D John Whipple - USNTDP, USHL (2024, 144th, DET)

GermanSpitfire

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Jul 20, 2020
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American born defender projects as a high end prospect for 2024. He is an excellent two way defender that does most everything well. Without a doubt one of the top defenders in his age group. I’m exited to see how he progresses.

WHL Rights: Swift Current Broncos

NCAA Commitment: University of Minnesota
 
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BKarchitect

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Oct 12, 2017
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I see he made the U17 USNTDP, How does he and the '06 American defence corps stack up?
Good group. Whipple and Logan Hensler are the crown jewels at this point, early days though. Hutson is an offensive dynamo but is tiny. Emery intrigues me a lot. Tall, lanky kid who is a dual and played in BC this past season but made the USNTDP.
 

Bonin21

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May 1, 2014
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Committed to the U, following recent 1st/2nd rounders in Lacombe/Faber/Johnson/Rinzel/Chesley
 

BKarchitect

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Watch the Gophers get Hensler too...they are both gonna be studs. They are both physically ready to play college hockey...like tomorrow.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
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Boring defensive defenseman. Can skate, play defense, hit, good enough size and puck moving.

He’ll be like a second or third round pick most likely. Similar to some older NTDP guys like Ryan Lindgren and Paul Fischer.
 

William H Bonney

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Feb 27, 2002
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The NTDP U17 defense core is interesting. It's a good group overall but their NHL upside is a bit fuzzy. Lots of guys with interesting tools but they're almost all either raw or haven't put those tools together consistently. Right now they're largely a group of guys that are good overall players but unsure if they standout in any one area or skill in a way that make them high-end draft prospects. That said, the group has so many toolsy guys I wouldn't be shocked to see 1-2 of them put it together to really climb the rankings in their U18 seasons.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

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He’s a little overrated on some early lists based on prior hype coming into the NTDP. He’s the Paul Fischer of his NTDP team.

My prop bet is which early birthday left-shot defensive D from Minnesota named John goes higher in 2024 between him and Stout. They have a lot of similarities.
 

clevelandcane

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Dec 30, 2011
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I love Whipple. He has good size, mixes it up physically, and is aggressive. I have no idea where he'll get drafted but I've enjoyed watching him the couple games I've seen.
 

Bonin21

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He seems to be losing hype, but a couple of recent NTDP D men from Minnesota that don't light up the score sheet have been incredible value picks in the 2nd round (Lindgren and Faber). Chesley could quietly turn into a solid NHL guy, too, also from the 2nd round. But he's more on the edge of a 4-6th D.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
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He seems to be losing hype, but a couple of recent NTDP D men from Minnesota that don't light up the score sheet have been incredible value picks in the 2nd round (Lindgren and Faber). Chesley could quietly turn into a solid NHL guy, too, also from the 2nd round. But he's more on the edge of a 4-6th D.
I could totally see a Lindgren. There are similarities. He's behind where Faber was at the NTDP after his U17 season and way behind where Chesley was, but you never know what'll happen after that.

Whipple is a good player, but I think it's very hard to get a good idea of what these guys are before they hit junior hockey. They are all one of the best on their teams. They all score a lot, and there are maybe like 3 or 4 guys anyway on their teams that even make it to junior from the best teams. Some teams only have one player. They aren't all playing against the same competition either, so it's judging a bunch of different leagues in different states. Nothing might've gone wrong with Whipple. Possible he never had the big offensive chops for more than a defensive defenseman that could make it in the NHL in a defensive role.
 
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Oak

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Anyone know what happened to this kid? EP says he is going Univ of Minnesota next year but he was just taken by Sioux Falls in the phase 2 draft.

I really haven't followed him since his first year at NTDP but seems like his stock has really dropped. Central scouting has him as a 5th round guy so he can't be that bad.
 
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95snipes

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Dec 11, 2019
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Anyone know what happened to this kid? EP says he is going Univ of Minnesota next year but he was just taken by Sioux Falls in the phase 2 draft.

I really haven't followed him since his first year at NTDP but seems like his stock has really dropped. Central scouting has him as a 5th round guy so he can't be that bad.
He hasn't developed well. Doesn't bring much offense, makes a lot of mistakes with the puck, and is too easy to play against. A year in the USHL would be good for him.
 

Bonin21

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Ya, he's going to play in the USHL instead of being the 6/7 D for the Gophers. His development has been a massive disappointment after being projected as a top 15 pick when he committed.

Overall, the D pipeline for the Gophers are all developing under expectations.
Whipple
Mace'o Phillips
Jacob Rombach
Matthew Grimes

They need to make some significant moves and try to flip someone or hit the transfer portal next spring.
 
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Oak

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Ya, he's going to play in the USHL instead of being the 6/7 D for the Gophers. His development has been a massive disappointment after being projected as a top 15 pick when he committed.

Overall, the D pipeline for the Gophers are all developing under expectations.
Whipple
Mace'o Phillips
Jacob Rombach
Matthew Grimes

They need to make some significant moves and try to flip someone or hit the transfer portal next spring.
Not to go off topic on Whipple's thread but Grimes was always such a great player that I considered to be better than Bracco when they played youth and midgets. How is his development going if you happen to track him?
 

WarriorofTime

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Jul 3, 2010
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Anyone know what happened to this kid? EP says he is going Univ of Minnesota next year but he was just taken by Sioux Falls in the phase 2 draft.
EP will just list where a player is committed to, but the year they show them with that school on the stat page is not relevant. Generally, player and team will have a discussion around this time to determine if the player is ready to come to NCAA next season or if the team believes that they would best served remaining in Juniors. Various players will enter NCAA Hockey for their age 18, 19, 20 or 21 season, and it's ultimately up to player/team to come to a meeting of minds on that point.

Theoretically, Minnesota could tell Whipple "we don't think you're ready, go play in the USHL next year" and if Whipple wanted to, he could say "pound sand, I want to play NCAA" and change his commitment to somewhere else. However, that's not particularly likely and in this case, Whipple likely plays in the USHL for a year and then starts at Minnesota the following year.
 
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BKarchitect

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EP is the absolute worst at actually trying to predict an enrollment year. The problem is people take EP for gospel or for intelligent guessing when they really have no system to how they show future enrollment dates for college prospects, other than some loose notion that 18 year-olds are generally high school grads.

Chris Heisenberg isn’t perfect at predicting these things but he definitely actually puts thought and intuition into the classes…his spreadsheet is like the holy grail compared to EP. Doesn't look like the USHL draft results have really been "incorporated" yet but I am sure they will be.

Anybody interested in actual predictive NCAA classes with infinite sorting ability should bookmark his work instead of turning to EP:

Chris Heisenberg NCAA Hockey Recruiting Spreadsheet
 
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95snipes

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Dec 11, 2019
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Ya, he's going to play in the USHL instead of being the 6/7 D for the Gophers. His development has been a massive disappointment after being projected as a top 15 pick when he committed.

Overall, the D pipeline for the Gophers are all developing under expectations.
Whipple
Mace'o Phillips
Jacob Rombach
Matthew Grimes

They need to make some significant moves and try to flip someone or hit the transfer portal next spring.

Not to go off topic on Whipple's thread but Grimes was always such a great player that I considered to be better than Bracco when they played youth and midgets. How is his development going if you happen to track him?
I would still be excited about those other 3 players mentioned.

Agree with Oak on Grimes. He always impressed me when I saw him this year. Nothing flashy but a good year for a d-1 player.

I'm high on Rombach. I think he's a much better prospect than Kleber is. Big and can skate, stylistically similar to Slavin.

Phillips is really raw, but has interesting tools if he can round out his game.

All of those guys (Grimes / Rombach / Phillips) play more of a pro friendly game than college though.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
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New York
Ya, he's going to play in the USHL instead of being the 6/7 D for the Gophers. His development has been a massive disappointment after being projected as a top 15 pick when he committed.

Overall, the D pipeline for the Gophers are all developing under expectations.
Whipple
Mace'o Phillips
Jacob Rombach
Matthew Grimes

They need to make some significant moves and try to flip someone or hit the transfer portal next spring.
Rombach and Grimes I’ve liked a lot. Phillips is also starting to improve. Whipple is more of an ordinary player than the star he was projected as pre-NTDP, but I think it’s a little better than you give it credit for being.
 

neelynugs

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Feb 27, 2002
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He’s a little overrated on some early lists based on prior hype coming into the NTDP. He’s the Paul Fischer of his NTDP team.

My prop bet is which early birthday left-shot defensive D from Minnesota named John goes higher in 2024 between him and Stout. They have a lot of similarities.
apropos because stout is his cousin
 
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