Prospect Info: 2024-25 Ducks Prospects

[WhatTheDuck]

Hmm, interesting choices in Smith, Perreault, Catton and Eiserman for sure.

Those seem debatable for sure, along with Buium, Parekh, Clarke, Perreault, Silayev, Stankoven...

 

[Static]

I understand it's a big job, but I wish he had different blurbs about the players rather than recycling what he has written in the past. There is hardly any context relating to the list.

 

[JAHV]

Hmm, interesting choices in Smith, Perreault, Catton and Eiserman for sure.

Wheeler is definitely an offensive upside guy. He tends to weigh goal-scoring ability heavily, even for small or one-dimensional players. It leads him to hit on some guys (like Caufield or Debrincat), but then he'll over-rate guys like Kaliyev. Eiserman is definitely on that list - Wheeler kept him high while he dropped for everyone else.

 

[Static]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1813265468896989394

 

[Duck Off]

Wheeler released his top 100 drafted skater prospects ranking.

Gauthier #19
Sennecke #25
Zellweger #36
Solberg #65
Luneau #77

Top 20 goalie ranking is released soon, I have to imagine Clara is top 10 or close at worst, I'll say #8.

I like Wheeler’s draft articles, but his prospect rankings have always been the worst piece he does imo. He tends to always favor more recent draft picks and they’re consistently the majority of his top ranking players.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

Unless the disparity is huge, ranking something as difficult to quantify as athletes playing in different leagues is the cashgrab equivalent of blogging.

These guys aren't doing it to be accurate, they're just farting out lists to get people to click and talk.

 

[eaterfan]

I like Wheeler’s draft articles, but his prospect rankings have always been the worst piece he does imo. He tends to always favor more recent draft picks and they’re consistently the majority of his top ranking players.

It makes sense that more recent drafts take up larger portions of the list. The best prospects from each year make the NHL and are then taken off the list. I'm sure Bedard, Carlsson, and Fantilli would all be higher than Smith on this list. The farther back you go, the lower the level of prospect is left.

I'm not sure what percentage would be appropriate for the most recent class compared to all the previous years, but I would expect a plurality of any top 100 drafted prospects list to be from the most recent draft. 50% may be a little high, but it might not be unreasonable.

 

[ADHB]

It makes sense that more recent drafts take up larger portions of the list. The best prospects from each year make the NHL and are then taken off the list. I'm sure Bedard, Carlsson, and Fantilli would all be higher than Smith on this list. The farther back you go, the lower the level of prospect is left.

I'm not sure what percentage would be appropriate for the most recent class compared to all the previous years, but I would expect a plurality of any top 100 drafted prospects list to be from the most recent draft. 50% may be a little high, but it might not be unreasonable.

That's true, but if anything Gauthier's profile has only been raised since he was drafted, and he was a 5th overall pick. I don't see any way a bunch of guys taken in the top 20 this past draft, which by all accounts wasn't above average, should be ranked above him.

 

[AngelDuck]

seems bearish on Luneau too. I’m not his biggest advocate on here but there’s absolutely no way there are 70+ drafted prospects better than him.

We shall see how he recovers…

 

[airforceones25]

Gauthier at 19 is laughable. Especially considering he’ll be one of the Calder favorites

 

[KelVarnsen]

Gauthier at 19 is laughable. Especially considering he’ll be one of the Calder favorites

Yeah how is the # 5 pick from just a couple years ago who had a great year this year rate lower than the 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 20th picks from this year? That doesn't make much sense to me after Cutter had a good year this past season. If Cutter was not progressing and had terrible years then maybe? He didn't so I'm not sure how he is rated lower in this article than say a Catton or Eiserman.

 

[ScarTroy]

Yeah how is the # 5 pick from just a couple years ago who had a great year this year rate lower than the 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 20th picks from this year? That doesn't make much sense to me after Cutter had a good year this past season. If Cutter was not progressing and had terrible years then maybe? He didn't so I'm not sure how he is rated lower in this article than say a Catton or Eiserman.

Because he’s a Duck. I bet if he’s still in Philly he’s rated much higher.

 

[Static]

Gauthier at 19 is laughable. Especially considering he’ll be one of the Calder favorites

The only thing that interests me with his ranking is his relation to his teammates Will Smith and Gabe Perreault. Them being higher is curious.

 

[Duck Off]

It makes sense that more recent drafts take up larger portions of the list. The best prospects from each year make the NHL and are then taken off the list. I'm sure Bedard, Carlsson, and Fantilli would all be higher than Smith on this list. The farther back you go, the lower the level of prospect is left.

I'm not sure what percentage would be appropriate for the most recent class compared to all the previous years, but I would expect a plurality of any top 100 drafted prospects list to be from the most recent draft. 50% may be a little high, but it might not be unreasonable.

I'm not questioning or disagreeing with the amount of recently drafted players. I am saying that he always tends to favor them more in how he ranks them. Great example: Do you think Lindstrom, Silayev, Dickinson, Parekh, Buium, Levshunov, and Demidov are better than Gauthier? I see the argument for a few of those, but all of them? His lists always tend to lean more towards recent picks when it comes to putting them in order.

Like someone else said, Gauthier was a high pick and if anything, his stock has risen, yet many recent picks are well ahead of him.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The only thing that interests me with his ranking is his relation to his teammates Will Smith and Gabe Perreault. Them being higher is curious.

Fellow BC teammate Leonard plays like Cutter and Wheeler ranked Leonard #21. Both Cutter and Leonard scored over 30 goals for the team, but they're ranked lower than Smith and Perreault. In the NCAA tournament, it was Leonard who was running roughshod over everyone to drag the team.

I can't get too mad about Wheeler's article b/c it does fill part of the off-season.

 

[airforceones25]

I'm not questioning or disagreeing with the amount of recently drafted players. I am saying that he always tends to favor them more in how he ranks them. Great example: Do you think Lindstrom, Silayev, Dickinson, Parekh, Buium, Levshunov, and Demidov are better than Gauthier? I see the argument for a few of those, but all of them? His lists always tend to lean more towards recent picks when it comes to putting them in order.

Like someone else said, Gauthier was a high pick and if anything, his stock has risen, yet many recent picks are well ahead of him.

Only player I'd consider over Gauthier is Demidov but even then it would be a hard sell and I'm a huge Demidov guy. Cutter over everyone in this draft with the exception of Celebrini and maybe Demidov.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Gudas has two seasons left and cannot play top pairing minutes consistently for a long stretch of games. We are waiting on Luneau, Warren, and Helleson to develop. Luneau is a wild card and might start in the AHL. Helleson hasn't made great development growth. Warren might be two to three years away.

I know this was from a different thread, but how long do we give Helleson and his development before we write him off?

 

[JAHV]

For all of our touting of the Ducks' goalie prospects, Wheeler doesn't like them:

Scott Wheeler's top 20 drafted NHL goalie prospects ranking, summer 2024 edition

Full scouting reports for Wheeler's top 20 goalie prospects in the league.

www.nytimes.com

No Clara or Clang or Suchanek - not even in the "last cuts" mention at the top. I am not a goalie prospect expert, so I'm curious what others think of the ones he's got in there. Did our guys get snubbed?

 

[WhatTheDuck]

For all of our touting of the Ducks' goalie prospects, Wheeler doesn't like them:

Scott Wheeler's top 20 drafted NHL goalie prospects ranking, summer 2024 edition

Full scouting reports for Wheeler's top 20 goalie prospects in the league.

www.nytimes.com

No Clara or Clang or Suchanek - not even in the "last cuts" mention at the top. I am not a goalie prospect expert, so I'm curious what others think of the ones he's got in there. Did our guys get snubbed?

He must have plain forgotten about Clara in order to not even have him as an HM. There's really no justifying having some of these guys ahead of him, drafted a year later without the same track record or size/athletic make up.

 

[Boo Boo]

For all of our touting of the Ducks' goalie prospects, Wheeler doesn't like them:

Scott Wheeler's top 20 drafted NHL goalie prospects ranking, summer 2024 edition

Full scouting reports for Wheeler's top 20 goalie prospects in the league.

www.nytimes.com

No Clara or Clang or Suchanek - not even in the "last cuts" mention at the top. I am not a goalie prospect expert, so I'm curious what others think of the ones he's got in there. Did our guys get snubbed?

Unfortunately wheeler is prone to huge blind spots when it comes to goalie prospects

 

[Gliff]

For all of our touting of the Ducks' goalie prospects, Wheeler doesn't like them:

Scott Wheeler's top 20 drafted NHL goalie prospects ranking, summer 2024 edition

Full scouting reports for Wheeler's top 20 goalie prospects in the league.

www.nytimes.com

No Clara or Clang or Suchanek - not even in the "last cuts" mention at the top. I am not a goalie prospect expert, so I'm curious what others think of the ones he's got in there. Did our guys get snubbed?

Lol

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Unfortunately wheeler is prone to huge blind spots when it comes to goalie prospects

I think Wheeler has a negative bias for goalie prospects from the Ducks. Said Dostal was short for a goalie, but had even shorter Wolf in his rankings while leaving Dostal off of it for years! It took four years for Wheeler to recognize Dostal as a potential top-end talent netminder.

Clara had an amazing outing in Sweden's mens 2nd tier (HA) and Qualification for the SHL. With Clara being 6'6, he's kinda difficult to miss, but still a whiff by Wheeler. Wheeler has newly drafted 6'1 Carter George ranked #17 in his top-20, where George did his damage in the OHL. One would believe that producing in Sweden's 2nd tier mens league is a higher level of competition than the OHL and would garner some attention, even an identified HM. Guess we'll have yet another "no name" goalie.

 

[Kalv]

The Athletic, or also known as "we prefer prospects from bigher markets, as their fans subscriptions bring in more dollars". Lol. At first they ignored Dostal who was having some historic seasons in Europe, but he was too small, apparently. Now leaving out Clara... well, ok, bud. Recently thought of resubscribing but this reminded me why I cancelled in the first place (also Ducks not having a dedicated reporter. Derek Lee is far and away the best option anyway)

 

[Masch78]

Honestly I do like when I read about players but I never really care about rankings. There is nothing serious in this. Too much personal preference combined with commercial interest.

 

[JAHV]

The Athletic, or also known as "we prefer prospects from bigher markets, as their fans subscriptions bring in more dollars". Lol. At first they ignored Dostal who was having some historic seasons in Europe, but he was too small, apparently. Now leaving out Clara... well, ok, bud. Recently thought of resubscribing but this reminded me why I cancelled in the first place (also Ducks not having a dedicated reporter. Derek Lee is far and away the best option anyway)

To be fair, Wheeler had Dostal ranked in his top 10 goalie prospects each of the last two seasons. So I don't think this necessarily holds true in all cases. Perhaps Clara is an oversight or maybe there's something specific about him that Wheeler doesn't like.