Child Prodigy

[oilers5397]

looking back at the thread, there was no resistance for Dupont. I think it’s been common knowledge how talented he has been since willing the MVP at the brick a few years back.

He is no question legit

 

[WarriorofTime]

Other than a prize for being the one to call “first!” it doesn’t actually accomplish anything to identify the best 10 year olds. They are still six years removed from junior and almost half a lifetime away from the nhl draft. It stands to reason the best 17 year olds come from amongst the best 15 year olds who in turn come from the best 13 year olds who in turn come from the best 11 year olds. There is a hard reset that happens once kids get to juniors, and junior itself is only going to be scouted when kids are 14/15. For purposes of much of anything it doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot to “identify” kids before that time when floating around if any kids are exceptional status or not. Sure if you are the coach of the 15 year old team you will want to know by asking your 13 year old team coach and then getting a sense of the other top local kids if you want your 15 year old team to poach kids from other clubs. Minor hockey is a bit of a feedback loop as well as kids keep progressing up the age ranks together and in the same locale, with the best kids often congregating on teams together. Juniors is where it really opens up as kids are asked to go up against players 4 or even 5 years older than them and in a much broader region. Pointing out a kid that scored a lot at the Brick is fine and all but when they are prepubscent anything more than “nicely done, let’s see where they go from here” is premature.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

Other than a prize for being the one to call “first!” it doesn’t actually accomplish anything to identify the best 10 year olds. They are still six years removed from junior and almost half a lifetime away from the nhl draft. It stands to reason the best 17 year olds come from amongst the best 15 year olds who in turn come from the best 13 year olds who in turn come from the best 11 year olds. There is a hard reset that happens once kids get to juniors, and junior itself is only going to be scouted when kids are 14/15. For purposes of much of anything it doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot to “identify” kids before that time when floating around if any kids are exceptional status or not. Sure if you are the coach of the 15 year old team you will want to know by asking your 13 year old team coach and then getting a sense of the other top local kids if you want your 15 year old team to poach kids from other clubs. Minor hockey is a bit of a feedback loop as well as kids keep progressing up the age ranks together and in the same locale, with the best kids often congregating on teams together. Juniors is where it really opens up as kids are asked to go up against players 4 or even 5 years older than them and in a much broader region. Pointing out a kid that scored a lot at the Brick is fine and all but when they are prepubscent anything more than “nicely done, let’s see where they go from here” is premature.

It's just distraction, fun. I'm interested in knowing who the best 10-year-old players are, seeing them grow year after year, tournament after tournament.

This is even the main interest in following prospects. Know their origins, their evolutions, their paths, their performances through the years.

No one is a coach or a scout here. Just enthusiasts.

If I follow your theory, you might as well not be interested in the NHL draft since the hierarchy in the NHL is very far from the rank of selection.

 

[SwedishFire]

Alright, so I know that child prodigies in hockey only come along once in a blue, but they do happen. Crosby first got noticed when he was 13. Are there any youngsters who are starting to raise some eye brows like Crosby did?

I HAAAAATEEEE those threads.

Whats more interresting is those who where labeled child prodigys, are often foind stop playing hockey, being not good enough later. Or at best ECHL bound. Gretzky is the ONLY kid i knew that lived with that label and carried it.

Most superstars do their true marks when they are around 12 - 16.In Sweden most superstars are taking those supersteps when they are 17-19.
There is where they seperate themselfs from regulars.
In sweden nor Forsberg, Alfredsson, E E Pettersson,

At very young age, those who become something and carried all the way has been Victor Hedman( played with 16 year olds as a 12 year old), Sedins (superstars already at 15), Markus Näslubd and to some amount Mats Sundin ( being some inches taller than the rest as a kid help...). Then you got Fredrik Lindqvist, Fredrik Möller, Magnus Pääjärvi, all looked like future big things - doesnt even sometimes hold it at national serie level. Hyped up to early.

The Jason Bonsignore thread..

Taylar Hall is only 16 or 17.

No he is soon to be 30. And sure he skated like the wing, and he loved to do those toedrags- right into the chest of the opponent..

 

[Trojans86]

Other than a prize for being the one to call “first!” it doesn’t actually accomplish anything to identify the best 10 year olds. They are still six years removed from junior and almost half a lifetime away from the nhl draft. It stands to reason the best 17 year olds come from amongst the best 15 year olds who in turn come from the best 13 year olds who in turn come from the best 11 year olds. There is a hard reset that happens once kids get to juniors, and junior itself is only going to be scouted when kids are 14/15. For purposes of much of anything it doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot to “identify” kids before that time when floating around if any kids are exceptional status or not. Sure if you are the coach of the 15 year old team you will want to know by asking your 13 year old team coach and then getting a sense of the other top local kids if you want your 15 year old team to poach kids from other clubs. Minor hockey is a bit of a feedback loop as well as kids keep progressing up the age ranks together and in the same locale, with the best kids often congregating on teams together. Juniors is where it really opens up as kids are asked to go up against players 4 or even 5 years older than them and in a much broader region. Pointing out a kid that scored a lot at the Brick is fine and all but when they are prepubscent anything more than “nicely done, let’s see where they go from here” is premature.

Id actually disagree with this a bit. The brick is very young to start looking at kids but usually, these kids maintain their status as top kids with some minor fluctuations. Once gets get to 13/14 it actually becomes a little harder to identify talent because it just becomes a measure of who went through puberty first. Scouts really start focusing at 15 when most of the kids are just about done and the maturity playing field has leveled a bit. Kids can start playing against kids several years up in Juniors because the older kids dont have the huge physical maturity advantage anymore and it just becomes who is the better player.

 

[S E P H]

OK, you guys are going to laugh but I randomly came up on this.

I was searching Google if Erling Haaland ever played hockey in his youth, and this 2 year old Norwegian kid pops up. I thought it was a joke but here we are. I think the BBC did a report and they even have an interview with former NHLer Espen Knutsen.

His name is Mio Halvorsen.

Never thought I would bring up a 5 year old but LOL. 1st overall in the 2036 Entry Draft for you REALLY early posters.

Not going to lie, but he's a really good skater for his age. I was watching clips of him at 2 years old and he was skating better than some 6-year-old players. No joke.

 

[LeProspector]

Cameron Coombe could be special

 

[3 Minute Minor]

No he is soon to be 30. And sure he skated like the wing, and he loved to do those toedrags- right into the chest of the opponent..

Can we just confirm that you responded to a 15 year old post?

 

[Acallabeth]

Whats more interresting is those who where labeled child prodigys, are often foind stop playing hockey, being not good enough later. Or at best ECHL bound. Gretzky is the ONLY kid i knew that lived with that label and carried it.

Would Jagr count?

I don't even think it's surprising that prodigies disappear with age. AFAIK it's quite typical. And hockey is a skill sport. Doesn't matter how much talent a kid has, unless he's also very passionate for the game, he just won't put enough effort to polish his skills. A common denominator for most players who are considered extremely talented is that they trained a lot more than their competition.

 

[bigdog16]

Id actually disagree with this a bit. The brick is very young to start looking at kids but usually, these kids maintain their status as top kids with some minor fluctuations. Once gets get to 13/14 it actually becomes a little harder to identify talent because it just becomes a measure of who went through puberty first. Scouts really start focusing at 15 when most of the kids are just about done and the maturity playing field has leveled a bit. Kids can start playing against kids several years up in Juniors because the older kids dont have the huge physical maturity advantage anymore and it just becomes who is the better player.

I agree with this post. If you were able to put a top 20 list together of the best 10 year olds in North America, I bet by the time they were 15-16 about half of them would still be on that list. And at the end of the day 25% of that list of 10 year olds would make it to the NHL. There really isn't that much turnover year over year.

The thing that people are getting wrong is that the Brick isn't the end all be all. The tournament has turned into a pay to play event. Rich parents will pay $10k-$15k to make sure their kid is on the Brick team. Sure there are always some studs that go like Tep and Coombe, and I would bet those families barely paid a dime to go. The politics in youth hockey are absolutely toxic. This tournament has changed so much over the past 5 or so years that its not the event that it used to be, all the top players don't go anymore.

 

[SwedishFire]

Can we just confirm that you responded to a 15 year old post?

Yes, but I couldntvresist for the fun of it

 

[x Tame Impala]

Seems pretty weird to be “enthused” about watching a bunch of 10 year olds all the time. Have you guys never played sports before? There’s always a bunch of outstanding kids in those age groups and the vast majority of them never pan out. Too much life happens between 10-18 years old. It’s also a lot easier to separate from the pack against that age group.

IMO it’s a complete waste of time and I can’t imagine why any normal person would watch/pay serious attention to a little kid.

 

[bigdog16]

Seems pretty weird to be “enthused” about watching a bunch of 10 year olds all the time. Have you guys never played sports before? There’s always a bunch of outstanding kids in those age groups and the vast majority of them never pan out. Too much life happens between 10-18 years old. It’s also a lot easier to separate from the pack against that age group.

IMO it’s a complete waste of time and I can’t imagine why any normal person would watch/pay serious attention to a little kid.

So far from the truth. I remember growing up in the AAA loop Ryan Strome and Rocco Grimaldi were known as the top two 93s from a very young age. Both ended up being NHLers

 

[Tuggy]

there is always hope for dustin rose

There's still time.

 

[Trojans86]

So far from the truth. I remember growing up in the AAA loop Ryan Strome and Rocco Grimaldi were known as the top two 93s from a very young age. Both ended up being NHLers

Exactly. Hockey is very different than other sports.

 

[x Tame Impala]

So far from the truth. I remember growing up in the AAA loop Ryan Strome and Rocco Grimaldi were known as the top two 93s from a very young age. Both ended up being NHLers

So those are your two examples from a lifetime of being around youth hockey? So what. It’s still a weird and franky boring thing for grown men to be following with any degree or passion unless your kid is also in high level youth hockey.

Again, so much can happen between 10 years old and draft day. Not to mention the rate of draft picks becoming NHL regulars is substantially low.

 

[Trojans86]

I agree with this post. If you were able to put a top 20 list together of the best 10 year olds in North America, I bet by the time they were 15-16 about half of them would still be on that list. And at the end of the day 25% of that list of 10 year olds would make it to the NHL. There really isn't that much turnover year over year.

The thing that people are getting wrong is that the Brick isn't the end all be all. The tournament has turned into a pay to play event. Rich parents will pay $10k-$15k to make sure their kid is on the Brick team. Sure there are always some studs that go like Tep and Coombe, and I would bet those families barely paid a dime to go. The politics in youth hockey are absolutely toxic. This tournament has changed so much over the past 5 or so years that its not the event that it used to be, all the top players don't go anymore.

Yeah, there are so many money grabs out there that parents are slowly starting to figure out that these tournaments really don’t mean anything. If you’re good then you are good and you will get noticed. The brick is very much an ego thing. It’s crazy expensive but as a hockey parent doing the aaa circuit you are spending boatloads of money so might as well have a cool memory for the kids.

So those are your two examples from a lifetime of being around youth hockey? So what. It’s still a weird and franky boring thing for grown men to be following with any degree or passion unless your kid is also in high level youth hockey.

Again, so much can happen between 10 years old and draft day. Not to mention the rate of draft picks becoming NHL regulars is substantially low.

There are so so many examples of brick kids doing well at the next level. That’s just his personal experience.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Yeah, there are so many money grabs out there that parents are slowly starting to figure out that these tournaments really don’t mean anything. If you’re good then you are good and you will get noticed. The brick is very much an ego thing. It’s crazy expensive but as a hockey parent doing the aaa circuit you are spending boatloads of money so might as well have a cool memory for the kids.


There are so so many examples of brick kids doing well at the next level. That’s just his personal experience.

Doesn’t change my mind about how boring and weird it is to enthusiastically follow 10 year olds playing hockey

 

[Trojans86]

Doesn’t change my mind about how boring and weird it is to enthusiastically follow 10 year olds playing hockey

Agreed. I only watched because of my kid but it is interesting hearing who the top players are because they are usually kids to follow. But hey, I was watching cornhole last night on tv. The brick is more interesting than that and it’s cool to say I remember watching that kid when he was 10. Watching the ahl is kind of similar. Everything sucks but it’s cool to watch your teams future stars as they work their way up.

 

[authentic]

Didn't find McDavid's name mentioned at any point in this thread dating back to 2008... Thought he was known from a really young age.

What the hell are you kids talking about old???

Im from 1987, and I dont even feel old..

How about now?

 

[BadgerBruce]

Best child prodigy was probably Sidd Finch back in 1985. From the Yukon, if memory serves.

Part extraordinary hockey player, part budding yogi, the kid even played the French horn.

And then he just quit the game and disappeared, leaving us all with a “what might have been” memory.

No idea where he is now.

 

[SwedishFire]

So embarrassing to see these sleek professionally made video packages with highlights, compilations, interviews for kids that are 7-8-9 years old. Like really? Come on, parents.

I wish there was a diagnose for this

 

[David Bruce Banner]

No one took a flier on Oasiz Wiesblatt in the last couple of drafts?

 

[BMann]

Best child prodigy was probably Sidd Finch back in 1985. From the Yukon, if memory serves.

Part extraordinary hockey player, part budding yogi, the kid even played the French horn.

And then he just quit the game and disappeared, leaving us all with a “what might have been” memory.

No idea where he is now.

Wasn't he a pitcher not a hockey player ?

 

[PlayersLtd]

People coming in here and raining on those that want to spend a hot minute talking about the next big talent is the definition of not minding your own business.

People were talking about Wayne when he was 10 (30 years before HF was born btw...). Is that so weird?

If you think it's too young, don't read.