Prospect Info: Prospect Tier Poll - "A List" Tier

[King'sPawn]

We just voted on the prospects we consider to be the Kings blue chippers. The list ends at No. 3. So the org looks like this:

Blue Chip
1. Quinton Byfield
2. Gabriel Vilardi
3. Alex Turcotte

The Rest
4. Tobias Bjornfot, D - 44.6%
5. Arthur Kaliyev, F - 76.6%
6. Samuel Fagemo, F - 54.8%
7. Mikey Anderson, D - 51.0%
8. Tyler Madden, F - 51.1%
9. Rasmus Kupari, F - 55.2%
10. Helge Grans, D - 43.9%
11. Akil Thomas, F - 45.6%
12. Kale Clague, D - 40.8%
13. Jaret Anderson-Dolan, F - 54.2%
14. Brock Faber, D - 46.8%
15. Kim Nousiainen, D - 30.4%
16. Cole Hults, D - 41.1%
17. Jordan Spence, D - 44.9%
18. Kasper Simontaival, F - 32.1%
19. Aidan Dudas, F - 35.3%
20. Lukas Parik, G - 37.9%
21. Martin Chromiak, F - 33.3%
22. Jacob Moverare, D - 34%
23. Sean Durzi, D - 34%
24. Jacob Ingham, G - 45.1%
25. Alex Laferriere, F - 54.9%
26. Aatu Jamsen, F - 22.9%
27. Matthew Villalta, G - 47.6%
28. Ben Meehan, D - 45.7%
29. Andre Lee, F - 30.4%
30. Austin Strand, D - 31.4%
31. Juho Markkanen, G - 32.4%
32. Mikey Eyssimont, F - 30.2%
33. Bulat Shafigullin, F - 33.3%
34. Johan Sodergran, F - 43.9%
35. Braden Doyle, D - 53.7%
36. David Hrenak, G - 55.6%
37. Daniel Brickley, D - 35.1%
38. Markus Phillips, D - 48.6%
39. Alexander Dergachyev, F - 74.4%
40. Bokondji Imama, F - 85.3%
41. Drake Rymsha, F - 100%

So with our list, how would you break it down? Who are the A-listers?

At what point in the list would you say would be the last player to fit in that tier?

Credit to Token for making this breakdown/suggestion:

BC - Star Player/Franchise Player
A - Top pair/Top 6/Starter 1A/B
B - Top 4/ Mid 6/Backup
C - Bottom pair/Bottom 6/Emergency Backup
D - AHL/ECHL lifer

Polls will be for three days to start, unless you all think it should be different. 3 days is enough time for people to make their cases, discuss, and vote.

Click to read more...

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'd personally stop it at Grans. I think every one of those guys has top-6/top-pairing upside just much less likely to reach it. That makes:

4. Tobias Bjornfot, D - 44.6%
5. Arthur Kaliyev, F - 76.6%
6. Samuel Fagemo, F - 54.8%
7. Mikey Anderson, D - 51.0%
8. Tyler Madden, F - 51.1%
9. Rasmus Kupari, F - 55.2%
10. Helge Grans, D - 43.9%

All likely strong NHL talent in my eyes. I think Bjornfot is a safe bet to be a really good player for a really long time, good complementary top pairing d-man, but not necessarily "the guy". Kaliyev is a bit higher on the boom/bust scale but the guy just cannot be stopped so far. Fagemo I'm starting to think I even personally am sleeping on a bit, that dude just keeps producing no matter what, I think he's a middle-sixer right this minute. Anderson has the tools, just needs to put together consistency and some strength, he has flashes of being a really insanely good Willie Mitchell style player. Madden I'm totally bullish on, he's gonna be a player, just too smart and the pedigree. I think his strength/power ultimately determines if he's up top but he's a creative play driver. Kupari I'm harder on than most, I don't think he quite cuts it frankly, but I can see the upside is there if he puts it all together. Grans, let's hope he's Brent Burns! Still so raw but wow, so much talent.

I think it's a pretty stark line between those guys and Thomas/Clague/JAD imho.

 

[kilowatt]

This is tough because my rankings don’t match the polls. I think our next tier is a combination of Bjornfot, Kaliyev, Fagemo, and Grans. As much as I like Anderson, I think his potential is a little lower than Bjornfot and Grans, who could both be top pairing players. Same with Madden and Kupari – I think they’re more in that next tier for me. Kaliyev and Fagemo have legitimate top six potential and a real path to making that a reality.

Turcotte - Kopitar - Kaliyev
Fagemo - Byfield - Vilardi

Bjornfot - Grans

For that reason, I went with Fagemo. If we’re talking about the next clear tier of players, it’s those three. All three could be considered top 50 prospects in the NHL. Not so much with Anderson, Madden, and Kupari.

 

[kingsboy11]

I stopped at Kaliyev here. Reason being because of the criteria that Kingspawn uses. Bjornfot and Kaliyev in my eyes are the only remaining prospects that I think for sure will be top pairing/top 6. After that gets a little muddy. I'm a huge fan of Fagemo and he's severely underrated across the league, but that being said I don't think his ceiling is very high. He's a guy who can play up and down the lineup, but he's an energy guy and not a line driver.

 

[bland]

Bjornfort - A-
Anderson, Fagemo, Kaliyev - B+
Madden, Thomas, Grans, Spence, Anderson-Dolan, Faber - B
Kupari, Clague - C+

Everyone else is a looooongshot.

 

[King'sPawn]

I stopped at Kaliyev here. Reason being because of the criteria that Kingspawn uses. Bjornfot and Kaliyev in my eyes are the only remaining prospects that I think for sure will be top pairing/top 6. After that gets a little muddy. I'm a huge fan of Fagemo and he's severely underrated across the league, but that being said I don't think his ceiling is very high. He's a guy who can play up and down the lineup, but he's an energy guy and not a line driver.

If it would make it easier or less confusing, I can remove the labels of top pairing/top 6, etc. It was a suggestion by Token, which I think is a good delimiter. But I also don't want anyone to feel like they are voting because they are meeting someone else's criteria.

I basically am trying to set a "value" tier. Where, for lack of a better description, the positions are interchangable between the highest ranked player in that tier and the lowest.

Not saying you have to change your vote. I just don't want you to vote for a prospect if you feel limited due to my poor word choice

 

[Token]

Indeed folks, the tiers are a suggestion.

Big part of the magic is having rich and varied input so feel free to use your own method or gut feeling, etc. makes it fun!

 

[Token]

I cast at Grans. Which means Mikey gets a free ride into the A as I have him lower on my list, just above Clague.

Mikey is silky smooth, just don’t see him on the top pair with Doughty.

 

[Statto]

Grans is my call, but I’d add Ingham if I could. He is technically very sound and has great size... I’m very high on him. For me he has 1B potential, whilst recognizing it’s very hard to judge goaltenders and I know I could be wrong but he got sent to the DEL for a reason.

 

[Token]

Grans is my call, but I’d add Ingham if I could. He is technically very sound and has great size... I’m very high on him. For me he has 1B potential, whilst recognizing it’s very hard to judge goaltenders and I know I could be wrong but he got sent to the DEL for a reason.

Good call! Yeah, the whole goalie aspect ... totally blanked there.

I’d even argue for Parik in addition to Ingham. Parik being the more athleticism Quick-type prospect.

It’s a pickle.

 

[Lt Dan]

Good call! Yeah, the whole goalie aspect ... totally blanked there.

I’d even argue for Parik in addition to Ingham. Parik being the more athleticism Quick-type prospect.

It’s a pickle.

Parik turned himself in to a pickle. Funniest shit I've seen in my life.

 

[KingsOfCali25]

This is a hard list to go over as I too don't have the prospects in this order. Just like the last list...I don't think the grading system works with how they are ranked just like "blue-chip". I see Blue Chip as anyone in the top3 tier. I'd keep the tiers as...

Franchise = None
Elite = Byfield & Vilardi
All-star = Turcotte, Kaliyev, Bjornfot
Star = Anderson, Kupari, Grans, Fagemo, Ingham, Spence
Role player = Madden, JAD, Clague, Faber, Hults, Nousiainen, Parik
Depth = the rest

These are the guys I'd be looking for to make the Kings and/or be used in a Richards/Carter lite trade for an established NHL star. If anyone makes it from the depth list than that is just an added bonus.

 

[BringTheReign]

I cast at Grans. Which means Mikey gets a free ride into the A as I have him lower on my list, just above Clague.

Mikey is silky smooth, just don’t see him on the top pair with Doughty.

Agreed. Love Mikey, but I think he belongs in the B tier whereas I definitely see at least Madden as an A-tier prospect.