F Cayden Lindstrom - Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (2024, 4th, CBJ)

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

The Jackets have really good prospects and depth at every skater position. Voronkov or maybe Sillinger might become a 2C, among a few other possibilities.
I think that makes it more likely that they take Lindstrom though, because every team could use a power forward.



If you love the player, take him.

But there really isn't as much room on D. If you've got Werenski, Mateychuk, and Dickinson at LD then a really good player is on the third pair.



They have a ton of young forwards.

Ducks need RD and they need toughness, I wouldn't be surprised if they take Carter Yakemchuk (yes that early).

True, but if one of them can play RD, or they look at a guy like Parekh that might be a dude with 70+ potential on d for points, but struggle defensively, so the BJs envision him with Werenski, or Mateychuk.

That could be for the Ducks. He has the potential to be a real impactful d and the type you want as he can play in any type of game, if he hits his potential obviously.

 

[majormajor]

True, but if one of them can play RD

I know the Sabres don't care so much for handedness but I'm not a believer that D can generally switch effectively. Most of the ones that switch are small nimble specialists playing on the third pair.

or they look at a guy like Parekh that might be a dude with 70+ potential on d for points, but struggle defensively, so the BJs envision him with Werenski, or Mateychuk.

Jackets D already skews towards offensive D, they really need defensive D help. A lot of clubs at the bottom are that way, there's a lot more clubs needing sterling defense than need a new QB, I could see Parekh slipping a ways.

That could be for the Ducks. He has the potential to be a real impactful d and the type you want as he can play in any type of game, if he hits his potential obviously.

I think so. Yak can't defend right now but I think he'll be good at it someday. He'll definitely be a huge pain to play against.

 

[Guadana]

I see only Ducks who can draft some other player by top-3 pick. Other teams most likely will draft Lindstrom by 2nd-4th pick.

 

[McMozesmadness]

No Catton or Lindstrom at the u18

 

[landy92mack29]

Lindstrom makes sense as he clearly isn't 100% and probably needs a surgery so get the recovery started now vs just hurting draft stock. Curious if Catton got banged up also

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

As a fan of a team potentially in the range to get Lindstrom, I am alarmed. ''Symptoms of a back injury'' is what Pronman wrote in that article. Seems pretty mysterious...

 

[Junohockeyfan]

I was Team Lindstrom but after watching a few games of his, i wasn't impressed. He lacked energy. Tij Iginla on the other hand was all over the ice.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I think this back injury is going to drop his stock in the top 10.

 

[Peasy]

I think this back injury is going to drop his stock in the top 10.

Agreed. Just look at Vilardi. Was constantly talked about in the top 5 during his draft year and ended up going outside of the top 10 due to injury concerns (specifically his back)

 

[Jee]

Sup cutipie, you will look so good in a habs jersey

 

[coooldude]

Somewhere in some thread, someone posted an uncorroborated rumor that Lindstrom is dealing with a herniated disc. If so, I think he slips a long, long way out of the top 10. This study has 82% of Pro athletes returning from a herniated disc within a year, and an average career length after of 3.3 years... not super encouraging for a 17-18yo kid. Maybe things have been better since this study which was over decades thru 2008.

The Professional Athlete Spine Initiative: outcomes after lumbar disc herniation in 342 elite professional athletes - PubMed

Professional athletes diagnosed with an LDH successfully returned to play at a high rate with productive careers after injury. Whereas older athletes have a shorter career length after diagnosis of LDH, experienced players (high number of games played) demonstrate more games played after...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Somewhere in some thread, someone posted an uncorroborated rumor that Lindstrom is dealing with a herniated disc. If so, I think he slips a long, long way out of the top 10. This study has 82% of Pro athletes returning from a herniated disc within a year, and an average career length after of 3.3 years... not super encouraging for a 17-18yo kid. Maybe things have been better since this study which was over decades thru 2008.

The Professional Athlete Spine Initiative: outcomes after lumbar disc herniation in 342 elite professional athletes - PubMed

Professional athletes diagnosed with an LDH successfully returned to play at a high rate with productive careers after injury. Whereas older athletes have a shorter career length after diagnosis of LDH, experienced players (high number of games played) demonstrate more games played after...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

What is average career length for similar aged pros who don’t have this injury? Given brevity of most careers, it’s not clear from abstract that an expectation of 3 years after this injury is out of line with normal expectations for non-injured peers.

 

[coooldude]

What is average career length for similar aged pros who don’t have this injury? Given brevity of most careers, it’s not clear from abstract that an expectation of 3 years after this injury is out of line with normal expectations for non-injured peers.

Good question, unclear. However, a C drafted in the top 5 has a ~8 year expected NHL career.

https://morehockeystats.com/drafts/pickstats

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Good question, unclear. However, a C drafted in the top 5 has a ~8 year expected NHL career.

https://morehockeystats.com/drafts/pickstats

Is his rumored injury same as what has troubled villardi during his young career?

 

[coooldude]

Is his rumored injury same as what has troubled villardi during his young career?

Dunno -- not much info on google for what exactly was ailing him, but back issues are scary and Vilardi is the poster child. Dropped from top 5 to 11OA, and in retrospect I wonder if the Kings wouldn't want to pick Necas or Suzuki or one of the D that came in the next tier.

 

[BoneHutson]

Dunno -- not much info on google for what exactly was ailing him, but back issues are scary and Vilardi is the poster child. Dropped from top 5 to 11OA, and in retrospect I wonder if the Kings wouldn't want to pick Necas or Suzuki or one of the D that came in the next tier.

Why wouldnt the kings draft Suzuki (or Thomas) in retrospect lmao

 

[Intangir]

What is average career length for similar aged pros who don’t have this injury? Given brevity of most careers, it’s not clear from abstract that an expectation of 3 years after this injury is out of line with normal expectations for non-injured peers.

Average hockey career with or without a similar injury is around 4.5-4.6 years depending on who you quote. Needless to say, that is quite the difference from 3.3, considering that it's more than a 25% increase in duration.

This source seems pretty credible.

What is the Average Career Length of an NHL player? - Hockey Answered

So yeah, if Lindstrom's injury is indeed an herniated disk then it will definitely tank his draft stock quite a bit depending on the severity of his injury.

 

[stevo61]

Average hockey career with or without a similar injury is around 4.5-4.6 years depending on who you quote. Needless to say, that is quite the difference from 3.3, considering that it's more than a 25% increase in duration .

This source seems pretty credible.

What is the Average Career Length of an NHL player? - Hockey Answered

So yeah, if Lindstrom's injury is indeed an herniated disk then it will definitely tank his draft stock quite a bit depending on the severity of his injury.

Man herniated disc can be massively overrated and more of the population than youd expect has them and dont even know

 

[KBstyle]

Éric Dazé V2

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Average hockey career with or without a similar injury is around 4.5-4.6 years depending on who you quote. Needless to say, that is quite the difference from 3.3, considering that it's more than a 25% increase in duration .

This source seems pretty credible.

What is the Average Career Length of an NHL player? - Hockey Answered

So yeah, if Lindstrom's injury is indeed an herniated disk then it will definitely tank his draft stock quite a bit depending on the severity of his injury.

that doesn't answer the question. if the average career is 4.5 years, that doesn't tell us how long the average player's career will last beyond any given point. what we would want to know is how old/experienced are guys who suffer this injury and how does their future career prospects differ because of it. if the average injury like this to an nhl player occurs at age 24 (i am picking age ar random), what is the average career expectation for 24 year olds? how does that compare to the 3 years post-injury that the average career is? i obviously don't know the answer to that, but it's not necessarily much different for guys who have this injury and guys who don't. that is tyoe of info i would want to know before drafting lindstrom, and nothing i've seen so far really sheds much light on how much this is likely to affect his career, if at all. if this is even what his injury is.

 

[cheesymc]

Somewhere in some thread, someone posted an uncorroborated rumor that Lindstrom is dealing with a herniated disc. If so, I think he slips a long, long way out of the top 10. This study has 82% of Pro athletes returning from a herniated disc within a year, and an average career length after of 3.3 years... not super encouraging for a 17-18yo kid. Maybe things have been better since this study which was over decades thru 2008.

The Professional Athlete Spine Initiative: outcomes after lumbar disc herniation in 342 elite professional athletes - PubMed

Professional athletes diagnosed with an LDH successfully returned to play at a high rate with productive careers after injury. Whereas older athletes have a shorter career length after diagnosis of LDH, experienced players (high number of games played) demonstrate more games played after...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Wow, before his injuries he was very likely the 2nd off the board. Who wouldn’t want a big, fast, nasty goal scoring center? But I think he still gets picked somewhere around 10 even if this is true.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

I'm a Lindstrom fan but nowhere near CSB's obsession with him. He's mid-first caliber IMO. My biggest concern with his game is that he doesn't create anything in the middle. He's fine wearing down dudes along the wall and is a great stickhandler with shifty moves, but I was shocked to see how infrequent he uses his puck protection to get to the middle and draw attention away from the backdoor or weak side. Passing off the cycle was very basic and safe, and too many times he hands off and goes right to the net. This is a No. 2 or 3 OA? Hell no, I say. Anyway, when I saw his assist total and was shocked that a 1C/2C on a high-powered team rated 3rd overall by CSB had only 19 assists in 32 games, I did an audit of each one.

First off, his A/G total of 0.59 is very low for a notable WHL first-year eligible forward. I went back to 2014 and looked at all the big names -- Top-100 NHL scorers this season drafted out of the Dub and top-rated WHL'ers from 2019-2023 (2018 was a shit draft for the WHL the 2017 kids -- Glass,Patrick, Yamamoto, and Rasmussen -- well, you know). Lindstrom ranks near the bottom of the list:

WHL Forward	Draft	A/G
Connor Bedard	2023	1.26
Sam Reinhart	2014	1.15
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	2011	1.09
Leon Draisaitl	2014	1.05
Zach Benson	2023	1.03
Mathew Barzal	2015	1.02
Dylan Guenther	2021	1.00
Seth Jarvis	2020	0.97
Matt Savoie	2022	0.85
Connor Zary	2020	0.84
Colby Dach	2019	0.77
Peyton Krebs	2019	0.77
Samuel Honzek	2023	0.77
Brayden Yager	2023	0.75
Brayden Point	2014	0.74
Dylan Cozens	2019	0.74
Jake Neighbours	2020	0.73
Conor Geekie	2022	0.73
Nate Danielson	2023	0.66
Ridly Greig	2020	0.61
Cayden Lindstrom	2024	0.59
Oliver Bjorkstrand	2013	0.49
Brandon Hagel	2016	0.47
Mike Rasmussen	2017	0.46

As far as the nature of his assists, less than half of the 19 were actual setups, and 10 of the 19 were primary 5v5. I know he scored nearly a goal a game and his 1.44 P/G average looks amazing, but my concern is Basha had a lot to do with that. Between his injuries, the lack of setups, the rusty playoff, and a decent Hlinka, there's no way he's a top-10 pick to me.

 

[Galaxydoggystyle]

Man I see Alex Galchenyuk written all over this kid......

 

[Rafters]

I could of sworn I just seen Mike Grier downtown Medicine Hat… maybe having a meeting with Cayden or Medicine Hat coaches?

 

[CapSpace]

Man I see Alex Galchenyuk written all over this kid......

Why ?