Best U24 projected starting lline-up between MTL, ANA, CHI, SJS, DET and OTT?

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Anaheim Ducks
Carlsson is freaking stud, really really like McTavish and Mintyukov and it's crazy that team has such a big 3. Zellweger is great. Zegras I'm not sure what's going on there currently but I can't ignore two 60+ point seasons. I'm actually a Suchanek fan but he's a toss up for NHL starter or not. This group will be as quick as anyone to turn the puck the other way and put it in the back of your net

Detroit Red Wings
Built the best and biggest from the back end, and most proven of any back end. Cossa is the best goalie of the bunch. Raymond is a 70 point player already. Kasper has already elevated the team since arriving. Danielson is gonna fly under the radar and play big minutes for the Wings down the middle. With this group I think they will be the hardest to score on and biggest pain in the ass to match up against

Montreal Canadiens
Arguably the highest potential in their forward group. I do like Hutson and Guhle but the latter may top out as a #2. Also a big Fowler fan, though he's still young and in college. Caufield is a dangerous scorer and already stepped right into 20 playoff games for his career and proved himself there

San Jose Sharks
Celebrini and Smith is gonna be one of the most feared pairs down the middle for a decade. Eklund coming along very well. I like Dickinson but unsure if he's a bonafide #1 or a Hanifin-like #2. Cagnoni I'm not really high on but would be happy to be proven wrong. Askarov is still a wildcard to me, but I have liked him

Chicago Blackhawks
#98 is self explanatory! Love Nazar, but want more from Reichel. Levshunov I've been maybe a bit lower on, but he does have a lot of potential to eat big minutes. Vlasic is excellent though idk if he becomes a #1D. Commesso is a fine prospect, but closer to 10-15 in a prospect ranking for me

Ottawa Senators
Stutzle is gonna be flirting with 90 points more often than not. Pinto and Greig are very solid supporting players, especially Pinto. Sanderson is a beast and will eat big minutes for years and years. Yakemchuk though very early could be a huge boom. Love how he sees and moves around the ice. Never really liked Sogaard, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong

Suchanek is going to be a back up at best cause dostal is going to be our goalie for a while(dostal missed age cut off for this, but he’s only 24 and the ducks #1)

 

[ViD]

Columbus is better than a few of these teams, weird to not include them

 

[NyQuil]

Columbus is better than a few of these teams, weird to not include them

Make your own poll.

Problem solved!

 

[Baksfamous112]

to me it’s Anaheim - Montreal - Ottawa right now

 

[Stewie Griffin]

This is a really good poll and I haven't voted because I can't answer. I also can't decide who's the clear worst.

OTT/DET have guys that are already proven in the league. SJS guys all need to still actually play in the NHL.

Outside of Bedard, Chicago is clearly the worst, but he at least makes it a serious debate.

 

[Sting]

to me it’s Anaheim - Montreal - Ottawa right now

I think there's a very realistic chance Montreal comes out of their rebuild without a 1C (although I think Suzuki can be considered one), 1D and 1G. For that reason it is hard to rank them above teams where they clearly have 2/3 or even 3/3 of these in the system.

I think ANA/OTT/DET would be the clear top 3 here.

SJ and MTL have too many boom/bust types. They're not all going to hit.

Hawks need a lot more pieces to be considered with these teams imo.

 

[Baksfamous112]

I think there's a very realistic chance Montreal comes out of their rebuild without a 1C (although I think Suzuki can be considered one), 1D and 1G. For that reason it is hard to rank them above teams where they clearly have 2/3 or even 3/3 of these in the system.

I think ANA/OTT/DET would be the clear top 3 here.

SJ and MTL have too many boom/bust types. They're not all going to hit.

Hawks need a lot more pieces to be considered with these teams imo.

There’s no concerns about Suzuki’s ability to be a 1C. None at all.

I think there is concerns about Habs having a true 1D but they do have Hutson, Guhle and Reinbacher who has the potential to get there. You only really need to hit with 1 of them.

You can win a cup with a mid #1 goalie. Plenty of example in the past of teams doing it that way. Montembeault is just that. Fowler is our only chance to getting an elite goalie and even if he doesn’t hit, a good all-around team can win with a guy like Montembeault. It shouldn’t be a priority though

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

There’s no concerns about Suzuki’s ability to be a 1C. None at all.

I think there is concerns about Habs having a true 1D but they do have Hutson, Guhle and Reinbacher who has the potential to get there. You only really need to hit with 1 of them.

You can win a cup with a mid #1 goalie. Plenty of example in the past of teams doing it that way. Montembeault is just that. Fowler is our only chance to getting an elite goalie and even if he doesn’t hit, a good all-around team can win with a guy like Montembeault. It shouldn’t be a priority though

I think the big question mark for habs is can they find a reliable 2c…. Personally don’t think dach is that… hage is intriguing but prob at least 2 years out.

Defensively idk that any of the guys you listed become 1d, but I think Montreal can have a strong 6 balanced defense… something like 6 top 4 quality dmen. I feel similar with Anaheim d core(tho I think Mintyukov can be a #1)

Goalie I think fowler is fantastic and eventually becomes their net minder for the foreseeable future.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

I feel like Clara over sucahnek for Anaheim…. But our young goalie is already a starter in nhl, and will be for the foreseeable future(dostal, 24)

San Jose imo will be scariest going forward

I'm surprised I wasn't in the minority voting for Anaheim, and tend to agree with you on San Jose.

 

[Baksfamous112]

I think the big question mark for habs is can they find a reliable 2c…. Personally don’t think dach is that… hage is intriguing but prob at least 2 years out.

Defensively idk that any of the guys you listed become 1d, but I think Montreal can have a strong 6 balanced defense… something like 6 top 4 quality dmen. I feel similar with Anaheim d core(tho I think Mintyukov can be a #1)

Goalie I think fowler is fantastic and eventually becomes their net minder for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I think Habs might have to look outside the organization for a 2C at some point. For the moment, they can give Dach another year or two to see if he's better off at C or at wing but eventually, they will have to make a decision. He's been pretty good at the of his first season at Montreal and for a game and a half last year before the injury but hasn't shown much so far this year.

We will see our D. Guhle is the closest to a finishing product and he does look like he's going to be an elite #2 or a low end #1. Hutson is doing things only Hughes and Makar have done at 20 but he still needs to show progression to eventually get to where Hughes and Makar are and it's not going to be easy, so we'll see. I think the biggest question mark is Reinbacher. He was pretty good when he went to Laval last year, I thought he was better than Mailloux already. He was timid during camp while showing flashes of his skill set. Missing 3/4 of the season is a hard blow and we'll see how he progresses when he's back and healthy.

I would be equally happy if Montreal doesn't end up with a 1D but has 2-3 #2 and another top 4 in Mailloux. We already have the depth for our last pairing, so even if no one pans out as a #1 D we can still manage with a deep core at D.

Fowler will probably play in the NHL. Goalies are hard to predict so we'll see. However, that's the least of my concerns. I'm way more concerned about the right side of our D than our G. Reinbacher and Mailloux are the two pieces that can't flop and acquiring a top 4 RHD in his prime is next to impossible, so we need those two to hit.

**I like where Anaheim is going with their D as well. I do think they are currently missing a top 4 minute muncher in its prime. Funnily enough, I think Montreal is also missing the same piece right now to be in the mix. Too many inexperienced D

 

[TBF1972]

Hutson is doing things only Hughes and Makar have done at 20 but he still needs to show progression to eventually get to where Hughes and Makar are and it's not going to be easy, so we'll see.

I wonder how you argue Hutson over Dahlin up to their age 20 season.

 

[x Tame Impala]

This thread will be funny in 5 years when the Hawks are the best in the league again. They already have the best player between these teams.

 

[Xirik]

This thread will be funny in 5 years when the Hawks are the best in the league again. They already have the best player between these teams.

That depends on if he runs into a brick wall again.

 

[majormajor]

• I like Minnesota's starting U24 a lot. They have the best backend and goalie. And Boldy, Yurov, and Rossi up front is competitive with several of these rebuilding clubs.

• The Jackets have a better group than many of these clubs in the poll. Fantilli, then Chinakhov, Marchenko, and Kent Johnson all breaking out right now. Take your pick of Sillinger, Brindley, and Cayden Lindstrom, and you would have 5-7 forwards I take over Chicago's 2nd best U24 forward. Mateychuk and Jiricek on the backend. (For these purposes I'm going to say the starting 6 is Fantilli, Chinakhov, KJ, Mateychuk, Jiricek, Greaves)

• Bedard is not a generational player and I don't think he's going to single-handedly carry that weaker supporting cast. Their other young forwards are a step back from this pack. I don't like the Levshunov pick but with Vlasic and some of their other D prospects though they have some great options for a D pairing.

• Anaheim has been my favorite in this type of poll for a while. Leo Carlsson is the perfect prototype for a dominant 1C and Pavel Mintyukov I have as a star 1D. But I'm starting to have more uncertainty about all the other guys. Gauthier, McTavish are not looking amazing to me, Zegras looks bad.

• Ottawa is the best or very close to the best. Stu, then really solid two way guys in Pinto and Greig, and in my opinion an elite D combo in Sanderson and Yakemchuk. That could end up as the best D combo.

• Montreal by comparison is loaded with B+ guys. I would take Sanderson and Yak over Hutson and Guhle. If Demidov pops as a superstar it does change things a lot up front. Suzuki I think is a real 1C so in real terms I'm not concerned about their forward rebuild. The D group is flat though unless someone (Hutson) achieves liftoff, and that is I think still very uncertain.

• I absolutely love Edvinsson. Him and Seider would be incredibly dominant, maybe better than Buium-Faber. But up front it's a good topline forward in Raymond and then a bunch of B+ guys.

• I'm really not persuaded with San Jose. Not a Will Smith guy. Dickinson will be okayish and who knows with Cagnoni.

For me the top groups are:

Ottawa
Columbus
Anaheim

and then a small gap to the next five, in

Minnesota
Detroit
Montreal
San Jose
Chicago

That two-fold division is clear to me, the within group ordering is roughly like this without rigorously weighing it out.

 

[emptyNedder]

A little scary because they are already in the Cup favorite mix, but Dallas (especially if you are only talking skaters).

Stankoven/Johnston/Bourque
Harley/Bischel

maybe Tiefensee

 

[Crow]

This thread will be funny in 5 years when the Hawks are the best in the league again. They already have the best player between these teams.

Hawks are very early in their rebuild, and don’t fit the mold of this thread yet. They also have amazing depth on defense that gets ignored here. Rinzel and Korchinski have a solid chance at being top pairing caliber as well. If we do this thread after they get another top 5 pick at forward it will look completely different.

Completely disagree with those saying San Jose will be definitely be the scariest. They need to draft and develop defensive prospects and that will take a lot of time, if it works out. Dickinson is nice. Long way for them to go though.