News Article: Pronman has Rangers org ranked #1

[Anzi]

My hot take...I would have been stunned...just stunned if we weren't number 1.

I guess I like our kids more than most.

I expected us or the Canucks to be 1st. Us based off combination of quality and quantity or the Canucks with their pair of superstars already performing at a high level.

 

[Edge]

Like I said in a previous post, there are posters on this site, (yourself included), in whom I put a lot more faith than many of the "experts". I don't have the time nor the patience to sit and watch every single player available for every draft, so I appreciate those who can make the effort. So, much of my opinions are indeed second hand. But, i also know what I like to see in players, so when someone keys me into a player, I will try to get a deeper feel for what I'm watching. Then again, I don't expect people to use my opinions as the go-to for what to expect out of potential draft picks.

I think one of the other challenges is that it's incredibly difficult to be an expert on every team's prospects.

There was a reason why HockeysFuture had people focus on specific teams back in the day. Because inevitably, you can't stay on top of every prospect for every team. Particularly when you get beyond the top 10, or at least the more popular names.

It's hard for anyone who doesn't really follow the Rangers organization to get a good read on guys like Barron, or Pajuniemi, or Reunanen. Those are three guys who flew under the radar, and continue to do so, who all could have solid NHL careers.

Now times that by 31 teams.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

I think one of the other challenges is that it's incredibly difficult to be an expert on every team's prospects.

There was a reason why HockeysFuture had people focus on specific teams back in the day. Because inevitably, you can't stay on top of every prospect for every team. Particularly when you get beyond the top 10, or at least the more popular names.

It's hard for anyone who doesn't really follow the Rangers organization to get a good read on guys like Barron, or Pajuniemi, or Reunanen. Those are three guys who are flew, and continue to fly under the radar, who all could have solid NHL careers.

Now times that by 31 teams.

Or Richards.

 

[Tawnos]

Or Richards.

Yeah, I was surprised to see a blurb about Rueschhoff, but not Richards.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

How often does the site write about the Rangers? I’m curious if I should subscribe. I only care about Rangers info and not nhl wide info.

It's worth the subscription overall and their NHL coverage of the league at large is great.

It sucks for us that Carpinello is the Rangers beat writer for The Atheltic though, he sucks.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

His grades are worse.

I appreciate his hustle, but his talent evaluation skills are horrible.

Still waiting on Michael St. Croix to be a better player than Kreider and Miller.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

It's worth the subscription overall and their NHL coverage of the league at large is great.

It sucks for us that Carpinello is the Rangers beat writer for The Atheltic though, he sucks.

Im waiting for the day that Shayna takes over.

 

[broadwayblue]

Nice to see us still at #1 before we even step up to the virtual microphone to select Lafreniere next month. The only slight concern I have is that very few of our prospects are considered excellent skaters. I guess sheer talent can overcome dynamic skating and foot speed, but that kind of stood out for me when reading Pronman's analysis.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Nice to see us still at #1 before we even step up to the virtual microphone to select Lafreniere next month. The only slight concern I have is that very few of our prospects are considered excellent skaters. I guess sheer talent can overcome dynamic skating and foot speed, but that kind of stood out for me when reading Pronman's analysis.

Consider the source.

 

[Ghost of jas]

Consider the source.

Like I said, I always take Pronman with a grain of salt.

 

[Edge]

Or Richards.

So we joke about Richards, but let's steer this thread in a constructive direction.

Richards is a kid who is worthwhile FA signing. I compare him in many ways to Gavbriel Fontaine, or even a Parker Ford (2020 eligible).

He's never going to be a big time scorer, but maybe he can settle into a PK/4th line role withj a little time.

And those guys are useful. But I wouldn't alter any stategies or not take advantage of scenarios with better odds based on Richards' upside.

BTW - I met him a few times when he was a kid. I knew his dad decently well from his IHL days.

 

[Trxjw]

I rarely agree with Pronman's take but it takes a lot to put your opinions out there and have them live on forever. Most people can't go back through my post history and see all the things I got wrong but they can go through old Pronman articles and see the bad calls he had. He's had some good ones as well over the years but it's important to be mindful of stone throwing.

At least he's doing most of it on his own and forming his own opinions. I respect him for that. Too many bloggers and journalists are just regurgitating the discussion they see on message boards and calling it "insight" when it's really just thinly veiled plagiarism.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

Im waiting for the day that Shayna takes over.

Agreed or at least keep her writing the type of pieces she does now and pair her excellent analysis pieces with a new beat writer. Carp seems like he barely watches the games at all or maybe the current NHL has passed him by. Our postgame threads on here have many posters who clearly understand the game better.

Also seems like he has a very poor grasp on the salary cap, contract structures and things like that. Plus he seems to dislike anyone who even asks him a fair question and his pieces often read like he has the same amount of effort put into them as some posters here. I mean I know he's a beat guy and in the locker room but you'd never know it from his pieces, seems like he's writing them from his couch.

And that's not even mentioning his lack of sources.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Pronman's got some serious tunnel vision with what he values in prospects and he's worse off for it

 

[pld459666]

Almost no one here lamented when JT Miller left the Rangers and we saw him way more than Pronman saw him before the NHL.

I did. I thought moving him was a mistake when it happened and he's continued to demonstrate to show it was a mistake.

Maybe he matures here, who knows.

 

[broadwayblue]

Consider the source.

I have no way to prove/disprove his analysis...but it did seem like a theme. Do you see particular guys in our system who you think are strong skaters?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I have no way to prove/disprove his analysis...but it did seem like a theme. Do you see particular guys in our system who you think are strong skaters?

Kravtsov and Miller for sure. Nils has improved a bunch in that area since being drafted and Robertson is very mobile in all 4 directions. Jones has improved his skating a ton too since the beginning of his draft year, though I wouldn't categorize it as very strong. Aaltonen is a burner as well and probably our fastest prospect in a straight line.

The 50 skating grades given by Pronman to Kravtsov and Gauthier are LOL worthy.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Kravtsov and Miller for sure. Nils has improved a bunch in that area since being drafted and Robertson is very mobile in all 4 directions. Jones has improved his skating a ton too since the beginning of his draft year, though I wouldn't categorize it as very strong. Aaltonen is a burner as well and probably our fastest prospect in a straight line.

The 50 skating grades given by Pronman to Kravtsov and Gauthier are LOL worthy.

Yeah whenever I watched Krav his skating looked good. Not that he's a burner but he always looks smooth. Gauthier has that Kreider burst. I'm a little concerned that Kakko and Laf are very similar in that they are decent but not great skaters, have great hands and playmaking ability. Would like some more variety with our top prospects. Some more speedy snipers, but it seems most teams lack that. Most prospects seem to be the playmaking type, especially the high end centers.

 

[broadwayblue]

Kravtsov and Miller for sure. Nils has improved a bunch in that area since being drafted and Robertson is very mobile in all 4 directions. Jones has improved his skating a ton too since the beginning of his draft year, though I wouldn't categorize it as very strong. Aaltonen is a burner as well and probably our fastest prospect in a straight line.

The 50 skating grades given by Pronman to Kravtsov and Gauthier are LOL worthy.

Thanks. I knew Leevi was a burner, but he's also on the small side so I assumed his game was predicated on his speed.

 

[OrlandK]

While I appreciate the ranking, I don’t think Pronman knows his stuff.

Howden at 5?
Lindgren at 12?
Kjellberg has a chance at the NHL?

Some strange assessments...

I think what Howden needs to do is have a few temper tantrums, quit on the team, and skate much slower, all like Lias, then he might develop a following with the fan base.

Lindgren has gotten every ounce of success out of his limited skill set thru incredible tenacity and desire. Kudo's to Ryan for sure. These ratings are not about what has been accomplished to date, but projecting possible upsides for those 22 and under.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

So we joke about Richards, but let's steer this thread in a constructive direction.

Richards is a kid who is worthwhile FA signing. I compare him in many ways to Gavbriel Fontaine, or even a Parker Ford (2020 eligible).

He's never going to be a big time scorer, but maybe he can settle into a PK/4th line role withj a little time.

And those guys are useful. But I wouldn't alter any stategies or not take advantage of scenarios with better odds based on Richards' upside.

BTW - I met him a few times when he was a kid. I knew his dad decently well from his IHL days.

I know this isn't a guarantee for success, but when I spoke to him a few months ago, he really was different than the other prospects. He was so calm and seemed to just "get it". When he explained the story about his upbringing, being around star NHL players as a kid, and getting advice from them, I couldn't help but think "This kid has his priorities straigjht". It all depends on whether or not he can take that next step and if he has enough talent to stick in the NHL but I will be shocked if he fails to perform due to the pressure put on him. He led his team to 2 national championships and if it wasn't for COVID-19, he could have had a three-peat. He was a leader on that Duluth-team and when he talks about his team's elimination in his freshman year, it's interesting to observe how he handled that.

All in all, Richards may surprise some people. And just like Khodorenko, Richards also had offers from a bunch of teams. The support he gets from his family, with the familiarity with pro hockey and life in the NHL is what makes him such a wise kid.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Yeah whenever I watched Krav his skating looked good. Not that he's a burner but he always looks smooth. Gauthier has that Kreider burst. I'm a little concerned that Kakko and Laf are very similar in that they are decent but not great skaters, have great hands and playmaking ability. Would like some more variety with our top prospects. Some more speedy snipers, but it seems most teams lack that. Most prospects seem to be the playmaking type, especially the high end centers.

Kakko will be fine. He's never going to be Kreider but his short area quickness is already great. He'll get better going north south as his body matures.

Laf's skating has become underrated. This seems to happen to a lot of the top guys who are on the radar for a while (Crosby, Tavares) where it lags behind the rest of their game because the other tools are either excellent or elite so it gets tagged as a weakness.

If his skating was as strong as everything else, he'd be McDavid esque. He'll never be that fast but his game doesn't really rely on pure speed and he'll get faster.

 

[eco's bones]

I'm not here to knock anyone. But I think there are people out there who have done a very good job of marketing and positioning themselves as experts. And in a day in age where you can build a large following in a smaller amount of time than it takes to actually verify the accuracy of claims and content, it's very easy to land yourself a spot or time on camera without actually having the best material to share.

I make it a point not to regularly look at other people's content, mainly because it could bleed into my own interpretations and get me in a "group think" mode. But from what I have seen, when it comes to prospect evaluations, there's not a hell of a lot of difference out there between what you can find for free and what can have to pay for.

Pronman's project here is an opinion piece. There are other opinions and no one including Pronman is infallible. Personally I just know his rankings--I don't pay for the Atlantic's service like I don't pay for any other news media service for pretty much a couple reasons starting with 1. too cheap and 2. I don't want to get flurries of emails from other news services that want to get me to pay for theirs too. But again I know it's opinion and I know there are other opinions and really opinions don't skate up and down the wing and score goals or block shots or make saves.

 

[bobbop]

richards wasn't drafted so he probably doesn't know he exists lol

Interesting in that Vince had Richards ranked 10th on his prospect list after talking to Ranger people.

We'll see...

 

[Kovalev27]

Well really Lafreniere’s skating was his weakness until last season. He took MONSTER strides. I mean anyone here can go look at his highlights yesr over year and it’s clear it went from being average to a strength