Isles Prospect Talk 2020-21 Pt. II

[danteipp]

at the same time, heres what i think can matter too: making sure theres always depth

we badly need center depth and its scary how thin it is now

Regardless of how deep a team is at center, they should always be looking for more.

You can move an extra center to the wing, but typically cannot do the opposite (outside of special cases like Brock Nelson, with proper coaching).

In terms of bottom six centers, I think the best chance of uncovering a hidden gem, at minimal cost, might be an overager in Europe or in college.

Although given the chaos in the CHL, if there was ever a chance to steal a player, it will be in this coming draft and perhaps next season.

 

[FractionTwo]

Regardless of how deep a team is at center, they should always be looking for more.

You can move an extra center to the wing, but typically cannot do the opposite (outside of special cases like Brock Nelson, with proper coaching).

In terms of bottom six centers, I think the best chance of uncovering a hidden gem, at minimal cost, might be an overager in Europe or in college.

Although given the chaos in the CHL, if there was ever a chance to steal a player, it will be in this coming draft and perhaps next season.

Agreed, and its why i hope they don't lose a 1st to the kraken or in a trade at the deadline. also felt upset last time not getting a center

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

Regardless of how deep a team is at center, they should always be looking for more.

You can move an extra center to the wing, but typically cannot do the opposite (outside of special cases like Brock Nelson, with proper coaching).

In terms of bottom six centers, I think the best chance of uncovering a hidden gem, at minimal cost, might be an overager in Europe or in college.

Although given the chaos in the CHL, if there was ever a chance to steal a player, it will be in this coming draft and perhaps next season.

Wasn’t Nelson drafted as a center? I remember him playing wing a bit early on, but that was more of a numbers thing.

 

[danteipp]

Wasn’t Nelson drafted as a center? I remember him playing wing a bit early on, but that was more of a numbers thing.

Nelson was indeed drafted as a center, then bounced around under the previous regime and their "expert tutelage". He didn't emerge as a true, two-way center until Trotz arrived. But the odds of a player committing fulltime to center and flourishing, at the NHL level, mid career, are slim. You typically move players off of center at that point, when they are floundering, not the opposite.

 

[Seph]

Nelson was indeed drafted as a center, then bounced around under the previous regime and their "expert tutelage". He didn't emerge as a true, two-way center until Trotz arrived. But the odds of a player committing fulltime to center and flourishing, at the NHL level, mid career, are slim. You typically move players off of center at that point, when they are floundering, not the opposite.

Yeah, it's exceptionally rare to see a wing convert mid or late career to a center. Usually you only see it with guys that played a lot of center before making the NHL but have mostly played wing in the NHL due to numbers, like has been mentioned with Nelson. Komarov is another good example of that. The only example I can think of a true winger playing center for any amount of time was Patrik Elias, but that just shows just how unlikely it is.

 

[MJF]

Yeah, it's exceptionally rare to see a wing convert mid or late career to a center. Usually you only see it with guys that played a lot of center before making the NHL but have mostly played wing in the NHL due to numbers, like has been mentioned with Nelson. Komarov is another good example of that. The only example I can think of a true winger playing center for any amount of time was Patrik Elias, but that just shows just how unlikely it is.

We were running out a Kid Line of Strome, Nelson and Lee that season, IIRC. As soon as they went cold Cappy would break them up, put Strome at center and Lee on a wing, flip them back in the middle of a game. It’s a wonder Nelson and Strome knew what day it was back then. I think Capuano’s tinkering hurt Ryan Strome the worst.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Center is clearly the position that has been least represented within the organization ever since Barzal graduated.

There's nothing close to a surefire guy just now.

On the other hand, similar to the Dmen, our three best centers are wrapped up for the time being and if Cizikas happens to move on (but will he?), then we not only have Czarnik and Koivula here for now, but Carpenter, Bibeau, and MacLean are being checked out/fostered in the system, Newkirk looks like one of our better overall prospects, and there's Pivonka in college. He's got one more year and is strictly a defensive center by trade.

We also can't and shouldn't forget that Iskhakov is playing center in the Liiga right now, where he has 9-25-34 and +5 in 46 games this season.

What does this all mean for the future?

I've gotta think that the Isles aren't going to draft for position just now.

At some point, the system could use a bit more goaltending depth, but that is something you often want to achieve via free agency.

 

[FractionTwo]

Center is clearly the position that has been least represented within the organization ever since Barzal graduated.

There's nothing close to a surefire guy just now.

On the other hand, similar to the Dmen, our three best centers are wrapped up for the time being and if Cizikas happens to move on (but will he?), then we not only have Czarnik and Koivula here for now, but Carpenter, Bibeau, and MacLean are being checked out/fostered in the system, Newkirk looks like one of our better overall prospects, and there's Pivonka in college. He's got one more year and is strictly a defensive center by trade.

We also can't and shouldn't forget that Iskhakov is playing center in the Liiga right now, where he has 9-25-34 and +5 in 46 games this season.

What does this all mean for the future?

I've gotta think that the Isles aren't going to draft for position just now.

At some point, the system could use a bit more goaltending depth, but that is something you often want to achieve via free agency.

I think that the center depth goes like this rn

Ishakov>Newkirk>Pivonka>Bibeau>Carpenter>MacLean.

They'll definitely get ishakov and newkirk here to bridgeport next season (I hope), and I can guess that the rest will continue to work their way through the ranks. Isles can use goaltending (that Oil kings guy could be a nice pickup even if it is "useless" to draft goalies in the 1st round), so who knows. Again, draft day will be a mess this year and I fully wish the isles take advantage of GM's reaching on swedes/finns just because "they played"

 

[xECK29x]

+ = on IR or just hurt

News Items:
- Dufour injured his left knee, out indefinitely (potentially season ending)

PLAYER	POS	ACQUIRED	HFB RANK	TEAM	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM	+/-
+ Noah Dobson	D	2018 round 1 #12	1	New York Islanders / NHL	28	3	9	12	4	6
Oliver Wahlstrom	RW/LW	2018 round 1 #11	3	AIK / HockeyAllsvenskan	10	4	4	8	8	-2
				* New York Islanders / NHL	25	7	7	14	13	6
Simon Holmstrom	RW	2019 round 1 #23	8	HC Vita Hasten / HockeyAllsvenskan	11	1	1	2	2	0
				* Bridgeport / AHL	10	3	2	5	0	-8
				Sweden U20 Team	5	0	5	5	2	2
Josh Ho-Sang	RW	2014 round 1 #28	GRAD	Orebro HK / SHL	5	0	1	1	2	-1
				* Linkoping HC / SHL	4	2	0	2	4	-2
Kieffer Bellows	LW	2016 round 1 #19	4	New York Islanders / NHL	12	3	0	3	4	1
Bode Wilde	D	2018 round 2 #41	5	Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	8	0	2	2	4	-6
Arnaud Durandeau	LW	2017 round 6 #165		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	5	1	0	1	2	-4
A.J. Greer	LW	Trade		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	7	0	1	1	6	-9
Cole Coskey	RW	2019 round 7 #209		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	5	2	0	2	2	0
Robert Carpenter	LW/C	FA		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	8	2	0	2	0	-5
Parker Wotherspoon	D	2015 round 4 #112		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	10	0	1	1	17	-5
Felix Bibeau	C	2019 round 6 #178		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	5	0	1	1	7	-1
Mitchell Vande Sompel	D	2015 round 3 #82		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	9	0	3	3	4	-10
Samuel Bolduc	D	2019 round 2 #57	7	Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	10	3	4	7	2	1
Sebastian Aho	D	2017 round 5 #139	9	New York Islanders / NHL	3	1	1	2	2	-1
Grant Hutton	D	FA	11	Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	10	0	2	2	8	-3
Blade Jenkins	LW/C	2018 round 5 #134		Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	2	0	0	0	0	-1
Anatoli Golyshev	LW/RW	2016 round 4 #95		Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg / KHL	53	12	15	27	28	1
				Playoffs / KHL	3	0	0	0	0	1
Ruslan Iskhakov	C/RW	2018 round 2 #43		TPS / Liiga	46	9	25	34	22	5
Robin Salo	D	2017 round 2 #46	10	Orebro HK / SHL	49	6	24	30	14	16
+ William Dufour	RW	2020 round 5 #152		Drummondville Voltigeurs / QMJHL	23	17	12	29	32	0
Alexander Ljungkrantz	LW	2020 round 3 #90		Brynas IF J20 / J20 Nationell	16	8	7	15	12	7
				Brynas IF / SHL	15	0	0	0	2	0
				* Stromsbro IF / Ettan	14	8	4	12	0	3
Matias Rajaniemi	D	2020 round 6 #183		* Pelicans / Liiga	43	3	6	9	18	1
				Finland U20 Team	6	0	0	0	0	2
Otto Koivula	C/LW	2016 round 4 #120	6	HIFK / Liiga	14	3	8	11	10	1
				* Bridgeport Sound Tigers / AHL	7	1	1	2	4	-3
Reece Newkirk	C	2019 round 5 #147	13	* Portland / WHL	3	3	2	5	0	2
				Melville Millionaires / SJHL	6	4	8	12	2	-
Jacob Pivonka	C	2018 round 4 #103		Univ. of Notre Dame / NCAA	29	2	7	9	8	-2
Collin Adams	LW	2016 round 6 #170		Univ. of North Dakota / NCAA	27	11	20	31	10	19
Logan Cockerill	LW/RW	2016 round 7 #201		Boston Univ. ("C") / NCAA	11	5	4	9	4	9
Christian Krygier	D	2018 round 7 #196		Michigan State Univ. / NCAA	26	1	2	3	54	-4
Benjamin Mirageas	D	2017 round 3 #77		Providence College / NCAA	25	1	11	12	20	7
+ Alex Jefferies	LW	2019 round 4 #121	12	Merrimack College / NCAA	12	4	6	10	2	-4
GOALIES					GP	GAA	SV%	SO	W-L-T
Ilya Sorokin	G	2014 round 3 #78	1	New York Islanders / NHL	10	2.08	.915	2	7-2-1
Henrik Tikkanen	G	2020 round 7 #214		IPK / Mestis	11	3.26	.878	0	6-4-1
				* Kalpa / Liiga	7	1.94	.921	0	2-2-3
Jakub Skarek	G	2018 round 3 #72		Pelitat / Mestis	4	4.44	.833	0	0-3-1
				* Bridgeport / AHL	6	3.05	.901	0	1-5-0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[FractionTwo]

Do you think the isles should try to scout central europe more often?

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Do you think the isles should try to scout central europe more often?

It is really interesting to look at when the last time was that this team drafted out of Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia, or even the Czech Republic (Skarek in 2018). No need to mention Austria or Slovenia.

Seriously, other than Skarek, who immediately headed to Finland after being drafted, the last player we drafted from one of the aforementioned nations was Slovak Tomas Marcinko in..... 2006!

He headed to the Barrie Colts the fall after being drafted.

I may be very biased, but there are more legitimate NHL prospects coming out of Germany than the NHL is - on whole - currently interested in. Naturally, it feels like there are more "impact" German players in the NHL now than ever before, but this past draft with Stützle, Reichel, and Peterka all going top 34 was RECORD-setting for Germany and basically the first time ever that many German kids were picked out of Germany within the top 100 picks. There are some more on the horizon, with Julian Lutz being the name you'll all want to key in on (2022 draft).

Even the Germans we are familiar with basically went through the CHL or more recently college hockey before really gaining notoriety. Greiss is one of the few exceptions in recent memory, having gone from a DEL gig to the AHL.

 

[Seph]

We were running out a Kid Line of Strome, Nelson and Lee that season, IIRC. As soon as they went cold Cappy would break them up, put Strome at center and Lee on a wing, flip them back in the middle of a game. It’s a wonder Nelson and Strome knew what day it was back then. I think Capuano’s tinkering hurt Ryan Strome the worst.

Yeah, I agree on Strome. He looked great at first, but just regressed more and more the longer he played under Capuano.

 

[FractionTwo]

It is really interesting to look at when the last time was that this team drafted out of Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia, or even the Czech Republic (Skarek in 2018). No need to mention Austria or Slovenia.

Seriously, other than Skarek, who immediately headed to Finland after being drafted, the last player we drafted from one of the aforementioned nations was Slovak Tomas Marcinko in..... 2006!

He headed to the Barrie Colts the fall after being drafted.

I may be very biased, but there are more legitimate NHL prospects coming out of Germany than the NHL is - on whole - currently interested in. Naturally, it feels like there are more "impact" German players in the NHL now than ever before, but this past draft with Stützle, Reichel, and Peterka all going top 34 was RECORD-setting for Germany and basically the first time ever that many German kids were picked out of Germany within the top 100 picks. There are some more on the horizon, with Julian Lutz being the name you'll all want to key in on (2022 draft).

Even the Germans we are familiar with basically went through the CHL or more recently college hockey before really gaining notoriety. Greiss is one of the few exceptions in recent memory, having gone from a DEL gig to the AHL.

isles are due in that region again lol. Kinda expect us to do that if we keep our first two rounders

 

[Seph]

Do you think the isles should try to scout central europe more often?

Hard to gauge if we aren't scouting it enough. Central Europe produces less players than other regions, and a lot of its top prospects end up playing in NA prior to the draft anyway. A quick glance at the last two drafts, and only 12 players in total were drafted from a central European league in those two years combined, and of those 12, only 8 of them were available when the Isles had a pick. So, while it may be that we aren't scouting it enough, it also could be simply that these players haven't happened to be at the top of the Isles' draft board when they had a pick. If we go back one more year, 9 players playing in central Europe leagues were drafted in 2018, and the Isles did draft one of them (Skarek). This also means in those 3 years, the Islanders have used ~5.5% (1/18) of their picks on guys from central European leagues, which is actually higher than the league as a whole at ~3.2% (21/651).

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Hard to gauge if we aren't scouting it enough. Central Europe produces less players than other regions, and a lot of its top prospects end up playing in NA prior to the draft anyway. A quick glance at the last two drafts, and only 12 players in total were drafted from a central European league in those two years combined, and of those 12, only 8 of them were available when the Isles had a pick. So, while it may be that we aren't scouting it enough, it also could be simply that these players haven't happened to be at the top of the Isles' draft board when they had a pick. If we go back one more year, 9 players playing in central Europe leagues were drafted in 2018, and the Isles did draft one of them (Skarek). This also means in those 3 years, the Islanders have used ~5.5% (1/18) of their picks on guys from central European leagues, which is actually higher than the league as a whole at ~3.2% (21/651).

Then again, other than Skarek, the last central European was Marcinko in 2006.

I think those stats may look a little bit different when stretching them over 15 years. Enough so that I think it's safe to say that the Isles aren't really scouting that area with any emphasis. Considering the Czech Republic is one of the traditional six hockey nations, Marcinko is really the only player we've taken "off the beaten path" the last 15 years.

But for sure, when it comes to the draft, you have North America, Sweden, Finland, Russia,... Central Europe (predominantly Czech Republic), other (usually Denmark, Latvia, Belarus, Norway, etc). And it's been that way for more or less the past 10 years. That's just where kids worth drafting are coming from.

 

[Seph]

Then again, other than Skarek, the last central European was Marcinko in 2006.

I think those stats may look a little bit different when stretching them over 15 years. Enough so that I think it's safe to say that the Isles aren't really scouting that area with any emphasis. Considering the Czech Republic is one of the traditional six hockey nations, Marcinko is really the only player we've taken "off the beaten path" the last 15 years.

But for sure, when it comes to the draft, you have North America, Sweden, Finland, Russia,... Central Europe (predominantly Czech Republic), other (usually Denmark, Latvia, Belarus, Norway, etc). And it's been that way for more or less the past 10 years. That's just where kids worth drafting are coming from.

It's true, if we go back through the Wang ownership years there was very little drafting outside of the top 5 countries for players, and I certainly would suspect we were not scouting other areas well, as it was known our budget for scouting for many of those years was pretty low. But I also wouldn't assume that trend remains true with the current ownership and GM. The point of bringing up Skarek wasn't to try to claim that the Islanders do scout central Europe well, but just to show that in the past few years, they haven't avoided drafting from central Europe any more than the rest of the league has, so the lack selections from there could easily just be who's been at the top of the draft board. But at the end of the day, I have no idea how well we scout the area.

 

[FractionTwo]

It's true, if we go back through the Wang ownership years there was very little drafting outside of the top 5 countries for players, and I certainly would suspect we were not scouting other areas well, as it was known our budget for scouting for many of those years was pretty low. But I also wouldn't assume that trend remains true with the current ownership and GM. The point of bringing up Skarek wasn't to try to claim that the Islanders do scout central Europe well, but just to show that in the past few years, they haven't avoided drafting from central Europe any more than the rest of the league has, so the lack selections from there could easily just be who's been at the top of the draft board. But at the end of the day, I have no idea how well we scout the area.

At the same time, the isles have scouted well across europe now. it isn't like they're ignoring nations like a certain other NY team. Maybe they start to look at the czechs because they always have some players around in these drafts, but drafting is the least of our worries right now lol

 

[xECK29x]

Season appears over for Pivonka

Notre Dame Pulled From NCAA Tournament Due to COVID Protocols

 

[Islanders4Cups]

Collin Adams scored 2 goals last night in UND’s opening round NCAA Tournament win vs AIC. Looking forward to a chance to watch this kid 6:30pm ET today on ESPNU.

 

[FractionTwo]

Ishakov scored again for TPS

Maybe this kid is finding himself in finland anyways

 

[Thrasymachus]

Ishakov scored again for TPS

Maybe this kid is finding himself in finland anyways

Super pleased to hear he continues to put up numbers. Maybe he will be ready for Bridgeport next season?

 

[Dr Quincy]

Cockerill's NCAA career comes to an end.

 

[FractionTwo]

Cockerill's NCAA career comes to an end.

I think they might not sign him, but we may never know

 

[xECK29x]

I think they might not sign him, but we may never know

He’s an AHL player at best IMO

 

[xECK29x]

UND likely to be eliminated, will be interesting to see how the team handles Adams