Rank the young forwards

[gump116]

Rangers have quite a few forwards who are at relatively similar phases of development:

Jesper Fast
Marek Hrivek
Chris Kreider
Danny Kristo
Oscar Lindberg
JT Miller

None are established NHL players yet, but all have the potential to make an impact this year and project to be top 9 forwards. Curious how people rank them for this year and the future.

Click to read more...

 

[mti79]

Rangers have quite a few forwards who are at relatively similar phases of development:

Jesper Fast
Marek Hrivek
Chris Kreider
Danny Kristo
Oscar Lindberg
JT Miller

None are established NHL players yet, but all have the potential to make an impact this year and project to be top 9 forwards. Curious how people rank them for this year and the future.

Long term? I'm no expert but here's a guess

Kreider (still optimistic)
Lindberg (I think he ends up a 2C)
Fast (My favorite prospect, I think he's a top 6 winger)
Kristo (Don't know much about, but people seem high on his talent)
Miller (Kid has shown glimpses but I'm not sold yet)
Hrivek (Honestly, the one I know least about so he ends up here)

 

[Dagoon44]

Miller
Fast
Lindberg
Kreider
Kristo
IMO. Miller will be a beast

 

[PavelBure9]

Offensively:
Kreider
Fast
Miller
Lindberg
Kristo
Hrivik


Defensively:
Lindberg
.
.
.
Miller
Fast
Hrivik
.
.
Kreider
.
Kristo



Overall:
Miller
Lindberg
Kreider
Fast
Hrivik
Kristo

 

[Green Blob*]

1) Kreider
2) Fast
3) Kristo
4) Lindberg
5) Miller
6) Hrivik

Miller quickly getting overrated again after a preseason game. And Kristo, who some sites have down as our top prospect is being ranked behind Hrivik

 

[Rangers ftw]

5 years from now Miller will be the highest ranked player in that group imo. Think he will be a great allround player.

 

[PavelBure9]

1) Kreider
2) Fast
3) Kristo
4) Lindberg
5) Miller
6) Hrivik

Miller quickly getting overrated again after a preseason game. And Kristo, who some sites have down as our top prospect is being ranked behind Hrivik

Kristo could be good but defensively he looked awful, and I mean lost. What Miller was able to do in not just the preseason but in his games with the Rangers last year was he was able to be responsible defensively.

What I see on the ice, it looked like Kristo never played defense and his offense wasn't polished enough to play in the NHL. He needs seasoning, which there is nothing wrong with.

 

[HonestGabe]

Ready now?

Lindberg, Miller, Kreider, Fast, Kristo, Hrivik

2 will make the team, most likely 2 wingers unless AV plans on moving one of Richards or Brassard to wing and having Miller or Lindberg center the 3rd line

 

[Blue Blooded]

Future:

1) Miller (Top-6 C/W, think Dubi+, or as he's always been in my head: Roenick-)

2) Fast (Top-6 W, Hagelin-, but with a better shot)

3) Lindberg (Middle-6 C)

4) Kristo (Middle-6 W, John Mitchell+)

5) Hrivik (Pouliot-)

6) Kreider (Hopefully Erik Cole/Max Pacioretty, but I've given up such lofty goals. Best bet is Pyatt with a better shot at this point, if that)

Haven't been high on Kreider for a while, and his play over the past year has only made me question him more. All-world talent, but he has all the wrong red flags and they've become stronger, not weaker, as time has gone by. I'm not even sure he becomes a regular NHL player at this point. I'd love to wrong though.

 

[Blue Blooded]

Kristo could be good but defensively he looked awful, and I mean lost. What Miller was able to do in not just the preseason but in his games with the Rangers last year was he was able to be responsible defensively.

What I see on the ice, it looked like Kristo never played defense and his offense wasn't polished enough to play in the NHL. He needs seasoning, which there is nothing wrong with.

Miller was a giveaway machine with the Rangers last season. I like how he tried to be involved in the play, a big contrast to Kreider's bystander approach, but he was still a liability out there.

Hopefully he'll be better this year.

 

[Clown Fiesta]

Don't think Miller is being overrated, came back after injury with no real camp and looked very good. Think he's going to be a special player for us. Still very young, all of them have a decent chance at being NHL regulars though, which is pretty impressive in it's own right.

Miller/Kreider
Lindberg/Hrivik
Fast/Kristo

Actually think Miller and Lindberg will be the best ask around out of all of them. Hrivik also looks good but doesn't seem to have the same offensive instincts.

 

[Machinehead]

1)Fast - Similar to Hagelin

2)Miller - Mike Richards very lite (which is still nice)

3)Lindberg - Good 3C, EXCELLENT 4C

4)Hrivik - Inconsistent 3rd line scorer

5)Kristo - Mehhh

6)Kreider - Oh lawd jeezus its a firre!!

 

[Senorchris]

Future:

1) Miller (Top-6 C/W, think Dubi+, or as he's always been in my head: Roenick-)

2) Fast (Top-6 W, Hagelin-, but with a better shot)

3) Lindberg (Middle-6 C)

4) Kristo (Middle-6 W, John Mitchell+)

5) Hrivik (Pouliot-)

6) Kreider (Hopefully Erik Cole/Max Pacioretty, but I've given up such lofty goals. Best bet is Pyatt with a better shot at this point, if that)

Haven't been high on Kreider for a while, and his play over the past year has only made me question him more. All-world talent, but he has all the wrong red flags and they've become stronger, not weaker, as time has gone by. I'm not even sure he becomes a regular NHL player at this point. I'd love to wrong though.

I pretty much 100% agree with this. I'm hoping Kreider proves me wrong, but he's looked so, so confused on ice of late that short of complete positional awareness lobotomy, there's no way a coach is giving him a full-time NHL shift unless they're seriously banking on potential.

Miller - Roenick-lite is a great comparison. Gritty, right-place right-time, all around above average play. Drury with a pulse (more aggression + arrogance). Just needs a bit of Callahan's defensive zone awareness/cool head (he has a bit of a tendency to chase the play) and he'll be well on his way to replacing Richards as 3C next year.

Fast - better shot than Hagelin, but better vision/passing as well. Not quite the skater (lateral/agility as well as top-end speed) and nowhere near the forecheck ability Hagelin has, but he made a couple of passes in pre-season that maybe ~3 Rangers (Zucc, Richards pre-2013, Stepan) would have even attempted. Thoroughly impressed.

 

[Fitzy]

Lindberg
Miller
Fast
Kristo
Kreider
Hrivik

I've talked to people here at length about why don't like Kreider the hockey player. And why I like Miller so much. At the end of the day, I think guys 1-3 become NHl regulars. Guys 4-6 don't. If Hrivik were to stay and play a Radek Dvorak like bottom 6 role he could, but most players opt for a good European role and contract over an NHL bottom 6 role.

 

[Crease]

I've been incredibly underwhelmed with Kreider thus far. Yes he's young. Yes its way too early to write him off. He just looks so tepid out there. Let's go.

 

[Jabroni]

I've been incredibly underwhelmed with Kreider thus far. Yes he's young. Yes its way too early to write him off. He just looks so tepid out there. Let's go.

Definitely agree with being underwhelmed. He definitely shouldn't be a puck a carrier like others have mentioned. He doesn't look natural when carrying the puck, He just gets knocked off really easy.

 

[Bardof425*]

this is a great question.

Short term:

Miller
Hrivik
Kreider
Fast
Lindberg
Kristo

Long term

Kreider
Fast
Miller
Lindberg
Kristo
Hrivik

I think Kreider has the most upside and once he finds his niche he will score alot of goals. I think the same thing for Fast. Miller and Lindberg will be 35 - 45 point defensively responsible players and Miller is higher than Lindberg because of his physicality. Kristo and Hrivik are a toss up. Both could be very good NHL players but maybe they won't.

 

[Bardof425*]

I've been incredibly underwhelmed with Kreider thus far. Yes he's young. Yes its way too early to write him off. He just looks so tepid out there. Let's go.

I thought CK did several very good things in the last two periods of last night's game both on the PP and at ES. he used his speed, protected the puck and made some subtle little passes that kept puck possession. He and Miller seem to work well together. He also gets caught with one hand on the stick too often. Must break that habit.

 

[Clown Fiesta]

Giving Kreider a little more time before I drop him down the list, first full training camp and first real season. We'll see what happens, AV will get more out of him than Torts did. He'll find a place that he fits and use him there, not just demote him and ask him to earn it.

This kid needs to be given an opportunity to find success, he won't be effective on the fourth line. Which flies in the face of what I generally think, last year I was very much in the "he has to earn it" camp. Sometimes you make an exception for a young player, he shouldn't be spoon fed first line minutes, but on a competent 3rd line he might start to improve.

 

[Boruto]

Fasth

Kreider

Kristo

Miller

Lindberg

Hrivik

hard to rate htem ordinally though. Differences are minute and for so many different and varying reasons.

*completely personally biased.
*evaluation based on probability of success and potential can be provided on request

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

If you look at confidence and the ability to carry the puck and make plays (which will be set at a premium in AVs system going forward for the next few years) Kreider is very low on that list. I don't want to ride him off either but he's got to show more, a lot more, to vault himself back to even close to where he was back when he broke into the NHL.

Guys that provide this are Miller (my favorite), Fast, Kristo and Lindberg (he's more cerebral than the others) Hrivik is intriguing to me in a different kind of way, I like his fire out there.

Out of all of them I think Miller has the best combination, and it's not a reaction from last night, I felt that way last season when I watched him closely.

 

[doncherrysgrill]

Miller - Two-way forward who I think will end up playing LW eventually. Very good in both ends, recovering from injury but has great hockey IQ
Kreider - All the tools, but not the IQ. He dominated every level of competition he ever went up against until turning pro, and struggled to adjust to Torts. He'll be good, don't worry.
Kristo - In the offensive end of the ice, he's Callahan with better hands. Defensively he needs a lot of work.
Lindberg - A little worried about his playmaking at the NHL level, and he hasn't been great at faceoffs (from what I've seen) but I think his floor is as a 4C defensive center.
Fast - Playing well in preseason but I have some concerns about his abilities as an overall player. Could catch on as a 3RW or might not.
Hrivik - I've said a lot that I think QMJHL is the worst junior league in NA for developing NHL players. Hrivik tore it up there but I'm concerned about his defense and his ability to be the same guy who was putting up 70+ points in the Q

 

[Boruto]

You know, if this survey was taken before the game in Edmonton, Miller wouldn't be on top of lists. The human cognition and psyche are so fallible.

 

[RangerBoy]

You know, if this survey was taken before the game in Edmonton, Miller wouldn't be on top of lists. The human cognition and psyche are so fallible.

Miller was an afterthought. Now Miller is winning the Calder. I really like JT Miller. I kept bringing him up if he could get healthy,he could make a push for a roster spot and nobody would comment on it.

 

[jacko23]

this is one of those threads you want to bookmark and come back to in a couple years. HOPEFULLY not shaking your head with how completely "off" your predictions were