C Gabriel Vilardi (2017, 11th, LAK)
- Thread starter Brew
- Start date
You the man! Videos like these are so much better than just highlights. Much appreciation!
AvsCOL
Registered User
- Jul 16, 2013
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Hey, thanks for putting this up. Nice to have it all together in one video.
My view on Vilardi is that, yes, his skating needs a lot of work, but skating can be worked on and improved at the next level. I'm more enamoured with the other attributes that are harder to come by, like his general hockey IQ, and NHL-ready size. Those things can't be taught.
The Avalanche need a #1D at this point in the rebuild, more than anything else, but I'd be more than happy with Vilardi at #4. Personally I don't view him as an all-star type player at the next level, but I think he's in that very next tier. Could see him being very similar to Landeskog in terms of offensive production, but more of a natural goal scorer, and very good defensively as well.
My view on Vilardi is that, yes, his skating needs a lot of work, but skating can be worked on and improved at the next level. I'm more enamoured with the other attributes that are harder to come by, like his general hockey IQ, and NHL-ready size. Those things can't be taught.
The Avalanche need a #1D at this point in the rebuild, more than anything else, but I'd be more than happy with Vilardi at #4. Personally I don't view him as an all-star type player at the next level, but I think he's in that very next tier. Could see him being very similar to Landeskog in terms of offensive production, but more of a natural goal scorer, and very good defensively as well.
I don't know what type of skills Lando showed in Jr, but it seems that Vilardi has better hands and more creativity. Lando doesn't seem to pplay near as smart around the net either.
Is it just me or did his skating get noticeably better from Jan to Feb?
Is it just me or did his skating get noticeably better from Jan to Feb?
hradekbr
Registered User
- Apr 19, 2017
- 67
- 8
With the number 3 pick you shouldn't be drafting on position need, especially in this draft. Dallas needs to take who they think is the best player available when they're on the clock. That might be Vilardi, it may be Heiskanen, it could be someone else.
I've seen some of these charts comparing Cody Glass to Ryan Johansen, Nolan Patrick, and Mark Scheifele.
I'll use those same categories to compare his statistics with Gabe Vilardi's. If one looks at Vilardi's statistics this season and is unimpressed, it is because of the assist totals.
Games Played: 48 GP (Vilardi) vs 69 GP (Glass)
Goals/Game: 0.59 (Vilardi) vs 0.46 (Glass)
Primary Assists/Game: 0.39 (Vilardi) vs 0.52 (Glass)
Secondary Assists/Game: 0.27 (Vilardi) vs 0.39 (Glass)
Points/Game: 1.24 (Vilardi) vs 1.38 (Glass)
Primary Points/Game: 0.98 (Vilardi) vs 0.99 (Glass)
5v5 Goals/Game: 0.35 (Vilardi) vs 0.29 (Glass)
5v5 Primary Assists/Game: 0.31 (Vilardi) vs 0.39 (Glass)
5v5 Secondary Assists/Game: 0.12 (Vilardi) vs 0.23 (Glass)
5v5 Points/Game: 0.78 (Vilardi) vs 0.91 (Glass)
5v5 Primary Points/Game: 0.65 (Vilardi) vs 0.68 (Glass)
*data for Gabriel Vilardi sourced from Prospect-stats.com
http://prospect-stats.com/WHL/2016/player/26958/
McKenzie was the beneficiary of most of Glass' passes. He improved from 8 goals last season to 42 goals this season. Glass assisted on 25 of those goals, 19 of which were primary assists.
http://prospect-stats.com/OHL/2016/player/7156/
It is shocking to note that, out of Vilardi's 29 goals, 32 assists, 61 points in 49 games this season, Julius Nattinen only assisted on 6 of Vilardi's goals, converted 4 goals where Vilardi was credited with an assist, and shared the assist log with Vilardi three other times. In summary, Nattinen factored in on only 13 of Vilardi's 61 points this season. Despite playing all of that time together, Vilardi was entirely unproductive playing with Nattinen. The two were first placed together on a line on November 6, 2016.
To compare, Max Fortier contributed to 47.9% of Nico Hischier's point totals from the start of the season to the World Juniors break when I last crunched those numbers. Last season, Jayce Hawryluk contributed to 67.05% of Nolan Patrick's 2015-16 totals. If you want to talk about a player not producing with his main linemate, you need only to look at Nattinen, who contributed to 21.3% of Vilardi's point total this season. The forward with the next-most amount of time playing with Vilardi was Jeremiah Addison, who assisted on 8 of Vilardi's goals and factored in on 19 of Vilardi's points: 31.1%. Logan Brown factored in on 6 of Vilardi's goals and 17 of Vilardi's points despite not being in the Top 5 of players who spent the most time on ice with Vilardi -- Vilardi, conversely, assisted on 7 of Brown's goals, more than the number of Nattinen's goals he assisted on.
The numbers reflect poor chemistry between Vilardi and Nattinen.
Vilardi had 14 points in his first 9 games of the season (1.55 points per game) on a line with Logan Brown. After he was moved to the Nattinen line, Vilardi recorded 47 points in 39 games (1.21 points per game). I noticed while watching these two play together that they completely lack chemistry. One must also note that Nattinen was Eeli Tolvanen's center at the 2017 World Juniors.
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Typically teams take a BPA approach to higher picks, which is the right approach IMO. However, due to the volatility in this years ranking after the first couple of selections, I think that we may very well see teams take organizational need/depth into consideration.
In any event, Vilardi is the clear number three selection according to McKenzie's most recent scout polling.
I've seen a couple of tweets from OHL watchers saying that Windsor's scoring was lower across the board than it should have been for the calibre of forwards they were icing, and put it down to Rocky Thompson's poor coaching. Anyone else get that impression?
Also, not too many people seem to be mentioning the injuries Vilardi dealt with this year, from a knee problem that meant he missed training camp and the start of the seaosn, and then an appendectomy that caused him to miss a bunch of games.
I think a few issues were at play.
Their top players were injured on and off (Vilardi and Brown) which meant they had trouble finding stable lines and finding chemistry. They also made major additions at the TDL which again shook up their top 6 (Bracco).
They also seemed to run a more balanced approach than running a stacked top line, which will always slightly depress guys numbers. Thompson plays a quite defensive style. While I think Thompson was at fault, to solely blame it on him is reaching. There was a lot at play.
hradekbr
Registered User
- Apr 19, 2017
- 67
- 8
Teams lists are so different this year I could see on draft day it seeming like teams are drafting on need, when really they just have a certain guy higher than other teams.
tigervixxxen
Optimism=Delusional
He was kneed by Rasmussen at Hlinka camp, so not sure he could have avoided that injury. But yeah, nobody's injuries get the deep probe that Patrick is subject to.
Forgot to thank you two for the background on Vilardi, it's much appreciated. Any Mem Cup watchers have any thoughts on how he's stacked up so far?
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He's been good, not terrific. Over the course of the year my read on Vilardi is that not only is he not quick on his feet, he doesn't process the game at an elite-level pace. Certainly he has great vision and good hands, but doesn't always pick up on the small windows that are available to make dangerous plays the way that say Cody Glass can. He also loses more puck battles than he should at his strength due to sub-optimal body positioning. Still, lots to like, including strong defensive play.
SpItFiReZ
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- Jan 4, 2004
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"He also loses more puck battles than he should at his strength due to sub-optimal body positioning."
I don't mean this as a slight but how much have you watched him? Vilardi is excellent during his puck battles especially along the walls. Down low, he is one of the best players I've seen cycling the puck and using his body to protect/shield the puck from defenders. I will agree that his speed currently can be a hindrance to some battles especially in the open ice but this will come with intense skating training.
Baemon Severson*
N1CO!!!
This is a bit misleading. Patrick was nearly 6 months younger when he played in his 17 year old season
The Winter Soldier
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- Apr 4, 2011
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I may be starting to be swayed that the OHL is the tougher league this draft year, and in turn will reflect better on Gabe Vilardi.
This has probably been the case for a long time.....the top teams in the WHL and QMJHL would be competitive in the OHL, but there's just no depth in either of those two leagues.....the mid-pairing teams and bottom-feeders and the Q and WHL would get blown out night-after-night in the OHL, where there's just a lot more depth and good hockey teams.
There's not much doubt in my mind that guys like Vilardi and Tippett face tougher competition night after night in the OHL....so you have to weigh that when you're trying to project draft picks transitioning to the NHL.
Yeah but he played on a power house team.
Portland was the youngest team in the WHL this season & had 12 players 17 or younger to start the year.
so they are comparable
Also Patrick gets an insane amount of ice time. If you wanna do this type of comparison you need to use ESpts/60.
tigervixxxen
Optimism=Delusional
Gabriel Vilardi recorded 4 assists tonight in a 4-2 win against Erie. The Spitfires advance to the Memorial Cup Final.
4 points ok great, still underwhelming for a player touted as the 3rd or 4th top prospect this year.
