Prospect Info: Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL)/Maine Mariners (ECHL) Thread: Part XI

[lemonybergamot]

Sucks to hear about Gropp. He's good in the EHM games, 20+ goals easy.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Might as well just trade Gropp for Sprong or Ho-Sang. Disgruntled birds of a feather...

 

[Ken Lund]

Might as well just trade Gropp for Sprong or Ho-Sang. Disgruntled birds of a feather...

We're not getting one of them for Gropp even if he wasn't refusing to report. Maybe a 2030 8th round pick now that he is.

 

[BKGooner]

Probably why they have all new scouts across the board. The biggest reason teams get stuck in these constant rebuilds is their scouting is bad and don't get players beyond their top 5 picks.

And Edmonton's excuse is? At least it looks like they've righted the ship with McDavid after how many 1st overall busts.

 

[effen]

well we could have had Vince Dunn, Jordan Greenway, Anthony Cirelli with that Gropp pick

you just cherry picked 3 guys out of the next 170 and only 1 of them has even a small chance of ever making an all-star game

biggest who cares ever

 

[ecemleafs]

When did we replace our whl scouts? We got pretty much nothing out of the whl for most of my life.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

When did we replace our whl scouts? We got pretty much nothing out of the whl for most of my life.

Summer before last season

 

[nyr2k2]

you just cherry picked 3 guys out of the next 170 and only 1 of them has even a small chance of ever making an all-star game

biggest who cares ever

I literally said this two pages ago regarding Gropp:

"Other people will go back and look at the board and say Dunn! Cirelli! Malgin! But that's just disingenuous hindsight. No one wanted those guys at the time. Maybe one or two people, but they weren't serious projections for us at 41."

And then here we are, that guy doing just that. This place is amazing.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

I literally said this two pages ago regarding Gropp:

"Other people will go back and look at the board and say Dunn! Cirelli! Malgin! But that's just disingenuous hindsight. No one wanted those guys at the time. Maybe one or two people, but they weren't serious projections for us at 41."

And then here we are, that guy doing just that. This place is amazing.

Kind of feels cool to predict the future though

 

[Joey Bones]

Yeah, this has now slated Gropp as a bust. Sucks, but the game doesn't develop for most. It is what it is. Won't lose sleep over it.

For some that have mentioned McIlrath a few pages back, I wouldn't entirely call him a bust. He has been incredibly underwhelming given his draft position and development after, but he has been able to carve out a capable 7th defender/AHL Top 4 player for Detroit/Grand Rapids. I mean, most players won't be able to sniff at 1 NHL game let alone 50. He was able to make something out of his career, albeit not much. IMO (and I'm one of few who think this), but I think that McIlrath would've been an entirely different player if he hadn't had that awful knee injury given by the infamous Kyle Jean.

 

[TheWhiskeyThief]

I think that McIlrath would've been an entirely different player if he hadn't had that awful knee injury given by the infamous Kyle Jean.

The injury completely derailed his development process, but he was always going to be a bottom pair guy in today’s NHL.

I’ve always been a fan of Montana Onyebuchi for many of the same reasons and I think he projects out as a 3rd pair, but why no one has spent a 2nd 7th rd pick on him is odd. Has an NHL ready frame, is like to fight guy and with expansion down the pike, players like that will matter for roster optimization.

 

[nyr2k2]

I get where Gropp is coming from. He's an AHLer player, from what I've seen. Not a great one, maybe not even a good one, but he can play at that level. He's going to refuse to report and eventually we'll trade him or mutually terminate and he can try his luck in another organization, or in Europe.

 

[True Blue]

Brendl? Malhotra? Not taking Bossy? Twice in the same first round? You can dissect the hell out of anything in hindsight. The Rangers historically draft poorly. The last few years have been a godsend with the number of players they have found in later rounds. When they have drafted well, the team has had success (shocker). Let's hope we get to see some success soon and we are all not shaking our heads and adding to the internal list of blown first round picks.

Brendl was a well regarded prospect. As was Malhotra. Malhotra was ruined because they wanted to rush to show some sort of youth movement. I know their history of drafting, but as I said there is a world of difference between taking the wrong but still well regarded prospect and just reaching for a player that EVERYONE knows is an awful choice.

 

[egelband]

I object to the nastiness toward Gropp. I'd bet it's very upsetting to find out your career is slipping away at age 22 or whatever with probably no plan b. Maybe he's not handling it well, but I can only imagine how he's feeling. Does he have a wife and kids? Dunno. Anyhow, I hope he can find a path to success. Maybe Europe.

 

[JimmyG89]

I literally said this two pages ago regarding Gropp:

"Other people will go back and look at the board and say Dunn! Cirelli! Malgin! But that's just disingenuous hindsight. No one wanted those guys at the time. Maybe one or two people, but they weren't serious projections for us at 41."

And then here we are, that guy doing just that. This place is amazing.

Oddly enough, there are actually two NHL players picked right after him. Blackwood and Cernak. Now, if we drafted Blackwood in 2015, after taking Shesterkin and Halverson the year before, that pick would have been murdered here. I'd argue we could have used a player like Cernak with that pick, but we're splitting hairs at that point in terms of prospects. Who knows how he develops with the Rangers, as opposed to the Lightning that churn out NHL players.

Hopefully, we're beyond this at this point and we can actually scout the WHL better than we have for an excruciatingly long period of time.

 

[Rongomania]

Any updates on Shesty ?

 

[McRanger]

Brendl was a well regarded prospect. As was Malhotra. Malhotra was ruined because they wanted to rush to show some sort of youth movement.

Malhotra wasn't ruined, he just didn't possess much offensive talent; they gambled that he was big, strong, fast and smart enough to develop some but he didn't.

That doesn't make it a bad or unreasonable pick though.

Looking back '98 was such a weird draft.

I know their history of drafting, but as I said there is a world of difference between taking the wrong but still well regarded prospect and just reaching for a player that EVERYONE knows is an awful choice.

Eh, there is a bit of disconnect between how this board perceives picks and reality. Our perception tends to be shaped by a handful of knowledgeable posters. Other GMs dont always agree with our experts.

The HF servers would have imploded if we took Antropov off the board in '98 and that would have been a better pick than Manny.

 

[True Blue]

Malhotra wasn't ruined, he just didn't possess much offensive talent; they gambled that he was big, strong, fast and smart enough to develop some but he didn't.

That doesn't make it a bad or unreasonable pick though.

Looking back '98 was such a weird draft.

Oh, I did not think that it was a bad or unreasonable pick at all.

Eh, there is a bit of disconnect between how this board perceives picks and reality. Our perception tends to be shaped by a handful of knowledgeable posters. Other GMs dont always agree with our experts.

Certainly true, but to be fair most people posting here are not the typical fan and are much more well informed.

 

[Fitzy]

I wanted Greenway, but that's entirely based on the fact that he grew up in my hometown.

 

[nyr2k2]

I object to the nastiness toward Gropp. I'd bet it's very upsetting to find out your career is slipping away at age 22 or whatever with probably no plan b. Maybe he's not handling it well, but I can only imagine how he's feeling. Does he have a wife and kids? Dunno. Anyhow, I hope he can find a path to success. Maybe Europe.

Yeah it's gotta be tough when you see your dreams slipping away. Not on the same level, but I remember being up for a promotion once and I didn't get it. I was crushed. I ended up leaving because I couldn't live with that "failure" of mine.

Anyway, much like a Malte Stromwall who thrives on ripping shots from the abundant space he sees in Sweden, Gropp could be similarly successful.

 

[Joey Bones]

The injury completely derailed his development process, but he was always going to be a bottom pair guy in today’s NHL.

I’ve always been a fan of Montana Onyebuchi for many of the same reasons and I think he projects out as a 3rd pair, but why no one has spent a 2nd 7th rd pick on him is odd. Has an NHL ready frame, is like to fight guy and with expansion down the pike, players like that will matter for roster optimization.

Yeah I'm sure McIlrath would've, at best, been a bottom 4 option. Kind of like a better version of Coburn. Things happen, but still happy that he was able to carve out something for himself.

 

[Joey Bones]

Oddly enough, there are actually two NHL players picked right after him. Blackwood and Cernak. Now, if we drafted Blackwood in 2015, after taking Shesterkin and Halverson the year before, that pick would have been murdered here. I'd argue we could have used a player like Cernak with that pick, but we're splitting hairs at that point in terms of prospects. Who knows how he develops with the Rangers, as opposed to the Lightning that churn out NHL players.

Hopefully, we're beyond this at this point and we can actually scout the WHL better than we have for an excruciatingly long period of time.

And to kick it off, Matthew Robertson is looking like a dope pick!!

 

[Levitate]

Brendl was a well regarded prospect. As was Malhotra. Malhotra was ruined because they wanted to rush to show some sort of youth movement. I know their history of drafting, but as I said there is a world of difference between taking the wrong but still well regarded prospect and just reaching for a player that EVERYONE knows is an awful choice.

I don't think Malhotra ever had the offensive ability to be much more than a checker. Maybe it'd have been better to let him simmer and work on his game but eh, he never was a "talent" player

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

back to on ice:

Mariners return to action tonight at DCU Center against the Worcester Railers HC AT 7PM

 

[True Blue]

I don't think Malhotra ever had the offensive ability to be much more than a checker. Maybe it'd have been better to let him simmer and work on his game but eh, he never was a "talent" player

Could be. But was still not an egregious pick.