever being an NHL topic. Also, he's got a contract with Färjestad already next season and it's just not imaginable that another organization would be interested in signing him.
If I had to bet, they've likely told his party that they are in a bit of a contract squeeze and won't be adding him now. He could sign on with BPort, which the organization would surely like, but they know that a season in Färjestad is potentially a very fine step in development and the parties could just revisit an ELC or addition via the minors again next summer.
But there have been no updates from his party or ours.
Hard to think they'll be signing him if they haven't yet.
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I must once again say though - no-one anywhere understood why they selected him in the 3rd round in 2020. None of the journalists touched on this. No-one I know of in the scene has been able to provide any inside reason or explanation for the selection of Ljungkrantz whatsoever, much less at that juncture in the draft. Nobody had him ranked in the top 200. Few even had him in the top 230. That doesn't have to mean anything, but here we are 4 years later and there's never been any indication that whatever the reasoning was behind his selection, it was viable.
And when you've only got 4 or 5 picks every summer, you've at least got to be hitting on ELC-worthy players within the top 3-4 rounds.
***
In other news, after a nothing burger of a season in which he played at least 4 games for 5(!) different teams, 20-year-old Good Bogg (who would need to be signed by next summer, if I've seen that correctly) has now signed a HockeyAllsvenskan contract (2nd league, where Ljungkrantz played this season) with one of the expected bottom-feeders.
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Kevin27NYI
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- Aug 5, 2009
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I saw Gross' tweet earlier and thought of you, you've hated this pick for four years and here we are.
With the European picks in later rounds, the Isles scouting seem like they aren't even trying or trying too hard. Overall, they seem to be picking players with low ceilings to begin with. I'm not entirely sure why, but the drafting philosophy has changed drastically since LL took over.
The last time the Isles drafted an impact player outside the first round was 2014 (Sorokin, Toews). Since 2015, the only notable players they have drafted have been Barzal and Dobson. The Isles scouting/development is brutal. Not a recipe for success for a team who's not exactly thrifty when it comes to roster construction.
Although these lists are always like picking at straws, there are once again a couple of names on there that, if they go unsigned, will surely either gain attention right away or will likely be grabbed as free agents over the next two summers.
Simontaival (LAK) is a smaller player but has several years of Liiga play under his belt and is coming off a 30+ point season already.
He's bascially already everything we could have ever ideally hoped for from a Ljungkrantz.
Aside from him, I can see particularly Hvidston, Lindgren, Ekmark, Petrovsky, Lisowsky, and Sward perhaps getting ELC interest from someone this summer.
I felt Rajaniemi was good at the time and Tikkanen didn't seem like a bad pick, but certainly a wasted one as no-one was drafting him. They could have just signed him without being drafted, even to a minor league contract.
Liukas was looking good before this past season and there's no rush for either Malinen (incredible wheels) or Machu (scheduled for Providence next fall).
That's pretty much it for late round Europeans.
But yes, when we look at Ljungkrantz, Tikkanen, Machu, and Good Bogg, we're talking about 4 Europeans that were basically unranked heading into the draft they were selected in. Ljungkrantz was still mentioned by those who give you 275-300 names. The others weren't mentioned at all.
Looks like we can say it's an official "thang" for this staff. Clearly hasn't led to anything yet though.
"Development" may be the key word.
What are i.e. Dallas and Tampa doing in the developmental area that the Islanders aren't?
They're definitely doing something different.
Looking at solely the past 10 drafts, we've come out with exactly Pulock, Sorokin, Toews, Barzal, Beauvillier, Dobson, Wahlstrom, and Holmstrom.
Seems like a whole lot of other teams have popped out that many and that quality of NHLer in just 4-6 drafts.
crashthenet
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Osakahaus
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I would like Simontaival. I liked his 2020 world juniors a ton, and he'd be a good depth piece for Bridgeport
I would hope that when you've got a Finn like Kautonen heading your scouting staff, he'd know all about a player like this.
IslesNorway
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Osakahaus
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Yeah I feel like our scouting has been all over the place anyways, but maybe they get more leeway this draft. Its probably a good one to at least poke around
Already has.
He'll be in BPort next season.
At the moment, the NYI-contracted Dmen are Hutton, Fulp, Mitchell, Warren, George (could play OHL again), and Odelius (could remain in Sweden).
Rajaniemi and a college player named Cam MacDonald have current AHL contracts. I was under the belief that Krygier is still in the fold but can't find verification. Cosgrove had a big year for Worcester.
Salo, Cholowski, and Sevigny can walk.
Can't see either of Ladue or Helgeson returning.
Gotta think they'll bring in two more vets. I can imagine they'll look to retain Cholowski, but he really should give Europe some consideration at this point.
There have been identifiable trends in the Lou error.
- Always select 1-2 overagers, usually as of Round 5
- Hover around 2 players from the Nordic countries every draft (6 Finns over the past 4 drafts)
- Stay away from Russia
- Almost completely ignore Czechs and Slovaks
- At least one American every draft, basically always college-bound
- As mentioned above, regularly take someone the independent agencies basically don't have ranked.
Osakahaus
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Isles have ignored them for the past few years anyways. Last slovak drafted dates back a long long time man. I honestly also don't hate that they stay away from Russia but its 100% from their staff not liking the past few years I guess.
bstash19
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Last Slovak drafted was tomas marcinko In the 4th round of 2006.
McKeens released their annual NHL prospect report today to subscribers, this is always a good read (especially for me with my EHM work). Isles were ranked 30/32 teams in line with other rankings, sharing the Isles pages for discussion:
The Wahligator
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Scouts generally just don't seem high on George's decision making and overall upside, he's one of those players we have to see in Bridgeport first, and it might take a few years, best case scenario he's a poor man's Pelech IMO.|
Another sample from The Pro Hockey Group (granted it's October but he is projecting up):
PWJunior
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George is an elite skater according to all reports, hopefully heaps of reps will help his decision making deficiencies improve to an acceptable level. Keep his game simple and we may have a nice player on our hands.
If there is one elite trait to have, skating is pretty up there. Plus he's not a shrimp, I like that.
Re. George:
Everyone should just reckon with him needing a good bit of time to really become an NHL topic.
If you've been watching powerhouse London this season, you'll know what I'm talking about. Sadly, even his skating has not been separating him from his peers or allowing him to escape pressure or make more of tight spaces.
Everyone should just reckon with him needing a good bit of time to really become an NHL topic.
If you've been watching powerhouse London this season, you'll know what I'm talking about. Sadly, even his skating has not been separating him from his peers or allowing him to escape pressure or make more of tight spaces.
IslesNorway
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Isles have missed the playoff for three straight seasons, according to McKeens. Time to put some effort into proofreading, maybe?
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