Prospect Info: Owen Beck

[montreal]

Beck has played 13 nhl games over 2 seasons. That's not very many, and if that creates confidence issues, I am concerned about the mental strength of the prospect.

It's easy to lose confidence for many and can be hard to get back, but it's not the end of the line, just causes bumps in the road. Look at how many times over the last 10 years the Habs have called up a 20 year old from the AHL who was playing very well and then struggled in the NHL, got benched or healthy scratched, sent back a week or so later and then all the sudden they suck or struggle in the AHL. Is that just coincidence that it has happened time and time again to most of the Hab prospects in this situation? Or maybe fans don't understand the impact that confidence has on some or underrate how important it can be.

 

[Captain Mountain]

It's easy to lose confidence for many and can be hard to get back, but it's not the end of the line, just causes bumps in the road. Look at how many times over the last 10 years the Habs have called up a 20 year old from the AHL who was playing very well and then struggled in the NHL, got benched or healthy scratched, sent back a week or so later and then all the sudden they suck or struggle in the AHL. Is that just coincidence that it has happened time and time again to most of the Hab prospects in this situation? Or maybe fans don't understand the impact that confidence has on some or underrate how important it can be.

I don't necessarily disagree, but Evans is also the only player on the roster that's played more than 30 AHL games that has fully graduated from the AHL to the NHL over that period, so we're not talking about a massive sample. Poehling spent a lot of time in Laval, got yanked around and has been an NHLer for 3 years, but near replacement level.

So has the issue been yanking players around, or that they just haven't drafted well and/or developed players in the AHL well compared to other teams? It feels like we'd need to look at every AHL and NHL team over that period to draw a conclusion.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I don't necessarily disagree, but Evans is also the only player on the roster that's played more than 30 AHL games that has fully graduated from the AHL to the NHL over that period, so we're not talking about a massive sample. Poehling spent a lot of time in Laval, got yanked around and has been an NHLer for 3 years, but near replacement level.

So has the issue been yanking players around, or that they just haven't drafted well and/or developed players in the AHL well compared to other teams? It feels like we'd need to look at every AHL and NHL team over that period to draw a conclusion.

Well, we have to start with the period of time since Hughes has been in charge. We know Bergevin ran a super thin development team, budget and neglected it grossly. So it's been confirmed a thousand times over that we were bottom in player development for 10 years.

 

[Tyson]

Beck has played 13 nhl games over 2 seasons. That's not very many, and if that creates confidence issues, I am concerned about the mental strength of the prospect.

Maybe he realizes he doesn't have the ability to make the next jump. He came back a different player. I am not saying that is the case, just stating that if you call up a player and they struggle...maybe that affects their confidence.

 

[Andrei79]

I don't necessarily disagree, but Evans is also the only player on the roster that's played more than 30 AHL games that has fully graduated from the AHL to the NHL over that period, so we're not talking about a massive sample. Poehling spent a lot of time in Laval, got yanked around and has been an NHLer for 3 years, but near replacement level.

So has the issue been yanking players around, or that they just haven't drafted well and/or developed players in the AHL well compared to other teams? It feels like we'd need to look at every AHL and NHL team over that period to draw a conclusion.

At the same time, we used to have a number of players who were kept in the AHL to develop: Ryder, Komisarek, Pacioretty, Subban, Halak, Higgins, Plekanec, Kostitsyn (both), Lapierre,

Heck you can add Beauchemin, Ribeiro, Hainsey,.
Grabovski, Y. Weber, White, Desharnais, Bouillon.

I think a lot of these guys would have fizzled out without the AHL time or if they were bounced around. Pacioretty even commented on it

 

[Bobby Holik agent]

It's pretty spectacular how lost his game become while playing winger.
He look like a 5th liner & it need to be solve.
I don't want to see that in the NHL ever again
this isn't the training ground for this.
Learn this stuff in the AHL.

Seriously management have a part of the blame to take for their learn to play winger at the big league concept.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Beck has played 13 nhl games over 2 seasons. That's not very many, and if that creates confidence issues, I am concerned about the mental strength of the prospect.

Well said!

Beck is fine imo and the only issue is fans who don't understand development and who likely set the bar too high for him. he will likely be a strong bottom six player and that is good value for a 33rd OA selection.

 

[montreal]

I don't necessarily disagree, but Evans is also the only player on the roster that's played more than 30 AHL games that has fully graduated from the AHL to the NHL over that period, so we're not talking about a massive sample. Poehling spent a lot of time in Laval, got yanked around and has been an NHLer for 3 years, but near replacement level.

So has the issue been yanking players around, or that they just haven't drafted well and/or developed players in the AHL well compared to other teams? It feels like we'd need to look at every AHL and NHL team over that period to draw a conclusion.

who can really say unless you believe it's just a coincidence that this has been happening to the Habs for so many years now like clock work. There could be a number of factors involved, but either way something has been wrong for some time.

 

[DAChampion]

Look at how many times over the last 10 years the Habs have called up a 20 year old from the AHL who was playing very well and then struggled in the NHL, got benched or healthy scratched, sent back a week or so later and then all the sudden they suck or struggle in the AHL. Is that just coincidence that it has happened time and time again to most of the Hab prospects in this situation?

Sounds like a good statistics project.

When should the clock start?

 

[montreal]

Sounds like a good statistics project.

When should the clock start?

when they show you they are ready by dominating consistently. Under MB it was like clock work, once a prospect started to string together some good games in the AHL he was called up, put on the bottom line/pairings, benched, press box, back to the AHL and then most of the time they were shit once they went back.

The salary cap era has changed things, before that it was common to see 20 year olds spend 2 full years in the AHL unless they were high end (not talking the elites like Crosby, McDavid's) so it makes you wonder, did suddenly development improve so much that prospects no longer needed that time? Or are teams forced to rush kids due to the salary cap, especially in the past few years due to how tight it's been due to covid. I know the Habs have talked about this saying they were forced to rush some due to injuries so it's a different landscape that you have to find a way to figure out.