Time for my yearly Top 20 list before we as a group decide on our list. This years list was pretty hard, our group is pretty solid. If you're looking for my list last year with explanations,
you can click here. But if you're lazy like me, you can just look at the names here.
As always, I use the same criteria. How good they are now, how good they can be, and the likelihood they get there. These are all, of course, in my opinion.
*Keep in mind my criteria to be a prospect might be different than others. My criteria is you are considered a prospect if you have less than 82 games played in the NHL as a skater, a full season, or 30 starts as a goalie. Also anyone at or over the age of 25 will either be considered graduated or not a true prospect anymore.*
Graduated: Johnson, Chinakhov, Foudy, Blankenburg,
In: Fantilli, McKown, Brindley, Whitelaw, Dolzchenkov, Malatesta, Ivanov
Out: Hreschuk, Christiansen, Richard
1. Adam Fantilli, C
2. David Jiricek, D
3. Kirill Marchenko, W
4. Stanislav Svozil, D
5. Denton Mateychuk, D
6. Gavin Brindley, C/W
7. Dmitri Voronkov, C/W
8. Jordan Dumais, W
9. James Malatesta, W
10. Hunter McKown, C/W
11. Corson Ceulemans, D
12. Daniil Tarasov, G
13. Luca Del Bel Belluz, C
14. William Whitelaw, W
15. Kirill Dolzchenkov, W
16. Sergei Ivanov, G
17. Trey Fix-Wolansky, W
18. Samuel Knazko, D
19. Nikolai Makarov, D
20. Mikael Pyythia, C/W
I only included 3 players from our most recent draft. That seems pretty low to me, and I tried REALLY hard to include Jet Greaves (and I still go back and forth on 16-20 on various guys).
Our prospect pool is very deep and our top 3 goes toe to toe with anyone in the league I feel. Adam Fantilli would have been a first overall pick in almost any other draft. He will hopefully be the elite 1C we've been searching for since Dubois, and hopefully is better than any draft pick we've ever had.
David Jiricek would be the #1 prospect on most teams in the league. He had a very impressive first season in the AHL, and although he wasn't very good in the limited NHL games he got, the moves made at the NHL level will be very beneficial to allow us to wait for him to be completely ready. But until then, he will get meaningful minutes in the pros. When he develops I think he will be a top pairing all around defenseman.
Marchenko will have an amazing role on the team this year, and just barely made the cut to be included on the list. Again, he would be a lot higher on other teams lists.
The next group with Svozil, Mateychuk, Brindley, Voronkov, and Dumais is a very solid group. I just feel like Svozil has the most upside. I don't necessarily think he will be a point producing defenseman, but I think he will be a solid top 4 defenseman that can play with anyone. Mateychuk is coming along nicely and will be in a similar type as Svozil where I don't think he will pile up points (more than Svozil though) but will be able to do anything you want.
Brindley I feel like will be our version of Brendan Gallagher. He will go back to Michigan this year and will be a nice piece for that team. If he develops fully, I think he could be a top 9 pest who can put up 40ish points and bring the energy to the team. Voronkov I feel like will be a battering ram in our bottom 6 that can bring a bit of offensive flare. I feel like he will be a more physical but less offensive Brandon Dubinsky. With Dumais I see a lot of top six ability, but I don't know if he will fit in with the pro game. He can obviously put up points, but can he do other things that require you to be an NHL player? If not, he could have a very TFW esc career.
Malatesta is the biggest riser as he just missed my list last year. Obviously becoming the MVP of the league and the playoffs would do that. I see a lot of Matt Calvert in his game, but maybe with more offensive upside. It will be a big year for him.
McKown is one person I didn't even expect to have this high on the list when we got him, but his play in a few of the games towards the end of the year was encouraging, especially the Buffalo game. He also showed out in development camp. I have high hopes for him even if he might be in Cleveland for a while.
Ceulemans is one of the bigger fallers, I just don't know if he has the ability to make it very far into the NHL. He was underwhelming at Wisconsin, and some of that wasn't his fault, but even in his AHL games he was pretty mediocre. He will take a while if he makes it, and if he does I feel like he will be a bottom pairing PP guy.
I think we all know about Tarasov. A lot of potential, and a lot of injuries. Can he reach it?
LDBB, Whitelaw, and Dolzchenkov also share similar upside to me, however with different roles. LDBB I feel like could be a bottom 6 defensive forward, Whitelaw as a 3rd line scorer (if everything hits), and Dolzchenkov is a mystery box and if everything falls into place for him he could make a nice 3rd line energy guy.
The next group all kind of share longshot odds. Ivanov has had great stats in limited action, however he is a smaller goalie so we will see how he progresses. TFW seems like a career AHL scorer, at least on this team. Knazko feels trapped behind a lot of prospects and even though his production seems decent, I just don't know if the toolbox is there to be much more than an AHL call up.
Makarov and Pyythia are the wild cards here. I feel like Makarov is developing in a similar path to Gavrikov, and playing major minutes in the KHL playoffs seems like he is well on his way to becoming an NHL player. Pyythia is a few years removed from a great season in Finland, and I am interested to see whether or not he replicates the success in Cleveland this year, and I did like how he played in his NHL action.
Another big faller on my list was Richard, he hasn't progressed the way I thought he would and I don't know if he will get a contract after his college career ends. He fell off the list completely because of this.
forums.hfboards.com
it wouldnt have been blatantly terrible ranking though.
