C Dean Letourneau - St. Andrew's College, CAHS (2024, 25th, BOS)

[BigHitter67]

He's my pick at 26 for the Habs. Need to take this type of gamble

Another 1st round bust for Habs ?

 

[wetcoast]

Habs should be eyeing him for Jets pick

He gives me Michael McCarron vibes and not in a good way either.

But feel free Hughes.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Another 1st round bust for Habs ?

Most picks in that range are a 'bust' but I don't think anyone would be too upset if they took the gamble. You invested a lot in your development staff, let them cook.

He gives me Michael McCarron vibes and not in a good way either.

But feel free Hughes.

Other than being tall there's nothing alike. Letourneau is a skill guy, McCarron was big and physical where they hoped there was more offense in him than he showed.

 

[wetcoast]

Most picks in that range are a 'bust' but I don't think anyone would be too upset if they took the gamble. You invested a lot in your development staff, let them cook.



Other than being tall there's nothing alike. Letourneau is a skill guy, McCarron was big and physical where they hoped there was more offense in him than he showed.

The Habs have a bad habit of picking tall centers starting with Wickenheiser.

In more recent times it has been McCarron and KK.

For me his actual play is more second round like and there will probably be better centers when they pick and better prospects but that's just me

The further one gets in the draft the larger the divergence of opinion and heck this drafts divergence starts really early with the #2 pick right.

 

[dreadpirateroberts]

 

[MichaelFarrell]

I don’t know about that. Seems like a risky move for him. Physically, he could probably play with older competition, but AAA straight to NCAA seems like a big step.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I don’t know about that. Seems like a risky move for him. Physically, he could probably play with older competition l, but AAA straight to NCAA seems like a big step.

I agree, I'm considering sliding him down my board a little bit because of this news. He's also unlikely to get the same opportunities in BC because that team will still be stacked in the top 6, so not sure going to NCAA Div 1 and playing bottom 6 is the right move. Play against better competition in the USHL and get all the prime line 1 and pp1 opportunities against that competition.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

I agree, I'm considering sliding him down my board a little bit because of this news. He's also unlikely to get the same opportunities in BC because that team will still be stacked in the top 6, so not sure going to NCAA Div 1 and playing bottom 6 is the right move. Play against better competition in the USHL and get all the prime line 1 and pp1 opportunities against that competition.

If it doesn’t work out he always has the opportunity to transfer now. But, I think he might actually be better off on a team like Providence, Northeastern, or St. Cloud. Solid NCAA organizations that would actually allow him to compete for top line minutes.

Maybe I’m just underestimating the player, but I think you’re right. I don’t think he will get the opportunity to play as a top 6 center until maybe his junior or even senior year considering the recruits that BC gets.

 

[Gecklund]

Oh I hate this. I haven’t paid a ton of attention to the BC recruitment though. With Cutter and Smith both leaving, any chance he will get top 6 C minutes?

 

[Body Checker]

When do these huge guys with “scary” projectable skills ever hit on that projection? Pretty much never. I just looked at the top 50 scorers last season and really only Barkov and Rantanen are big guys but they were high end prospects, they weren’t projects. He’s a 2nd rounder for me.

 

[rt]

I don’t know about that. Seems like a risky move for him. Physically, he could probably play with older competition l, but AAA straight to NCAA seems like a big step.

Jonathan Castagna just made that same jump from St Andrews to Cornell. And he had a great season. Looked awesome in the tournament.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Jonathan Castagna just made that same jump from St Andrews to Cornell. And he had a great season. Looked awesome in the tournament.

Castagna had a good year, but nothing special. The production jump is noteworthy going from essentially HS-Prep/AAA to NCAA, but he will have to keep growing in terms of production/performance.

Additionally, the ECAC is nowhere close to Hockey East in terms of quality, so just something to note.

 

[rt]

Castagna had a good year, but nothing special. The production jump is noteworthy going from essentially HS-Prep/AAA to NCAA, but he will have to keep growing in terms of production/performance.

Additionally, the ECAC is nowhere close to Hockey East in terms of quality, so just something to note.

Did you watch him play?

 

[bigdog16]

When do these huge guys with “scary” projectable skills ever hit on that projection? Pretty much never. I just looked at the top 50 scorers last season and really only Barkov and Rantanen are big guys but they were high end prospects, they weren’t projects. He’s a 2nd rounder for me.

Tage Thompson is the most recent example. Could argue Chris Kreider if you want to go back that far. But yeah there are more flops than guys who panned out.

 

[GAGLine]

Castagna had a good year, but nothing special. The production jump is noteworthy going from essentially HS-Prep/AAA to NCAA, but he will have to keep growing in terms of production/performance.

Additionally, the ECAC is nowhere close to Hockey East in terms of quality, so just something to note.

Kreider made the jump from HS-Prep to BC in 2009-10. I don't know how Letourneau will fare, but given the wealth of talent he'll be playing with, it may help him more than hurt him.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Kreider made the jump from HS-Prep to BC in 2009-10. I don't know how Letourneau will fare, but given the wealth of talent he'll be playing with, it may help him more than hurt him.

Kreider is the exception, not the rule.

 

[Redpath]

Is there anything to make of Jack Good, his teammate with similarly great numbers?

 

[GAGLine]

Kreider is the exception, not the rule.

Which players are the rule? I can't imagine this scenario happens that often. At least not since the USNTDP started.

Brian Leetch was another exception, also Boston College.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Which players are the rule? I can't imagine this scenario happens that often.

Brian Leetch was another exception, also Boston College.

I meant that Kreider turning out to become a 25-30 goals per season guy coming directly out of HS or HS-Prep is the exception, not the rule.

Most guys who are drafted directly out of MN HS, HS-Prep (anywhere) tend to become nothing of note, especially if they bypass the USHL. Higher profile guys who go this route nowadays tend to top out at Mark Jankowski (decent depth, nothing special) or Riley Tufte (AAAA type). At least with Casey Mittelstadt, he had a decent USHL sample size. Jay O'Brien (late birthday, worth noting) went from HS-Prep to the NCAA and completely busted, but it's not his fault the Flyers drafted him 25-30 picks too high.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

When do these huge guys with “scary” projectable skills ever hit on that projection? Pretty much never. I just looked at the top 50 scorers last season and really only Barkov and Rantanen are big guys but they were high end prospects, they weren’t projects. He’s a 2nd rounder for me.

What is his supposed upside? I don't think anyone should be expecting like an 80 point scorer. If you get 40 points out of a player this big, that's a very valuable hockey player and well worth a first round pick.

 

[wickedwitch]

I meant that Kreider turning out to become a 25-30 goals per season guy coming directly out of HS or HS-Prep is the exception, not the rule.

Most guys who are drafted directly out of MN HS, HS-Prep (anywhere) tend to become nothing of note, especially if they bypass the USHL. Higher profile guys who go this route nowadays tend to top out at Mark Jankowski (decent depth, nothing special) or Riley Tufte (AAAA type). At least with Casey Mittelstadt, he had a decent USHL sample size. Jay O'Brien (late birthday, worth noting) went from HS-Prep to the NCAA and completely busted, but it's not his fault the Flyers drafted him 25-30 picks too high.

It's not an identical situation, but TJ Oshie only played 11 USHL games between prep and college, and he was great in college (and in the NHL).

 

[Hockeyville USA]

It's not an identical situation, but TJ Oshie only played 11 USHL games between prep and college, and he was great in college (and in the NHL).

Correct. That was back at the time when the USHL wasn't strong nor was it perceived to be as strong. Back then, more of the MN and MA kids stayed home to play HS/HS-Prep. IIRC, Oshie was thought to be playing below his talent level, as he wanted to play high school hockey for Warroad. Not sure if USHL teams or the very young NTDP pursued him, but it's known that he turned down WHL interest (most of his minor hockey career was in Washington, definitely Dub territory) to move to Warroad and play for them.

Letourneau is an oddity, as the top NCAA route Canadians tend to get a USHL (or BCHL) season in prior to being drafted. We'll see how this plays out.

 

[uncleben]

Is there anything to make of Jack Good, his teammate with similarly great numbers?

I had a very similar questions last night as well

Here is @Daniel Gee 's fantastic response about what makes Letourneau a standout player, and he touches a little bit on Good.

 

[BKarchitect]

What is his supposed upside? I don't think anyone should be expecting like an 80 point scorer. If you get 40 points out of a player this big, that's a very valuable hockey player and well worth a first round pick.

Yeah I mean just looking at a list of top scorers is kind of negating the things that most “big guys” do well which is to be factors outside of just netting points.

I don’t know Dean Letourneau from Adam outside of scouting reports but most of them comment on a the potential for a heavy game and good playmaking aside from just being a project with size and skating. Maybe he projects much safer as a Jordan Greenway than a Tage Thompson - and Greenway won’t be near anybody’s top 100 scorer list…but they can still be a valuable player and worth a late 1st look.

Letourneau sounds like high upside, low percentage of reaching that high upside (or at least we have a poor idea of just how attainable that is because of the competition level) - but also high floor and pretty good shot at being something useful at the highest level.

 

[RiverbottomChuck]

I can see (maybe hoping) the B’s taking a flyer on him if he makes it to 25. They need centers with size and potential upside even if hes unlikely to be that top 6 guy.