Prospect Info: 2024-2025 Rangers Prospects Thread (Prospect Stats in Post #1; Updated 1/24/2025)

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I don't want to digress but Rangers fans love to shit on Rangers' handling of prospects but I'm pretty sure Kravtsov just sucked. Why is Will Cuylle a late second round pick who was not considered an offensive dynamo and infinitely more effective NHLer than him? That includes offensively.
 
I don't want to digress but Rangers fans love to shit on Rangers' handling of prospects but I'm pretty sure Kravtsov just sucked. Why is Will Cuylle a late second round pick who was not considered an offensive dynamo and infinitely more effective NHLer than him? That includes offensively.

Rangers drafted Cuylle in the 2020 draft. His numbers at that point hadn't really improved from his first to second year in the OHL. He probably would have gone higher if they had. But he'd kind of stalled. So the Rangers drafted him but he didn't go back to the OHL the next year. He went to Hartford because of covid and because the OHL didn't have a season. It's not like he did great things that year but he started on his pro career pretty much two years ahead of schedule and he already had the physical size and strength where those areas weren't a problem for him. The year after he goes back to the OHL and if I remember he captains his Windsor team which went pretty deep into the playoffs. That year everything started to work for him and when he returned to the Hartford the next year everything was familiar and he easily made the jump back into the pros.

One of the reasons he's become so good is he doesn't take shortcuts. He's got a pretty good shot and pretty good hands and pretty good skating. He's defensively responsible and very willing to use his size and strength. He has more hits than anyone on the team---not afraid of the corners or the front of the net. He will fight if necessary. He's started to work penalty killing into things he does. Cuylle is a hockey player. He's a classic, throwback, old school does everything kind of guy.
 
Welcome back to your weekendly dose of college hockey. On the menu for Friday and Saturday, we have..

BC vs. BU, both nights at 7pm
Colorado College vs. Arizona State, 7pm Fri and 5pm Sat. Tonight will be the night I actually pay attention to if these start times are converted to EST or not
Minnesota vs. Michigan State, 6pm Fri and 5pm Sat

NoDak/Emery don't play again until Jan 31/Feb 1

The Pack have 3-in-3 this weekend:
Fri vs. Laval (7pm)
Sat vs. Rochester (6pm)
Sun vs. Springfield (3pm)
 
Colorado College vs. Arizona State, 7pm Fri and 5pm Sat. Tonight will be the night I actually pay attention to if these start times are converted to EST or not
The college hockey news website lists the games with the time zone:

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7 MT is 9 EST.
 
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Yeah, Laba has skill for sure, but he's not a guy that at the pro level is going to score a ton of points on skill alone. He's more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of player. Someone mentioned Morgan Barron--it's the same type of thing where how his offense translates will dictate whether he's more of a pure 4th line guy or whether he can play in the middle six. Laba skates better than Barron, though, which will help, too.

I think he ends up a solid 3C option or a really good 4C, the kind you keep even if you have to pay him more than you'd like.
 
Yeah, Laba has skill for sure, but he's not a guy that at the pro level is going to score a ton of points on skill alone. He's more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of player. Someone mentioned Morgan Barron--it's the same type of thing where how his offense translates will dictate whether he's more of a pure 4th line guy or whether he can play in the middle six. Laba skates better than Barron, though, which will help, too.

I think he ends up a solid 3C option or a really good 4C, the kind you keep even if you have to pay him more than you'd like.
Barron was my reference and I agree with your conclusion - I'd conservatively project him as a 4th liner with 3C upside. Bonus part is that Cuylle was in somewhat similar ranking for me before he blew by those once he proved his offensive touch in the AHL and kept it up (to a degree obviously) in the NHL. Watching Laba I'm not sure he'd be able to score his type of goals with the required regularity in the NHL to play higher in the lineup.
 
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I think everybody does. Wheeler probably hasn't seen him play since he was in the WJCs (when he was actually quite good FWIW).
Back then I viewed Chmelar and Vaisanen as being roughly equal in terms of their chances to make it to the NHL. I currently have Chmelar ahead, though I admit part of that is because I've seen a lot more of him in Providence and now Hartford. It's really hard to judge a young player in a pro Euro league where they don't get significant opportunities. He may surprise in Hartford next year.

Chmelar is doing well enough in Hartford this year that I believe he is on track to be an NHL player. He may get a game or two at some point depending on injuries. The real test for him will be camp next year. Even if he doesn't make it, he needs to be among the final cuts. He needs to make it hard for them to send him down. I believe he can do that, but we'll see.
 
How's Chmelar's skating? Highlights I've seen he's usually crushing someone along the boards or parked net front. Built like a tank in comparison to the lanky builds of Rempe and Edstrom.
 
Chmelar is going to have a similar trajectory to Edstrom IMO. He's 21 years old right now. Edstrom didn't get a sip of coffee in the NHL until 23 and that was only 11 games. I think Chmelar needs another full year of AHL time next year to round out his game. He has the size, attitude and aptitude to be a good bottom-6 forward.
 
Re: Wheeler's comments, I also disagree with him. I don't think the "pace" comment is that big of a deal as the pace a guy plays with is a different thing than how fast he is (there are plenty of fast guys who don't process or play fast), but I think it's probably NHL-caliber. The skill thing to me, I actually agree that he doesn't have a ton of skill, but for me it doesn't really matter because his game isn't predicated on skill.

Anyway, I think he looks like a good potential 4th line player who presents a lot of challenges to the opposition from a physical standpoint.
 

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