OKAY. All that because I chose Karp?
Yap. Its conversation about topic in more neauteral tone. That post was not "what are you thinking about" type of post. Its offseason, thats all we have to entertain on the board now)
Misyul, Vilen, and Hatakka will all be in Utica along with Casey. They have moved into the Devils immediate radar.
Orlov and Karpovich are still out of sight and out of sound to those of us in NJ and Utica. So, they are the unknown prospects. It's a guess as to who will be the best out of all of these guys and Silayev is right in there with them. Silayev and Casey have already made it as keepers in this poll.
I am taking a shot at Karp. He is younger and others are more developed. I'm looking at the big picture and am making a guess that he will eventually bypass the guys I already noted are on the radar. I believe they are keepers for now, but will be traded for other needs and the eventual Devils D will be comprised of
Luke, Silayev, Karpovich, Misyul
and
Nemec, Casey, Dougie, Pesce
Who comes in when Dougie and Pesce age out I don't have a clue at the moment. Maybe Barabosha. There is a host of prospect RDs we haven't seen mentioned.
Vilen and Orlov could be in the picture on the left side as well.
The Devils D-men cupboard is chock full.
I hate to bang my drum here, but Fitz needs to work overtime at filling up a Centers cupbord. Haula is not good for more than the 2 years he's signed for and below him it's a crapshhot already. There isn't a single Devils prospect center on the AHL roster.
Silayev is keeper because he was outstanding for 17yo in KHL. He obviously higher than Casey in the list because of his projectable profile and proveness on KHL level. Reason why I'm not ready to put Casey higher than Gritsyuk. Not because Gritsyuk is my home guy as Casey for everyone, but because Gritsyuk has very good tools and history on a higher level, and potential to play more important role. Casey is still small defenseman who should learn how to play against much bigger and much stronger players without any prove he can do it on a higher level. I believe he will learn it but again - we didn't saw it. And he blocked by some other players to play bigger role.
I like a reason about trading.
I don't think Karpovich is a trade asset now but I truly think he is good. I don't think Hattaka could be better, I don't know how far Misyul can develop and he looks like potential trade asset in the first trade on the deadline for forward, if he will chance to establish himself.
I
t's interesting what management thinks about Vilen. He is young and raw but had promising trajectory and tools.
May be we are to the Siegs trade. More than to the Dougie trade.
I think Devils will use Dougie at least two years and Casey should be ready for this time. Not for the Dougie role - Nemec should take this responsibilities.
In Pesche case - I don't know. Barabosha has okay to good trajectory for big defensive defenseman but he isn't as good in skating and positioning as Silayev, he is okay to good, but with this type of player we need more time. CSKA is a big club with big expectations, so it will be hard for him to win regular roster spot. Will see, its too early. He can cooking for 4-5 more years and its okay for this type of player and its not like we need him earlier. On my taste its too early to have hopes, its too early to dig them into the ground.
Overall Nemec, Luke, Casey should be much better players, may be some other player will develop greatly.
I truly think we have something in Orlov or Karpovich. At least one of them should be NHLer. I would like to see Misyul as a first call up, but Hattaka is more proven on nhl level, so his chances to play and adapt are not so big.
I don't know why Fitz is so allergic on centers. We have problems with center depth in nhl, we have no first line center in ahl, we have no prospect with top 6 center potential and only two nominal centers, where the only one Melovsky has real nhl potential and its only third line center if everything will go well.
When I'm thinking about our top 10 prospects list - I like it. Devils is young team, full of players drafted by Devils. Some good prospect were traded for long term pieces. So its very good to have 5 prospects with real NHL potential. A lot of teams have less amount. And I like our depth defensive brigade. But yeah - centers is huge need/weakness.