CheckingLineCenter
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- Aug 10, 2018
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C Samuel Honzek - Vancouver Giants, WHL (2023, 16th, CGY)
- Thread starter alko
- Start date
rt
Clean Hits on Substack
I had Yager a bit lower. In a tier with Moore, Wood, and Ritchie. I had Honzek and Danielson a bit higher in a tier with Barlow and Reinbacher.
EDIT: by lower I mean later. By higher I mean earlier.
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HighLifeMan
#SnowyStrong
- Feb 26, 2009
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Well as you stated previously - the scouting reports online don't exactly give a fair interpretation of his skillset or upside. Playing just 40 games this season and getting injured at the biggest stage certainly limited the viewings the typical couch scout could get.
I think people look at his height and late birthdate and think he was a kid who relied on his physical attributes to produce points when that really is not the case whatsoever. He's an absolute beanpole with an incredible amount of room to grow into his frame. Additionally he arguably had the most obstacles to overcome out of any of these top end guys this year with his transition to the NA culture and playstyles, his injury, and his lack of supporting cast.
Figgy44
A toast of purple gato for the memories
- Dec 15, 2014
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Yeah. When I read the reports on Honzek after watching some clips, I was confused at how badly they contradicted. the discrepancies were brutally bad and plentiful. I didn't think in this day and age we could have so much error between what was available and the summary on the player. The more I started sifting through the information, the more I liked the pick and I feel like we got a huge, huge piece in Honzek that just needs more cleaning and assembly before being ready to play with. I argued a lot with some other Flames fans about this. After showing them more clips on Honzek, they too got excited about the pick and were quite annoyed at the amounts of errors on the scouting report.
Interesting to hear you say that Danielson was the same.
Sombastate
Registered User
Just drafted him in my dynasty league, so I hope he turns out to be everything people hope for, plus more
Beauterham
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- Aug 19, 2018
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Agree. We know the Blues were really interested in him. I'm fairly certain that if Arizona picked Leonard or Dvorsky at 6, as a lot of people expected, the Blues would've picked Honzek at 10. Actually, I think there was a decent chance that the Red Wings would pick him at 9 as they were very interested in him aswell, but they seemed to prefer Danielson (personally I have Honzek over Danielson).
Antiillafire
Registered User
Seems like the new head coach wants to try him at both C and W, and is considering not playing him with Lipinski. Instead wants to spread out the top players, which Vancouver has very few of. A first line with Titlbach and Bruce would be terrible 
I did not imagine this would be shaping up to be worse than Mesar’s DY+1 season in junior hockey. At least Mesar had significant talent around him, and the lack of production was much more based on his own play. Best for him would be to get traded to a stronger team like Ruzicka in the past or the AHL which isn’t happening.
I did not imagine this would be shaping up to be worse than Mesar’s DY+1 season in junior hockey. At least Mesar had significant talent around him, and the lack of production was much more based on his own play. Best for him would be to get traded to a stronger team like Ruzicka in the past or the AHL which isn’t happening.
This is an interesting take given the current positivity around the reporting. These details are appreciated and as much as I am optimistic, this stuff does help be realistic.Seems like the new head coach wants to try him at both C and W, and is considering not playing him with Lipinski. Instead wants to spread out the top players, which Vancouver has very few of. A first line with Titlbach and Bruce would be terrible
I did not imagine this would be shaping up to be worse than Mesar’s DY+1 season in junior hockey. At least Mesar had significant talent around him, and the lack of production was much more based on his own play. Best for him would be to get traded to a stronger team like Ruzicka in the past or the AHL which isn’t happening.
Really warmed up on this pick recently. I am happy that they're going to try him at centre. At the very least it'll give him a deeper understanding of the game. That's not a bad thing going forward at all.
Good luck Honzo!
Good luck Honzo!
Figgy44
A toast of purple gato for the memories
- Dec 15, 2014
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Seems like the new head coach wants to try him at both C and W, and is considering not playing him with Lipinski. Instead wants to spread out the top players, which Vancouver has very few of. A first line with Titlbach and Bruce would be terrible
I did not imagine this would be shaping up to be worse than Mesar’s DY+1 season in junior hockey. At least Mesar had significant talent around him, and the lack of production was much more based on his own play. Best for him would be to get traded to a stronger team like Ruzicka in the past or the AHL which isn’t happening.
Hmm... I'm not too worried depending on the actual development and growth he gets. If they let him focus on developing at C vs attempting to cut corners and forcing attempts at winning, then I think I'll be OK.
Same as Lipinski. The plan sounds good for him IMO. C to W is more detrimental to his development than Honzek's W to C.
The quality of line might be worrisome, but I'm hoping that the trade off in being a power house team ends up benefitting their development instead. I also wonder if Calgary will pull some strings and try to get their other BC prospects to develop with Honzek and Lipinski.
I honestly don’t see how playing with a strong 20-year-old and one of the most promising imports is a bad thing. Especially at the start of the year when you can still experiment and see what works.Seems like the new head coach wants to try him at both C and W, and is considering not playing him with Lipinski. Instead wants to spread out the top players, which Vancouver has very few of. A first line with Titlbach and Bruce would be terrible
I did not imagine this would be shaping up to be worse than Mesar’s DY+1 season in junior hockey. At least Mesar had significant talent around him, and the lack of production was much more based on his own play. Best for him would be to get traded to a stronger team like Ruzicka in the past or the AHL which isn’t happening.
Antiillafire
Registered User
I don’t think Titlbach has been that great, and his size really limits him in the physical league. Lipinski and Leslie have both been bad as well to start the season. The coaching has been terrible.
Anyways Honzek is injured again, lower body I believe after a handful of preseason games for Calgary. Kral was added as the import to the giants roster, and Honzek has remained in Calgary so the injury is likely more serious than the “day to day” status it was given. What a disappointing opening to the season for Honzek and Dvorsky. Ultimately Honzek should remain in Calgary and play with the wranglers once he recovers.
He won’t be eligible to play in the AHL since he was drafted out of the WHL, no? Or is it one of those weird “he was just loaned to the Giants from his European club” situations?
And agreed on Titlbach.
Antiillafire
Registered User
Looks like it’s 6-8 weeks for the Honzek, really big shame. That is now too longer injuries within a 10ish month time frame, not great for development and overall longevity but also even maybe his confidence.
Still it sounds like he should be ready to go for the WJC, which could help him ease back into the second half of the WHL season. One question that was asked on Twitter to the Vancouver reporter was if Honzek has played his last game for Vancouver. If they are in the same position would they stick with Kral and deal Honzek for picks.
HuGort
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Antiillafire
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Honzek has been named captain of Vancouver giants. He will return to the lineup next game, albeit on a team that has actually gotten worse since last season somehow. One of the reporters covering the giants was questioning whether Honzek would be traded but it seems like I was right, he will ride out the season stuck captaining one of the 3 worst teams in the WHL
alko
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Antiillafire
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Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
Giants management should be turfed. They brought in another celebrity owner to do...what exactly?
They haven't really done a good job of drafting and they've had one decent season in the last ten.
Antiillafire
Registered User
It’s really strange. You’d think they would have brought in some better overagers. There is some legit talent on this team outside of the drafted guys. Yet it seems like they for the life of them cannot keep the puck out of the net, and haven’t really exploded offensively (albeit no Honzek).
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
A couple of overagers wouldn't change much. They've depended too much on their imports for offense and the rest of their top picks are just meh.
Sticktape
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- Jan 25, 2017
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Honzek has 5 points in 3 games since returning.
