How are your prospects doing?

[Chainshot]

Buffalo:

- Jiri Kulich has 9 goals, 13 points in 12 AHL games, mostly playing center with Rosen. 11 primary points is also good for 12th in the AHL in that category.
- Isak Rosen has 13 in 12 games as well, flashes a pretty good 2-way game and getting inside.
- Ryan Johnson, LHD, is up on injury recall and has looked like he belongs in the NHL.
- Noah Ostlund is in his first SHL season and has had some success in a depth role. It looks like he'll be the Swedes top center at the U-20's.
- Zach Benson made the Sabres out of camp and then hurt himself badly enough to be in a walking boot. He's back on the ice, not sure if he's going to stay or go.
- Matt Savoie had an excellent AHL conditioning stint (2-3-5 in 6 games, all primary points) and then a cup of coffee game against the Wild before being sent back... to the Wild (WHL).
- Vsevolod Komarov is playing as the top defenseman for the Remparts but with the graduations, the team strength isn't on par with their MemCup winner (not a surprise). Had a shootout goal the other day as a bit of a "hey, that's cool" moment.
- Nikita Novikov has played in 11 out of the 12 games for their AHL team, despite a rotation due to having 8 regulars splitting icetime to start the season.
- Anton Wahlberg has already surpassed his scoring totals from last year (not surprising) and looks like he'll be top RW for the Swedes at the U20's.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

NHL

Zary 6 points 6 games
Pospisil 4 points 5 games
Pelletier hurt; hasn’t started

AHL
Coronato 7 points 5 games
Poirier 7 points 4 games
Wolf 5-1 .924

WHL
Honzek hurt; hasn’t started
QMJHL
Morin 14 GP 13 points

In b4 ‘Flames have no prospects’

I had massive hopes for Coronato, major letdown but he needs time in AHL. Nice to see Pospisil doing well.

 

[Peat]

CHL + USHL

Brayden Yager is at about 1.5 ppg in d+1 and looking lethal shooting. V. encouraging
Cooper Foster is flirting with ppg and is the 2nd highest scorer on his team in d+1, encouraging
Nolan Collins has 6 in 16 and okay he's a big d-first dman but at d+2 you're not full of hope. meh.
Owen Pickering has .7 ppg which is lower than you'd like but I feel we'll have a better read once he plays juniors - steady
Zam Plante is 1.4 ppg in USHL as d+2. No idea if that's good but better than what he was doing. kinda encouraging

Europe

Mikhail Ilyin is 0.5 ppg in the KHL as d+1 and we know its a bit misleading but excited anyway. V. encouraging
Kirill Tankov is 0.7 ppg in the VHL and injured again - intriguing, but basically just hope he stays healthy now - steady
Sergei Murashov's numbers look less video game but he's still doing great in the MHL - steady
Emil Jarventie has 10 in 15 is the Mestis in d+1 and I dunno whether that's good but suspect not. better he was doing though - kinda encouraging
Kalle Kangas plays Mestis and has few points but is a big D. meh
Emil Pieniniemi plays Liiga and has few points but is a big D. kinda encouraging

NCAA

Chase Yoder has 9 in 11 as a d+4 maybe he gets an AHL contract as he's good defensively. kinda encouraging
Tristan Broz has 6 in 9 as a d+3 and uh oh dear. kinda meh
Luke Devlin has 3 in 6 as a d+2 freshman and shrug we'll see. kinda meh
Daniel Laatsch has few points but is a big D. meh

AHL + ECHL

I don't care enough about any of them except to say Puustinen has forgotten how to produce, Poulin has been injured, Blomqvist is doing well, and no help is coming

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Rangers:

NCAA:

Perreault-Terrific start to his freshman season at BC. We knew he was good, but this is the ideal start

Chmelar-Continuing to go in the right direction with Providence in NCAA.

Laba-Continuing to go in the right direction with Colorado College. Like Chmelar, real bottom 6 potential.

Lamb-Huge surprise in his second season at Minnesota. I know they lost a lot of players and he's known more for his offense, but PPG so far. Might have some middle six potential, if he keeps this up.

Fortescue-He's a non-elite freshman on a stacked team. Likely will be an adjustment. 3 year guy anyway. He's getting regular ice time, so that's enough.

Ollas-A little slow of a start (.910 SV%, but that's not too bad if that's the bad stretch). He'll probably be signed after this year and then go into the AHL or ECHL. He has a chance to be an NHL goalie, but probably isn't one.

AHL:

Berard-Pleasant surprise in the AHL after a down year last season. Could still have bottom 6 potential.

Othmann-Good start to his AHL career, although nothing spectacular. He's top 6 potential. Probably an NHL'er next year.

Sykora-If he was drafted out of CHL he still wouldn't be AHL eligible, so the fact he's in that league and holding his own is good. Likely at least this year and next before he's NHL ready. Think he's going to be a good bottom six guy.

Garand-Very good start to the AHL season. Picking up where he left off from the end of last season. Good chance he'll be our back up goalie for the NHL team next season. If not, likely the year after.

Rempe-He's basically only a tough guy who doesn't skate poorly for 6'8. Not going to produce offense down in the AHL. A matter of if they ever feel they need a tough guy on the NHL squad.

NHL:

Cuylle-Good start in the NHL. Fitting in well. He's had a few points called back by review, so it could be more. He's probably not a lot better eventually than what he is now, but I think eventually he could be a good 3rd line forward. 35-40 point power forward.

OHL:

BMB-Slow start in the OHL. Needs to pick it up.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Dustin Rose looking like he will finally hit his generational talent potential. He should be ready by 2058.

Is he done wrestling bears while blindfolded yet?

 

[Siludin]

Canucks prospects of note are almost universally all off to a good start for the first time in a long time.

 

[wintersej]

Bruins don’t have a lot of prospects, but the few they have all seem to be popping which is a pleasant surprise.

Poitras at 19 graduating. Lorhei forcing his way into the top 4 at the NHL level. Lysell looking like Lysell again and back at PPG at the AHL level and knocking at the door.

 

[ello]

TLDR; everyone is awesome and gonna be great, unless they're my rival team's prospects in which case they are overrated and won't be much.

crazy how many teams have 4+ budding top six forwards

 

[EbonyRaptor]

Bruins don’t have a lot of prospects, but the few they have all seem to be popping which is a pleasant surprise.

Poitras at 19 graduating. Lorhei forcing his way into the top 4 at the NHL level. Lysell looking like Lysell again and back at PPG at the AHL level and knocking at the door.

I left out the Hawks prospects playing in the NHL because it looks like they will spend the entire season in the NHL. Obviously Bedard will be there but the 3 rookie d-men weren't guaranteed to spend the entire season up with the Hawks - but so far Korchinski, Vlassic and Kaiser have played every game and been pretty good and that includes Kaiser playing about half the games on his offhand at RD.

 

[Soundgarden]

Evangelista has shown his elite vision at times, was tied for the lead in rookie scoring before Bedard went crazy.

Askarov has put up some absurd stats this year 1.60GAA and .935SV%, only played in 5 games due to injury though. Excited to see him in the big leagues.

L'Heureux has put up good points, but good lord he needs to learn to control himself and keep his mouth shut sometimes. If he works out for us 31 other teams will hate him. An offensive minded Jordin Tootoo would be an automatic fan favorite here.

Kemell started slow but has 6 points in 10 games including a nice game winner.

Tanner Molendyk has exploded offensively, 23 points in 16 games, he'll be a big riser in a redraft.

Svechkov has 6 in 10 in his first season in Milwaukee too, it seems like he doesn't have a lot of hype for a recent 1st, apparently he's a good 2-way player.

Reid Schaefer, who we got in the Ekholm trade has disappointed.

Lind is about a PPG in the WHL, and Matthew Wood is likewise close to a PPG in NCAA.

Afanasyev again looks ready for his shot in the NHL.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

Reid Schaefer, who we got in the Ekholm trade has disappointed.

I watched a lot of Seattle Thunderbird games last season because I was following the (3) Hawks prospects playing for them - so I saw Schaefer play probably 40+ times and thought he was a pretty good player - a good scoring knack with a chippy physical game ... at least at the junior level. Where is he playing and what seems to be the problem?

 

[Gliff]

Ducks prospects have been quiet compared to the last couple years.

Zellweger is producing in the AHL.
The Ducks top forward prospect (in my opinion) Hvidston got hurt after a hot start which sucks.

I guess it doesnt help when 5 guys made the jump to the NHL and are playing great.

 

[Soundgarden]

I watched a lot of Seattle Thunderbird games last season because I was following the (3) Hawks prospects playing for them - so I saw Schaefer play probably 40+ times and thought he was a pretty good player - a good scoring knack with a chippy physical game ... at least at the junior level. Where is he playing and what seems to be the problem?

He's in Milwaukee right now, our Ads fans say he's been pretty invisible. but it's only been his first 10 games in the AHL.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

Ducks prospects have been quiet compared to the last couple years.

Zellweger is producing in the AHL.
The Ducks top forward prospect (in my opinion) Hvidston got hurt after a hot start which sucks.

I guess it doesnt help when 5 guys made the jump to the NHL and are playing great.

What is your feeling on how Carlsson is being used? He's played 11 of the 16 games so it seems like they are easing him into the NHL grind - but he has 6 goals in those 11 games so it seems like their method is doing well.

 

[Gliff]

What is your feeling on how Carlsson is being used? He's played 11 of the 16 games so it seems like they are easing him into the NHL grind - but he has 6 goals in those 11 games so it seems like their method is doing well.

I trust the GM, doctors, agent, and player that are all on board have a better idea of what is best for him then me or any other fan/pundit.

 

[ello]

I watched a lot of Seattle Thunderbird games last season because I was following the (3) Hawks prospects playing for them - so I saw Schaefer play probably 40+ times and thought he was a pretty good player - a good scoring knack with a chippy physical game ... at least at the junior level. Where is he playing and what seems to be the problem?

Hawks fan too. Schaefer was clearly a low skill player. Killed like 2/3 of the plays that Lambert and Guenther were creating

 

[Frk It]

 

[EbonyRaptor]

Hawks fan too. Schaefer was clearly a low skill player. Killed like 2/3 of the plays that Lambert and Guenther were creating

I saw it differently. He looked pretty good to me. I don't think he has great skills but he scored goals and played physically with an edge.

 

[My3Sons]

My intent was for fans of other teams to post their prospect progress.

I changed the title to "how are your kids doing?" Hopefully the intention is more clear.

Sort of a mixed bag. The oldest one has a great job as a software developer. My middle son just graduated college and is looking for his real job while having fun with his buddies who are still in school. My youngest just started at undergrad but had to withdraw for the rest of the first semester to have surgery. Thanks for asking.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Most of the Sens prospects are underwhelming and not looking like future NHLers, which isn't shocking given they haven't picked in the 1st for 2 years and blew a high 1st on Boucher in 2021.

A few exceptions:

Jorian Donovan is having another good season with 16 points in 18 games. Probably won't be a big scorer at the NHL level but he's an above-average skater and has good size, so he could certainly carve out a career as a two-way D.

Theo Wallberg is another toolsy D that is putting up surprising numbers. He's listed at 6'5 and skates well. Has 8 points in 11 games for Ohio State. He's a darkhorse to be a player.

Max Guenette is a guy who has flown under the radar, even among Sens fans. He was drafted as a 6'1 mediocre skating two-way D. He's still not a great skater but he's grown to 6'3 since then. Smart D that moves the puck well and can take care of things in his own end. Has 11 points in 12 games to lead Belleville (AHL).

Also the Sens' top two goalie prospects Sogaard and Merilainen are doing well in Belleville so far. Sogaard has a .923 SV% through 8 games and Merilainen has a .915 SV% through 4 games.

 

[Rebels57]

For the Flyers, Matvei Michkov, Cutter Gauthier, Massimo Rizzo, Denver Barkey, and Oliver Bonk, and Yegor Zavragin all seem to be meeting or exceeding expectations this season.

Bobby Brink has 8 points in 13 NHL games this season but has seen himself healthy scratched by Tortorella in recent games. Typical Torts shit. Tyson Foerster is also in the NHL but despite 0 goals in 15 games, Torts is keeping him in for his "off puck play."

 

[Hockey Duckie]

tl;dr: Outside of prospects in the NHL, the Ducks main draw are its netminders.

.
.

Lord of the Rings (LotR) version:


NHL rookies:

Ducks have six rookies at the NHL level. GM Verbeek is trying to shorten the rebuild by bringing up many rookies to the NHL and using this NHL season as a development league.

• Older Prospects with previous pro experience
  • G Dostal: A 2018, 3rd round draftee, Dostal is the backup goalie in the NHL. He won rookie of the month for October. In his last two outings, he was tagged for a total of 13 goals against on 73 SA. November has not been kind for Dostal.
  • C/LW Groulx: A 2018, 2nd round draftee known for defense has been in a bottom-6 rotation. He's good on faceoffs and participates on the PK unit.

• New prospects to the pro game
  • C Carlsson: Exciting whenever he's on the ice due to his offensive prowess, but physically not strong enough - which is why GM Verbeek has Carlsson on "load mgmt" as a part-time 1C. Lack of strength is most obvious in the faceoff dot, where he is winning 23.8% out of 101 attempts.
  • LD Mintyukov: The riverboat gambler is allowed to continue that play with Anaheim while also improving his defense. He has been a wonderful surprise as a 19-year old, who has been promoted to a top-4 role due to RD Drysdale's injury. Minty is tied for 3rd overall for rookie scorers.
  • LD LaCombe: A 2019, 2nd round draftee, LaCombe started off as a 2nd pairing with Gudas for the first six games. Due to RD Drysdale's injury, LaCombe was propelled onto the 1st pairing as a RD. (Note: LaCombe played RD in all four years in college.) Although LaCombe is currently at -10 rating, when promoted to the top pairing in game 6, the Ducks have a record of 8-4. Prior to LaCombe becoming a top-pairing player, the Ducks were 1-4. He is playing above where he should be.
  • RD Luneau: 19-year old Luneau has been kept with the NHL club (and an AHL conditioning stint). Luneau played 2 games on the top-pairing when RD Drysdale fell to injury. He struggled a bit, holding the puck too long. Eventually being replaced by Vaakanainen, Vaaks then got replaced by LaCombe. Luneau disclosed on his comment about his two-week, AHL conditioning stint that has been body building with the NHL club. This is another example that GM Verbeek is trying to speed up the rebuild process by developing Luneau's body at the NHL this year than releasing him back to his junior team.
    At the AHL level, Luneau was playing top pairing, earning 2 assists in 6 games and a +0 rating. Not really a difference maker when inserted as the San Diego Gulls went 0-6-0-0.

AHL and ECHL prospects

Forwards
Overall, the they are mimicking "Silence of the Lambs"... having trouble finding the culprit... errr scoring. One forward on the rise is Ben King, finding his way from the bottom-6 to the top pairing for the Gulls.

Defense
- LD Zellweger is struggling defensively that he's been benched recently.
- RD Helleson is... not much to write home about.
- LD Hinds is the Gulls best shot suppressor.

Goalies
- Clang has been very solid.
- Suchanek has been a good find and rising to the occasion in the ECHL

NCAA ===

- RW Sam Colangelo found his offense with a new team, but has been scoreless in the past few games.

- C Kukkonen has had a miserable start to the season after scoring 18 goals last season.

Juniors ===

Two of the more promising forwards were shelved due to injuries. Hvidston just returned to the ice for two games. Myatovic maybe out for the season due to leg injury.

- Sidorov is looking like Pastujov ver. 2.0. Amazing scoring touch!

- Terrance and Pitre are solid scorers.

- "Hot Rod" Dionicio is yet another Ducks d-man prospect who loves to score. He was recently traded to Saginaw.

- Big man Warren has been relatively quiet on his new team. He was traded during the summer.

Europe ===

- Buteyets has been solid all season in the VHL.

- Clara is slowly improving his Sv %. Recently, he backstopped team Italy to a shutout in international play!

 

[Fear]

TLDR; everyone is awesome and gonna be great, unless they're my rival team's prospects in which case they are overrated and won't be much.

Don't forget the classic "Getting used to a new league, rounding out his game, we knew he was gonna be raw, I'm sure he'll get going soon" for the prospects that aren't performing

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Beck - just finished a 3g, 1a game as his team came back to win. He also went 16/18 on the dot. He's just over a point per game. I don't think he will be a producer in the NHL, but I think he's going to be a real solid shut down centre who's smart, wins draws and can pot some offensively.

Mesar - having a better season this year so far. Chugging along at around 1.8 ppg I believe. Kitchener is a fairly offensive team, though. He's your typical small, skilled, fast forward, but definitely progressing well this season so far.

Florian Xhekaj - seemed like a token pick, but he's been scoring lately. 10g, 17 points in 18 games while being physical. Could be a solid 4th liner. Had some skill to score and he's physical. He's one of those people who hits to hurt. Could be a player you love on your team, but hate to play against.

Bogdan Konyushkov- is, or was on pace for the 3rd best U-21 season by a dman in the KHL ever (?). Alexander Nikishin has the other 2 to show how great of a prospect he is. Bogdan plays a lot of minutes, I believe he averages 25 minutes a night for a good KHL team. It seems rare for a young player to play that much. He definitely seems like a good prospect.

Adam Engstrom - solid damn in the SHL. Played the majority of his season last year there and will (hopefully) play all season in the SHL. Always seems to be high praise for him and seems smart with the puck. Could be a log jam of good dmen for the Habs in a year, or two.

Lane Hutson - it's Lane, you've probably seen a billion posts, or had a friend who's talked to you about him and you've had to say, "hey, he's looking real good and you should be happy, but comparing him to Makar and Q Hughes already for his impact in the NHL is ridiculous."

Jacob Fowler - Seems to be doing well. Tied in the NCAA for 3rd for save percentage at this stage. Looking like a solid goalie prospect.

Logan Mailloux - the controversial pick. 4g 5a in 15 AHL games. He's doing well offensively, hiw defensive game still needs work, but it shows glimpses of improvement. Could push for a spot next year if his defensive game continues to improve, but hopefully it's just a few reward games and he spends most of the year in the A next year, too.

Joshua Roy - 7g 11a in 15 games. Rocket are a very offensive team, but they suck ass defensively, so they gotta push offensively. He's definitely showed the skill in the A to provide the offense and he's looking good.

Sean Farrell - 4g 8a in 15 games in the AHL. He started off slow and didn't look the best in the rookie tournament, but he's starting to come around. He and Roy are starting to become a dynamic threat in the A.

Jayden Struble - 1g 5a in 15 games. He was a man amongst boys and still looks strong against AHL competition. Physical, isn't afraid to fight. Could be a nice bottom pairing dman if things work out.


Habs suck, so they have a lot of prospects, but that might be the top of them.

Guys like Luke Tuch are playing well and should get a contract. William Trudeau is looking more promising than what some of us, or at least me thought he would be.

Only thing worth watching now for the Habs.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Beck - just finished a 3g, 1a game as his team came back to win. He also went 16/18 on the dot. He's just over a point per game. I don't think he will be a producer in the NHL, but I think he's going to be a real solid shut down centre who's smart, wins draws and can pot some offensively.

Mesar - having a better season this year so far. Chugging along at around 1.8 ppg I believe. Kitchener is a fairly offensive team, though. He's your typical small, skilled, fast forward, but definitely progressing well this season so far.

Florian Xhekaj - seemed like a token pick, but he's been scoring lately. 10g, 17 points in 18 games while being physical. Could be a solid 4th liner. Had some skill to score and he's physical. He's one of those people who hits to hurt. Could be a player you love on your team, but hate to play against.

Bogdan Konyushkov- is, or was on pace for the 3rd best U-21 season by a dman in the KHL ever (?). Alexander Nikishin has the other 2 to show how great of a prospect he is. Bogdan plays a lot of minutes, I believe he averages 25 minutes a night for a good KHL team. It seems rare for a young player to play that much. He definitely seems like a good prospect.

Adam Engstrom - solid damn in the SHL. Played the majority of his season last year there and will (hopefully) play all season in the SHL. Always seems to be high praise for him and seems smart with the puck. Could be a log jam of good dmen for the Habs in a year, or two.

Lane Hutson - it's Lane, you've probably seen a billion posts, or had a friend who's talked to you about him and you've had to say, "hey, he's looking real good and you should be happy, but comparing him to Makar and Q Hughes already for his impact in the NHL is ridiculous."

Jacob Fowler - Seems to be doing well. Tied in the NCAA for 3rd for save percentage at this stage. Looking like a solid goalie prospect.

Logan Mailloux - the controversial pick. 4g 5a in 15 AHL games. He's doing well offensively, hiw defensive game still needs work, but it shows glimpses of improvement. Could push for a spot next year if his defensive game continues to improve, but hopefully it's just a few reward games and he spends most of the year in the A next year, too.

Joshua Roy - 7g 11a in 15 games. Rocket are a very offensive team, but they suck ass defensively, so they gotta push offensively. He's definitely showed the skill in the A to provide the offense and he's looking good.

Sean Farrell - 4g 8a in 15 games in the AHL. He started off slow and didn't look the best in the rookie tournament, but he's starting to come around. He and Roy are starting to become a dynamic threat in the A.

Jayden Struble - 1g 5a in 15 games. He was a man amongst boys and still looks strong against AHL competition. Physical, isn't afraid to fight. Could be a nice bottom pairing dman if things work out.


Habs suck, so they have a lot of prospects, but that might be the top of them.

Guys like Luke Tuch are playing well and should get a contract. William Trudeau is looking more promising than what some of us, or at least me thought he would be.

Only thing worth watching now for the Habs.

Being a fellow Habs fan, it is very worrisome when you look at our forward prospects, as I'm not sold on Roy being a top player in the NHL. We really have nothing up front, all of our good prospects are defensemen or a goalie. A few years ago it was Beck and Farrell, and both now look to be 3rd/4th liners at best. Slavkovsky...Newhook...Not good boys, not good, I can't see us contending for a LONG time with our current forward prospect pool. All of those 2nd round picks we've amassed over the years, meh.