Prospect Info: My Top 20 Hab Prospects List (Updated #538)

[McGuires Corndog]

1. Nick Suzuki
2. Josh Brook
3. Ryan Poehling
4. Alexander Romanov
5. Cayden Primeau
6. Jesse Ylonen
7. Noah Juulsen
8. Cale Fleury
9. Jordan Harris
10. Joni Ikonen
11. Jake Evans
12. Jacob Olofsson
13. Cole Fonstad
14. Allen McShane
15. Joel Teasdale
16. Cam Hillis
17. Brett Stapley
18. Lukas Vejdemo
19. Scott Walford
20. Michael McCarron

By far the deepest prospect pool that I can remember.

Summer 2007
(No particular order)
1.Carey Price
2.PK Subban
3.Ryan McDonagh
4.Max Pacioretty
5.Mikhail Grabovki
6.Andrei Kostitsyn
7.Jaroslav Halak
8.Sergei Kostitsyn
9.Yannick Weber
10.Alexei Emelin

You’re welcome.

 

[pezcore]

first time in a while that I look at our prospect pool and dont get immediatly depressed.

10 more picks to add as well this summer but for me right now, my top 10

1.Nick Suzuki
2.Josh Brook
3.Alexander Romanov
4.Ryan Poehling
5.Cayden Primeau
6.Noah Juulsen
7.Jesse Ylonen
8.Joel Teasdale
9.Joni Ikonen
10.Cale Fleury

Gets murky and easily interchangeable after that.

 

[montreal]

I'd like to understand the reasoning behind Teasdale being so low on your list. His current performance in the playoffs is on par with what Suzuki is doing. Both players are carrying their team on their shoulders and could make it to the Memorial cup. I get that Teasdale is 5 months older, that he's undrafted and that he doesn't have the raw skills that Suzuki has. But still, I have a hard time understanding a prospect ranking that would put Teasdale after guys like Fonstad or Olofsson, especially while we're witnessing his playoffs performance.

I think we're all scared that Teasdale is just another Alexandre Alain, but Alain put up crazy numbers while he was an overager, one year older than Teasdale. Alain's level of play was nowhere near where Teasdale is at the same age.

I'm not following the prospects as much as many of you, but from what I've seen and what I've read, my top 10 would be something like that :

1- Suzuki
2- Poehling
3- Brook
4- Romanov
5- Primeau
6- Ylonen
7- Fleury
8- Juulsen
9- Teasdale
10- Ikonen

Harris might deserve to get up there but I've seen too little from him to really know.

I'm always leery of undrafted kids that breakout on top teams in the CHL. In his age 18 season he put up solid numbers but less then say McShane. This year he was at the same rate while with BBA (38 pts in 37 games) so once he was traded to what might be the best team in the CHL, he puts up insane numbers of a .83 goals per game, had 42 pts in 29 games and is doing great in the playoffs.

I've said I think he'll easily be better then Alain as I like his speed/skating more but while I think it's very close for Teasdale between 10 through 17, I'm going to wait and see how he does in Laval before ranking him much higher as I wasn't overly impressed with his game but we'll see how he handles the AHL.

When you look at Harris, he's very much in the Mete mold, just a great skater/mobility, just had a very impressive season and doesn't turn 19 till this summer.

You can make a case for any of those top 3 being #1 but I think you nailed it. Romanov could easily be the best one and even Mete. Romanov and Mete had better D+1 years than Brook but Brook just catapaulted himself up another tier with his production this year. I mean Mete did make the NHL (yes circumstances aside but still) so there's that. Will be interesting to see if Romanov can take a big leap like Mete and Brook did.

Can't discount Fleury though. 9 goals as a rookie D is nothing to sneeze at especially after missing a few games. Those 4 and Juulsen make up a very very solid young crop.

It's real hard to compare Romanov's season this year to Brook's last year. Brook said he was still feeling the effects from the wrist injury which is why he didn't shoot much. But he still was on pace for 51 pts so I think it's fair to say that if not injured and played every game I think he would have put up better numbers then Mete's .88 ppg with London as Brook put up a .71 ppg but with just 3 goals.

 

[montreal]

So it's time for another ranking, I put a lot of time, energy and some money into this as I always do but didn't get to see as much as I had hoped due to work and going with a tighter budget as I wanted to keep it under 100 bucks US so I didn't get to see any ECHL or Q games, I also didn't get to see Stapley this year or Dichow ever. Usually I see every prospect play at least twice in the new season before I do my rankings, some I only got to see once or just in the CHL-Russia series.

Also I moved Suzuki and Fleury to graduated, and I opted not to rank Ikonen and Teasdale since they are out for the season.

Top 25

1. Cole Caufield
2. Caden Primeau
3. Alexander Romanov
4. Jordan Harris
5. Mattias Norlinder
6. Ryan Poehling
7. Josh Brook
8. Noah Juulsen
9. Jesse Ylonen
10. Jayden Struble
11. Cam Hillis
12. Gianni Fairbrother
13. Rhett Pitlick
14. Jacob Olofsson
15. Lukas Vejdemo
16. Jake Evans
17. Otto Leskinen
18. Michael McNiven
19. Allen McShane
20. Cole Fonstad
21. Brett Stapley
22. Michael McCarron
23. Samuel Houde
24. Arsen Khisamutdinov
25. Federik Dichow


HM - Jacob LeGuerrier, Alexandre Alain, Hayden Verbeek

 

[Mrb1p]

So it's time for another ranking, I put a lot of time, energy and some money into this as I always do but didn't get to see as much as I had hoped due to work and going with a tighter budget as I wanted to keep it under 100 bucks US so I didn't get to see any ECHL or Q games, I also didn't get to see Stapley this year or Dichow ever. Usually I see every prospect play at least twice in the new season before I do my rankings, some I only got to see once or just in the CHL-Russia series.

Also I moved Suzuki and Fleury to graduated, and I opted not to rank Ikonen and Teasdale since they are out for the season.

Top 25

1. Cole Caufield
2. Caden Primeau
3. Alexander Romanov
4. Jordan Harris
5. Mattias Norlinder
6. Ryan Poehling
7. Josh Brook
8. Noah Juulsen
9. Jesse Ylonen
10. Jayden Struble
11. Cam Hillis
12. Gianni Fairbrother
13. Rhett Pitlick
14. Jacob Olofsson
15. Lukas Vejdemo
16. Jake Evans
17. Otto Leskinen
18. Michael McNiven
19. Allen McShane
20. Cole Fonstad
21. Brett Stapley
22. Michael McCarron
23. Samuel Houde
24. Arsen Khisamutdinov
25. Federik Dichow


HM - Jacob LeGuerrier, Alexandre Alain, Hayden Verbeek

Poehling and Brook seems awfully reactive as a ranking. Not sure I agree.

Primeau at two makes sense, but you gotta hate when a goalie is your second best prospect.

 

[montreal]

This is how i view the tiers,

Caufield

Primeau (closer then I thought it would be)

Romanov
Harris
Norlinder
Poehling
Brook

Juulsen
Ylonen
Struble

Hillis
Fairbrother
Pitlick

Olofsson
Vejdemo
Evans
Leskinen

McNiven
McShane
Fonstad
Stapley
McCarron
Houde
Khisamutdinov

Dichow
LeGuerrier
Alain
Verbeek
Harvey-Pinard
Gorniak
Pezzetta
Waked
Sklenicka

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Has Harris been that good? Surprised to see him so high. I'd flip he and Poehling at best.

 

[montreal]

Poehling and Brook seems awfully reactive as a ranking. Not sure I agree.

Primeau at two makes sense, but you gotta hate when a goalie is your second best prospect.

I've watched every Laval game and it's very troubling, Brook I had higher but he did not have a good weekend, several mistakes as it was looking like he was starting to find his way defensively but when they moved him up to the 2nd pairing he had a bit of a tough time.

Right now there's just not a lot there, he's doing almost nothing in the offensive zone which is his bread and butter and in his own end it's been really up and down. He's made some poor decisions at times that are concerning. We'll see how he progresses as the season goes on as the AHL is where I put the most stock in our prospects which is why I try to watch every game each year.

Poehling has been mostly invisible offensively as well and like Brook he's been up and down defensively which was a surprise since he's usually solid there.

For me we have two high end prospects in Caufield and Primeau, they are just dominating at their level. There's a lot to like from the next group of Romanov, Harris, Norlinder, Poehling, Brook. Lot's of upside or just really solid players that stand to be at worst decent NHLers imo.

What stands out is the depth, as we know since we had a ton of picks lately and some high ones. But I was so impressed with Pitlick, you have Hillis racking up the points plus I've really liked his game, Fairbrother is certainly solid, Olofsson all the sudden gets red hot to the point he's among the top U-20 scorers in the SHL, Vejdemo is looking like he might break out and Evans while in a slump was just so good last year.

That's freaking deep, now of course the problem is that we are going to need more then just Caufield and Primeau to be those high end guys. Brook, Norlinder, Ylonen, Struble, Romanov, Harris, Hillis, etc... we are going to need a few here to take a big step forward in their development, we know several of them have the skill but there are other questions in regards to each about them at this point.

 

[montreal]

Has Harris been that good? Surprised to see him so high. I'd flip he and Poehling at best.

yes, he's one of the very best defensemen in the NCAA from what i've seen.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

yes, he's one of the very best defensemen in the NCAA from what i've seen.

You think he has a shot at team USA at the WJC? Or at leaving school next year for a shot to make the big squad?

 

[Mrb1p]

I've watched every Laval game and it's very troubling, Brook I had higher but he did not have a good weekend, several mistakes as it was looking like he was starting to find his way defensively but when they moved him up to the 2nd pairing he had a bit of a tough time.

Right now there's just not a lot there, he's doing almost nothing in the offensive zone which is his bread and butter and in his own end it's been really up and down. He's made some poor decisions at times that are concerning. We'll see how he progresses as the season goes on as the AHL is where I put the most stock in our prospects which is why I try to watch every game each year.

Poehling has been mostly invisible offensively as well and like Brook he's been up and down defensively which was a surprise since he's usually solid there.

For me we have two high end prospects in Caufield and Primeau, they are just dominating at their level. There's a lot to like from the next group of Romanov, Harris, Norlinder, Poehling, Brook. Lot's of upside or just really solid players that stand to be at worst decent NHLers imo.

What stands out is the depth, as we know since we had a ton of picks lately and some high ones. But I was so impressed with Pitlick, you have Hillis racking up the points plus I've really liked his game, Fairbrother is certainly solid, Olofsson all the sudden gets red hot to the point he's among the top U-20 scorers in the SHL, Vejdemo is looking like he might break out and Evans while in a slump was just so good last year.

That's freaking deep, now of course the problem is that we are going to need more then just Caufield and Primeau to be those high end guys. Brook, Norlinder, Ylonen, Struble, Romanov, Harris, Hillis, etc... we are going to need a few here to take a big step forward in their development, we know several of them have the skill but there are other questions in regards to each about them at this point.

I dont disagree that its concerning. Its the last thing I expected from these two guys. Watching their skillsets and the way they play I just dont understand how they are not doing better.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

You would include Poehling/Brook over Harris/Norlinder in a trade? Poehling was MVP U20 and Brook deservingly made Canada U20 dominating the WHL offensively, don't think the other two could accomplish as much, adjusting to pro can be difficult.

 

[montreal]

You think he has a shot at team USA at the WJC? Or at leaving school next year for a shot to make the big squad?

yes I think Harris makes the WJC team. No he's not ready to play in the NHL next year, we got to stop rushing kids, he needs to physically mature so I would put him in Laval but another year in the NCAA wouldn't be bad either as he needs to get stronger and add mass.

I dont disagree that its concerning. Its the last thing I expected from these two guys. Watching their skillsets and the way they play I just dont understand how they are not doing better.

Brook has been very surprising, that said he's shown a few flashes by rushing the puck up ice and you could see that once he gets comfortable and trusts himself or perhaps the coaching staff learns to trust him as they play a very structured defensive game so they may not want him doing too much risky plays but the problem is that's his bread and butter. I know I haven't seen enough of those rushes, and I wonder why, is it him not feeling it yet or not trusting himself as he clearly has had issues in his own end, or is the coaching staff telling him to worry about his D first.

Fleury struggled in his own end for much of the year but the offense was still there, so what's troubling is I expected around 30 pts for Brook which is now looking unlikely.

Poehling I was never as high on as others as I like him a lot but more as a very solid 3rd liner on a contending team at least. I just never saw high end offensive skills. What's troubling me so far this year is that many nights he's almost completely invisible and what a f***ing terrible idea it was to call him up imo. I have never seen a 20 year old rookie get benched for a brutal turnover that led to a goal and then get called up within a week. Sometimes I really worry about the decisions being made at the very top.

You would include Poehling/Brook over Harris/Norlinder? Poehling was MVP U20 and Brook deservingly made Canada U20 dominating the WHL offensively, don't think the other two could accomplish as much, adjusting to pro can be difficult.

The WJC MVP doesn't mean that much to me. Puljujarvi won it at 17 and was much more impressive then Poehling who did have a great game vs Sweden but I think it hurt him more then helped him along with his NHL debut as fans were going nuts this off-season putting him in with others for NHL rookie of the year this season which just seemed so unlikely to me.

Brook had an outstanding year and I've been higher on him then just about anyone on this board since the first time I saw him but his play in the AHL is concerning to say the least. I had him higher but Harris has just been so good and Norlinder is racking up the goals while Romanov is just a safe bet. If Brook was showing more of his game in Laval then he would be #3 for me as that's where I had him but until he shows a good bit more in the AHL I just couldn't rank him that high.

I do think Brook will get there but his defensive play has left me with some big questions/concerns. If he can iron things out by the end of the season he will certainly move back up as you can see from my previous rankings how high i've been on him.

Harris I watch a lot of and just can't get over how good he is. His defensive game, smarts, positioning, skating/mobility, poise, all are elite imo.

Norlinder looks like a forward he clearly has a lot of offensive skills but I worry a bit about his IQ, have seen him make some poor decisions in passing the puck to players that are either covered or in a bad spot which then led to turnovers. If he can get this worked out which I don't know if he can, if it's smarts then perhaps not, if it's just a learning curve then perhaps he can. If he does though, wow could he be a good one.

 

[jfm133]

Poehling came to camp with a bad attitude since he was angry that he was sent down to Laval. He should look at the path a guy like Danault took to be where he is today. Danault got only 26 points in his first full year in the AHL. Also, Struble is so young that we don't really know what we have with him, a great athlete, yes, but hockeywise, what can he become? It is still very early to judge. On the other hand, Harris is really a very good prospect. Also, Romanov won best defensman at the WJC at 18, which is rare and a sign of real elite potential. Norlinder playing on a very strong team in second division in Sweden is harder to judge with precision.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

So it's time for another ranking, I put a lot of time, energy and some money into this as I always do but didn't get to see as much as I had hoped due to work and going with a tighter budget as I wanted to keep it under 100 bucks US so I didn't get to see any ECHL or Q games, I also didn't get to see Stapley this year or Dichow ever. Usually I see every prospect play at least twice in the new season before I do my rankings, some I only got to see once or just in the CHL-Russia series.

Also I moved Suzuki and Fleury to graduated, and I opted not to rank Ikonen and Teasdale since they are out for the season.

Top 25

1. Cole Caufield
2. Caden Primeau
3. Alexander Romanov
4. Jordan Harris
5. Mattias Norlinder
6. Ryan Poehling
7. Josh Brook
8. Noah Juulsen
9. Jesse Ylonen
10. Jayden Struble
11. Cam Hillis
12. Gianni Fairbrother
13. Rhett Pitlick
14. Jacob Olofsson
15. Lukas Vejdemo
16. Jake Evans
17. Otto Leskinen
18. Michael McNiven
19. Allen McShane
20. Cole Fonstad
21. Brett Stapley
22. Michael McCarron
23. Samuel Houde
24. Arsen Khisamutdinov
25. Federik Dichow


HM - Jacob LeGuerrier, Alexandre Alain, Hayden Verbeek

Thanks for the list! I'm still excited by Brook, Poehling, and Juulsen so it is great to see Harris and Norlinder on their level on this list. Hope Vejdemo continues to rise!

 

[montreal]

Norlinder playing on a very strong team in second division in Sweden is harder to judge with precision.

it is always tougher to judge kids that excel on top teams, look at Fucale who was on one of the best Q teams in some time. It can be misleading, with Norlinder he is doing the scoring on his own though so it's not like he's just racking up assists left and right because his team is scoring so much (I believe the lead the league in goals for per game). That said Modo is one of the top 3 teams it appears and in some of the games i've seen they have just crushed teams. But his skill level, the moves he pulls off, and the confidence to do them are impressive, I actually didn't want to put him that high but felt I had to move Brook and Poehling down until they show a good bit more.

 

[ahmedou]

My Top 20 (Update 1)

1) Cayden Primeau
2) Cole Caufield
3) Jesperi Kotkaniemi
4) Nick Suzuki
5) Cale Fleury
6) Alexander Romanov
7) Victor Mete
8) Ryan Poehling
9) Cameron Hillis
10) Jordan Harris
11) Jayden Struble
12) Noah Juulsen
13) Mattias Norlinder
14) Jesse Ylonen
13) Jacob Olofsson
14) Lukas Vejdemo
15) Brett Stapley
16) Rhett Pitlick
17) Gianni Fairbrother
18) Jake Evans
19) Cole Fonstad
20) Allan McShane

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Top 20 prospects
1. Caufield
2. Poehling
3. Primeau
4. Romanov
5. Brook
6. Juulsen
7. Harris
8. Ylonen
9. Norlinder
10. Struble
11. Ikonen
12. Hillis
13. Olofsson
14. Leskinen
15. Evans
16. Stapley
17. Fairbrother
18. Vejdemo
19. Pitlick
20. Harvey-Pinard

 

[Goldenhands]

So it's time for another ranking, I put a lot of time, energy and some money into this as I always do but didn't get to see as much as I had hoped due to work and going with a tighter budget as I wanted to keep it under 100 bucks US so I didn't get to see any ECHL or Q games, I also didn't get to see Stapley this year or Dichow ever. Usually I see every prospect play at least twice in the new season before I do my rankings, some I only got to see once or just in the CHL-Russia series.

Also I moved Suzuki and Fleury to graduated, and I opted not to rank Ikonen and Teasdale since they are out for the season.

Top 25

1. Cole Caufield
2. Caden Primeau
3. Alexander Romanov
4. Jordan Harris
5. Mattias Norlinder
6. Ryan Poehling
7. Josh Brook
8. Noah Juulsen
9. Jesse Ylonen
10. Jayden Struble
11. Cam Hillis
12. Gianni Fairbrother
13. Rhett Pitlick
14. Jacob Olofsson
15. Lukas Vejdemo
16. Jake Evans
17. Otto Leskinen
18. Michael McNiven
19. Allen McShane
20. Cole Fonstad
21. Brett Stapley
22. Michael McCarron
23. Samuel Houde
24. Arsen Khisamutdinov
25. Federik Dichow


HM - Jacob LeGuerrier, Alexandre Alain, Hayden Verbeek

Nice to see your new list, happy to see Norlinder ranked so high, I was hesitating to rank him over guys like Brook Romanov, but he might be very well our best D prospect already, incredibly talended...

Here is my revisited list:

1-Primeau
2-Caufield
3-Suzuki
4-Poehling
5-Norlinder-
6-Ylonen
7-Romanov
8-Olofsson
9-Brook
10-Harris
11-Strubble
12-Juulsen
13-Fairbrother
14-Hillis
15-Pitlick
16-Vejdemo
17-Stapley
18-McNivens
19-Dichow
20-Khisamutdinov
21-Houde
22-MaxCarron
23-Leguerrier
24-Ikonen
25-Harvey-Pinard

 

[montreal]

One things clear, with 8 of our top 12 being defensemen/goalies, we have a major need of some high end forwards. Granted we have Kotka and Suzuki but after that there is a major lack of high end offensive forwards. It's just about a must get in the draft.

 

[Plekatorz]

One things clear, with 8 of our top 12 being defensemen/goalies, we have a major need of some high end forwards. Granted we have Kotka and Suzuki but after that there is a major lack of high end offensive forwards. It's just about a must get in the draft.

I 100% agree with you. Except for Drysdale if available, we must draft talent on wing on next draft.

 

[montreal]

Young players can really progress from year to year. It's why what you see isn't necessarily what you get with a young player (cough, cough Poehling, Brook right now).

On the other hand, small sample sizes can be flashes in the pan. But I was glad to hear you say Harris is playing really well, and so the numbers could be indicative of the real deal.

one of the problems with young players is you can never really predict with much accuracy when they will peak. Guys like Collberg, Leblanc, etc.. that were so good at 16, 17, but by the time they were say 21 they had already peaked. The hope is that in the case of Brook, that he's just struggling with the speed and his decision making while needing to get his confidence going. With Poehling I never saw him as a high end guy but someone that plays such a solid game and right now we just aren't seeing anything close to that. It's troubling that both haven't shown much in the AHL but how they are doing by the end of the season will hopefully look better.

Harris I had a lot of questions about the offensive upside going into the season, so far those questions are being answered in a big way. It doesn't matter where someone ranks him but he's got to be one of our best prospects, the kid is just so good. If he were only bigger/stronger.

 

[BenchBrawl]

@montreal if Kotkaniemi and Suzuki were still prospects, where would you rank them in your list? #1 and #2?

 

[jaffy27]

Summer 2007
(No particular order)
1.Carey Price
2.PK Subban
3.Ryan McDonagh
4.Max Pacioretty
5.Mikhail Grabovki
6.Andrei Kostitsyn
7.Jaroslav Halak
8.Sergei Kostitsyn
9.Yannick Weber
10.Alexei Emelin

You’re welcome.

Andrej was still a prospect?

that’s pretty nice!!

 

[montreal]

@montreal if Kotkaniemi and Suzuki were still prospects, where would you rank them in your list? #1 and #2?

would be tougher since I haven't gotten to see much of Suzuki/Kotka this year. But perhaps something like,

1. Caufield
2. Primeau
3. Suzuki
4. Kotka

I would still have Caufield at the top because at 18 he's doing something i've never seen from any Hab prospect. Then it gets real tough, I would lean towards Primeau at 2 because not only is he doing great but he's one of the very best goalie prospects in the world. With Kotka's struggles I would put him 4th for now until he shows more.