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Prospect Info: General Discussion of Prospects

Chainshot

Chainshot

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eprinkside.com

Ranking the NHL's top 100 affiliated prospects ahead of the 2024-25 season

Mitch Brown, David St-Louis, and J.D. Burke team up to rank the top 100 affiliated prospects ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season.
eprinkside.com eprinkside.com

EP Rinkside so paywall for their skaters article:

23 - Konsta Helenius
53 - Jiri Kulich
57 - Noah Ostlund (Ohgren at 54, Lekkerimaki at 43)

Of note, Savoie they have ranked at 74 (Firkus is 100th, Yager 85th), Benson is considered graduated, and Rosen gets an honorable mention.
 
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Matt Ress

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Always seems weird that guys slip down these lists while they're toiling away in developmental men's leagues to get them ready for the NHL. Not that I remember kulichs EP ranking last year but I'm assuming.
 
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debaser66

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None of them are elite or first line projections, so around the early 30s should be fair.
I guess they weight projection more than dev. path.
They longer you spent in the minors the lower you will fall unless exeptional.
Kulichs 2nd season was less impressive than his first, especially he struggled after coming back from the WJC.
Also the center experiment probably didn't help.

The Savoie trade also shows that we overvalue or prospects quite a bit in terms of league interest.
 
HOOats

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debaser66 said:
None of them are elite or first line projections, so around the early 30s should be fair.
I guess they weight projection more than dev. path.
They longer you spent in the minors the lower you will fall unless exeptional.
Kulichs 2nd season was less impressive than his first, especially he struggled after coming back from the WJC.
Also the center experiment probably didn't help.

The Savoie trade also shows that we overvalue or prospects quite a bit in terms of league interest.
Click to expand...
I don't know, pretty brutal shiny new toy approach on these rankings for me.

Kulich could absolutely be argued as a first line projection still. His production has been exceptional. He has no size or skating concerns. His fully elite first season shouldn't be used to discount a very good second season. I'd like to see the forwards ranked ahead of him produce like he has in the AHL/WJC through his D+2. 53 is a far cry from early 30s.

I hope he used some of the doubt floating around him as motivation in his 20 YEAR OLD summer.
 
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sabremike

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debaser66 said:
None of them are elite or first line projections, so around the early 30s should be fair.
I guess they weight projection more than dev. path.
They longer you spent in the minors the lower you will fall unless exeptional.
Kulichs 2nd season was less impressive than his first, especially he struggled after coming back from the WJC.
Also the center experiment probably didn't help.

The Savoie trade also shows that we overvalue or prospects quite a bit in terms of league interest.
Click to expand...
One of the problems with constantly drafting guys who are perceived to be undervalued is that they are in fact undervalued and if you go to trade them, well, they will continue to be undervalued.
 
Chainshot

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Another person who specializes in a particular league has a list up (and @Brock does very good work generally, including over at McKeens):

Top 25 OHL Prospects - Summer of 2024

The Memorial Cup and the NHL Draft are in the rear view mirror; everyone is in summer mode. That means it is time to update my annual Top OH...
ohlprospects.blogspot.com ohlprospects.blogspot.com

...and for a list that with the HM's features 47 players, Ethan Miedema is not there at all. We can hope he has a great summer and gets himself going in the right direction but his not getting a PTO or being around the Amerks as they went into the playoffs was a telling omission IMO.
 
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Old Navy Goat

Old Navy Goat

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Chainshot said:
Another person who specializes in a particular league has a list up (and @Brock does very good work generally, including over at McKeens):

Top 25 OHL Prospects - Summer of 2024

The Memorial Cup and the NHL Draft are in the rear view mirror; everyone is in summer mode. That means it is time to update my annual Top OH...
ohlprospects.blogspot.com ohlprospects.blogspot.com

...and for a list that with the HM's features 47 players, Ethan Miedema is not there at all. We can hope he has a great summer and gets himself going in the right direction but his not getting a PTO or being around the Amerks as they went into the playoffs was a telling omission IMO.
Click to expand...
Hopefully that was a kick in the ass to Miedema to motivate him. Make him realize he needs to work for it
 
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Matt Ress

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Jim Bob said:


Chris O got Scott Wheeler from The Athletic on to talk about the Sabres defense prospects. It was a good conversation and Wheeler teased how he and Matthew Fairburn are working on an article about Komarov that should come out during or shortly after the prospects challenge.
Click to expand...

The secret is starting to get out about Vsevolod. It will be fun to see him in the A.
 
Jacob582

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Jim Bob said:


Chris O got Scott Wheeler from The Athletic on to talk about the Sabres defense prospects. It was a good conversation and Wheeler teased how he and Matthew Fairburn are working on an article about Komarov that should come out during or shortly after the prospects challenge.
Click to expand...

I was slightly surprised that he is ranking Novikov as a B+ prospect and Strbak as B.

But our board prospect ranking has Novikov ahead of Strbak so it makes sense.
 

RhinosLastFan

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Chainshot said:
Listing some of them on RW is odd - Poltapov is a left shot who was normally on LW with CSKA and it looks more like that would be what he winds up being. Rosen has played both wings, same with Rousek.

They had very, very few righthanded shooting players last year in Rochester. Tullio gives them a 2nd to go along with Nadeau who has work to do to be up in Rochester.
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That makes better sense. At least gives us some AHL depth of righties. I didn't know we're so sparce there. I think they see him as a center, but Helenius, if shifted to wing, would be 3. Someone would need to between him, Kulich and Ostlund I'd imagine.
 
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HOOats

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Wahlberg should definitely be cooked for a while or until he kicks the door down. He's so exciting though. A breakout from him is one of a bunch of potential easter eggs that could change the calculus of subsequent rosters.

I do agree with Chad that Wahlberg could see a few games in the right scenario. If he's strong in Roch with his unique skill set there, and a few of our skate and bang guys miss time together, he could slot in.

Can't wait to watch him in Roch. I predict he had a big boy summer and is going to be a 19yo physical problem for AHL opponents.
 
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Faceboner

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Just keep slow cooking these guys Quinn and jjp only going into their 3rd year. We have plenty of time to work in kulich, ostlund, rosen, helenius and wahlberg along with neuchev. Most players aren't ready until 22-23 we can afford to keep letting these guys get better and more conditioned in the ahl.
 
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TageGod

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HOOats said:
I don't know, pretty brutal shiny new toy approach on these rankings for me.

Kulich could absolutely be argued as a first line projection still. His production has been exceptional. He has no size or skating concerns. His fully elite first season shouldn't be used to discount a very good second season. I'd like to see the forwards ranked ahead of him produce like he has in the AHL/WJC through his D+2. 53 is a far cry from early 30s.

I hope he used some of the doubt floating around him as motivation in his 20 YEAR OLD summer.
Click to expand...
Kulich never has and never will be projected as a first liner.
 
Jim Bob

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HOOats said:
Wahlberg should definitely be cooked for a while or until he kicks the door down. He's so exciting though. A breakout from him is one of a bunch of potential easter eggs that could change the calculus of subsequent rosters.

I do agree with Chad that Wahlberg could see a few games in the right scenario. If he's strong in Roch with his unique skill set there, and a few of our skate and bang guys miss time together, he could slot in.

Can't wait to watch him in Roch. I predict he had a big boy summer and is going to be a 19yo physical problem for AHL opponents.
Click to expand...
I think the Sabres are in a spot where the kids are going to have to cook in Rochester until they can force their way onto the NHL roster almost across the board.

Benson might be the last guy that gets rushed to the Sabres roster for a while.
 
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Matt Ress

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Old Navy Goat said:
He'll spend the year in the AHL, and then will audition for Greenway's spot. The year gives him time to add more strength and better acclimate to the NHL style
Click to expand...
No doubt but he'll sip some coffee and I think he'll do well if he sticks to his game. Could be a nice cheap upgrade next year.

Even if he performs well, I think they'll push him back down unless there's a real pinch in Buffalo. He's in the same tier right now as Kulich and Rosen. Probably won't make the team out of camp but will probably get some games matching his skill set. There's a great competition now amongst prospects.

Whether any end up NHL regs this year will depend on their NHL performance and the injuries/performance of the guys above them. That's all pretty standard. Not a gift or a rush.
 
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