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All-Purpose Prospect Thread v17.0

Very limited sample size, but in the first two games for North Dakota, SB is tied for the team lead with 4pts in 2 games. The guy he's tied with is 4 years older. Outside of those two, no player on that team has more than 2 points so far.

Musto is crying himself to sleep tonight.
 
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Larmer83 said:
Should be a good test for Adam Gajan.
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Went to the game tonight…wow! Just wow!
MINN outshot UMD 23-3 in the first and built a 4-0 lead, they scored on first shot on Adam Gajan…but he was the best Bulldog…second period was a slight edge in shots again for MINN, both teams scored, Sam Rinzel scored their 5th goal…third period was fun to watch, Gajan kept it 5-1 while his team was outshot 37-12, UMD scored two and then unfortunately Gajan was beaten two more times, Oliver Moore scored the 6th goal(also had an assist) making the game 7-3…Dominic James scored UMDs 4th goal and assisted on their 5th goal with Gajan pulled…7-5 final, shots were 42-17 Golden Gophers!

Overall I’m excited at the possibility of seeing all three play as future Blackhawks

Gajan showed that same ‘overwhelmed’ play he did tending net for the ‘overmatched’ Slovak

James is a good penalty killer and surprisingly a team leader by example

Moore is such a smooth skater, reliable defensively and an excellent passer offensive threat

Rinzel is the real deal folks! Can’t wait to see him in a Hawks jersey
 
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TLEH said:
I’m gonna say Rinzel but Levshunov is right there too. I think Rinzel just has more fluid tools
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Although not an apples-to-apples comparison regarding age and pre-collegiate background, I tend to agree and said as much last season.
 
Larmer83 said:
Although not an apples-to-apples comparison regarding age and pre-collegiate background, I tend to agree and said as much last season.
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Yea I think it's close and I'm one of the biggest Rinzel fans here. Levshunov is the better skater and stick handler. Rinzel has the better shot and is bigger. What will separate them both is hockey I.Q. which is what I think Rinzel is a better thinker of the game. But I don't believe Levshunov's hockey sense is bad like some others do.
 
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I watched the Minnesota game as well. Moore doesn’t look as engaged as he usually does so far. He was as quiet as you can be in a 1+1 outing. I have slight concerns about him being top 6 skill/play driver but he seems to be a slow starter so I’ll wait until January to really worry.

There are no worries with Rinzel. He’s mean, he’s fluid, he’s engaged. He’s too good for this level. Will get games with Hawks by end of year.

Gajan is fun to watch. He’s kind of all over the place in a good and bad way. He’s great post to post. He needs to learn to attack shooters and take more net away. He plays a little deep for me. But he’s got a long runway and the physical tools are certainly there.

Dominic James is the best player on UMD but he’s old and I don’t really care. We have a lot of James’ already but he could be a Slaggert type path

Going Levshunov, Rinzel, Jones down the right side could be nasty by 2028.
 
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Question : Would you trade Levshunov now for Moe Seider or would you keep him banking on his higher upside ? Cheers!!
 
Haven’t watched too much of him but Gajan sounds like a probably worse Fleury
 
dj Mahoney said:
Question : Would you trade Levshunov now for Moe Seider or would you keep him banking on his higher upside ? Cheers!!
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As a 2nd overall pick, I would certainly hope that Lev develops into something greater than Seider.

But that's far from a guarantee.

The wise man would take Seider, who is proven and locked up on a decent contract.
 
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Dang people continue to be low on the Hawks 2ND OVERALL PICK.

No offense to Rinzel, whose game I like, but I certainly hope Levshunov is better than a late 1st that was the USA Number 6 Defenseman in his D+2 World Juniors, that he beat out for Big Ten Hockey Defenseman of the Year while a year and a half younger, and that he matriculated into Pro Hockey earlier.

There are levels here. If Rinzel is a Middle 3 Defenseman, it's a fist-pump, at Levshunov's pedigree, you're hoping for a Number 1.
 
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WarriorofTime said:
Dang people continue to be low on the Hawks 2ND OVERALL PICK.

No offense to Rinzel, whose game I like, but I certainly hope Levshunov is better than a late 1st that was the USA Number 6 Defenseman in his D+2 World Juniors, that he beat out for Big Ten Hockey Defenseman of the Year while a year and a half younger, and that he matriculated into Pro Hockey earlier.

There are levels here. If Rinzel is a Middle 3 Defenseman, it's a fist-pump, at Levshunov's pedigree, you're hoping for a Number 1.
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I think most of us are fine with Lev, but the majority didn't have him as their first, second, or even third pick.

Rinzel was always a high upside swing. Developmentally, he was further behind than his peers. But he had lots of tools. He was seen as a guy that would take longer before he was NHL ready, but it was worth betting on.

2 years removed from his draft, and he has kept getting better and better. So far, his progression has been ideal. Exactly what the Blackhawks had hoped for.

At the end of the day, the NHL is all that matters. Lev could look way better than Rinzel when they both reach that level. The inverse is totally possible as well.

Where a player gets picked doesn't matter when all is said and done.
 
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TLEH said:
Gajan has faced 40 shots already. He's made some unreal saves too. Couple breakaways. He's so athletic.
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Dang what happened to UMD? That’s a proud hockey program and they look absolutely awful right now.

Kevin Musto said:
I think most of us are fine with Lev, but the majority didn't have him as their first, second, or even third pick.

Rinzel was always a high upside swing. Developmentally, he was further behind than his peers. But he had lots of tools. He was seen as a guy that would take longer before he was NHL ready, but it was worth betting on.

2 years removed from his draft, and he has kept getting better and better. So far, his progression has been ideal. Exactly what the Blackhawks had hoped for.

At the end of the day, the NHL is all that matters. Lev could look way better than Rinzel when they both reach that level. The inverse is totally possible as well.

Where a player gets picked doesn't matter when all is said and done.
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Understand Rinzel was/is more of a project but it’s hard to ignore completely where a prospect is/was at similar ages for comparison purposes. It’s not like Lev was some Western Canada Academy well polished figure himself. His growth between his ushl season and ncaa season was really impressive. Kid was playing in Belarus a couple years ago.
 
I think right now, you have to figure Lev >> Rinzel. And that's no disservice to Rinzel.

I will say that Rinzel has done very well for himself in the NCAA so far. Last year was his rookie season in that league (though he was in his D+2 year) and had comparable numbers to what Faber had on that team in his final season (when he was a junior, in his D+3 year).

Not to say he'll turn out better than the guy who won silver in the Calder race last season, but just saying that he could turn out to be a much bigger piece than some may think given his draft pedigree. He's also not undersized, which is something that you sometimes have to take into account comparing point totals for NCAA defensemen.

Edit: and diving a bit deeper into the comparison between Rinzel and Faber, Rinzel last year had 8 more points in 1 more game than the next best D on that team. In Faber's last season there, he was 3rd in points among D on that team, with one of those guys playing just two more games than him and the other with one less.
 
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CallMeShaft said:
I think right now, you have to figure Lev >> Rinzel. And that's no disservice to Rinzel.

I will say that Rinzel has done very well for himself in the NCAA so far. Last year was his rookie season in that league (though he was in his D+2 year) and had comparable numbers to what Faber had on that team in his final season (when he was a junior, in his D+3 year).

Not to say he'll turn out better than the guy who won silver in the Calder race last season, but just saying that he could turn out to be a much bigger piece than some may think given his draft pedigree. He's also not undersized, which is something that you sometimes have to take into account comparing point totals for NCAA defensemen.

Edit: and diving a bit deeper into the comparison between Rinzel and Faber, Rinzel last year had 8 more points in 1 more game than the next best D on that team. In Faber's last season there, he was 3rd in points among D on that team, with one of those guys playing just two more games than him and the other with one less.
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A very paltry silver, mind you
 
WarriorofTime said:
Dang people continue to be low on the Hawks 2ND OVERALL PICK.

No offense to Rinzel, whose game I like, but I certainly hope Levshunov is better than a late 1st that was the USA Number 6 Defenseman in his D+2 World Juniors, that he beat out for Big Ten Hockey Defenseman of the Year while a year and a half younger, and that he matriculated into Pro Hockey earlier.

There are levels here. If Rinzel is a Middle 3 Defenseman, it's a fist-pump, at Levshunov's pedigree, you're hoping for a Number 1.
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It's not that people are low on Lev, we're really high on Rinzel.
I think both have a chance to be 1D. Lev has the higher floor.
I was one of the bigger Lev fans last year, I just preferred Demidov because I believed in Rinzel as having 1D upside.

You look at Rinzel and can dream(operative word is dream.....not saying it's likely) about Chris Pronger.

Rinzel's ceiling is sky high, but I do think it's a longshot he gets there.
 
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Ziemer is one of those sneaky NTDP guys that because he wasn’t a superstar on that team may be a bit overlooked that I think could end up being a really good player. We’ll see though.
 
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