Prospect Info: Final CBJ Board 2020 Prospect Rankings

[Viqsi]

Final top-20 - with two tiebreakers that had to be run.

1. Liam Foudy (LW/C)
2. Kirill Marchenko (LW)
3. Yegor Chinakhov (RW)
4. Andrew Peeke (D)
5. Dmitri Voronkov (LW)
6. Daniil Tarasov (G)
7. Veini Vehviläinen (G)
8. Kevin Stenlund (C)
9. Trey Fix-Wolansky (RW)
10. Tim Berni (D)
11. Samuel Knazko (D)
12. Mikael Pyyhtia (C)
13. Eric Hjorth (D)
14. Gabriel Carlsson (D)
15. Matiss Kivlenieks (G)
16. Jacob Christiansen (D)
17. Ryan MacInnis (C)
18. Samuel Johannesson (D)
19. Ole Julian Bjorgvik Holm (D)
20. Kole Sherwood (RW)

#16 and #17:

#19 and #20:

Spoiler: Past Years

2019:

1. Alexandre Texier (LW/C)
2. Vladislav Gavrikov (LD)
3. Emil Bemström (RW/C)
4. Liam Foudy (C)
5. Daniil Tarasov (G)
6. Andrew Peeke (RD)
7. Veini Vehvilainen (G)
8. Trey Fix-Wolansky (RW)
9. Kirill Marchenko (C/W)
10. Kevin Stenlund (C/RW)
11. Gabriel Carlsson (LD)
12. Eric Robinson (LW)
13. Eric Hjorth (RD)
14. Marcus Karlberg (LW/RW)
15. Kole Sherwood (RW/C)
16. Paul Bittner (LW)
17. Dmitri Voronkov (LW/C)
18. Tim Berni (LD)
19. Calvin Thürkauf (C/LW)
20. Carson Meyer (RW)

2018:

1. Vitaly Abramov (RW)
2. Liam Foudy (C)
3. Vladislav Gavrikov (D)
4. Elvis Merzlikins (G)
5. Alexandre Texier (C)
6. Jonathan Davidsson (RW)
7. Kirill Marchenko (RW/LW)
8. Andrew Peeke (D)
9. Gabriel Carlsson (D)
10. Kevin Stenlund (C)
11. Daniil Tarasov (G)
12. Veini Vehviläinen (G)
13. Calvin Thürkauf (C/LW)
14. Emil Bemström (C)
15. Marcus Karlberg (LW/RW)
16. Maxime Fortier (RW)
17. Eric Robinson (LW)
18. Sam Vigneault (C)
19. Kole Sherwood (RW)
20. Tim Berni (D)

2017:

1. Pierre-Luc Dubois
2. Oliver Bjorkstrand
3. Gabriel Carlsson
4. Vitaly Abramov
5. Vladislav Gavrikov
6. Sonny Milano
7. Kevin Stenlund
8. Alexandre Texier
9. Elvis Merzlikins
10. Tyler Motte
11. Andrew Peeke
12. Daniil Tarasov
13. Calvin Thurkauf
14. Markus Hannikainen
15. Kole Sherwood
16. Matiss Kivlenieks
17. Jonathan Davidsson
18. Sam Vigneault
19. Emil Bemstrom
20. Carson Meyer

2016:

1. Zachary Werenski
2. Pierre-Luc Dubois
3. Oliver Bjorkstrand
4. Joonas Korpisalo
5. Sonny Milano
6. Josh Anderson
7. Gabriel Carlsson
8. Anton Forsberg
9. Vitaly Abramov
10. Paul Bittner
11. Keegan Kolesar
12. Daniel Zaar
13. Dean Kukan
14. Markus Nutivaara
15. Vladislav Gavrikov
16. Elvis Merzlikins
17. Dillon Heatherington
18. Andrew Peeke
19. Veeti Vainio
20. Markus Hannikainen

2015:

1. Zach Werenski
2. Sonny Milano
3. Oliver Bjorkstrand
4. Kerby Rychel
5. Dillon Heatherington
6. Gabriel Carlsson
7. Anton Forsberg
8. Michael Paliotta
9. Paul Bittner
10. William Karlsson
11. Josh Anderson
12. Austin Madaisky
13. Kevin Stenlund
14. Ryan Collins
15. TJ Tynan
16. Joonas Korpisalo
17. Daniel Zaar
18. Blake Siebenaler
19. Oliver Leblanc
20. Elvis Merzlikins

Click to read more...

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Good prospect list.

Good, not great.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

We killed it last year, only underrating Voronkov (and berni too if you want to be picky). We’re typically pretty good.

As for this year, the prospects themselves aren’t much to talk about after 7-8 people.

 

[koteka]

That 2015 list is pretty interesting. You never know what will happen with goalies.

 

[Long Live Lyle]

The ascents of Gavrikov and Peeke are interesting. Gavrikov: unranked -> 15 -> 5 -> 3 -> 2. Peeke: 18 -> 11 -> 8 -> 6 -> 4. A bit peculiar Peeke was ever ranked as low as he was when he was an early second-round pick.

 

[cslebn]

That 2015 list is pretty interesting. You never know what will happen with goalies.

Look at 2016 as well. Nutivaara went from 14 to Nhler.

 

[DarkandStormy]

The ascents of Gavrikov and Peeke are interesting. Gavrikov: unranked -> 15 -> 5 -> 3 -> 2. Peeke: 18 -> 11 -> 8 -> 6 -> 4. A bit peculiar Peeke was ever ranked as low as he was when he was an early second-round pick.

Peeke was seen as a reach at the time. I think he was thought of as a 3rd-4th rounder at the time.

Five picks after him in the draft? Alex DeBrincat.

 

[DarkandStormy]

A *lot* of NHLers off of those '16 and '17 lists.

 

[majormajor]

The ascents of Gavrikov and Peeke are interesting. Gavrikov: unranked -> 15 -> 5 -> 3 -> 2. Peeke: 18 -> 11 -> 8 -> 6 -> 4. A bit peculiar Peeke was ever ranked as low as he was when he was an early second-round pick.

I don't think Peeke was seen as a huge reach where he was drafted, he was just on the high end of his expected range. You have a couple things pushing Peeke down the list - 1) extremely good depth, and 2) people overreacted to some of Jarmo's misses.

There was this idea that Jarmo couldn't draft D-men and couldn't draft in the late 1st/ 2nd round. He whiffed on Heatherington and Collins. Peeke was immediately labelled as the next in that series by several posters here.

Peeke was seen as a reach at the time. I think he was thought of as a 3rd-4th rounder at the time.

Five picks after him in the draft? Alex DeBrincat.

I wouldn't be shocked if a few years from now Peeke is seen as the better player compared to DeBrincat. Hawks fans sure seem to be trying to sell high on DeBrincat.

 

[DarkandStormy]

A *lot* of NHLers off of those '16 and '17 lists.

NHLers by year:
-'15: 8 if you count Sonny Milano and Dillon Heatherington, we were all sleeping on Elvis
-'16: 12 if you count Milano, Heatherington, and Andrew Peeke.
-'17: 10 if you include Milano, Peeke, and Kevin Stenlund (Tex and Bemstrom included), plus Kivlenieks is not included
'18: 7 + Foudy not included

Pretty impressive to have more than half of the list end up as regular or semi-regular NHLers. I stand by my prediction that the '20 pool will be viewed as pretty poor outside that top 7 or so. Maybe you get one surprise outside of that, but it still looks poor to me - and poorer than almost any of the previous 5+ years.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I don't think Peeke was seen as a huge reach where he was drafted, he was just on the high end of his expected range. You have a couple things pushing Peeke down the list - 1) extremely good depth, and 2) people overreacted to some of Jarmo's misses.

There was this idea that Jarmo couldn't draft D-men and couldn't draft in the late 1st/ 2nd round. He whiffed on Heatherington and Collins. Peeke was immediately labelled as the next in that series by several posters here..

It was a fair label. They (Peeke and Collins) were extremely similar players in college. Had the same strengths and weaknesses. Peeke has just panned out better to this part of his career. I believe Peeke was supposed to be a third rounder or fourth before the draft. I could be wrong though.

Jarmo and CBJ scouts still do have a hard on for old style defensive defenseman with almost no offensive upside. Heatherington, Collins, Peeke, Carlsson, etc. only one of these guys MIGHT pan out. And the jackets are really banking on it working out.

 

[majormajor]

It was a fair label. They (Peeke and Collins) were extremely similar players in college. Had the same strengths and weaknesses. Peeke has just panned out better to this part of his career.

Maybe if you are just reading vaguely written scouting reports. I don't think you can watch them move ten feet on the ice and see a similar player. I'm not saying I knew Peeke was going to be much better, but he wasn't of the same type as Collins. The skating in particular was always on a different level.

I believe Peeke was supposed to be a third rounder or fourth before the draft. I could be wrong though.

I think his value ranged from something like 30-100 in that draft. A lot of players are all over the place like that. Anyways, I don't think there was/is anything wrong with some skepticism on Peeke, I just never liked the Heatherington = Collins = Peeke line of thinking.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Maybe if you are just reading vaguely written scouting reports. I don't think you can watch them move ten feet on the ice and see a similar player. I'm not saying I knew Peeke was going to be much better, but he wasn't of the same type as Collins. The skating in particular was always on a different level.



I think his value ranged from something like 30-100 in that draft. A lot of players are all over the place like that. Anyways, I don't think there was/is anything wrong with some skepticism on Peeke, I just never liked the Heatherington = Collins = Peeke line of thinking.

I’ll give you that Peekes skating was always above Collins’, and that he had higher upside. But Peeke was picked as a defense first guy, and while I know pinning all guys into three categories (OFD, DFD, TWD) is lazy and not accounting for each individual players specific skills and weaknesses. They weren’t carbon copies of each other, as evident by Peeke continuing to play well in college, and improve as a pro, while Collins was always very mediocre at best in college, and worse as a pro. The comparisons (at least in overall style of play) was still valid in my eyes, at least partially.

 

[neelynugs]

Final top-20 - with two tiebreakers that had to be run.

1. Liam Foudy (LW/C)
2. Kirill Marchenko (LW)
3. Yegor Chinakhov (RW)
4. Andrew Peeke (D)
5. Dmitri Voronkov (LW)
6. Daniil Tarasov (G)
7. Veini Vehviläinen (G)
8. Kevin Stenlund (C)
9. Trey Fix-Wolansky (RW)
10. Tim Berni (D)
11. Samuel Knazko (D)
12. Mikael Pyyhtia (C)
13. Eric Hjorth (D)
14. Gabriel Carlsson (D)
15. Matiss Kivlenieks (G)
16. Jacob Christiansen (D)
17. Ryan MacInnis (C)
18. Samuel Johannesson (D)
19. Ole Julian Bjorgvik Holm (D)
20. Kole Sherwood (RW)

[/spoiler]

@AndBoomGoesTheCannon - i'll ask the question here, since it's the better spot for it.
how much has changed since november? who's the biggest riser and biggest disappointment?

 

[DarkandStormy]

@AndBoomGoesTheCannon - i'll ask the question here, since it's the better spot for it.
how much has changed since november? who's the biggest riser and biggest disappointment?

I think the rankings were fairly spot on, +/- a few spots. Foudy is probably the biggest disappointment, just because there are others on the list getting regular NHL time and he's in the AHL now. I suppose you could say Stenlund should be up a couple spot because he's an NHL regular now, though hasn't blown the doors off. Gabriel Carlsson and Ryan MacInnis, similarly, have had *some* NHL time this season, though they are older than others on the list ahead of them.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

@AndBoomGoesTheCannon - i'll ask the question here, since it's the better spot for it.
how much has changed since november? who's the biggest riser and biggest disappointment?

I think Vehvilainen has dropped completely off. *wink*

 

[neelynugs]

I think the rankings were fairly spot on, +/- a few spots. Foudy is probably the biggest disappointment, just because there are others on the list getting regular NHL time and he's in the AHL now. I suppose you could say Stenlund should be up a couple spot because he's an NHL regular now, though hasn't blown the doors off. Gabriel Carlsson and Ryan MacInnis, similarly, have had *some* NHL time this season, though they are older than others on the list ahead of them.

really like marchenko and tarasov, think they don't get enough respect when talking prospects
around the league.

 

[ViD]

Marchenko should be #1 right now

 

[MoeBartoli]

Marchenko should be #1 right now

I’ll buy that since Foudy certainly isn’t #1.

 

[majormajor]

@AndBoomGoesTheCannon - i'll ask the question here, since it's the better spot for it.
how much has changed since november? who's the biggest riser and biggest disappointment?

Good question. Not that much has changed, honestly.

Foudy was ranked #1 in a very flat group, he wasn't expected to score much this year. He was useful at the NHL level, he's playing in Cleveland to develop, where 20 year old kids belong.

Marchenko should have gone #1, but it's a flat group either way.

Voronkov and Chinakhov have continued on their promising track.

Peeke has looked good, just unfortunately hasn't seen enough games in the last year because of injuries/pandemic. I'm very confident he's soon to be a top 4 D.

Tarasov might just have made it a group of six at the top. I personally thought he was a clear #6 last year but now he's made it in the top tier.

VV was overrated by many, I think. We'll see what he can do but I don't think there's starter upside there and that hasn't changed at least in my mind.

Stenlund hasn't changed.

Fix-Wolansky is a riser for sure. 9 pts in 9 games in the AHL ought to be worth something. Another guy to keep an eye on is Tyler Angle. He wasn't on our list in the Fall but is off to a great start in Cleveland. Looks like a sparkplug forward, perhaps another in the Matt Calvert mold.

As far as disappointments go - Tim Berni still can't seem to make top pair in Switzerland, and can't score. And Mikael Pyyhtia looked like one of the weakest players at the WJC.

Overall the pool looks a bit stronger now, mostly on the strength of the Russians, who as you know are all trending very well.

 

[neelynugs]

Good question. Not that much has changed, honestly.

Foudy was ranked #1 in a very flat group, he wasn't expected to score much this year. He was useful at the NHL level, he's playing in Cleveland to develop, where 20 year old kids belong.

Marchenko should have gone #1, but it's a flat group either way.

Voronkov and Chinakhov have continued on their promising track.

Peeke has looked good, just unfortunately hasn't seen enough games in the last year because of injuries/pandemic. I'm very confident he's soon to be a top 4 D.

Tarasov might just have made it a group of six at the top. I personally thought he was a clear #6 last year but now he's made it in the top tier.

VV was overrated by many, I think. We'll see what he can do but I don't think there's starter upside there and that hasn't changed at least in my mind.

Stenlund hasn't changed.

Fix-Wolansky is a riser for sure. 9 pts in 9 games in the AHL ought to be worth something. Another guy to keep an eye on is Tyler Angle. He wasn't on our list in the Fall but is off to a great start in Cleveland. Looks like a sparkplug forward, perhaps another in the Matt Calvert mold.

As far as disappointments go - Tim Berni still can't seem to make top pair in Switzerland, and can't score. And Mikael Pyyhtia looked like one of the weakest players at the WJC.

Overall the pool looks a bit stronger now, mostly on the strength of the Russians, who as you know are all trending very well.

great recap. i really liked johannesson when looking into his draft year - how's he trending?
also, do you think kivlenieks will be a legit backup? wonder if seattle has interest, he's a bit
of a wild card for me.

 

[VT]

If Russian, IMHO:

1. Tarasov
2. Voronkov
3. Chinakhov
4. Marchenko

Voronkov is really great, tough, strong but skill. He has good skating, one plays good in PPG (in the front of the net), SHG. And...what's very serious, his coach is Dmitri Kvartalnov who can teach young players, like to work with them and give them chances.

 

[Jovavic]

If Russian, IMHO:

1. Tarasov
2. Voronkov
3. Chinakhov
4. Marchenko

Voronkov is really great, tough, strong but skill. He has good skating, one plays good in PPG (in the front of the net), SHG. And...what's very serious, his coach is Dmitri Kvartalnov who can teach young players, like to work with them and give them chances.

How did you come to that ranking? Their probability of reaching NHL success? I agree that Marchenko has the highest "bust" potential but he also could be a first line winger if he "booms"

 

[VT]

How did you come to that ranking? Their probability of reaching NHL success? I agree that Marchenko has the highest "bust" potential but he also could be a first line winger if he "booms"

I follow KHL. What`s happen Marchenko you are right but I believe Voronkov more. I don`t know if he`ll be the first line player, but he`s two-way player with very good potential. What is serious he can play the center.

 

[majormajor]

great recap. i really liked johannesson when looking into his draft year - how's he trending?
also, do you think kivlenieks will be a legit backup? wonder if seattle has interest, he's a bit
of a wild card for me.

Kiv could become a backup, but that's it and I don't think that's worth that much.

Johannesson I haven't heard anything new about.

How did you come to that ranking? Their probability of reaching NHL success? I agree that Marchenko has the highest "bust" potential but he also could be a first line winger if he "booms"

Marchenko is a well rounded player, I don't think there's more bust potential with him.