German Prospects for the NHL Draft

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Unbelievable how useless Jungadler Mannheim U20 are without (mainly) Stützle. First the 1-9 loss to Cologne and now 2-4 vs. Düsseldorf.
 
There are different statements about his shoulder injury. Not least from the player himself. I think he will be back next week, when Mannheim start the Canada-Trip.
 
I just watched the championship game of the U15 finals tournament between Eisbären Berlin and EHC Nürnberg. Nürnberg won the game 5-2.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the game and here are some of the players that stood out to me (in alphabetical order):

LW - Kevin Adam (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
Small forward with a decent shot and skating. The puck always seemed to find him, or vice versa, around the net. He used his quickness and awareness to get himself into scoring positions. He scored 4 goals and had 1 assist.

RD - Leo Hafenrichter (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
Big, yet mobile, defenseman. Good skater for his size and very good offensive instincts. Can stickhandle pretty well for a defenseman and made some really nice passes, both in the offensive zone and as an outlet.

C - Eric Hördler (Eisbären Berlin/2004):
Solid all around forward. What I liked best about his game was his passing accuracy and vision. Like almost every player in that game he needs to work on his shot.His stickhandling looked pretty good. His skating looked ok, but not too impressive for a smaller player.

LW - Serafin Hörl (Eisbären Berlin/2004):
Very active smallish forward, sometimes he overdid it with the stickhandling through traffic, but he is fairly good at it. His skating wasn't to shabby either, especially his first couple of steps were really quick, which he used to create separation from opposing players several times.

C - Roman Kechter (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
This guy impressed me the most. Big center with no apparent weaknesses (at least at this level). Fast, smooth skater, especially for his size, strong on his skates, skilled stickhandler, great vision and passing ability. Strong in transition from defense to offense. He scored a beautiful coast to coast goal with his backhand to put his team ahead 4-0 and finished with 1 goal and 4 assists.

G - Frederik Weiß (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
While Nürnberg was dominant whenever they had their top line of Adam - Kechter - Brandl out there, Berlin was usually better the rest of the time and they created a number of great chances, but Weiß stopped almost all of them and gave up few rebounds. He missed the puck just lying there in the crease to his left before the first goal against, because he thought the puck was still on the other side, to his right, but other than that he played a really strong game and tracked the puck well, stopping at least 4 or 5 high danger scoring chances.

Obviously this is based on just one game but I am looking forward to follow the devlopment of these kids and I am sure we will see some of them on the U16 national team next season.
 
I just watched the championship game of the U15 finals tournament between Eisbären Berlin and EHC Nürnberg. Nürnberg won the game 5-2.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the game and here are some of the players that stood out to me (in alphabetical order):

LW - Kevin Adam (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
Small forward with a decent shot and skating. The puck always seemed to find him, or vice versa, around the net. He used his quickness and awareness to get himself into scoring positions. He scored 4 goals and had 1 assist.

RD - Leo Hafenrichter (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
Big, yet mobile, defenseman. Good skater for his size and very good offensive instincts. Can stickhandle pretty well for a defenseman and made some really nice passes, both in the offensive zone and as an outlet.

C - Eric Hördler (Eisbären Berlin/2004):
Solid all around forward. What I liked best about his game was his passing accuracy and vision. Like almost every player in that game he needs to work on his shot.His stickhandling looked pretty good. His skating looked ok, but not too impressive for a smaller player.

LW - Serafin Hörl (Eisbären Berlin/2004):
Very active smallish forward, sometimes he overdid it with the stickhandling through traffic, but he is fairly good at it. His skating wasn't to shabby either, especially his first couple of steps were really quick, which he used to create separation from opposing players several times.

C - Roman Kechter (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
This guy impressed me the most. Big center with no apparent weaknesses (at least at this level). Fast, smooth skater, especially for his size, strong on his skates, skilled stickhandler, great vision and passing ability. Strong in transition from defense to offense. He scored a beautiful coast to coast goal with his backhand to put his team ahead 4-0 and finished with 1 goal and 4 assists.

G - Frederik Weiß (EHC Nürnberg/2004):
While Nürnberg was dominant whenever they had their top line of Adam - Kechter - Brandl out there, Berlin was usually better the rest of the time and they created a number of great chances, but Weiß stopped almost all of them and gave up few rebounds. He missed the puck just lying there in the crease to his left before the first goal against, because he thought the puck was still on the other side, to his right, but other than that he played a really strong game and tracked the puck well, stopping at least 4 or 5 high danger scoring chances.

Obviously this is based on just one game but I am looking forward to follow the devlopment of these kids and I am sure we will see some of them on the U16 national team next season.

Hafenrichter, Hördler, Weiss, Brandl... some familiar names there.

Without looking them up, are they brothers/nephews/sons of some of the guys playing DEL or DEL2?

And what's the story with Kevin Adam?
 
Hafenrichter, Hördler, Weiss, Brandl... some familiar names there.

Without looking them up, are they brothers/nephews/sons of some of the guys playing DEL or DEL2?

And what's the story with Kevin Adam?

Leo Hafenrichter could be related to Jaroslav Hafenrichter (plays for Augsburg), but I don't know for certain. He is probably (certainly) ot his son, but maybe there is some other relation.

The situation with Frederik Weiß is similar. Daniel Weiß even plays for Nürnberg, but he is too young to be kid's father, and Weiß isn't exactly a rare surname.

I have no idea about Linus Brandl. There are several options here, but I could not find any reliable information.

Eric Hördler on the other hand, I am pretty sure, is the son of Frank Hördler, since he has a son named Eric who should be 14 or 15 now.
I remember reading an article in the Berliner Kurier a few years back, where Frank Hördler talked about his family and his son was 11 then.

I am drawing a blank on Adam. Before I watched this game, I had never heard of him.
 
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Leo Hafenrichter could be related to Jaroslav Hafenrichter (plays for Augsburg), but I don't know for certain. He is probably (certainly) ot his son, but maybe there is some other relation.

The situation with Frederik Weiß is similar. Daniel Weiß even plays for Nürnberg, but he is too young to be kid's father, and Weiß isn't exactly a rare surname.

I have no idea about Linus Brandl. There are several options here, but I could not find any reliable information.

Eric Hördler on the other hand, I am pretty sure, is the son of Frank Hördler, since he has a son named Eric who should be 14 or 15 now.
I remember reading an article in the Berliner Kurier a few years back, where Frank Hördler talked about his family and his son was 11 then.


I am drawing a blank on Adam. Before I watched this game, I had never heard of him.

Wow, considering Frank Hördler is only 34. Very possible, yet that would be something else for a guy that age.

And Frank looks like he could easily play another 5 or 6 seasons.

Maybe his son will even suit up with him at some point?
 
Wow, considering Frank Hördler is only 34. Very possible, yet that would be something else for a guy that age.

And Frank looks like he could easily play another 5 or 6 seasons.

Maybe his son will even suit up with him at some point?

I have found the article I was talking about: Die dankbaren Hördlers: Wir leben unseren Traum

Looks like he has two sons who play hockey in the Eisbären junior program.
 
In December I lost my vid capture and editing software along with all videos I was working on (including a highlight video of Tim Stützle).
Now I have finally replaced the hard drive all this was stored on and to get back into it I have made a short highlight video of the U15 championship game I mentioned earlier. Hopefully I will find the time, to also start over on the Stützle video.

So here is the video:

 
For next season I will change my approach for this thread significantly. I cannot regualarly update stats in the OP so that is pretty pointless.

So instead I will post my personal rankings of German prospects for the upcoming draft and the one after that. For the years after that I will just list the players on my radar (without ranking) and link to every players profile on eliteprospects and/or other sources. The rankings and lists will also include prospects playing in North America.

I will change the OP to this new format some time in the next 4-6 weeks depending on my work schedule. Those will then be my pre-season rankings. Once the season starts I will update my rankings once every month.

Beyond that I plan to watch more DNL games this year and post reports on the games, about the players that stood out to me etc.
 
For next season I will change my approach for this thread significantly. I cannot regualarly update stats in the OP so that is pretty pointless.

So instead I will post my personal rankings of German prospects for the upcoming draft and the one after that. For the years after that I will just list the players on my radar (without ranking) and link to every players profile on eliteprospects and/or other sources. The rankings and lists will also include prospects playing in North America.

I will change the OP to this new format some time in the next 4-6 weeks depending on my work schedule. Those will then be my pre-season rankings. Once the season starts I will update my rankings once every month.

Beyond that I plan to watch more DNL games this year and post reports on the games, about the players that stood out to me etc.
Yeah, you can simply post their Eliteprospect profile or their DNL profile which should have more free time to update stats than yourself who is busy at work.
 
Over the next few days I will fill the OPs with some names. Mostly just so they aren't empty and so anyone can suggest additions and substractions from those lists.
There is a good chance that I'll have players there that I overrate based on their stats and that I am missing players I am not aware of or that I just forgot.
I may also add their ratings soon so you can see what tier I see these players in, but I won't do actual rankings within these tiers for a while.
 
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Just realized if Stuzle goes top 10 then it would be the second year in a row a German prospect goes top 10 in the NHL draft. More than even countries like Czech Republic can claim. Is German hockey now starting to produce top talent more frequently or this is strictly a coincidence?
 
Just realized if Stuzle goes top 10 then it would be the second year in a row a German prospect goes top 10 in the NHL draft. More than even countries like Czech Republic can claim. Is German hockey now starting to produce top talent more frequently or this is strictly a coincidence?

Development has gotten better, but guys like Seider and Stützle are still very rare. Right now I don't see anyone even close to them in the 2021 draft class. In 2022 there are 1 or 2 that may become really good, but that is a little too soon to tell.
I don't think we will consistently match the Czech for high end prospects any time soon.
 
Interesting with Stützle. Peterka will also play in the DEL for Munich.
I hope they both get good ice time.
The talent is definitly there so for draft puposes I would have prefered to see them in the CHL
 
Five Germans selected in the CHL Import Draft

19. Seattle – Tim Stutzle (RW, Germany)
64. Winnipeg – Nino Kinder (LW, Germany)
71. Barrie – John Jason Peterka (C, Germany)
86. Owen Sound – Julian Straub (RW, Germany)
90. Moncton – Manuel Alberg (RW, Germany)
 
The league configuration in junior hockey has been announced. The teams in green were promoted, the teams in red relegated after last season.

U20 Division 1U17 Division 1 NordU17 Division 1 Süd
Augsburger EVEisbären Juniors BerlinEC Bad Tölz
Eisbären Juniors BerlinETC CrimmitschauEV Füssen
Düsseldorfer EGESC DresdenERC Ingolstadt
Kölner JunghaieDüsseldorfer EGESV Kaufbeuren
Krefelder EV 1981Iserlohner ECEV Landshut
EV LandshutKölner JunghaieJungadler Mannheim
Jungadler MannheimKrefelder EV 1981EV Regensburg
EV RegensburgEHC GA WolfsburgStarbulls Rosenheim
Schwenninger ERC
EHC Straubing
U20 Division 2U17 Division 2 NordU17 Division 2 Süd
EC Bad TölzRT Bad NauheimAugsburger EV
ESC DresdenESV ChemnitzSC Bietigheim-Bissingen
EV FüssenEV DuisburgHC Landsberg
ERC IngolstadtEHC ErfurtMannheimer ERC
Iserlohner ECLöwen FrankfurtEHC München
ESV KaufbeurenHamburger SVEHC 80 Nürnberg
SC RiesserseeEishockeyjugend KasselEC Peiting
Starbulls RosenheimES Weißwasser1.EV Weiden
U20 Division 3 NordU20 Division 3 Süd
RT Bad NauheimSC Bietigheim-Bissingen
ESV ChemnitzDeggendorfer SC
EV DuisburgHC Landsberg
Löwen FrankfurtMannheimer ERC
Eishockeyjugend KasselEHC 80 Nürnberg
ES WeißwasserEC Peiting
EHC GA WolfsburgEV Ravensburg
Schwenninger ERC
1.EV Weiden
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
 
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If anybody knows about notable players changing teams this season, I would appreciate a heads up.

So far I believe that Cologne has added Leo Hafenrichter and Kevin Adam from Nuremberg's U15 championship team.
 
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So, today and tomorrow I will do the rankings in the OP.
These will be based on stats (all players), my own viewings (I have seen maybe half the players myself, but most of them only a small number of times) and information from others who I trust. Unfortunately my notes of my own viewings have gotten somewhat jumbled (I don't get how it happened, but I noticed recently after one of those lovely Windows blue screens that the files with the notes on the players got all mixed up. Not only were words rearranged in an order that makes no sense (easily fixed) but somehow parts of notes for one player are now listed under another player. For the most part it should be easy enough to identify which notes belong to which player, but in some cases of players I am not yet that familiar with, I may guess wrong. So bear with me for now. Once the season starts and I get to view most of these players some more, the rankings and comments should get more accurate and I should be able to add short "scouting reports" about the top prospecs.
 

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