Hawks ranked #5 today. Based on what I read as to criteria for inclusion, KJ & Sillinger are definitely excluded and probably Marchenko & Chinakhov as well. With hopefully a top 3 (really hopefully 1)pick in the near future things look promising.
I suspect that means we're for sure top 3, because I think we're ahead of Minnesota (assuming they've "graduated" Boldy and Addison). The other remaining teams are Detroit and New Jersey.
www.championat.com
I wouldn’t go this far; he might be more efficient in the bottom six but raw talent wise he’s likely behind bothDmitriy Voronkov in action 1+2
Три очка Воронкова помогли «Ак Барсу» крупно обыграть «Куньлунь» в гостях
Три очка Воронкова помогли «Ак Барсу» крупно обыграть «Куньлунь» в гостях
I think he's better than Chinakhov and Marchenko. A two-way player, agressive, excellent play in the front of the net, at the boards, for/backchecking and his offense is very underrated. What is important, he can play very good under pressure. Besides he's a real warrior.
Heh, we're top-3 and anxiously waiting for the ball to drop...
That is pretty awesome. Like a mix of oldschool barn with some more modern/spacious areas. I've been planning an NHL arena tour one of these days and lately I've been thinking I should add some AHL for variety (starting with Cleveland obviously), now maybe I should add some junior leagues too... Man can dream, eh.
I've been high on Voronkov since they drafted him but as I said previously, his skating needs to improve before he can be considered a higher lineup player. From all views and accounts I see him as a mix between Alexander Svitov and Boone Jenner. He has some intriguing skills to his game but he isn't overly creative and his skating is below NHL level skating. I think he'll become a successful NHL player but I don't see him more than a middle 6 center at his peak and most likely a 3C with some upside. That's not to say it won't can't change but he's going to need to show he can play on the small ice, process things faster and keep up with the pace. Right now, I haven't seen things in his game that says that transition will be smooth and quick. I'd love it if he became a top 6 center but as a realist I see him on the 3 C long term. and a good one at that.
I'm guessing we're third for lack of depth after our top four (Jiricek, Mateychuk, Ceulemans, Svozil) and total lack of C or G compared to the other two, Minnesota is second because Boldy graduated but they've still got Wallstedt and Rossi coming, and then New Jersey is first by virtue of having both L. Hughes and Nemec plus Holtz, Daws, Casey, Mukhamadullin.
there's an off chance that johnson and sillinger get consideration on the list imo. wheeler doesn't have a firm criteria for considering someone a prospect other than 'are they a full-time NHL player' and he's been flexible with that.
theathletic.com
worth noting that wheeler calls the blue jackets top seven prospects 'probably the strongest top seven in the league at the moment'Jackets at #3. That's very impressive considering Johnson, Silli, and Chinny are graduated.
2023 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 3 Columbus Blue Jackets
Thanks to a sterling 2022 draft class, the Blue Jackets’ collection of prospects ranks even higher today than it did a year ago.
