Prospect Info: CBJ Prospect Thread XI

so that makes …. Gardner Greaves and Strahl with some goalie recognition lately. Love to see that. Of course, goalies are unpredictable but it’s nice to see.
Only need one of them to hit. Don’t care which one…just hope one is the real deal.
 
i’ve been an advocate of it here on our board but I truly believe Gardner is our true, 1G come 2026-2027
Gardner-Greaves

Stylistically almost the complete opposite of Merzlikins-Tarasov.

Our current guys are way too erratic.
 
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Gardner-Greaves

Stylistically almost the complete opposite of Merzlikins-Tarasov.

Our current guys are way too erratic.

don’t count out Ivanov! I think he’ll leave the KHL sooner than we think. hopefully his game translates to NA ice.

interested to see Strahl against NCAA competition.

also think Cajan has a bit more potential than many realize around here. lots of people forget he’s even in our organization.
 
Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?

LDBB? He is the 1C in Cleveland, 13 goals 11 assists in 22 games
Marrelli? 14 goals 26 assists in 29 games in the OHL

Other thoughts? Where would Hunt rank compared to Svozil, Richard, Knazko, etc.? Is Mateychuk #1 now?

1. Cayden Lindstrom (C)
2. Denton Mateychuk (LD)
3. David Jiricek (RD)
4. Gavin Brindley (C/RW)
5. Charlie Elick (RD)
6. Jordan Dumais (RW)
7. Jet Greaves (G)
8. Stanislav Svozil (LD)
9. Sergei Ivanov (G)
10. James Malatesta (LW)
11. Luca Del Bel Belluz (C)
12. Evan Gardner (G)
13. William Whitelaw (C)
14. Kirill Dolzhenkov (RW)
15. Oiva Keskinen (C)
16. Corson Ceulemans (D)
17. Guillaume Richard (LD)
18. Luca Marrelli (RD)
19. Luca Pinelli (C)
20. Nikolai Makarov (LD)
 
Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?

LDBB? He is the 1C in Cleveland, 13 goals 11 assists in 22 games
Marrelli? 14 goals 26 assists in 29 games in the OHL

Other thoughts? Where would Hunt rank compared to Svozil, Richard, Knazko, etc.? Is Mateychuk #1 now?

1. Cayden Lindstrom (C)
2. Denton Mateychuk (LD)
3. David Jiricek (RD)
4. Gavin Brindley (C/RW)
5. Charlie Elick (RD)
6. Jordan Dumais (RW)
7. Jet Greaves (G)
8. Stanislav Svozil (LD)
9. Sergei Ivanov (G)
10. James Malatesta (LW)
11. Luca Del Bel Belluz (C)
12. Evan Gardner (G)
13. William Whitelaw (C)
14. Kirill Dolzhenkov (RW)
15. Oiva Keskinen (C)
16. Corson Ceulemans (D)
17. Guillaume Richard (LD)
18. Luca Marrelli (RD)
19. Luca Pinelli (C)
20. Nikolai Makarov (LD)
I personally would have Lindstrom out of the top 3, dumais off the board/low teens, whitelaw way down, and LDBB way up.
 
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Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?

LDBB? He is the 1C in Cleveland, 13 goals 11 assists in 22 games
Marrelli? 14 goals 26 assists in 29 games in the OHL

Other thoughts? Where would Hunt rank compared to Svozil, Richard, Knazko, etc.? Is Mateychuk #1 now?

1. Cayden Lindstrom (C)
2. Denton Mateychuk (LD)
3. David Jiricek (RD)
4. Gavin Brindley (C/RW)
5. Charlie Elick (RD)
6. Jordan Dumais (RW)
7. Jet Greaves (G)
8. Stanislav Svozil (LD)
9. Sergei Ivanov (G)
10. James Malatesta (LW)
11. Luca Del Bel Belluz (C)
12. Evan Gardner (G)
13. William Whitelaw (C)
14. Kirill Dolzhenkov (RW)
15. Oiva Keskinen (C)
16. Corson Ceulemans (D)
17. Guillaume Richard (LD)
18. Luca Marrelli (RD)
19. Luca Pinelli (C)
20. Nikolai Makarov (LD)

Would have LDBB in our top 5 as of now. Also would have Luke Ashton in the top 20. He's the leading D scorer as a Freshman for a good Mankato team
 
The knock on LDBB was his skating, correct? So has his recent uptick in the AHL due to overcoming this flaw, or has he developed something? Because I think most thought he'd be a bottom 6/fringy guy and now he looks to be a pretty solid 3C with upside?
 
My list wouldn't change too terribly much. I wouldn't be dropping Lindstrom just because. I've always had Svozil higher than most but from the way the rankings were I'd say Marrelli would be in line to jump the most. LDBB is a big surprise but I'm thinking we have to take into consideration who he is playing with this year.
 
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Lindstrom falls behind Mateychuk for me, no lower than that. His upside still dwarfs everyone from 3rd on down the list.
 
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Well for Sure I'd drop Jiricek a spot or two.

I'd flip Mateychuk and Lindstrom due to the injury factor.

LDBB and Marelli a lot higher somwhere in top 10.
 
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Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?

LDBB? He is the 1C in Cleveland, 13 goals 11 assists in 22 games
Marrelli? 14 goals 26 assists in 29 games in the OHL

Other thoughts? Where would Hunt rank compared to Svozil, Richard, Knazko, etc.? Is Mateychuk #1 now?
Pinelli could be the biggest riser for me, he would climb go from HM to top-15 in my list.

Yes he's still a small winger who isn't strong enough to fight off every check, or elusive enough to cut through any defense and create scoring chances at will. He's still an exterior style offensive player, and partly because of that his playmaking needs to improve.

But he's showing progress, competes well, has good defensive stick, makes often impressive plays out of the corner with smooth stick handling and edge work, and the way he drags and snaps pucks into the net from distance on PP is something I can see translating to pro hockey. OHL goalies seem to have trouble trying to track his shots.

It's tough to say what he can look like in the NHL but should be a scorer in the AHL as soon as next year. Fwiw, Nash praised his play at the prospect tournament, they might be willing to give him a fair chance at some point like they've done with Pyyhtia this year.

LDBB might be around #10 (+5 spots), I guess I just have to respect production increase. The skating and speed remain as question marks. Maybe he's quite close to NHL level, I haven't watched him closely this year tbh.

I'm questioning my goalie rankings, maybe from now on I should refuse adding them to my list altogether. I could shuffle Ivanov, Greaves and Gardner a dozen times and still feel uncertain.

Ivanov would be the biggest faller. Based on reports his team plays less strict hockey defensively that allows lots of odd man rushes and such, it seems to be a reason why his sv% has gone down and some of his flaws have become more visible. I think agility is a clear issue given his stature. I can't tell if it's improved much. Once he's down in a butterfly it seems to take him long to move laterally, and the movement itself appear a little wobbly.

Strahl and Ashton could make the list easily but before adding I want to see at least one full game of each.

1. Jiricek
2. Lindstrom
3. Mateychuk
4. Brindley
5. Svozil
6. Marrelli
7. Elick
8. Ivanov
9. Dolzhenkov
10. McCue
11. Greaves
12. Keskinen
13. Malatesta
14. Gardner
15. LDBB
16. Henricks
17. Dumais
18. Richard
19. Makarov
20. Whitelaw

I was tempted to put Ashton somewhere in the 16-20 range but that would have been against my principles. I can't rank someone I've seen zero games of.
 
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Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?

LDBB? He is the 1C in Cleveland, 13 goals 11 assists in 22 games
Marrelli? 14 goals 26 assists in 29 games in the OHL

Other thoughts? Where would Hunt rank compared to Svozil, Richard, Knazko, etc.? Is Mateychuk #1 now?

1. Cayden Lindstrom (C)
2. Denton Mateychuk (LD)
3. David Jiricek (RD)
4. Gavin Brindley (C/RW)
5. Charlie Elick (RD)
6. Jordan Dumais (RW)
7. Jet Greaves (G)
8. Stanislav Svozil (LD)
9. Sergei Ivanov (G)
10. James Malatesta (LW)
11. Luca Del Bel Belluz (C)
12. Evan Gardner (G)
13. William Whitelaw (C)
14. Kirill Dolzhenkov (RW)
15. Oiva Keskinen (C)
16. Corson Ceulemans (D)
17. Guillaume Richard (LD)
18. Luca Marrelli (RD)
19. Luca Pinelli (C)
20. Nikolai Makarov (LD)
The knock on LDBB was his skating, correct? So has his recent uptick in the AHL due to overcoming this flaw, or has he developed something? Because I think most thought he'd be a bottom 6/fringy guy and now he looks to be a pretty solid 3C with upside?
Make that 15 Goals and 26 Points in 23 Games for LDBB. Offensively speaking I think what pops the most is the consistency of him getting on the scoresheet. Points in eight of his last nine and five of those multi-point games.

I thought the knock on LDBB was his strength. Keeping my fingers crossed he is not the next AAAA Fixy. Fixy is a consistent AHL all-star but cannot sniff the NHL. Hoping LDBB translates to being a regular NHL contributor.
 
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Make that 15 Goals and 26 Points in 23 Games for LDBB. Offensively speaking I think what pops the most is the consistency of him getting on the scoresheet. Points in eight of his last nine and five of those multi-point games.

I thought the knock on LDBB was his strength. Keeping my fingers crossed he is not the next AAAA Fixy. Fixy is a consistent AHL all-star but cannot sniff the NHL. Hoping LDBB translates to being a regular NHL contributor.
That's what the FO told him to work on in the off-season and they said he came back to camp visibly stronger and faster.
 
Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?

LDBB? He is the 1C in Cleveland, 13 goals 11 assists in 22 games
Marrelli? 14 goals 26 assists in 29 games in the OHL

Other thoughts? Where would Hunt rank compared to Svozil, Richard, Knazko, etc.? Is Mateychuk #1 now?

1. Cayden Lindstrom (C)
2. Denton Mateychuk (LD)
3. David Jiricek (RD)
4. Gavin Brindley (C/RW)
5. Charlie Elick (RD)
6. Jordan Dumais (RW)
7. Jet Greaves (G)
8. Stanislav Svozil (LD)
9. Sergei Ivanov (G)
10. James Malatesta (LW)
11. Luca Del Bel Belluz (C)
12. Evan Gardner (G)
13. William Whitelaw (C)
14. Kirill Dolzhenkov (RW)
15. Oiva Keskinen (C)
16. Corson Ceulemans (D)
17. Guillaume Richard (LD)
18. Luca Marrelli (RD)
19. Luca Pinelli (C)
20. Nikolai Makarov (LD)
My list would change quite a bit, but it was already quite different than what we voted. Most of the players would still be here, but different order. The only ones that I would see significant movement on would be Dumais (I was never high on Dumais), Marelli (big jump based on his overall play thus far). Most of the others would simply be a few spots up or down for me and the bottom of the list could churn like always. I still think it's a deep pool, but still think we lack game changing talent. The hope still lies with Mateychuk and Lindstrom at the top.
 
Honest question...Svozil is ranked #8 on our prospect list here. Do people really think that highly of him? What's his ceiling? Seems to me he is just "fine".
 
Who would move up the most if we did a revote now?
my personal list would be something like:
  1. denton mateychuk
  2. cayden lindstrom
  3. gavin brindley
  4. luca del bel belluz
  5. luca pinelli
  6. luca marrelli
  7. charlie elick
  8. jordan dumais
  9. evan gardner
  10. daemon hunt
  11. stanislav svozil
  12. sergei ivanov
  13. luke ashton
  14. oiva keskinen
  15. mikael pyyhtia
  16. james malatesta
  17. jet greaves
  18. melvin strahl
  19. corson ceulemans
  20. william whitelaw
some of my thoughts:
  • not penalizing lindstrom for the injury considering that he played through it last year and was still dominant. i think he goes back to junior next year to get more time playing center but to me he still screams future top line player. reminds me a ton of roope hintz.
  • mateychuk ahead of lindstrom is solely because of how he has jumped into the AHL and absolutely dominated. he spent two years in junior before that point, which is the path i see them taking with lindstrom as well.
  • pinelli is a top 10 prospect in the system at minimum and i obviously have him higher. he was incredible last year (48 goals, led the team in scoring by over 20 points). i think he's got a chance to be a top six winger at the NHL level in time
  • marrelli is ahead of elick for me given how strong he's played this year. still really like elick's traits but i don't think the puck game will ever be close to NHL level. hope i'm wrong!
  • also trying to not penalize dumais for his injury. he still had historically good production and those guys rarely miss. elite hockey IQ, plus shot release, etc. – but i get why scouts have concerns. if he comes back and can score in the AHL, he'll jump back up into the top four for me.
  • hunt and svozil are similar players in my eyes – i'm a bit higher on hunt but svozil's toolkit is a bit more impressive overall.
  • i didn't think pyyhtia was close to being an NHL player until this year – still don't have him high in the rankings and still don't think there's much projectable to his game, but he's going to play more NHL games than i would have guessed.
  • did i rank the three lucas together just for fun? maybe. but all three are really good and have clear NHL projection to me at this stage.
mateychuk and lindstrom are in their own tier at the top, then 3-6, then 7-11. everyone below that is a lottery ticket at this point.
 
my personal list would be something like:
  1. denton mateychuk
  2. cayden lindstrom
  3. gavin brindley
  4. luca del bel belluz
  5. luca pinelli
  6. luca marrelli
  7. charlie elick
  8. jordan dumais
  9. evan gardner
  10. daemon hunt
  11. stanislav svozil
  12. sergei ivanov
  13. luke ashton
  14. oiva keskinen
  15. mikael pyyhtia
  16. james malatesta
  17. jet greaves
  18. melvin strahl
  19. corson ceulemans
  20. william whitelaw
some of my thoughts:
  • not penalizing lindstrom for the injury considering that he played through it last year and was still dominant. i think he goes back to junior next year to get more time playing center but to me he still screams future top line player. reminds me a ton of roope hintz.
  • mateychuk ahead of lindstrom is solely because of how he has jumped into the AHL and absolutely dominated. he spent two years in junior before that point, which is the path i see them taking with lindstrom as well.
  • pinelli is a top 10 prospect in the system at minimum and i obviously have him higher. he was incredible last year (48 goals, led the team in scoring by over 20 points). i think he's got a chance to be a top six winger at the NHL level in time
  • marrelli is ahead of elick for me given how strong he's played this year. still really like elick's traits but i don't think the puck game will ever be close to NHL level. hope i'm wrong!
  • also trying to not penalize dumais for his injury. he still had historically good production and those guys rarely miss. elite hockey IQ, plus shot release, etc. – but i get why scouts have concerns. if he comes back and can score in the AHL, he'll jump back up into the top four for me.
  • hunt and svozil are similar players in my eyes – i'm a bit higher on hunt but svozil's toolkit is a bit more impressive overall.
  • i didn't think pyyhtia was close to being an NHL player until this year – still don't have him high in the rankings and still don't think there's much projectable to his game, but he's going to play more NHL games than i would have guessed.
  • did i rank the three lucas together just for fun? maybe. but all three are really good and have clear NHL projection to me at this stage.
mateychuk and lindstrom are in their own tier at the top, then 3-6, then 7-11. everyone below that is a lottery ticket at this point.

I'm not going to have Pinelli in my top ten.

:popcorn:


Lindstrom is solidly top two, on that part I agree. All I have to do is watch video of him and I love him again. The upside is through the roof. But FWIW, the only games he played with the injury were the four in the playoffs, and he didn't dominate.

I haven't followed our guys closely enough to have strong opinions on most of them. That tends to be what happens when the NHL team is looking good. Most of our future is already on our roster.
 
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I'm not going to have Pinelli in my top ten.

:popcorn:


Lindstrom is solidly top two, on that part I agree. All I have to do is watch video of him and I love him again. The upside is through the roof. But FWIW, the only games he played with the injury were the four in the playoffs, and he didn't dominate.

I haven't followed our guys closely enough to have strong opinions on most of them. That tends to be what happens when the NHL team is looking good. Most of our future is already on our roster.
Another huge aspect of Lindstrom moving forward, is that I could've sworn I read/saw him saying that they were working on changing his skating motion and stride moving forward to help not put so much pressure on his back. Could definitely have an impact on his game. But for the life of my I can't find it.
 
Another huge aspect of Lindstrom moving forward, is that I could've sworn I read/saw him saying that they were working on changing his skating motion and stride moving forward to help not put so much pressure on his back. Could definitely have an impact on his game. But for the life of my I can't find it.

I read that too, but that's probably no longer a factor after the micro-discectomy. They were just trying everything until it became clear that he couldn't get above 90% and the disc had to be cleaned up. Most likely he's fine (judging by the success rate of the surgery for athletes) and the skating changes won't be necessary. He was already an incredible skater. Or we get some terrible news and skating will be irrelevant.
 
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I read that too, but that's probably no longer a factor after the micro-discectomy. They were just trying everything until it became clear that he couldn't get above 90% and the disc had to be cleaned up. Most likely he's fine (judging by the success rate of the surgery for athletes) and the skating changes won't be necessary. He was already an incredible skater. Or we get some terrible news and skating will be irrelevant.
Do you by chance remember where you read this if you’re able to link it? Would be interested in reading!
 

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