Prospect Info: The 2024-2025 Prospects Thread

[VanJack]

The black Hawks also have a very good selection of younger players much like San Jose, no idea why you are hinting otherwise.


Probably not but who knows.


Given the Canucks pipeline and probability that both San Jose and Chicago will be much better teams when they come up for UFA this seems like a pipe dream right?

The Hawks are reminding me of the Western Conference's version of the Buffalo Sabres. Everybody raves about their high draft picks; and the players in their pipeline.

Then they arrive in the NHL, and wither on the vine. I know one thing for sure. The Hawks will likely still be losing in two or three seasons. And if Bedard is frustrated now, what will it be like for him then?

 

[Diversification]

The Hawks are reminding me of the Western Conference's version of the Buffalo Sabres. Everybody raves about their high draft picks; and the players in their pipeline.

Then they arrive in the NHL, and wither on the vine. I know one thing for sure. The Hawks will likely still be losing in two or three seasons. And if Bedard is frustrated now, what will it be like for him then?

By then, he'll have already hoisted a Cup playing for his hometown team, having forced a trade to Vancouver in exchange for Noah Juulsen and a conditional 5th round pick. Unfortunately, we had to part with the 5th round pick because the conditions were met: Bedard winning the Conn Smythe. Alas, you have to give to get.

 

[Hughes Clues]

The Hawks are reminding me of the Western Conference's version of the Buffalo Sabres. Everybody raves about their high draft picks; and the players in their pipeline.

Then they arrive in the NHL, and wither on the vine. I know one thing for sure. The Hawks will likely still be losing in two or three seasons. And if Bedard is frustrated now, what will it be like for him then?

It's very difficult to round out a roster with assets that can win you hockey games with. Toronto and Edmonton still struggling with it. Their stars are just too good to finish in the bottom 1/4 of the league.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

It's very difficult to round out a roster with assets that can win you hockey games with. Toronto and Edmonton still struggling with it. Their stars are just too good to finish in the bottom 1/4 of the league.

uhhh....so.....
what?

 

[wetcoast]

The Hawks are reminding me of the Western Conference's version of the Buffalo Sabres. Everybody raves about their high draft picks; and the players in their pipeline.

Perhaps it's still early days here.

Then they arrive in the NHL, and wither on the vine. I know one thing for sure. The Hawks will likely still be losing in two or three seasons. And if Bedard is frustrated now, what will it be like for him then?

26-27 maybe but I'd be really surprised if they weren't a playoff team or close by 27-28 as they have a lot of good pieces there.

Also besides Reichel, I don't see any more withering of prospects in the Windy city than elsewhere.

 

[Hughes Clues]

uhhh....so.....
what?

This isn't a hard concept.

Buffalo and Chicago have the top end talent to compete now or in the near future. They lack the guts of the team like the the suters and the myers. Edmonton and Toronto are similar build but there stars are just too good to let them finish poorly. If they can figure out the guts of a their team they'll win a cup.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

This isn't a hard concept.

Buffalo and Chicago have the top end talent to compete now or in the near future. They lack the guts of the team like the the suters and the myers. Edmonton and Toronto are similar build but there stars are just too good to let them finish poorly. If they can figure out the guts of a their team they'll win a cup.

You're right. It's not a hard concept, it's total f***ing jibberish.
If only the Leafs or Oilers could finish with a top 10 pick this year (if it weren't for their stars carrying them) they could pick 1 player who's years away from being an impact player. What?
f***.. I must have misunderstood you somehow. NM

 

[Hughes Clues]

You're right. It's not a hard concept, it's total f***ing jibberish.
If only the Leafs or Oilers could finish with a top 10 pick this year (if it weren't for their stars carrying them) they could pick 1 player who's years away from being an impact player. What?
f***.. I must have misunderstood you somehow. NM

Dude what's your problem?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Dude what's your problem?

You're right, I was agitated about something else completely. Carry on, as you were, Go Canucks!

 

[arttk]

This isn't a hard concept.

Buffalo and Chicago have the top end talent to compete now or in the near future. They lack the guts of the team like the the suters and the myers. Edmonton and Toronto are similar build but there stars are just too good to let them finish poorly. If they can figure out the guts of a their team they'll win a cup.

ummm no

 

[arttk]

Perhaps it's still early days here.

26-27 maybe but I'd be really surprised if they weren't a playoff team or close by 27-28 as they have a lot of good pieces there.

Also besides Reichel, I don't see any more withering of prospects in the Windy city than elsewhere.

i thought Korchinski was not doing well in the A.

 

[VanJack]

This is a prospect site, so we all tend to focus on what teams have in the pipelines. And we automatically assume that the kids lighting it up in their various leagues, will instantly come in and move the needle.

But of course it rarely happens. Too often, the bottom-feeding teams rush their prospects, and ruin their development. So while the Hawks may have a lot of prospects and picks in their system, until they actually 'arrive' you just never know. I've seen NHL sites predicting the Hawks will be lucky to be playoff contenders by the 2030 season.

That was the problem in Buffalo. So many top-10 picks, including two three first overall picks since 2014. But these players were plugged into the lineup with virtually no time in the minors. And you see the results, year after year.

 

[ManVanFan]

The Hawks are reminding me of the Western Conference's version of the Buffalo Sabres. Everybody raves about their high draft picks; and the players in their pipeline.

Then they arrive in the NHL, and wither on the vine. I know one thing for sure. The Hawks will likely still be losing in two or three seasons. And if Bedard is frustrated now, what will it be like for him then?

I think you a very premature on this take.

 

[Tables of Stats]

I've added contract/rights expiry dates for all of our prospects.

 

[Diversification]

This isn't a hard concept.

Buffalo and Chicago have the top end talent to compete now or in the near future. They lack the guts of the team like the the suters and the myers. Edmonton and Toronto are similar build but there stars are just too good to let them finish poorly. If they can figure out the guts of a their team they'll win a cup.

This is a prospect site, so we all tend to focus on what teams have in the pipelines. And we automatically assume that the kids lighting it up in their various leagues, will instantly come in and move the needle.

But of course it rarely happens. Too often, the bottom-feeding teams rush their prospects, and ruin their development. So while the Hawks may have a lot of prospects and picks in their system, until they actually 'arrive' you just never know. I've seen NHL sites predicting the Hawks will be lucky to be playoff contenders by the 2030 season.

That was the problem in Buffalo. So many top-10 picks, including two three first overall picks since 2014. But these players were plugged into the lineup with virtually no time in the minors. And you see the results, year after year.

The thing about tear-down rebuilds is that you lose the guys that shoulder the load in the hopes of upgrades via prospects down the road will do so and hopefully at an elite level. But the trick is to identify guys that can carry the offensive load on a consistent basis and other guys to eat the hard defensive minutes. There's only so much that you can do with capspace and free agents to address this because guys like that rarely hit UFA status so you really have to nail it at the draft.

What's happened in Buffalo and what appears to be happening in Chicago is that they both failed to do so with the players they drafted. It's a very tough predicament to get out of when that happens.

 

[ManVanFan]

The thing about tear-down rebuilds is that you lose the guys that shoulder the load in the hopes of upgrades via prospects down the road will do so and hopefully at an elite level. But the trick is to identify guys that can carry the offensive load on a consistent basis and other guys to eat the hard defensive minutes. There's only so much that you can do with capspace and free agents to address this because guys like that rarely hit UFA status so you really have to nail it at the draft.

What's happened in Buffalo and what appears to be happening in Chicago is that they both failed to do so with the players they drafted. It's a very tough predicament to get out of when that happens.

What happened in Buffalo will be a case study for centuries that no one will ever figure out. What's happening in Chicago is you are asking Bedard to do it by his self.

Toronto tear down rebuild. Matthews, Marner, Nylander all came into the league at the same time. Nylander 1/2 year SHL and AHL, half year AHL/ NHL. Marner back to junior for another year. They also had Kadri, JVR, Reilly on the team. That's 6 top 10 picks.

Bedard you could not have sent back to junior but they were still in the middle of a tear down. The help is probably 2 years away. Bedard needs a center to play with and they will get it in this draft.

 

[Diversification]

What happened in Buffalo will be a case study for centuries that no one will ever figure out. What's happening in Chicago is you are asking Bedard to do it by his self.

Toronto tear down rebuild. Matthews, Marner, Nylander all came into the league at the same time. Nylander 1/2 year SHL and AHL, half year AHL/ NHL. Marner back to junior for another year. They also had Kadri, JVR, Reilly on the team. That's 6 top 10 picks.

Bedard you could not have sent back to junior but they were still in the middle of a tear down. The help is probably 2 years away. Bedard needs a center to play with and they will get it in this draft.

Since their rebuild started, who has Chicago drafted that looks like they can play matchup center minutes? How about dmen that can play 22+ minutes primarily deployed in the DZ and not get shredded? Sure, Bedard can't score them out of their issues but who else have they drafted that looks like a play-driving top 6 forward?

This is not a damning criticism of Buffalo or Chicago. It only serves to illustrate that it's TOUGH to draft guys that can drive the bus. Players like that usually apprentice under older players and grow into that role. And whats more, many of them never get to the point where they can be the ones that shoulder the load. Often, and this is the case even with top draft picks, is that they have NHL talent but only in a complementary role.

 

[ManVanFan]

Since their rebuild started, who has Chicago drafted that looks like they can play matchup center minutes? How about dmen that can play 22+ minutes primarily deployed in the DZ and not get shredded? Sure, Bedard can't score them out of their issues but who else have they drafted that looks like a play-driving top 6 forward?

This is not a damning criticism of Buffalo or Chicago. It only serves to illustrate that it's TOUGH to draft guys that can drive the bus. Players like that usually apprentice under older players and grow into that role. And whats more, many of them never get to the point where they can be the ones that shoulder the load. Often, and this is the case even with top draft picks, is that they have NHL talent but only in a complementary role.

Development takes time. The match up centers are probably Ryan Greene and Sacha Boisvert. The D will be Levshunov, Rinzel, Korchinski, Vlasic. I think they screwed up when they had Moore and Nazar as both smaller centers in the first round. They are all a couple years away and Bedard is there now. Chicago needs to be very smart about who they bring in and who they give up to bring those players in otherwise they will turn into Buffalo. Lol.

 

[arttk]

Since their rebuild started, who has Chicago drafted that looks like they can play matchup center minutes? How about dmen that can play 22+ minutes primarily deployed in the DZ and not get shredded? Sure, Bedard can't score them out of their issues but who else have they drafted that looks like a play-driving top 6 forward?

This is not a damning criticism of Buffalo or Chicago. It only serves to illustrate that it's TOUGH to draft guys that can drive the bus. Players like that usually apprentice under older players and grow into that role. And whats more, many of them never get to the point where they can be the ones that shoulder the load. Often, and this is the case even with top draft picks, is that they have NHL talent but only in a complementary role.

also seems like their drafting has been bad since like 2017, so not a lot of help from prior drafts and now they need a lot of hits in order to avoid a prolong rebuild. The last thing any team wants is to draft a star and then be at the basement for the duration of the RFA years.

 

[MS]

Since their rebuild started, who has Chicago drafted that looks like they can play matchup center minutes? How about dmen that can play 22+ minutes primarily deployed in the DZ and not get shredded? Sure, Bedard can't score them out of their issues but who else have they drafted that looks like a play-driving top 6 forward?

This is not a damning criticism of Buffalo or Chicago. It only serves to illustrate that it's TOUGH to draft guys that can drive the bus. Players like that usually apprentice under older players and grow into that role. And whats more, many of them never get to the point where they can be the ones that shoulder the load. Often, and this is the case even with top draft picks, is that they have NHL talent but only in a complementary role.

Agreed with this but Vlasic is one of the best U-23 high leverage defenders in the NHL so they do have one big hit there.

 

[Nick Lang]

What happened in Buffalo will be a case study for centuries that no one will ever figure out. What's happening in Chicago is you are asking Bedard to do it by his self.

Toronto tear down rebuild. Matthews, Marner, Nylander all came into the league at the same time. Nylander 1/2 year SHL and AHL, half year AHL/ NHL. Marner back to junior for another year. They also had Kadri, JVR, Reilly on the team. That's 6 top 10 picks.

Bedard you could not have sent back to junior but they were still in the middle of a tear down. The help is probably 2 years away. Bedard needs a center to play with and they will get it in this draft.

Since their rebuild started, who has Chicago drafted that looks like they can play matchup center minutes? How about dmen that can play 22+ minutes primarily deployed in the DZ and not get shredded? Sure, Bedard can't score them out of their issues but who else have they drafted that looks like a play-driving top 6 forward?

This is not a damning criticism of Buffalo or Chicago. It only serves to illustrate that it's TOUGH to draft guys that can drive the bus. Players like that usually apprentice under older players and grow into that role. And whats more, many of them never get to the point where they can be the ones that shoulder the load. Often, and this is the case even with top draft picks, is that they have NHL talent but only in a complementary role.

I think Chicago will be just fine. They are going to get another top draft pick this year and they have a lot of top picks slowly making their way. Once they get a little better they will have many UFA's willing to play there with Bedard and Co. Levshunov, Moore, Nazar, Korchinski, Rinzel, Boisvert, Del Mastro, Gajan, Commesso, and Lardis, is a pretty good pool of prospects. Add Vlasic, and they are a couple years and moves away from becoming something powerful.

 

[arttk]

I think Chicago will be just fine. They are going to get another top draft pick this year and they have a lot of top picks slowly making their way.

just like Buffalo right

 

[Nick Lang]

just like Buffalo right

No I would venture to guess the results and direction will be far different. People are getting ahead of themselves here imo. As someone mentioned Bedard should have played in a different league but he was too good and had to be in the NHL. Therefore people are jumping the gun on their poor performance. They're still at stage 1 here basically. As I said I think they'll be able to attract good players who want to play with a future superstar and an original 6 team. They'll likely get a top 3 pick this year and take a Misa, Hagens, or Frondell.

People like to panic but prospects need time to develop and they got a full stable. 2 years from now it should start taking pretty good shape. Add that to a maturing Bedard and it's probably a recipe for success despite some people hoping to all hopes that they fail.

 

[arttk]

No I would venture to guess the results and direction will be far different. People are getting ahead of themselves here imo. As someone mentioned Bedard should have played in a different league but he was too good and had to be in the NHL. Therefore people are jumping the gun on their poor performance. They're still at stage 1 here basically. As I said I think they'll be able to attract good players who want to play with a future superstar and an original 6 team. They'll likely get a top 3 pick this year and take a Misa, Hagens, or Frondell.

People like to panic but prospects need time to develop and they got a full stable. 2 years from now it should start taking pretty good shape. Add that to a maturing Bedard and it's probably a recipe for success despite some people hoping to all hopes that they fail.

i think it's more like their competency level so far is on par with Buffalo. I don't think Bedard is the issue, it's more like how they've handled themselves everywhere else.

There is more to a rebuild than just get a top3 pick every year. Just look at SJ, the vibes are completely different because they managed to get vets that are effective that wants to be there and they got rid of guys before they got toxic.

Chicago is like, pro scouting is iffy, they hung on to guys ( Seth Jones specifically) to the point where they became toxic, f***ed up on getting vets like Perry and Hall which added to the bad vibes. Their amateur scouting is pretty shit too, just look at how many hits they've had since 2017.

 

[sting101]

The biggest issue with the Sabres is they haven't transitioned well from a basement team to a team supporting the young nucleus to succeed into a playoff team.

They blew the Eichel thing from day 1. Stupid GM expressing his disappointment at not getting McDavid was embarrassing and then just followed that with incompetence year after year to the point no one wants to play there and the Logo becomes a representation of truck stop in a players career vs something worth getting fully stuck in.

Unfortunately the trade of Dylan Cozens will go down as yet another example of this although with smart moves and the stable of players they still have they could transition well. Problem is the same people who made that move are running things....so more likely they continue down the same path

The Hawks it's hard to say....It's still too early. Haven't liked the drafting much and i question some of the signings but it's a hard thing because they still need to get another elite player or 2 and the best way is to just be terrible.
Korchinski for example. Such a wildly talented skater and skilled but decision making scares the crap out of me and . See where it goes but in 2-3 yrs should be taking shape. If not then the Bedard conversation starts to become a thing. It's too soon