Prospect Info: #46 Overall, RD Seamus Casey US-NTDP

[glenwo2]

Time to redo the prospect polls, I'm ready to put Casey #1

Casey looking good.

But no way would I put him above Luke and Nemec.

I would put him at MAYBE #3 (though Gritsyuk would have something to say about that)

 

[Guadana]

Casey looking good.

But no way would I put him above Luke and Nemec.

I would put him at MAYBE #3 (though Gritsyuk would have something to say about that)

I would easily put Casey at #3 if he would be taller. His puck battlin skills needs to work and overall his lever is huge issues when we are trying to imagine how he will defend against Brady and Matthew for example. Or against Auston. If he cannot cope with serious tasks in defense, than we are talking about weak link in defense/third pair pp qb. Do we need pp qb with Luke and Simon(and Dougie)? Even if he will find some nhl minutes, it’s a third pair easy minutes. I like his skill, but I’m no so confident how he will adapt his game to nhl level and how will he be able to withstand the pressure of the NHL as defenseman.
Sorry, Casey hype train passengers, but he isn’t top-4 Devils prospect, in my view he isn’t top-5.

 

[Hisch13r]

Casey looking good.

But no way would I put him above Luke and Nemec.

I would put him at MAYBE #3 (though Gritsyuk would have something to say about that)

I'm not going to put him over Nemec because there's more certainty Nemec will be something good but I don't really know if Nemec will be great. If Casey really hits I think there's something great.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Casey looking good.

But no way would I put him above Luke and Nemec.

I would put him at MAYBE #3 (though Gritsyuk would have something to say about that)

Just a little joke overreacting to a clip from summer. Would of course still put Luke and Nemec above him


For now hehehe

 

[Eggtimer]

I would easily put Casey at #3 if he would be taller. His puck battlin skills needs to work and overall his lever is huge issues when we are trying to imagine how he will defend against Brady and Matthew for example. Or against Auston. If he cannot cope with serious tasks in defense, than we are talking about weak link in defense/third pair pp qb. Do we need pp qb with Luke and Simon(and Dougie)? Even if he will find some nhl minutes, it’s a third pair easy minutes. I like his skill, but I’m no so confident how he will adapt his game to nhl level and how will he be able to withstand the pressure of the NHL as defenseman.
Sorry, Casey hype train passengers, but he isn’t top-4 Devils prospect, in my view he isn’t top-5.

I agree with him needing to work on ways to be more effective with puck battles and clearing the front of the net. He will have to excel at finding the nest angles and positions to be able to use his stick to check as he just wont have the physicality to handle the bigger players in the NHL .
Im not sayimg he will never be able to so that , but he will have to be elite at other aspects of the defensive side of the game in order to be a full time defender.
Like how Spurgeon can be even though he is a smaller defender.
If Casey was 6’4“ and moved the exact same way as he does now …. He’d be a top prospect in the world , like top 10 IMO

 

[Hisch13r]

I agree with him needing to work on ways to be more effective with puck battles and clearing the front of the net. He will have to excel at finding the nest angles and positions to be able to use his stick to check as he just wont have the physicality to handle the bigger players in the NHL .
Im not sayimg he will never be able to so that , but he will have to be elite at other aspects of the defensive side of the game in order to be a full time defender.
Like how Spurgeon can be even though he is a smaller defender.
If Casey was 6’4“ and moved the exact same way as he does now …. He’d be a top prospect in the world , like top 10 IMO

If Casey was 6’4 and still able to move like he does then he’d only be behind Bedard. I really don’t have issues with his defense outside of just the limitations his size presents. Remove that and he’s an elite two way D who would be a perennial Norris challenger

 

[Guadana]

I agree with him needing to work on ways to be more effective with puck battles and clearing the front of the net. He will have to excel at finding the nest angles and positions to be able to use his stick to check as he just wont have the physicality to handle the bigger players in the NHL .
Im not sayimg he will never be able to so that , but he will have to be elite at other aspects of the defensive side of the game in order to be a full time defender.
Like how Spurgeon can be even though he is a smaller defender.
If Casey was 6’4“ and moved the exact same way as he does now …. He’d be a top prospect in the world , like top 10 IMO

But he isn't 6'4. He is 175cm player with, like you said, limitations in puck battles and in front of the net. He isn't very bulky too. So he is easy victim for 185-195cm top-6 players. Its just a question of lever. Luke Hughes should play with defensively reliable defenseman, so it push Casey out of top 4, or he needs to be so good to play with bigger defensive D and give stability to use Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec as a pair.
175cm good defensemen is a very rare thing in nhl, especially good two way defensemen, his puck skills could be very good, but we are talking about nhl realities, where defenseman should do specific work, there are a lot of situations where he will have no time and space to his stick as defensive tool. He needs to gain a lot of weight and learn how to use it, Or/and develop other defensive tools. Its a hard task to ask. He is very talented guy and I think he can develop, at least in some parts of his game, he is just isn't there now and physical aspect needs to change few steps more. He ist Will Butcher/Ty Smith level prospect, where even with points you can say that's an anchor, just pulling away this body from thr roster. But defense of contender should be strong. No one will have a tolerance to wait until Casey will figure it out how to not be outplayed two times per play off game. I think he is good nhl player potentially as qb, but its harder for him to earn top 4 job in NJ specifically, may be in most contenders. If he will be outplayed physically on regular basis, than he will have a lot of problems to be regular nhler.

So we are in situation with high risk high reward player. Its great to have him as a prospect, because I prefer players with bigger potential. They don't need to be small players as a whole group, but Casey is rare small player in our prospect pool, so it's okay. We just should admit not only his good sides of the game.

 

[forceten]

I almost want to suggest they give him some time at forward to see what he can do there.

 

[Devils731]

World Junior Summer Showcase: Lane Hutson, Sam Rinzel Among Day 1 Standouts - FloHockey

USA's split squads dropped a pair of games to Finland and Sweden on the opening day of the 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase.

www.flohockey.tv

“Seamus Casey, D (New Jersey Devils): Casey, who was on last year's squad but did not appear in a game, has a strong case to make this year’s club and play a significant role. He is a high-end skater with creative skill and was able to make some good plays in transition offensively. Sweden seemed to overwhelm USA’s defense corps, but Casey held his own reasonably well.”

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Clearly we need to get a scouting report on his growth plates to understand just how much potential he really has.

 

[My3Sons]

I almost want to suggest they give him some time at forward to see what he can do there.

That’s my thought. If he can’t defend well enough to play a top four role maybe he thrives as a winger? It would at least be worth a try in Utica.

 

[Saugus]

Time to redo the prospect polls, I'm ready to put Casey #1

I know it's just one clip, but he plays almost like a rover there. Reminds me of how Hamilton will sometimes pop up in unexpected places in the offensive zone.

If he can do that at the NHL level, that would be really cool.

 

[evnted]

it definitely shows he grew up a devils fan lol

 

[My3Sons]

it definitely shows he grew up a devils fan lol

Kid is a gamer

 

[Guttersniped]

it definitely shows he grew up a devils fan lol

Are you referring to Stevens?

Casey was born the day after Scott Steven’s last game as a Devil.

 

[Forge]

Are you referring to Stevens?

Casey was born the day after Scott Steven’s last game as a Devil.

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My God, what are you trying to do to me?

 

[MasterofGrond]

Jesus Christ why would you say that

 

[MasterofGrond]

 

[MakoSlade]

it definitely shows he grew up a devils fan lol

I hear all the time how small he is, but I don't recall him looking frail at all at on draft day (like Filmon, for example). Both him and Nemec looked pretty solid.

I haven't seen a game he's played though...how strong does he play out there?

 

[evnted]

I hear all the time how small he is, but I don't recall him looking frail at all at on draft day (like Filmon, for example). Both him and Nemec looked pretty solid.

I haven't seen a game he's played though...how strong does he play out there?

when we drafted him it felt like his strength/physicality was always something that was gonna need time to progress. that said, i would agree he wasnt soft or anything. i know i had seen some people thinking he was tepid or whatever because of his ability to dodge contact so well but i mean thats what you do when you have the four-way mobility he has lol. i cant say ive seen him tee guys up much like in the clip but hes certainly willing to engage physically with an opposing attacker in front of the net, he'll finish off a check if hes going for one, and hes more than capable of shrugging off contact if hes making a power move off the rush or something. i expect his physical play will be one of many tools in his arsenal even if it (obviously) never winds up a big part of his game. now, as encouraging as his first year in michigan was, we do have to respect theres a bit of a scalability concern as his level of play continues to go up and his opponents get bigger and faster. easy guy to root for

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

when we drafted him it felt like his strength/physicality was always something that was gonna need time to progress. that said, i would agree he wasnt soft or anything. i know i had seen some people thinking he was tepid or whatever because of his ability to dodge contact so well but i mean thats what you do when you have the four-way mobility he has lol. i cant say ive seen him tee guys up much like in the clip but hes certainly willing to engage physically with an opposing attacker in front of the net, he'll finish off a check if hes going for one, and hes more than capable of shrugging off contact if hes making a power move off the rush or something. i expect his physical play will be one of many tools in his arsenal even if it (obviously) never winds up a big part of his game. now, as encouraging as his first year in michigan was, we do have to respect theres a bit of a scalability concern as his level of play continues to go up and his opponents get bigger and faster. easy guy to root for

I saw him in person 2 weeks ago after the Prospect scrimmage. He signed a puck for me and I was talking to him a bit. He's listed at 5 foot 10 ,178 lbs on Michigan's hockey website and he looks to be that in person. Size won't be his asset but that isn't what we took him for. The game is getting smaller and faster. Even of he stays that height thats fine , if his skating keeps improving than he is going to be even better.

We have so many defensemen in the system it's wild. This doesn't look to be like the mirage of the days when we had Larsson , Merrill , Geliinas , Urbom etc...We have a good group at the NHL level and even without Muhk + Okhotiuk the pool is still easily our strongest position.

 

[Guadana]

The game is getting smaller and faster.

I believe Slafkovsky, Tkachuk brothers, Gauthier, Barkov, Sviechnikov, Thompson, Cozens, Batherson, Mathhews, Knies and other top line players and top prospects from the east agree with you and will let Seamus to defense them because game is smaller now.
He is very talented guy with intriguing potential, but let's not be mtl fans.

 

[Wierzbowski426]

Some of the hype for this kid has been over the top but you can see why. He's dynamic.

But, I agree about the hutson reference and mtrl fans... it really hasnt been a good look for them, lets not go down that road lol.

 

[My3Sons]

Some of the hype for this kid has been over the top but you can see why. He's dynamic.

But, I agree about the hutson reference and mtrl fans... it really hasnt been a good look for them, lets not go down that road lol.

I get the impression a lot of the MTL fans that post about him are on the younger side.

 

[Devs3cups]

To be honest though, the hype and expectations for Casey by Devils fans aren’t even in the same stratosphere as Habs fans with Hutson. Just go look at the Hutson threads.