Bingo. I am a huge fan of Miller but this should be Pionk by a wide margin. He should have beat Howden and Hajek IMO.Pionk. He also has top-four upside and yet he's much closer to it. Pionk easily.
Add Virta.
I guess I'm just not as sold on the Pionk upside as some.
To me, he looks like a guy who is good enough to play there, but not necessarily on a better team.
When I start looking at guys like Miller, or Hajek, or even Lundkvist further down the line, they just seem to have more tools to work with.
In that sense, Pionk seems that quintessential kid who represents the first wave of prospects to come along in an era, and is one of the further along players, but who eventually gets passed by others.
Yeah, but he was voted #8 before any of us watched him play really well in Hartford and then do his thing in the NHL for 30+ games.Also should be noted that Pionk was rated #8 by us at the start of the year...that was before Kravtsov, Howden, Hajek, Lundkvist, and Miller all got added...so he is going in a very nice and well deserved spot at 8. The 2nd tier of prospects from 5-11 are all VERY good so it's not a knock on him at all to get in at 7 or 8
Yeah, but he was voted #8 before any of us watched him play really well in Hartford and then do his thing in the NHL for 30+ games.
It's funny because a lot of people towards the end of the year were claiming Pionk was criminally overrated. Now we're to the prospect poll and he gonna be behind half a dozen other guys who haven't sniffed NHL ice.
The advanced stats folks have really soured me towards Pionk.
Yeah, but he was voted #8 before any of us watched him play really well in Hartford and then do his thing in the NHL for 30+ games.
It's funny because a lot of people towards the end of the year were claiming Pionk was criminally overrated. Now we're to the prospect poll and he gonna be behind half a dozen other guys who haven't sniffed NHL ice.
And in four years there's a good chance that a bunch of the guys above him will have fizzled out while Pionk continues to be an NHL regular, so his age doesn't matter to me. It's not like he's 25. Shesterkin is 22 and no one dings him for that; he's evaluated on his merits and accomplishments. Not that they're the same caliber of player, but still. There's more to this than perceived upside.He's also four years older than most people above him on the list.
True, but if we are going by that criteria then Boo should be in the top 10 and we all know he doesn't belong anywhere near there.
Like I said, I dont think 8 is bad, not even close. We have an amazing pipeline of prospects right now. I think a lot posters are factoring in potential more than likelihood to reach the NHL/that potential.
And in four years there's a good chance that a bunch of the guys above him will have fizzled out while Pionk continues to be an NHL regular, so his age doesn't matter to me. It's not like he's 25. Shesterkin is 22 and no one dings him for that; he's evaluated on his merits and accomplishments. Not that they're the same caliber of player, but still. There's more to this than perceived upside.
Anyway, I'm done. Everyone is entitled to vote however they like. I just think some people are out to lunch here.![]()
I see what pionk did, but again, it's just 28 games. It's a very small sample size at the end of the season when the team was a complete cluster. I'm not ready to shoot him up the rankings as one of our top prospects over some 1st round talent players who have a higher upside than him.Why would Boo be in the top 10? I've consistently been his biggest fan but I wouldn't put him there. Nieves looks like maybe a guy who carves out a career as a 4C. Pionk looks like a guy who logs second pair minutes for the next decade. There's a huge chasm there. I'm not saying NHL experience is the only thing that matters, I just feel like people are overlooking what Pionk did in the NHL while fixating on "what could be" with shiny new guys.