C Sean Dhooghe - Univ. of Wisconsin, NCAA (2017 undrafted)

MichaelFarrell

Registered User
Aug 29, 2016
2,237
4,032
Pittsburgh, PA
Sean Dhooghe is 5"3 and committed to the University of Wisconsin. He is playing well at the WJC-18 with 6 points in 4 games for the USA. What are the odds he gets drafted?
 
He's like a little waterbug out there, sometimes it is hilarious to watch. Plays bigger than his size, which probably is equivalent to a 5'6"-5'7" player.

Extremely talented player, but hard to see him get drafted even with more tiny players finding places in the NHL. And even if he does, it will be one of the latest picks of the draft. What will probably happen is he will go to Wisconsin, play four years there, post up some solid numbers, and eventually sign as a UFA with an NHL team.
 
I see he hasn't grown :( Too bad.

He's same age as my son and I saw him play a number of times when he was with the Mission. Such a dominant player for his size. Really strong on the puck, great hands and skater. I'd watch the Mission games just to watch him - even though they had some other great talents on that team. I wish he had/would grow because he's the best talent I saw when he was in Minor Midget (comparing to Tippett, Villardi, etc).

Cant believe he hasn't grown at all since then.
 
the Blackhawks drafted Anthony Louis who was a shrimp, we will most certainly draft Dhooghe - not joking at all, he is a Chicago kid (South side grew up right by me), they will take him from the 6th or 7th round...its almost a lock to happen -

Bowman loves:

A. American kids
B. Smaller skilled players
C. Local players
D. All of the above

Sean has all of this in his belt - he will be drafted by the Hawks this year.
 
If this kid was 6 foot where would he be projected to go?
 
He reminds me a lot of Matt Phillips. I think Dhoogie may actually be smaller though.

Both of those guys have an insane skill, drive and motor. Which you need at that size.

Obvious extreme long shots, but Phillips was worth a pick and so is Dhoogie.
 
I just feel bad for him. Genetics can suck like that. If he was even the usual undersized 5'7" type he might have a future, but 5'3" is simply too much of a stretch to project anything. Crazy compete level, intelligence, skill, skating.....he has them all. He's been a joy to watch and hard not to root for. I wish he had the size that plenty of other guys let go to waste.
 
I just feel bad for him. Genetics can suck like that. If he was even the usual undersized 5'7" type he might have a future, but 5'3" is simply too much of a stretch to project anything. Crazy compete level, intelligence, skill, skating.....he has them all. He's been a joy to watch and hard not to root for. I wish he had the size that plenty of other guys let go to waste.

I was thinking the same thing. Must be maddening to work that hard and have that level of skill and lose out on something that's completely luck of the draw. Will be pulling for him to succeed wherever he lands, even on a rival.
 
the Blackhawks drafted Anthony Louis who was a shrimp, we will most certainly draft Dhooghe - not joking at all, he is a Chicago kid (South side grew up right by me), they will take him from the 6th or 7th round...its almost a lock to happen -

Bowman loves:

A. American kids
B. Smaller skilled players
C. Local players
D. All of the above

Sean has all of this in his belt - he will be drafted by the Hawks this year.
Except Louis is 3 inches taller. There is 0% chance anyone drafts him. Even if he made it to the NHL one day by a miracle, his career would end soon in concussions. Every hit would be to his head, sad truth.
 
I will say that if anyone does draft him--and I don't expect it--it probably would be the Hawks. You can also add another letter to AmericanDream's list which applies to Dhooghe--isolated goal scorers.
 
If this kid was 6 foot where would he be projected to go?

He could probably be a first rounder if he were to keep all of his skills. I remember his Batman major and minor midget years he was arguably the best 99 that I had seen but he just didn't grow.
 
The thing with Dhooghe is that even if he was 6'0" his production isn't anything special. A guy like Phillips (who dwarfs him and is still dwarfed by other short players) had excellent production for his age class (3rd in his league in PPG), where Dhooghe is very average (not top 10 on even his own team). Little guys need to be exceptional to make it.

He's great fun to watch and man can he skate but he doesn't have the offensive skillset to be a high pick even if he was a normal size. However, Nathan Gerbe was able to hustle his way into the NHL so I don't see why Dhooghe can't.
 
I'm hoping Finland gets to play against US at some point. It would be fun to see him next to Eemeli Räsänen who is 6'7... that's something like 15 inches of size difference?
 
The thing with Dhooghe is that even if he was 6'0" his production isn't anything special. A guy like Phillips (who dwarfs him and is still dwarfed by other short players) had excellent production for his age class (3rd in his league in PPG), where Dhooghe is very average (not top 10 on even his own team). Little guys need to be exceptional to make it

Dhooge played what appears to be 4th line minutes most of the year with little-no PP. Phillips is the better prospect 100% and was actually drafted and has a higher skill level, but kind of an odd comparison to make for different players in different usage on different teams in different leagues. And unlike a lot of smaller guys, Dhooge is very much a 2-way player and great PKer. He's just kind of a unique player, what I said in my other post withstanding.
 
Never say never, but a team wouldn't be wise to draft him.

He's fun to watch, but his skills aren't elite enough (not sure anyone's skills are elite enough) to overcome his size. His closest comparable is Rocco Grimaldi, but he's a really poor man's version at best. Both were tiny, great skaters, competitive kids that wouldn't back down and tried to use their size to their advantage; however, Grimaldi was an elite player for the NTDP, and he was also 3 inches and ~30 pounds heavier than Dhooghe at the same age. Grimaldi's turned into a pretty good AHLer, but I've been disappointed in his inability to establish himself in the NHL (I was a huge proponent of his), and in hindsight he was drafted too high. I'm not sure I see the argument for drafting a significantly smaller, significantly less productive version of Grimaldi.
 
Here he is on the left next to Graham Slaggert. Slaggert is 5'11''.

CfXoSd8WQAAqQsK.jpg
 
I'd be quite surprised if he got drafted, although it would be a great story. I'd say his odds might be the same as St Cyr. They are so small I can see teams just straight up giving them ND grades without much consideration.
 
I will say that if anyone does draft him--and I don't expect it--it probably would be the Hawks. You can also add another letter to AmericanDream's list which applies to Dhooghe--isolated goal scorers.

exactly, if there is any team in the league to draft Sean, it is the Hawks - their record for taking risks is there when it comes to smaller players.

a 7th round pick is about a 95% chance of not making it to the NHL, if Bowman thinks this kid is worth a dart throw, he will do it.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Ad

Ad