Kings Prospect Pool Voting: Ranking #2

[Herby]

They (Turcotte and Vilardi) are way different players. Turcotte has more pathways to the NHL, where as Gabe was going to have to score to stick. And I think that’s still true even now. Turcotte could very easily have a long career as a 4th line energy player.

Vilardi had produced better in the AHL and NHL at the same age as Turcotte (pretty significantly) and had been more of a scorer in junior than Turcotte was in college. The biggest obstacle for Turcotte is his shot and o-zone game sense, the balls to the wall energy guys have a tough time letting the game slow down enough to let themselves make plays and produce points, and I think that’s certainly been the case here.

I would say Turcotte probably has a better chance at an NHL career than Pinelli, but Pinelli has a better chance at having a scoring line role. The lack of offensive production across multiple leagues since being drafted can’t just be ignored.

 

[BigKing]

Injuries are the question.

There is ZERO question whether he has NHL ability.

'Talent' isn't just stickhandling in a 10 ft square, it's playing with pace and supporting your teammates.

Turcotte does that at a better level than almost anyone in the organization right now and should be in the NHL just on that alone, the ultimate question is whether his offense develops at a high level worthy of his draft position--and it's clear his shot isn't going to do that so you have to put a playmaker with guys who make plays. Bottom of the lineup, he'll be Lizotte, Trevor Lewis. up the lineup--he'll be at least Iafallo. With all the others--I have questions on what they can bring if it's not offense.

Obviously--healthy pending.

Edit: actually even with health I'd add 'strength' to that, he's skilled on the boards but Mike Richards was able to bull his way thru, Turcotte needs that element too. But ultimately, people are completely underrating his skillset altogether. In any other organization he's playing at least in the middle six.

With the cap crunch, I commented last week that they should trade Lizotte and just slot this son of a bitch into the 4th line role and let him sink or swim. I made the Giuliano comment earlier because he has flat out sucked in his small NHL sample size. Not saying he is Jeff Giuliano but he may as well have been at the NHL level so far.

I just have to pump the brakes on saying he does anything at a better level than almost everyone in the organization unless that thing is getting hurt.

He can get the benefit of the doubt since the Kings development of forwards sucks ass but he also hasn't risen above anything. He's basically lost value every year since he was drafted.

I say all of that but I'm serious about having him be in the NHL this year. Seems that the waiver eligibility slut is going to keep him in the AHL all year unless there are injuries or Turcotte blows the doors off in Ontario. Obviously rooting for him to do so but I have a hard time painting any kind of rosy picture regarding him as a player at the moment.

 

[Herby]

With the cap crunch, I commented last week that they should trade Lizotte and just slot this son of a bitch into the 4th line role and let him sink or swim. I made the Giuliano comment earlier because he has flat out sucked in his small NHL sample size. Not saying he is Jeff Giuliano but he may as well have been at the NHL level so far.

I just have to pump the brakes on saying he does anything at a better level than almost everyone in the organization unless that thing is getting hurt.

He can get the benefit of the doubt since the Kings development of forwards sucks ass but he also hasn't risen above anything. He's basically lost value every year since he was drafted.

I say all of that but I'm serious about having him be in the NHL this year. Seems that the waiver eligibility slut is going to keep him in the AHL all year unless there are injuries or Turcotte blows the doors off in Ontario. Obviously rooting for him to do so but I have a hard time painting any kind of rosy picture regarding him as a player at the moment.

Agree with all of this. Having a $1.6m 4C when you are paying $24m to the top 3 isn’t ideal. Better off just seeing what you have in Turcotte and freeing up the cap space. If Turcotte gets hurt or just can’t play at the NHL level you can pivot to JAD or someone like that.

 

[tigermask48]

I dunno why but Pinelli is giving me Linden Vey vibes. I haven't even watched him play.

Can absolutely see that. Pinelli at least has a decent sized frame at 6'1" to fill out versus Vey at 5'8". That and Pinelli seemed to be the main guy on a bad team this year, while Vey was a wing on a really good team that had other decent skilled forwards in Tyler Pitlick and Emerson Etem.

 

[BigBrown]

Can absolutely see that. Pinelli at least has a decent sized frame at 6'1" to fill out versus Vey at 5'8". That and Pinelli seemed to be the main guy on a bad team this year, while Vey was a wing on a really good team that had other decent skilled forwards in Tyler Pitlick and Emerson Etem.

Just a minor detail but Linden Vey is 6'2". Probably not at the time of his draft but he was never a small guy, height wise.

I think why they seem somewhat similar to me is that their junior numbers weren't really all that impressive until two years after they got drafted. Linden Vey had an even better season than Pinelli (purely from a numbers perspective), but Vey being more or less a bust gave me a good lesson: big stats in junior leagues when you're approaching 20 doesn't mean much when it comes to being an NHL player. I mean it's better than not having big numbers, but I'm hesitant to get my hopes up.