HF Habs: 2024 Habs Prospect rankings #5

[V13]

Hage

Size , skill , skating and drive. Bonus : He grew up as a Habs fan and come from an Habs loving family so he may have extra motivation

Let's say that i was very happy with the pick at 21. Hughes did the right thing

 

[Jaynki]

Hage

Add Xhekaj

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Fowler again. Starting goalie upside.

¸Add Xhekaj

Florian and Fowler . It is, at least to this writer, not even close.

A simple test. Which of the remaining 'prospects' would garner the highest return in a trade? Aside from the top 4 prospects already identifies, only Florian, Hage and Fowler would secure a material return.

 

[Redux91]

Went with Wawa
Think he surprise (more) next year

But I love seeing the early Hage love
Bigtime
He's good and gonna be better

 

[Gustave]

I love seeing you posters losing your shit over some random rankings like it matters that one prospect needs to be above another

All that matters is if our top 7/8 will produce NHL’ers. If it does, then we are rolling in gold. The rest are already on the big team and we’ll complete the team with trades.

 

[Scriptor]

I love seeing you posters losing your shit over some random rankings like it matters that one prospect needs to be above another

All that matters is if our top 7/8 will produce NHL’ers. If it does, then we are rolling in gold. The rest are already on the big team and we’ll complete the team with trades.

I think there is a Million ways you could have made the same point without sounding like an A-hole.

 

[Gustave]

I think there is a Million ways you could have made the same point without sounding like an A-hole.

I thought it was very mellow and a fun point really, not my intention at all to be honest.

 

[Scriptor]

I thought it was very mellow and a fun point really, not my intention at all to be honest.

Ok. It's the phrasing, I guess. And I meant, "Without sounding like a turkey."

 

[Gustave]

Ok. It's the phrasing, I guess. And I meant, "Without sounding like a turkey."

That thing will stay on as long as needed.

Not that it has brought a lot of luck to the team, but that’s another story

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Voted Fowler at 4, no reason to change.

 

[JianYang]

I love seeing you posters losing your shit over some random rankings like it matters that one prospect needs to be above another

All that matters is if our top 7/8 will produce NHL’ers. If it does, then we are rolling in gold. The rest are already on the big team and we’ll complete the team with trades.

Yeah, I just like to get a read of what the fans here think and how the stock of each player has changed from the prior year from the fan's perspective

Almost nobody here has watched all the prospects on a regular basis, so it was never intended to be a professional peice of work, nor is it implied as such.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Wow Hage won. Not gonna complain. I love what I see but I think I’d go with Wawa.

I think people don’t quite realize the potential firepower we have in the system. If we have Newhook and Roy on a 3rd line then that 4th line won’t play much.

 

[habamillions]

Hage. But i like roy a lot too. Went with hage as i think he will be a better all around player

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Missed the poll. Again though, I’d have taken Roy here.

 

[Andrei79]

I chose Hage comfortably here. He's a player I liked quite a bit pre-draft. Listening to his interviews, watching his tools in person and knowing he's going to Michigan next year only makes me more confident in my choice.

The next three picks are Beck, Roy and Xhekaj imo, but will have to think about the order. I would tend to go with Xhekaj as he has a rare package of aggression, skill and size that you can't really find on the trade market. He might be our Tom Wilson.

That being said, over the years the team has had favorable prospect rankings which to be honest I never quite got. This is the first time I legitimately consider the prospect pool to be excellent. It has a variety of everything, including high potential players, though I'm not as confident in the goaltending as others.

 

[DAChampion]

Fowler is a wild card as even elite scouts have a hard time comparing goalies and skaters.

 

[Tyson]

I chose Hage comfortably here. He's a player I liked quite a bit pre-draft. Listening to his interviews, watching his tools in person and knowing he's going to Michigan next year only makes me more confident in my choice.

The next three picks are Beck, Roy and Xhekaj imo, but will have to think about the order. I would tend to go with Xhekaj as he has a rare package of aggression, skill and size that you can't really find on the trade market. He might be our Tom Wilson.

That being said, over the years the team has had favorable prospect rankings which to be honest I never quite got. This is the first time I legitimately consider the prospect pool to be excellent. It has a variety of everything, including high potential players, though I'm not as confident in the goaltending as others.

I can't remember when the goaltending cupboard was actually this good to be honest. What other team has this many promising young goalie prospects including Dobes?

 

[Mrb1p]

Florian and Fowler . It is, at least to this writer, not even close.

A simple test. Which of the remaining 'prospects' would garner the highest return in a trade? Aside from the top 4 prospects already identifies, only Florian, Hage and Fowler would secure a material return.

Still hating on Joshua Roy? I wonder what he ever did to you. Where's Cédrick Guindon?

Fowler is a wild card as even elite scouts have a hard time comparing goalies and skaters.

It's almost impossible to predict goaltenders, even established ones vary greatly in performances season in and season out.

The only thing I can say is that Dobes looks better than Fowler to me. Dobes looks about as good as any goaltender I've seen outside of Michael Hrabal who looks almost Price like in his talent.

 

[Andrei79]

I can't remember when the goaltending cupboard was actually this good to be honest. What other team has this many promising young goalie prospects including Dobes?

I'm a poor evaluator of goaltending, so my opinion isn't well thought out on the subject.

The reason I'm not as confident is that I've seen a wave of Russian goaltenders coming into the league and have a combination of technical ability, incredible athleticism, high compete, mental fortitude and size that I just don't see any of the goalies in the system having. There's still a lot of development remaining and, like I said, I'm far from someone with reliable opinions on the subject. Who knows, maybe Fowler or Vorokhin is that player.

 

[Tyson]

I'm a poor evaluator of goaltending, so my opinion isn't well thought out on the subject.

The reason I'm not as confident is that I've seen a wave of Russian goaltenders coming into the league and have a combination of technical ability, incredible athleticism, high compete and size that I just don't see any of the goalies in the system having. There's still a lot of development remaining and, like I said, I'm far from someone with reliable opinions on the subject.

Well at least we have a 6'3 Russian goalie prospect .
I remember a time not so long ago that Quebec owned the star goalie market, how times change huh?

 

[Eegs]

Florian and Fowler . It is, at least to this writer, not even close.

A simple test. Which of the remaining 'prospects' would garner the highest return in a trade? Aside from the top 4 prospects already identifies, only Florian, Hage and Fowler would secure a material return.

Roy and Beck easily return more than F X

 

[Tyson]

Roy and Beck easily return more than F X

Not too long ago I would have agreed but I am now not so sure because young Xhekaj has developed way faster than most of us imagined. How much better will he get?

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Roy and Beck easily return more than F X

You may be surprised.

I like Beck, but I think Florian has passed him on Montreal’s depth chart of prospects as his combination of size, speed, skill and aggression provides him with a higher ceiling. Roy remains an enigma. His lack of foot speed will always be a limiting factor. His lack of production after his return to Laval also raises some red flags. He has elite hand skills, but it remains to be seen if that is enough for him to be an impactful player in the NHL.

 

[Rapala]

You may be surprised.

I like Beck, but I think Florian has passed him on Montreal’s depth chart of prospects as his combination of size, speed, skill and aggression provides him with a higher ceiling. Roy remains an enigma. His lack of foot speed will always be a limiting factor. His lack of production after his return to Laval also raises some red flags. He has elite hand skills, but it remains to be seen if that is enough for him to be an impactful player in the NHL.

All in all it's a good problem to have and I don't try to rank players until I see them in the best league.
Roy is one of the savviest players we have in terms of reading the play which is how he's survived/excelled everywhere he's played.
He's a bit like Thomas Vanek who was never the fleetest of foot but just knew how to cut down the ice and where to position himself.
Vanek was bigger and stronger but he's the type of player I see Roy being.
I agree he was anemic for stretches in Laval but he wasn't in Montreal with better line mates.
That's just who he is.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Still hating on Joshua Roy? I wonder what he ever did to you. Where's Cédrick Guindon?

I should note that I have no hate for Roy or, for that matter, any other player. But I am somewhat charmed that you seem to need my approbation of Roy to justify your determination of this player’s potential upside. The fact is, due to his mediocre foot speed and somewhat lackadaisical approach to his craft, I have never thought Roy’s game translated well to the NHL.

As a fan, I hope I’m wrong.

While no one can question his hand skills, Roy’s chances of becoming a core player on the Canadiens are increasingly being undermined by the simple aspect of the numbers’ game. If you assume going forward that 5 forward spots will be taken by Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Dach and Newhook and that two more spots should be taken by Demidov and Hage, that leaves only 5 forward positions to be filled long term. Roy will be facing stiff competition for those positions having to compete with a number of the team’s existing, established players and other promising forward prospects that include: Beck, Florian Xhekaj, Kapanen and Tuch. That competition will only be intensified when you factor in that over the next two years the Canadiens will have three first round draft choices (including, most probably, a top 10 choice in 2025) and 3 second round choices and that as Montreal approaches competitiveness, Hughes will probably acquire one or two established scoring free agent forwards.

One therefore has to ask whether there will be room for the speed challenged Roy? If he can’t make the top three lines, Roy will not play for Montreal. There will be better options. Hence, my opinion that Roy is not among Montreal’s most promising players.

As for Guidon, when he and David Goyette played for Eastern Ontario Wild AAA , they were both considered among the best two prospects of their age group playing in the Ottawa area. Some players’ development continue unabatedly and become legitimate prospects. Others, sadly plateau. Regrettably, Guindon has fallen into the latter class. He won’t be the first prospect to disappoint. Nor will he be the last.