Russian_fanatic
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- Jan 19, 2004
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What type of production do you expect from this kid in the NHL? Who would you compare his game to? Would he be a reach at #10?
Leachmeister2000 said:Provided he consistently shows a mean side, he can be an effective first line winger who has more assists than goals.
Russian_fanatic said:What type of production do you expect from this kid in the NHL? Who would you compare his game to? Would he be a reach at #10?
Do you think that he is a Hugh Jessiman-clone, or do you think he plays a different game? And would he be able to play well with Jessiman (Will there styles mesh well?), if the Rangers drafted him?Leachmeister2000 said:Provided he consistently shows a mean side, he can be an effective first line winger who has more assists than goals.
La-La-Laprise said:The main thing is that who ever drafts him HAS to be patient with him. He may not be a top 2 line player in the NHL until he is 24 or 25 but the patients will pay off for a team much like it did with Bertuzzi.
He seems to be a Hugh Jessiman-clone. I think that Latendresse will be a player that surprises some and goes earlier than expected. I wouldn't be shocked to see him go top ten...La-La-Laprise said:The main thing is that who ever drafts him HAS to be patient with him. He may not be a top 2 line player in the NHL until he is 24 or 25 but the patients will pay off for a team much like it did with Bertuzzi.
Tiki said:.....and by that time he'll be a year or two away from Free agent status, making his draft stock fall IMO.
For your Keeper league drafting, the UFA age means nothing, but for NHL teams it will start to factor more and more on these "Project" type players.
La-La-Laprise said:He wont get signed and play Pro until he is 20 so the 7 year rule wont kick in and he will be a FA at age 27 by then...even so, its hard to say how the FA will work by that time and i gave a conservative esitmate of age 25...he could be there sooner, but bottomline is teams will need to exercise patients.
Broadway Crosby said:He seems to be a Hugh Jessiman-clone, and he plays just like Hugh, too. I think that Latendresse will be a player that surprises some and goes earlier than expected. I wouldn't be shocked to see him go top ten...
John Flyers Fan said:I know that skating is his weakness, but how bad is it ???
West said:For the Prospects skill testing he ranked 17th in the puck handling, 25th in the full lap and 27th in the 60 foot sprint out of 36 players tested. So I'd say below average is a pretty fair comment.
It should be noted that he finished well ahead of Bobby Ryan in everything but the 60 foot sprint (19th) and everyone seems to be ok with his skating.
Draft Guru said:He shouldn't go before 20.
West said:For the Prospects skill testing he ranked 17th in the puck handling, 25th in the full lap and 27th in the 60 foot sprint out of 36 players tested. So I'd say below average is a pretty fair comment.
It should be noted that he finished well ahead of Bobby Ryan in everything but the 60 foot sprint (19th) and everyone seems to be ok with his skating.
West said:For the Prospects skill testing he ranked 17th in the puck handling, 25th in the full lap and 27th in the 60 foot sprint out of 36 players tested. So I'd say below average is a pretty fair comment.
It should be noted that he finished well ahead of Bobby Ryan in everything but the 60 foot sprint (19th) and everyone seems to be ok with his skating.
Matt MacInnis said:Keep in mind he was 27th of 36 of top prospects. So while his skating is below average, he is hardly the worst skater in the draft.
The real issues with GL is his first step, which is REALLY bad. His lateral movement needs work too. The fact that he was middle of the pack with in the skills, so movement with the puck, shows that he moves pretty averagely when he's got possession.
West said:I think it's pretty fair to say that since only about 45 prospects will have serious NHL careers that it's pretty good indication of where his skating would be in the NHL.
Also I'd tend to disagree with someone earlier who said the 60 foot sprint is the most important. I'd say that is probably the easiest category to improve your time in given weight and skating training.
Anyone who's a professional skating instructor or spent alot of time training with one feel free to correct me on this.
p.s. Bobby Ryan was 34th out of 36 in the puck drill and 29th on the full lap use whatever wording you'd like.
West said:I think it's pretty fair to say that since only about 45 prospects will have serious NHL careers that it's pretty good indication of where his skating would be in the NHL.
Also I'd tend to disagree with someone earlier who said the 60 foot sprint is the most important. I'd say that is probably the easiest category to improve your time in given weight and skating training.
Anyone who's a professional skating instructor or spent alot of time training with one feel free to correct me on this.
p.s. Bobby Ryan was 34th out of 36 in the puck drill and 29th on the full lap use whatever wording you'd like.
West said:I'm not trying to make any overall judgements about anyones career. Just giving my opinion on one aspect of two players.
I've watched Bobby Ryan a few times live and I'm not surprised by the numbers he put up at the prospect game. I would have described him as ok acceleration off the mark and a straight line skater but slow top speed and weak laterally movement. I've only watched GL on TV but I'd say that his times at the Prospect testing are not surprizing.
For me Bobby Ryan's skating make's him a high risk high reward player. If he developes into a top two line player(which he has the brains and talent to do) all the skating questions will disappear. However if he doesn't everyone will tell you that he was obviously to slow (worst skating forwards in while to be rated as high as he is) to ever make an impact and blast the team that selected him.
The original point I wanted to make. If you're not worried about BR's skating don't worry about GL.
p.s. before you blast me for the worst skating top 3 NA skater comment please come up with a name.