Butch's Top Prospects

HanSolo

DJ Crazy Times
Apr 7, 2008
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Wow, this is overall a really solid, surprisingly accurate list from 3 years ago. Impressive with the Glass, Suzuki, and Makar predictions no doubt!!!
Lol, right cause he knew Glass would get utilized in just about the worst way possible by Gallant and suffer three significant injuries for what ended up as a disaster rookie year. Even more incredible how he predicted how sharply Cody Eakin would regress from a solid 40 point two way 3C into a possession blackhole that forced any linemate he had, including Glass, to spend upwards of 60% of their TOI trying to get the puck back from their opponents.

Crazy how bang on he was with that.
 

The Crypto Guy

Registered User
Jun 26, 2017
28,304
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Explain that already. Skating posture

Yes, you wrote this:

Already a man. He skate large and his back is too far in front.
Which Team Needs Alexis Lafreniere the Most? – Overtime Heroics
Look at this picture. It's hard to explain but my feeling is that is skating will not get better because it's crossover is okay and his skating posture is ok too.

Which literally makes zero sense as a reason why why you think he is at his ceiling. Because his skating posture is good it means he's at the peak? Wtf? Kid hasn't even stepped foot into the NHL yet...first time in my life have i heard someone try to argue a player has hit their peak because of their skating posture.
 

KovalSNIPE

Registered User
Feb 9, 2011
1,282
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Obviously going to sound biased but I think you severely underrate Holtz's playmaking skill.
 

Pavels Dog

Registered User
Feb 18, 2013
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That was my list 3 year from now.
People tell me in this thread

- Makar not worth the 1st place
- People ask me if Kyrou sleep with my girlfriend
- People don't understand Suzuki 15 and Glass 43.
- People don't understand why I don't have Chlapik
- Gaudette is 61. Someone tell me that he is a minimum of top 20
- People challenge me at Thomas > Frost
- Somoene tell me that he have stop read the list with Chabot at #2
- Need more ''Josh Brook''

Ok I check this list 3 year after and the list is not perfect but not that bad. Makar is at the right place, Chabot Pettersson and Connor too. Jost? To high but I still believe in him that he could turn into a good two way center but way to high. His offensive potentiel his below what I tought
That was the list you "forgot" Filip Hronek.. I will never forget! LOL.
 

apadilla

Registered User
Dec 27, 2007
1,661
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Thank you for your effort. I can see you put a lot into this. But wow, I have to say you sure are down on LA Kings top prospects. Lots of bad about Quinton (12) and Alex (46). You do have lots of love for the Ducks (3) & (4).
 

Kibe

Regular User
Jan 17, 2012
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I am a Devils fan. I had Quinn way above Holtz (3rd vs 11th) and still do. Since watching Holtz a bit more, I probably would bump him up slightly in my rankings to 9th, but I absolutely stand by my position on Quinn. I was upset about not picking Quinn and still am, but still think Holtz is a great prospect to have. If you want my explanation, here goes.

Quinn is a much more versatile shooter than Holtz. Sure, Holtz is able to get better velocity on his shots, and is probably a better set shooter than Quinn. But Quinn also is a lot better in a lot of areas of shooting. His release is phenomenal, it is very deceptive and quick. He can get his shot off almost anywhere, he is a great shooter in transition. Those are valuable skills to have. You can have a great shot, but if you are too slow to get it off, defenders are going to block it. Quinn will never have that problem because his shot gets off ridiculously fast. Holtz's passing has impressed me, but Quinn's is criminally underrated. That, combined with his hands, are by far in my opinion the most underrated aspects of any player in the entire 2020 NHL draft. His stickhandling is absolutely elite. It is ridiculous how little it is talked about. He is easily able to slip in and out of traffic and use his hands to beat goaltenders and finish in tight. Holtz doesn't have this same ability. His passing is impressive, but I'd really want him to improve his hands. Next, skating. Neither are amazing. But Quinn definitely appears much faster to me and has really solid edgework and is good at splitting defenders and maneuvering in tight spaces. Holtz looks a little sluggish at times, especially during the WJC. That is the main thing I want him to work on no doubt. Defensive ability is not even contestable. Quinn was a top 3 defensive player in the entire draft. It helped that he played on a stacked team, but who do you think was shutting down the other teams on the PK. It was Quinn. Overall a really impressive, mature defensive ability that you don't usually see out of guys his age. Holtz is just average in that regard, nothing special, but nothing terrible either.
I can understand having Quinn ahead of Holtz but are u saying u had him ranked 3rd on the draft day? That one seems a bit odd to say the least.
 
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RememberTheName

Conductor of the Schmid Bandwagon
Jan 5, 2016
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I can understand having Quinn ahead of Holtz but are u saying u had him ranked 3rd on the draft day? That one seems a bit odd to say the least.
It definitely is a bit odd, especially when most people have him ranked around 8-10. I just really like what he brings to the game. Guy's like Mark Stone are guys you win with. Jack Quinn, in my opinion, plays like a combination of Mark Stone and David Pastrnak. Note, this is not what I think his potential is, just stylistically, that is what I came up with for him. I think his high-end potential is around what Stone brings now with a little more creativity, flare, and a better shot, but slightly worse defense, but still elite. Him and Stutzle were essentially interchangeable for me on draft day between 3 and 4, but I decided to put Quinn at 3 because I liked how complete his game was. But I essentially had them ranked almost equal. Right now, if I was to rerank, I would put Stutzle two, Quinn three, Byfield four. WJC bias definitely, but I was really always a little bit skeptical about Byfield and finally decided to drop him down and just go with my gut on him rather than consensus.

Rankings, to me, are all subjective. It's a matter of instinct and going with your gut on guys. Every time I watched Quinn, I came away super impressed. When I watched a guy on the same team who I had a little lower, Rossi, I never was able to get the same feelings about him. I just never saw the it-factor with Rossi when I watched him, but I had to respect how good he was at producing points, so I had him around 15. I might end up being right, and I might end up being wrong (which is definitely more likely). But my ranking of Quinn is based off of my viewings of him, where I thought he deserved to be ranked that high. Others may disagree, and they may end up being right. But I could not follow the consensus on the guy when I came away too impressed every viewing.
 

Kibe

Regular User
Jan 17, 2012
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It definitely is a bit odd, especially when most people have him ranked around 8-10. I just really like what he brings to the game. Guy's like Mark Stone are guys you win with. Jack Quinn, in my opinion, plays like a combination of Mark Stone and David Pastrnak. Note, this is not what I think his potential is, just stylistically, that is what I came up with for him. I think his high-end potential is around what Stone brings now with a little more creativity, flare, and a better shot, but slightly worse defense, but still elite. Him and Stutzle were essentially interchangeable for me on draft day between 3 and 4, but I decided to put Quinn at 3 because I liked how complete his game was. But I essentially had them ranked almost equal. Right now, if I was to rerank, I would put Stutzle two, Quinn three, Byfield four. WJC bias definitely, but I was really always a little bit skeptical about Byfield and finally decided to drop him down and just go with my gut on him rather than consensus.

Rankings, to me, are all subjective. It's a matter of instinct and going with your gut on guys. Every time I watched Quinn, I came away super impressed. When I watched a guy on the same team who I had a little lower, Rossi, I never was able to get the same feelings about him. I just never saw the it-factor with Rossi when I watched him, but I had to respect how good he was at producing points, so I had him around 15. I might end up being right, and I might end up being wrong (which is definitely more likely). But my ranking of Quinn is based off of my viewings of him, where I thought he deserved to be ranked that high. Others may disagree, and they may end up being right. But I could not follow the consensus on the guy when I came away too impressed every viewing.
Yeah i guess i can get that. The same "it" factor is why i was higher on Raymond than most people. So i guess same way i saw (and still do) Raymond u see Quinn.
 
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Butch26

Registered User
Dec 12, 2016
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Yes, you wrote this:


Which literally makes zero sense as a reason why why you think he is at his ceiling. Because his skating posture is good it means he's at the peak? Wtf? Kid hasn't even stepped foot into the NHL yet...first time in my life have i heard someone try to argue a player has hit their peak because of their skating posture.

Where I try to say that Lafrenière hit her peak? Haha. I said that I feel that Stutzle have more space to it than Lafrenière
Lafrenière is already a men, and his game is already complete in the way he play. And yeah I feel with his posture that his skating speed are at the top now. He don't have the dynamic wheel of some player who skate large, and yeah a back to far in front it very restrictive.

Try it at home. Make a ankle flexion and adverse your back. Try to push with your leg to the side. Automatically when your back are to much in front, your leg want to go behind and when your stride go behind, you are not in your edge but on your glide so you lost little bit of power.

That what happens with the skating of Alexis Lafrenière. I don't say that he his a bad skater, he are a very good skater but I don't see how he can get a better speed
 

Butch26

Registered User
Dec 12, 2016
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Obviously going to sound biased but I think you severely underrate Holtz's playmaking skill.

He had great passing skills with time. Like Vanek. But him under pressure on the board, back to the play and nothing will happens
 

Butch26

Registered User
Dec 12, 2016
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I didn't want to comment because I appreciate the time you put into these and feel like it's far more effort I would put in to a prospect list (especially with such description at the beginning). However, putting Byfield at #12 I completely disagree with there. Byfield is fantastic on the zone entry, uses his body effectively to shield the puck, has very good vision on the ice and recently, developed a 2way game that he lacked.

Working with Roberts, you can see his strength, and working as the 3C in the WJC his defensive play was fantastic.

Where Byfield seems to get a lot of criticism vs someone like Stuetzle is in their different movements. Byfield has a longer stride, Stuetzle's legs are always moving (for better or worse - no one seems to comment on his turnovers or being out of position and ha I g to make up for it with those movements).

Byfield is a package that you don't see come along often, and I can't remember a #2 pick that's garnered so much negative criticism a few months after being drafted, before playing an NHL game, and after a handful of games in a short tournament where he was the youngest player on his team (being often compared to the captain of a small nation team who played 30mins a night in that short tournament).

So, it's not meant to be disrespectful on any regard, just a rebutle and a disagreement with your assessment.

It's seem fair, 90% of analyst will have byfield in their top and I respect that. No WJ bias, I never really liked him like other people. Will see!
 

Macky

Registered User
Jun 25, 2018
36
27
nobody talks about Norlinder at 20 ????
Caufield at 13 ???
homer list, sorry
Norlinder has a lot but a lot of difficulty in the Swedish first division, and he's almost 21, not 19.
but overall, it's still preference or love for some player rather than others
 

Butch26

Registered User
Dec 12, 2016
451
474
Qc
nobody talks about Norlinder at 20 ????
Caufield at 13 ???
homer list, sorry
Norlinder has a lot but a lot of difficulty in the Swedish first division, and he's almost 21, not 19.
but overall, it's still preference or love for some player rather than others

Homer list.
0 habs player in the last year except Poehling and Romanov around 25-40. Caufield was 6 on my list at his draft. I have to put Norlinder 45 because in from Qc? Yeah surely i will put a list here for pushing Habs prospect lol. If you know how much i don’t care at all haha.
 

57special

Posting the right way since 2012.
Sep 5, 2012
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That was my list 3 year from now.
People tell me in this thread

- Makar not worth the 1st place
- People ask me if Kyrou sleep with my girlfriend
- People don't understand Suzuki 15 and Glass 43.
- People don't understand why I don't have Chlapik
- Gaudette is 61. Someone tell me that he is a minimum of top 20
- People challenge me at Thomas > Frost
- Somoene tell me that he have stop read the list with Chabot at #2
- Need more ''Josh Brook''

Ok I check this list 3 year after and the list is not perfect but not that bad. Makar is at the right place, Chabot Pettersson and Connor too. Jost? To high but I still believe in him that he could turn into a good two way center but way to high. His offensive potentiel his below what I tought

Kaprizov will be rocking the league and he deserve the spot. Never had been a fans or Puljujarvi but be patient with him. Tolvanen was a big mistake and Mittelsdtadt too. I still believe in their big asset but they have to turn around their career. Liljegren? too high. Heinskanen? I underestimate his skating ability at the time, they are more than elite. Necas at the good place, Andersson bad evaluation too. Fox-Suzuki-Strome good evaluation.

So you can have your opinion, and he certainly do bad ranking. And you know what? I do bad ranking when I follow what people say or the draft ranking. I put there Juolevi, Puljuj and Andersson because of their draft ranking and I never really like these player like I do with Quinton Byfield. I love Mittelstadt and Tolvanen that was bad scouting

  1. Cale Makar
  2. Thomas Chabot
  3. Ellias Petterson
  4. Kyle Connor
  5. Tyson Jost
  6. Kirill Kaprizov
  7. Jesse Puljujarvi
  8. Eeli Tolvanen
  9. Casey Mittelstadt
  10. Timothy Liljegren
  11. Miro Heinskanen
  12. Martin Necas
  13. Lias Andersson
  14. Adam Fox
  15. Nick Suzuki
  16. Dylan Strome
  17. Klim Kostin
  18. Oli Juolevi
  19. Kristian Vesalainen
  20. Janne Kuokkonen
  21. Filip Chytil
  22. Ryan Poehling
  23. Kale Clague
  24. Dante Fabbro
  25. Tage Thompson
  26. Alex Tuch
  27. Luke Kunin
  28. Robert Thomas
  29. Phillipe Myers
  30. Victor Mete
  31. Cal Foote
  32. Jordan Greenway
  33. Erik Brannstrom
  34. Juuso Valimaki
  35. Jack Roslovic
  36. Joel Eriksson-Ek
  37. Logan Brown
  38. Kailer Yammamoto
  39. Alexander Nylander
  40. Connor Timmins
  41. Aleksi Heponiemi
  42. Sam Steel
  43. Cody Glass
  44. Kieffer Bellows
  45. Rasmus Andersson
  46. Henri Jokiharju
  47. Colin White
  48. Owen Tippet
  49. Gabriel Villardi
  50. Michael Rasmussen
Not bad at all, Butch!FWIW, I had Mittelstadt really high, and I have been watching him since he was 13-14( he played in the same summer organization as my son, and practiced with him). I will still maintain that he has some of the best stick skills and vision of any prospect I have ever seen, and at 6', 200 lbs. thought he would be big enough to be able to survive in the NHL.
 

seadawg

Registered User
Sep 22, 2008
905
453
Yes, you wrote this:



Which literally makes zero sense as a reason why why you think he is at his ceiling. Because his skating posture is good it means he's at the peak? Wtf? Kid hasn't even stepped foot into the NHL yet...first time in my life have i heard someone try to argue a player has hit their peak because of their skating posture.

Perhaps what the OP meant is that compared to Stutzle (who was #1 on his list), Lafreniere is more developed and therefore doesn't have as much room to grow as someone like Stutzle.

I think a lot of people can agree on that. Lafreniere is a more complete player at this stage compared to Stutzle, but it is entirely possible that Stutzle will develop into a better player than Lafreniere in time. I believe the skating issue is merely an example of that. Lafreniere's skating style (in the OP's opinion, not mine cause I know little about this) is fully developed whereas Stutzle's skating can still get better as he gets stronger/more physically mature.
 

Macky

Registered User
Jun 25, 2018
36
27
i'm from Montreal, i'm a canadian fan.
but when I see the rank of thaïs two players, it looks like a homer list
 

ReginKarlssonLehner

Let's Win It All
May 3, 2010
40,944
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Great list, I remember reading your previous ones and you have been more accurate on their projections than many notable professional ones. Seriously.

Wow is Brannstrom high though... I hope you are right.
 
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Butch26

Registered User
Dec 12, 2016
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Not bad at all, Butch!FWIW, I had Mittelstadt really high, and I have been watching him since he was 13-14( he played in the same summer organization as my son, and practiced with him). I will still maintain that he has some of the best stick skills and vision of any prospect I have ever seen, and at 6', 200 lbs. thought he would be big enough to be able to survive in the NHL.

it's a little frustrating when you look back at this list. I mean, what I miss with Casey Mittelstadt? But like I said, my take should always be paired with a more conversation coach/gm who will find some thing that I can't see and vice versa
But Mittelstadt was a very special in the way he handle the puck. He had the wide range and the individual tactique of Jack Eichel, excellent edge, was creating lot of speed when he was on C-Cuts. He was not strong on the ice so that was worried me a little bit but I was thinking that his skillset was to good. I hope he can find his play again
 

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