Kings 2024 NHL Prospect Pool Rankings: #1

[King'sPawn]

Hello all,

It's that slow time in the offseason again, which is between the draft/free agency and the start of training camp. To help pass the time (and trying to distract myself from the kidney stone tearing me up), we'll do our annual NHL Prospect Ranking.

If you are unfamiliar with how things go:
- I will begin with a list of 10 prospects who may not align perfectly with my exact top-10 list, but ones where I think there's more interest and enthusiasm.
- Your votes will be public, and you get one vote in the poll
- You are encouraged to mention who should go on the list next
- I won't vote on any of them, except if it's needed as a tiebreaker
- As always, discussion is half the fun, so feel free to talk it out.
- Feel free to use any criteria you want. It's your vote after all. Some general factors others have used: NHL readiness, upside, role, likelihood to make the NHL, tradability value, or any combination of the above factors.
- I'll start with 48-hour long polls, I'll eventually reduce it to 24 hours as the discussions and participation/voting decreases
- The criteria I am using for this particular poll is Calder Trophy eligibility. Please note there are plenty of other different criteria which can be used (ie, under 23, < 50 games played, etc). The list of those eligible to add will be at the bottom. Now, this criteria may be very strict and make the team look worse due to younger players who no longer match the criteria... but this is what I always use, and will stick with it due to continuity. These are the requirements for Calder Trophy eligibility:
1. Must be under 26 years old by September 15
2. Cannot have played more than 25 games in a single season OR at least 6 games in each of any two preceding seasons in any major professional league
The following players were removed from last year's list last year due to making these criteria or no longer being part of the system:
Clarke, Brandt - D (Games Played)
Doyle, Braden - D (Not Signed)
Fagemo, Samuel - F (Games Played)
Laferriere, Alex - F (Games Played)
Markkanen, Juho - G (Not Signed)
Meehan, Ben - D (Not Signed)
Moverare, Jacob - D (Games Played)
Nousiainen, Kim - D (Not Signed)
Simontaival, Kasper - F (Not Signed)
Turcotte, Alex - F (Games Played)
Ward, Taylor - F (Age)

Here is the list of prospects eligible to be added (sorted alphabetically by last name).

Booth, Angus
Chromiak, Martin
Conmy, Ryan
Helenius, Samuel
Hughes, Jack
Kirsanov, Kirill
Krygier, Cole
Lawrence, Kaleb
Madden, Tyler
Mania, Matthew
Pinelli, Francesco
Reeder, James
Salin, Otto
Sparkes, Jack
Shafigullin, Bulat
Woolley, Jared
Wright, Jared

Click to read more...

 

[Lt Dan]

Greentree

Add-Homelander

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Greentree...I think he's a player. But beyond that, I think he actually has a massive ceiling, IMO one of the best draft picks this front office has made vs. draft spot.

Add Kirsanov

 

[CarlSneep]

Greentree is the only guy on here with top line potential so he got my vote.

Also I totally understand why you did it this way but it’s still weird seeing Thomas on here as a prospect.

 

[bland]

George, vote for Mania to be added

 

[kilowatt]

Greentree, but damn our prospect pool f***ing sucks

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Greentree, but damn our prospect pool f***ing sucks

Lotta good possible-upside depth swings/projects, next to nothing to supplement top 6 scoring or top 4 dmen.

 

[King'sPawn]

Greentree, but damn our prospect pool f***ing sucks

Always depends on how you define it. If you're looking at 23 and under, you'd have Laferriere, Byfield, Clarke, Turcotte, Spence as options.

My definition just looks strictly at eligible rookies.

 

[MonkeysUncle]

Greentree

 

[Kurrilino]

Just seeing #1 prospect and then those names really depresses me.
Usually you see those names beside #15 or something

 

[kingsboy11]

Its Greentree for sure, but yeah the prospect pool has taken a hit with some prospects graduating.

Add Pinelli

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

Greentree, but damn our prospect pool f***ing sucks

One of the worst in the NHL

 

[tigermask48]

Woof. There are like 4 guys I have strong feelings about and the rest are just rolls of the dice.
This feeling sucks.

Voted Greentree, add Lawrence.

Edit: Oh and a big thank you to KP for running these every year!

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

Hello all,

It's that slow time in the offseason again, which is between the draft/free agency and the start of training camp. To help pass the time (and trying to distract myself from the kidney stone tearing me up), we'll do our annual NHL Prospect Ranking.

If you are unfamiliar with how things go:
- I will begin with a list of 10 prospects who may not align perfectly with my exact top-10 list, but ones where I think there's more interest and enthusiasm.
- Your votes will be public, and you get one vote in the poll
- You are encouraged to mention who should go on the list next
- I won't vote on any of them, except if it's needed as a tiebreaker
- As always, discussion is half the fun, so feel free to talk it out.
- Feel free to use any criteria you want. It's your vote after all. Some general factors others have used: NHL readiness, upside, role, likelihood to make the NHL, tradability value, or any combination of the above factors.
- I'll start with 48-hour long polls, I'll eventually reduce it to 24 hours as the discussions and participation/voting decreases
- The criteria I am using for this particular poll is Calder Trophy eligibility. Please note there are plenty of other different criteria which can be used (ie, under 23, < 50 games played, etc). The list of those eligible to add will be at the bottom. Now, this criteria may be very strict and make the team look worse due to younger players who no longer match the criteria... but this is what I always use, and will stick with it due to continuity. These are the requirements for Calder Trophy eligibility:
1. Must be under 26 years old by September 15
2. Cannot have played more than 25 games in a single season OR at least 6 games in each of any two preceding seasons in any major professional league
The following players were removed from last year's list last year due to making these criteria or no longer being part of the system:
Clarke, Brandt - D (Games Played)
Doyle, Braden - D (Not Signed)
Fagemo, Samuel - F (Games Played)
Laferriere, Alex - F (Games Played)
Markkanen, Juho - G (Not Signed)
Meehan, Ben - D (Not Signed)
Moverare, Jacob - D (Games Played)
Nousiainen, Kim - D (Not Signed)
Simontaival, Kasper - F (Not Signed)
Turcotte, Alex - F (Games Played)
Ward, Taylor - F (Age)

Here is the list of prospects eligible to be added (sorted alphabetically by last name).

Booth, Angus
Chromiak, Martin
Conmy, Ryan
Helenius, Samuel
Hughes, Jack
Kirsanov, Kirill
Krygier, Cole
Lawrence, Kaleb
Madden, Tyler
Mania, Matthew
Pinelli, Francisco
Reeder, James
Salin, Otto
Sparkes, Jack
Shafigullin, Bulat
Woolley, Jared
Wright, Jared

Not sure what's going on with Bulat but isn't he tied to his club team Niftkekhimik Nizhnekamsk in the KHL for another 2 seasons...see him as a long shot to ever come over especially at 26-27 years old

 

[Sybil227]

Slukynsky. Nobody performed or looked better for their position.
Player of the Year for his position in the league (USHL), led the league in all major categories for his position, led his team to the championship.
Greentree's fine, and I expect good things from him, but he didn't put on nearly the show Slukynsky did.

Thank you for running the poll!
(Also, since I'm voting for him, Slukynsky will probably end up 37th. That's how it usually goes.)

 

[Basilisk]

I nominate "Capfriendly".... so much legacy-term potential and a solid, long-lasting future..... Wow!!!

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

Slukynsky. Nobody performed or looked better for their position.
Player of the Year for his position in the league (USHL), led the league in all major categories for his position, led his team to the championship.
Greentree's fine, and I expect good things from him, but he didn't put on nearly the show Slukynsky did.

Thank you for running the poll!
(Also, since I'm voting for him, Slukynsky will probably end up 37th. That's how it usually goes.)

I like Slukynsky but to compare stats from the USHL and OHL well not Apples to Apples the OHL is a higher degree of quality besides Greentree looks to be LA top Winger in a few years time respect due Kempe and Fiala! As for Slukynsky he's a few to maybe 4 years away and will he be the Numero Uno Netminder I don't know hopefully...

 

[Surf Nutz]

I go by biggest contribution at the highest level.

Akil only got a few NHL games and didn't play as significant a role as Portillo on the Reign.

I don't care about potential as much.

Add Krygier

 

[Statto]

Slukynsky. Nobody performed or looked better for their position.
Player of the Year for his position in the league (USHL), led the league in all major categories for his position, led his team to the championship.
Greentree's fine, and I expect good things from him, but he didn't put on nearly the show Slukynsky did.

Thank you for running the poll!
(Also, since I'm voting for him, Slukynsky will probably end up 37th. That's how it usually goes.)

I thought about him and George as both are very exciting…. But they are goalies and…. well they are goalies

 

[tigermask48]

All rthree he goalies are a really strange case, Portillo is easily the most NHL ready, but I'd argue has the lowest upside of him, George and Hammer.

Hammer had the best season of the three and looked fantastic, but it was in the lowest league of those three.

George looked really really good in net for Canada, but has a few question marks attached to him.

Going to be interesting to see where they all end up on this list.

 

[kilowatt]

Always depends on how you define it. If you're looking at 23 and under, you'd have Laferriere, Byfield, Clarke, Turcotte, Spence as options.

My definition just looks strictly at eligible rookies.

I'd argue that we've got one of the worst 23-and-under rosters too.

We have Byfield who was 10th in scoring last season among 23-and-under players. We've got Clarke who might be a difference maker. Then we've got Spence and Laferriere coming in at 49th and 50th, with 24 and 23 points, respectively. They're maybe 2nd-pair/2nd-line guys at best if everything goes perfectly? Then we've got the Turcotte, Fagemo, Kaliyev, Thomas group, who knows where they'll end up but I think expecting any of them to be better than third liners is a risky bet.

Then we've got the list here. It's no sure thing that any of these guys make the NHL. Greentree and Ziemmer seem like they've got as good a shot as any, but we thought the same of Kupari and Kaliyev.

I just don't think our team or prospects are very good anymore.

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

With our Prospects hopefully Nutnuts has learned a lesson in trying to have all LA's best Prospects fighting for playing time in Ontario at the same f***ing time...what a Maroon...

bugs bunny what a maroon - Suchen Videos

www.bing.com

 

[King'sPawn]

I'd argue that we've got one of the worst 23-and-under rosters too.

We have Byfield who was 10th in scoring last season among 23-and-under players. We've got Clarke who might be a difference maker. Then we've got Spence and Laferriere coming in at 49th and 50th, with 24 and 23 points, respectively. They're maybe 2nd-pair/2nd-line guys at best if everything goes perfectly? Then we've got the Turcotte, Fagemo, Kaliyev, Thomas group, who knows where they'll end up but I think expecting any of them to be better than third liners is a risky bet.

Then we've got the list here. It's no sure thing that any of these guys make the NHL. Greentree and Ziemmer seem like they've got as good a shot as any, but we thought the same of Kupari and Kaliyev.

I just don't think our team or prospects are very good anymore.

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think it's as bad as you think as far as quality of prospects. I just think as usual, the issue comes down to how they get managed and put into appropriate situations to grow and succeed.

If the poll was (just throwing some random names out there, this isn't my list):
Byfield
Clarke
Turcotte
Greentree
Slukynsky
Ziemmer
Laferriere
Dvorak
Portillo
George

Wouldn't that look a lot less dire?

There are just a lot of question marks with a lot of the players, including Byfield (who I'm a fan of). Clarke went on an unreal run of production in the AHL and junior levels. How well will he acclimate to the NHL? Jordan Spence has been an all-star at multiple levels during rookie seasons, showing adaptability. He's smaller though, so how much more will he improve? Byfield had marked improvement, but how much better will he improve?

The stardom of the picks is questionable for sure. But there are a few which I think can and will grow into players the fans love even if they don't become superstars.

Granted, I haven't poured over every team to look at their U23 list. But aside from teams that seemingly have perpetual rebuilds, what other teams have significantly better U23 rosters with fewer question marks?

Here are some other teams and their bigger name U23 players:
Winnipeg:
Ville Heinola
Cole Perfetti
Chaz Lucius
Rutger McGroaty
Brad Lambert
Alfons Feij

Vegas:
Alexander Holtz
Trevor Connelly

Vancouver:
Vasili Podkolzin
Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Tom Willander

Obviously I'm not going to go over every team, and I'm sure I'm missing some players in the above. But I just don't think the U23 pipeline in LA is as bad as you think.

 

[Surf Nutz]

I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think it's as bad as you think as far as quality of prospects. I just think as usual, the issue comes down to how they get managed and put into appropriate situations to grow and succeed.

If the poll was (just throwing some random names out there, this isn't my list):
Byfield
Clarke
Turcotte
Greentree
Slukynsky
Ziemmer
Laferriere
Dvorak
Portillo
George

Wouldn't that look a lot less dire?

There are just a lot of question marks with a lot of the players, including Byfield (who I'm a fan of). Clarke went on an unreal run of production in the AHL and junior levels. How well will he acclimate to the NHL? Jordan Spence has been an all-star at multiple levels during rookie seasons, showing adaptability. He's smaller though, so how much more will he improve? Byfield had marked improvement, but how much better will he improve?

The stardom of the picks is questionable for sure. But there are a few which I think can and will grow into players the fans love even if they don't become superstars.

Granted, I haven't poured over every team to look at their U23 list. But aside from teams that seemingly have perpetual rebuilds, what other teams have significantly better U23 rosters with fewer question marks?

Here are some other teams and their bigger name U23 players:
Winnipeg:
Ville Heinola
Cole Perfetti
Chaz Lucius
Rutger McGroaty
Brad Lambert
Alfons Feij

Vegas:
Alexander Holtz
Trevor Connelly

Vancouver:
Vasili Podkolzin
Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Tom Willander

Obviously I'm not going to go over every team, and I'm sure I'm missing some players in the above. But I just don't think the U23 pipeline in LA is as bad as you think.

That's cheating...

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

Of that bunch only Byfield has established himself the rest are just Prospects that may never have a decent career in the NHL...Clarke will be given every chance to succeed but man he has the skinniest legs I've ever seen and knock kneed too

Laferriere was decent last year too