Prospect Info: Down On The Farm (Ads and Glads)

[PredsV82]

Come on Ads dont blow this..

 

[PredsV82]

And now Texas leads. What a cluster

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Well crap.

Thanks to all the Ads followers for keeping us updated throughout the season in here, it has been greatly appreciated!

 

[PredsV82]

This sucks. Ads were the only thing giving me a reason to keep up with hockey. Guess I'll tune back in around the draft.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

FWIW, the final stats for the Ads this season...

Regular:

Playoffs:

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Overall, if I was looking at the Milwaukee players who are "prospects" in some way for the Preds...

Fedor Svechkov / Zachary L'Heureux
Clearly these two have graduated and are ready for NHL action. It's too bad the Preds didn't leverage L'Heureux's waiver exempt status to send him back for the AHL playoffs though, because he probably would have made enough of an impact to tip the series against Texas in the Ads favor!

Joakim Kemell
I think he's "doing ok"... 19g isn't ideal for his 2nd full season in the AHL, but he did just turn 21, and is getting closer. I think next season is a real key for him. He has gotten his feet wet in NA pro hockey now at young ages... what he needs to do next season is put it all together and be a "star player" at the AHL level. I want to see him score 30 next year. He hasn't reached any "panic" stage yet, but we do need to see that next step up in production next season.

Spencer Stastney / Adam Wilsby / Marc Del Gaizo
I think these are all guys who "can play NHL games". I do think both of Wilsby and Stastney should be in the NHL next season. I mean, we should not count on being able to pass them through waivers, anyway. They both skate so well. I don't know if they have much upside beyond "good-skating 3rd pair". But I'd keep them up. Del Gaizo is a little iffier... he'll be a Group 6 UFA... I think from his perspective he should pursue offers. We can't promote 3 guys to the NHL, and I like Stastney and Wilsby better. Del Gaizo should get a nice raise on his $125,000 AHL salary from somebody, he's a good AHL player. I wouldn't hesitate to pay him that $300-400k salary to stay in Milwaukee on a 2-way contract. But he should definitely "explore his options". Kinda like Jeremy Davies.

Reid Schaefer
It sucks he got injured and missed most of the year. Does anybody even know what the injury is??? He's a (barely) NHL 1st round pick, so it'd be really nice if he panned out, and his start to this season was VERY encouraging. But what is the injury, are there any long-term concerns?

Ozzy Weisblatt
Well, I think most of us thought he was just a contract dump by San Jose for Afanaseyev. But he seems to be thriving as that sort of pesky energy guy, and put up ok points too, even in the playoffs. I think he's a solid darkhorse for a roster spot on the Preds next season. Probably ahead of Kemell for the NHL, since we think Kemell has upside we want to see emerge at the AHL level first and wouldn't fit as well as a #12/13 fwd.

Ryan Ufko / Jake Livingstone
Ufko started off really slow with almost no production, but gradually ramped things up. I'm not too sure about his ultimate upside, but we have 2 more seasons to find out. Let's see if he can take the requisite steps and start crushing the AHL. Meanwhile, Livingstone... kind of bombed... ? Well, he has logged 2 "pretty decent" regular seasons for the Ads, but couldn't get back on the ice in the playoffs for the Ads a a 26-year old. I don't see any reason to qualify Livingstone... he's "okay" - as an AHL player... but no real NHL upside left.

Matt Murray / Magnus Chrona
Murray was hands down the Ads MVP for this season, right? And he has re-upped, so that's great. I think he seems to be a reliable "#3 option" for the Preds. He didn't quite stand out the same way in the playoffs, unfortunately. He wasn't "stealing" games the same way anyhow. But ok, we don't have any other #3 option, so he's good enough in that slot. Chrona... eh... he's getting up there in age, and just "average" stats in the AHL don't argue for NHL upside. It's still not impossible for him, but the window is closing.

Jack Matier / Luke Prokop / Jeremy Hanzel
I think it's safe to write off all 3 of these D prospects. Prokop's contract is up and I don't see a reason to qualify him. Hanzel isn't standing out in the ECHL, just like both Matier and Prokop failed to do last year. Matier hasn't taken the hoped-for step. None of these guys could get on the ice in the playoffs for the Ads. I think there is basically no way any of these guys could be projected as NHL prospects.

Cameo add-ons
Ok, it's nice Edstrom, Lind, and anybody else joined the team as essentially Black Aces down the stretch once they got eliminated in their home leagues. I don't think that gives us any information on them as prospects. Next season is when it counts for them.

EVERYBODY ELSE
I think Nichol did a pretty good job picking up guys, Denisenko, Ylonen, Ivan, Rolston, etc. Some of them filled in nicely at the AHL level. None of them have any value as NHL prospects. Same goes for guys like Campbell, Wall, etc. I don't think there are any "hidden gems" with NHL upside here.

 

[glenngineer]

Nothing about the Milwaukee roster excites me for the NHL roster. Unless Kemell does a complete 180 and lights it up the first 40 games or so of next season, I don't think he's making it.

 

[nine_inch_fang]

Nothing about the Milwaukee roster excites me for the NHL roster. Unless Kemell does a complete 180 and lights it up the first 40 games or so of next season, I don't think he's making it.

Not watching him all the time kinda makes it hard to say much. But...
Ultimately, I feel like he's better than Tolvanen was at this stage. And, if that holds true, a 25ish goal 50ish point youngster with an edge will be very useful.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Not watching him all the time kinda makes it hard to say much. But...
Ultimately, I feel like he's better than Tolvanen was at this stage. And, if that holds true, a 25ish goal 50ish point youngster with an edge will be very useful.

Hm.... he's more maybe "about the same"... although Kemell has been on better teams, and therefore also had more of an opportunity to show in the AHL playoffs (which he has done well in every year) than Tolvanen ever got a chance to.

I would still reserve judgement on him being a 25goal/50pt NHL player though... just because he hasn't even been able to do that in the AHL... yet. Tolvanen really focused seriously on his defensive play in the AHL. I'm not sure Kemell has really done that to the same extent? Tolvanen was also a little more "quietly effective", while Kemell is more obviously rambunctious. But I can definitely see Kemell emerging as more of a big-time threat in the AHL next season, in which case the whole thing flips around. Which is really what I'm hoping to see. He might be more of a Star Player in the AHL next season. Hopefully.

Good comparison, just with some subtle differences. End of the day, though, Tolvanen was a bit of an exception in terms of his NHL production basically matching his AHL production. It's nice if that happens. Not sure you can really EXPECT it, though, since the extrapolation would more often involve a dip in production.

But if Kemell scores 30 or is a PPG player in the AHL next season, and THEN dips down to a 20g/0.5PPG type of player in the NHL, that's maybe more the norm, but will also be great for us.

 

[adsfan]

Kemell plays defense! Just ask any opponent who got a shoulder to their sternum from him during an open ice body check. I saw it dozens of times. He is good at separating the puck from opponents, especially in the Neutral Zone.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Kemell plays defense! Just ask any opponent who got a shoulder to their sternum from him during an open ice body check. I saw it dozens of times. He is good at separating the puck from opponents, especially in the Neutral Zone.

The thing is, just like with Tolvanen, nobody is going to give any credit to an undersized guy who throws what little weight he has around a bit like that, right? UNLESS... he does other things also, or... he scores. So far Kemell hasn't quite scored enough to pass the threshold.

I think Weisblatt by contrast... they both had 40 pts. But Weisblatt was just another level of peskiness (e.g. 96 pims to 39), he was +12 vs. Kemmel's -10, it just seemed like if the player was going to be in a depth role where that physicality or defense mattered, Weisblatt was doing things above Kemell's level, while they were otherwise equal on offense?

This isn't meant as any kind of knock on Kemell. He's younger and I think he CAN still erupt for 30 goals in the AHL next season. But that's the thing he needs, if he's not going to really go over the top as an agitator + player like Weisblatt was?