Prospect Info: 9OA: Nate Danielson

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I don't like to talk about floors and ceilings, because I don't think there are any predictable absolutes when it comes to development.

What I saw from him in the preseason is very promising. While he looked great at both ends, showed some good hockey IQ, it was his calmness doing so that really stood out for me.

That will help Danielson get a lot of pro ice time when he moves up. Either in Detroit or Grand Rapids.

 

[Dotter]

You have very unrealistic expectations.

I know that saying the same thing about Larkin 5 years ago would have gotten the same reaction. I am okay with that.

I remember when people here were pissed off drafting "Helm with hands". But sometime when you watch a kid you can see something special. That's what I see in Danielson. If it gets your comment, I am okay with that. I see what I see.

We can bump this thread in 5 years. I'll either look like a moron or a genius. But to me, right now, Danielson looks like he has it. I thought the same thing about Seider after we drafted him when people were pissed.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

I know that saying the same thing about Larkin 5 years ago would have gotten the same reaction. I am okay with that.

I remember when people here were pissed off drafting "Helm with hands". But sometime when you watch a kid you can see something special. That's what I see in Danielson. If it gets your comment, I am okay with that. I see what I see.

We can bump this thread in 5 years. I'll either look like a moron or a genius. But to me, right now, Danielson looks like he has it. I thought the same thing about Seider after we drafted him when people were pissed.

I am a massive Danielson supporter, but even I think that 1st line NHL center is a big ask for him. If we get a good solid 2C out of him I think we have done great with the pick.

90% of the frustration people have around here can be traced to unrealistic expectations.

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

I am a massive Danielson supporter, but even I think that 1st line NHL center is a big ask for him. If we get a good solid 2C out of him I think we have done great with the pick.

90% of the frustration people have around here can be traced to unrealistic expectations.

Danielson is most likely going to end up an elite 2c who can play 1c when Larkin gets injured. A guy who can consistently hit 25-45-70 while shutting down the other team's scorers. That's my read after seeing his preseason play.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Danielson is most likely going to end up an elite 2c who can play 1c when Larkin gets injured. A guy who can consistently hit 25-45-70 while shutting down the other team's scorers. That's my read after seeing his preseason play.

That is a very specific and concrete prediction for such a small sample size of games.

 

[Detroit Knights]

I am a massive Danielson supporter, but even I think that 1st line NHL center is a big ask for him. If we get a good solid 2C out of him I think we have done great with the pick.

90% of the frustration people have around here can be traced to unrealistic expectations.

he looks, acts, and even plays like larkin. Even if he doesn't hit that ceiling but hits a compher or similar, people should be ecstatic for that.

a 1 - 2 - 3 for larkin - compher - danielson would be fantastic to watch. sprinkle kane, sprong, dbc, raymond throughout is just beautiful. don't get me started if we could somehow get lindholm floating around here.

 

[norrisnick]

he looks, acts, and even plays like larkin. Even if he doesn't hit that ceiling but hits a compher or similar, people should be ecstatic for that.

a 1 - 2 - 3 for larkin - compher - danielson would be fantastic to watch. sprinkle kane, sprong, dbc, raymond throughout is just beautiful. don't get me started if we could somehow get lindholm floating around here.

Danielson looks more like Larkin's dad than Larkin does.

 

[jaster]

I like a lot of our prospects, but man, this forum, historically and still today….. just vastly overrates our prospects.

If this forum were even 50% right on prospects, Detroit should have about 4-5 Cups in their near future. Would be amazing.

 

[Crunchy]

I like a lot of our prospects, but man, this forum, historically and still today….. just vastly overrates our prospects.

If this forum were even 50% right on prospects, Detroit should have about 4-5 Cups in their near future. Would be amazing.

We've gotta be right eventually, right? Right?

 

[Ezekial]

Danielson looks more like Larkin's dad than Larkin does.

That's because Larkin looks exactly like his mom. But yea he does look more like Larkin's dad.

 

[Oddbob]

I just spoke with Danielson, and he told me he thinks he will have a slightly better forehand shot than Luke Glendening but not quite as good a back hand. He expects on any given night he could be good-medium good at defence. He thinks if everything goes right, we are looking at having a 10-12 goal scorer with the aforementioned defence. Worst case scenario he said, is he will meet Jan Mursak when he plays overseas.

 

[TCNorthstars]

I just spoke with Danielson, and he told me he thinks he will have a slightly better forehand shot than Luke Glendening but not quite as good a back hand. He expects on any given night he could be good-medium good at defence. He thinks if everything goes right, we are looking at having a 10-12 goal scorer with the aforementioned defence. Worst case scenario he said, is he will meet Jan Mursak when he plays overseas.

Sounds like he doesn't want to be good. We should trade him while he still has that top 10 shine!

 

[Pavels Dog]

I like a lot of our prospects, but man, this forum, historically and still today….. just vastly overrates our prospects.

If this forum were even 50% right on prospects, Detroit should have about 4-5 Cups in their near future. Would be amazing.

Overrating prospects is not some exclusive thing to us or this forum.

That said I'm not sure I see it really. The last prospect this board severely overrated was Zadina, and the entire hockey world did that. For the most part the lack of elite scoring talent in the pipeline has been an agreed upon fact. Maybe we expected too much out of a Johansson, Berggren or Niederbach at points but it's not like anyone talked them up as future superstars.

 

[TCNorthstars]

Overrating prospects is not some exclusive thing to us or this forum.

That said I'm not sure I see it really. The last prospect this board severely overrated was Zadina, and the entire hockey world did that. For the most part the lack of elite scoring talent in the pipeline has been an agreed upon fact. Maybe we expected too much out of a Johansson, Berggren or Niederbach at points but it's not like anyone talked them up as future superstars.

Don't remember the fantastic 4 defenders? Man we were stacked!

Or Gus and Tats the saviors?

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

I like a lot of our prospects, but man, this forum, historically and still today….. just vastly overrates our prospects.

If this forum were even 50% right on prospects, Detroit should have about 4-5 Cups in their near future. Would be amazing.

Do any fans or scouts ie analysts really do the opposite though.. ?

People genuinely always hope for the best

 

[izlez]

Seems like some of the most hated picks turn out to be the best players.... Seider, Larkin, Bertuzzi, Rasmussen

This is why I'm particularly high on Mazur, Cleveland, and have some high hopes for Danielson

 

[HisNoodliness]

Don't remember the fantastic 4 defenders? Man we were stacked!

Or Gus and Tats the saviors?

To this day, I can't understand how all of Smith, Kindl, Ouellett, Sproul, Marchenko, and Almquist. We all knew that a couple wouldn't develop, but it seems crazy that they all stalled out completely at the same time.

 

[RRhoads]

Johansson

I hear he's been doing pretty good in GR this season. I think we'll see him up for a few games before the end of the season.

 

[TCNorthstars]

To this day, I can't understand how all of Smith, Kindl, Ouellett, Sproul, Marchenko, and Almquist. We all knew that a couple wouldn't develop, but it seems crazy that they all stalled out completely at the same time.

You forgot Mattias Backman!

 

[jaster]

Do any fans or scouts ie analysts really do the opposite though.. ?

People genuinely always hope for the best

Hoping for the best is great, I think most of us do that. Talking about ceilings is certainly more interesting than talking about floors for prospects of your favorite teams.

It's the expectations that many have that are just a bit much. A couple posters have said over the years that Gustav Nyquist is Jonatan Berggren's floor. What? Someone here just the other day said Danielson's floor is an 80-point Larkin, and that if he turns out as just an Anze Kopitar clone, he's be "ok with that." Lol. Edvinsson is going to be better than Seider. Hanas is a surefire NHLer. We had a bucket of defense prospects 10 years ago that were all going to be something, and none became even regulars. Frk was going ot be a high-scoring winger. Pulkkinen was going to be a mini-Laine and get us 30 goals a year. Dick Axelsson the same. And those weren't just all ceiling discussions, they were stated expectations. The list goes on.

I mean, it's the nature of fandom, especially online, I get it. Have fun. It just really jumps out at me as being off the wall sometimes.

 

[jaster]

Overrating prospects is not some exclusive thing to us or this forum.

Exclusive, maybe not. But I have only ever seen the phenomenon on hockey message boards. Here and on RWC and LGW previously. In in-person discussions, with hockey people, expectations are generally much more measured.

One thing the forums are generally just not good at is identifying the holes in players' games. They see a tool or two and then dream on them.... ignoring, or downplying, the fact that the kid can't skate. Or does not compete. Or has low IQ. Or whatever other deficiency that basically makes the kid a longshot, despite that wicked shot, or silky hands. We hyper-focus on the sexy tools and neglect the boring ones. But the thing is, in hockey, the boring tools are at least as important as the sexy tools.

 

[jaster]

Seems like some of the most hated picks turn out to be the best players.... Seider, Larkin, Bertuzzi, Rasmussen

I didn't like the Ras pick, but I was high on the other 3 just about right off the bat. I found the hate of those picks grossly misguided at best, and downright dumb at worst.

This is why I'm particularly high on Mazur, Cleveland, and have some high hopes for Danielson

It's all relative, right? Like, despite my concerns about Danielson's offense this season, I still consider myself high on him. I love his makeup, he's my kind of player. But I'm also not sitting here thinking he's going to be better than Anze Kopitar or else I'll be disappointed.

 

[Ezekial]

I like a lot of our prospects, but man, this forum, historically and still today….. just vastly overrates our prospects.

If this forum were even 50% right on prospects, Detroit should have about 4-5 Cups in their near future. Would be amazing.

Dotter said something wild and outlandish? Crazy.

 

[Frk It]

I like a lot of our prospects, but man, this forum, historically and still today….. just vastly overrates our prospects.

If this forum were even 50% right on prospects, Detroit should have about 4-5 Cups in their near future. Would be amazing.

This site is definitely unique in that regard. I mean you go look at a random prospect's thread who is rated in the teens on the prospect sub and people will say their floor is some all star player and their ceiling is some superstar player. That is one thing people are super out of touch with, the floor of these respective players. Most players that get drafted are not exempt from completely flaming out. There is a wider range of outcomes with prospects than most want to believe, and part of that spectrum includes outright failing.

That said, I think on this sub in particular, outlook is shaped by our situation. We literally have to have our prospects exceed expectations for the rebuild at hand to work. If every player became exactly what was the typical outcome for their draft slot, we would end up a shitty hockey team.... period. So yeah, people are going to have higher expectations for draft picks and probably in some cases just try to focus on the optimistic side of things. And I understand why that might be. But there's also nothing wrong with reminding people of what that draft slot usually yields too. I can see both sides of that.

 

[jaster]

This site is definitely unique in that regard. I mean you go look at a random prospect's thread who is rated in the teens on the prospect sub and people will say their floor is some all star player and their ceiling is some superstar player. That is one thing people are super out of touch with, the floor of these respective players. Most players that get drafted are not exempt from completely flaming out. There is a wider range of outcomes with prospects than most want to believe, and part of that spectrum includes outright failing.

That said, I think on this sub in particular, outlook is shaped by our situation. We literally have to have our prospects exceed expectations for the rebuild at hand to work. If every player became exactly what was the typical outcome for their draft slot, we would end up a shitty hockey team.... period. So yeah, people are going to have higher expectations for draft picks and probably in some cases just try to focus on the optimistic side of things. And I understand why that might be. But there's also nothing wrong with reminding people of what that draft slot usually yields too. I can see both sides of that.

Yeah, I nearly mentioned that factor... that this organization is at a point in a rebuild where we have to lean much harder into hope than we would otherwise. That's fair. It's just where the hope runs into the honest expectations where things can get kind of blurry. Seems sometimes people confuse the two.