Prospect Info: U18 WJC

[Frk It]

I thought Guenther was a little on the quiet side this tournament. He obviously has a great set of tools, but I thought he would have a more consistent impact on the game and be around the puck a bit more. He kind of got lost in the shuffle a bit (and not just last night). I think I watched four Canada games and I am not sure he was the best player on the ice in any one game (though he may have had a hatty in another).

Strange week for him, but shouldn't impact his draft stock too much

These were my thoughts when watching Canada as well.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

After this tournament back to teens

No

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

This is a comment on timelines. By the time Hughes comes into his own at the NHL level, you are talking probably 4-5 years before he steps into his prime. In 5 years, Hronek will be entering the season turning 29. His contract value will have matured and reached a point of decline. As in, he will be paid more than the value he will provide in the coming years, and as a result, there's a good chance he is not here. Or will become expendable if Hughes reaches his potential and requires his own big pay day.

Moreover, is there any reason to reasonably expect that Hronek will be under contract with the Wings at age 29?

Just because your team drafts a player doesn't mean that he won't want to explore free agency when that right matures.

 

[BinCookin]

This is a comment on timelines. By the time Hughes comes into his own at the NHL level, you are talking probably 4-5 years before he steps into his prime. In 5 years, Hronek will be entering the season turning 29. His contract value will have matured and reached a point of decline. As in, he will be paid more than the value he will provide in the coming years, and as a result, there's a good chance he is not here. Or will become expendable if Hughes reaches his potential and requires his own big pay day.

I mean if we are discussing 23 being too old for our future team... what the heck is your plan...

in order to build an entire team currently aged 21-14 years old. We should trade EVERY player age 22+ for draft picks or <20 year old prospects.
Then we should trade for Cap dumps + picks from every team we can to ice literally the worst roster anyone has ever seen.

this will give us likely around 15 picks a year for 3-4 years.

Then you Pray and Hope like heck that we win the lottery. The entire franchise revolves around winning the lottery.
Or hitting drafting homeruns.

I cannot disagree more with this general point of view.
Trading away late 20's players or unmotivated younger players is one thing... but trading away early 20's players?
You have gone too far.

 

[newfy]

Got to watch the gold medal game last night...based on that one game:
Bedard looks like a whole other level of prospect than Wright.
Wasn't super impressed with Brandt Clarke. Nolan Allen made a lot of good plays early in the game. Could be a good guy to target a bit later

Bedard likely is a better prospect than Wright but hes also flashier and will stand out more in a short tourney like this. Wright plays a 200 foot all around game and is going to be really, really good. One thing I wouldnt forget is this tourney is the first hockey Wright has played all year vs 15 WHL games plus practice for Bedard

Joe Thornton in 05-06. That was monumental.

Trades that were close that I can think of: Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Seguin to the stars. Karlsson to the Sharks. Subban for Weber. Hall for Larson. Johansen for Jones.

Yeah Thronton was the only Hart winner ever traded so that one could make sense. I dont remember most of those guys having 5 or more years with a contract of 10 shmill a year though either. Plenty of Stars have been traded but none that young and locked up affordably the way Eichel is.

Yet they still are worse than Detroit...a lot worse this year.

They also got smoked by covid worse than anyone not named Vancouver and in a shortened season you dont really have the time to bounce back from that. Eichel is also shut down for the year.

 

[Hen Kolland]

I mean if we are discussing 23 being too old for our future team... what the heck is your plan...

in order to build an entire team currently aged 21-14 years old. We should trade EVERY player age 22+ for draft picks or <20 year old prospects.
Then we should trade for Cap dumps + picks from every team we can to ice literally the worst roster anyone has ever seen.

this will give us likely around 15 picks a year for 3-4 years.

Then you Pray and Hope like heck that we win the lottery. The entire franchise revolves around winning the lottery.
Or hitting drafting homeruns.

I cannot disagree more with this general point of view.
Trading away late 20's players or unmotivated younger players is one thing... but trading away early 20's players?
You have gone too far.

Nobody is saying trade Hronek today. It was a comment on what happens in 5+ years.

Rzombo made a comment that Hughes and the other defensemen are probably 2-3 years away from even making the NHL. Meaning their best years are probably 5+ years away. It doesn't matter that Hughes is left handed and Hronek is right handed, if Seider and Hughes both hit ceilings that are greater than Hronek, they will require more money, more TOI, a bigger role, etc. And in that 5+ years, Hronek doesn't get to just...not get older. He will be 24 early next year. Meaning 5+ years puts him at 29+ years old. He will have cashed in on at least one more contract, more likely two. He will have reached his peak value, and you will be paying him more for what he was and less for what he is. If you are trying to build a long term contender, Hronek will have a big role in the next 5 years, but when the kids we draft this year are hitting their stride, Hronek will enter the later stages of his career. So there is a real chance that he will have either left on his accord, he will have been allowed to leave through attrition (other players take his place), or he could be leveraged as a trade chip. And yes, there is a chance that he could hang around with the Wings, but he starts to become inconsequential IF the prospects pan out.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

I mean if we are discussing 23 being too old for our future team... what the heck is your plan...

in order to build an entire team currently aged 21-14 years old. We should trade EVERY player age 22+ for draft picks or <20 year old prospects.
Then we should trade for Cap dumps + picks from every team we can to ice literally the worst roster anyone has ever seen.

this will give us likely around 15 picks a year for 3-4 years.

Then you Pray and Hope like heck that we win the lottery. The entire franchise revolves around winning the lottery.
Or hitting drafting homeruns.

I cannot disagree more with this general point of view.
Trading away late 20's players or unmotivated younger players is one thing... but trading away early 20's players?
You have gone too far.

Ok, let's back this up because something was lost in translation. The original comments was I don't think we should draft Clarke because I think we are set on the right side. My response was: (a) no I don't think we are that set on the right hand side currently, and (b) even if we are set today, it does not mean we will be "set on the right side" when our 2021 draft pick becomes a material NHL contributor three or four years from now. I listed a number of 2021 draft eligible defensemen for whom this applies.

I did not advocate for moving Hronek at all. I will, however, point out that NHL players are represented by a union which has negotiated a collective bargaining agreement on their behalf. One of the rights set forth in that CBA is the right to sign with another team upon reaching free agency. We have no way of guaranteeing that Hronek will stick around after hitting unrestricted free agency.

Ultimately, Hronek specifically should not prevent us from picking Clarke if we think he is the best player available.

 

[RedWingzz]

I mean if we are discussing 23 being too old for our future team... what the heck is your plan...

in order to build an entire team currently aged 21-14 years old. We should trade EVERY player age 22+ for draft picks or <20 year old prospects.
Then we should trade for Cap dumps + picks from every team we can to ice literally the worst roster anyone has ever seen.

this will give us likely around 15 picks a year for 3-4 years.

Then you Pray and Hope like heck that we win the lottery. The entire franchise revolves around winning the lottery.
Or hitting drafting homeruns.

I cannot disagree more with this general point of view.
Trading away late 20's players or unmotivated younger players is one thing... but trading away early 20's players?
You have gone too far.

Yeah, these are pretty much my thoughts exactly when I hear people say that Vrana doesn't have a future with the Wings. He's only 25, when we're good, he's 28 and in his prime.

 

[ChadS]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of this tournament due to the time difference but would be very interested if anyone has thoughts on how any of these guys looked:

Liam Dower Nilsson
William Strömgren
Dmitri Buchelnikov
Sami Päivärinta
Oliver Kapanen
Juho Järvelä

 

[Go Wings]

Bedard likely is a better prospect than Wright but hes also flashier and will stand out more in a short tourney like this. Wright plays a 200 foot all around game and is going to be really, really good. One thing I wouldnt forget is this tourney is the first hockey Wright has played all year vs 15 WHL games plus practice for Bedard



Yeah Thronton was the only Hart winner ever traded so that one could make sense. I dont remember most of those guys having 5 or more years with a contract of 10 shmill a year though either. Plenty of Stars have been traded but none that young and locked up affordably the way Eichel is.



They also got smoked by covid worse than anyone not named Vancouver and in a shortened season you dont really have the time to bounce back from that. Eichel is also shut down for the year.

Detroit top winger played 7 games, for half the year Greiss was shit and the defense was crap. Detroit has had a lot of other injuries too and we are coached by Blashill and we still were better then them by a decent margin playing in the tough division.

 

[Hen Kolland]

Bedard likely is a better prospect than Wright but hes also flashier and will stand out more in a short tourney like this. Wright plays a 200 foot all around game and is going to be really, really good. One thing I wouldnt forget is this tourney is the first hockey Wright has played all year vs 15 WHL games plus practice for Bedard

I think it was Tony Ferrari on Twitter who said do you want Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid? Speaking on stylistic comparisons, not ability.

I think it’s a fair way to look at it. And I would like to point out that Wright was team captain of the gold medal winning Canadian team as an underager and logged nearly 3 points per game in the only organized hockey he’s participated in in over a full calendar year. That’s a long and wordy way of saying “holy shit he’s good”.

I think you win with both of them, but Wright might carry more intangibles while Bedard carries more excitement and entertainment.

Gun to my head, I’m taking Wright over any draft eligible player since Matthews, including 2023. That is obviously subject to change in the coming year.

 

[lightthelamp13]

I thought there was a big difference between watching Clarke at Barrie vs the U18s.

I actually love that he didn't try to do too much offensively at the U18s. There is nothing I love more than a skilled dman who is smart enough to realize that he doesn't have to be the guy offensively when playing with the type of forwards that Canada had.

At the end of the day, a dmans job is to play defence first. Get the puck back and move it to your forwards with speed. He transitioned the puck so well all tournament.

 

[SantosHalper]

I didn't get a chance to watch much of this tournament due to the time difference but would be very interested if anyone has thoughts on how any of these guys looked:

Sami Päivärinta
Oliver Kapanen
Juho Järvelä

Päivärinta was basically one of the worst forwards Finland had in the tournament. 2nd line center and PP2 responsibilities and both lines failed miserable, especially the 2nd line they couldn't get anything done. They didn't greate any chances, they kept turning the puck over and they were weak defensively. Horrible tournament for Päivärinta.

Kapanen had a nasty accident in opening game against Russia, it looked very bad but luckily for him it wasn't very serious. But he was sidelined from rest of the group stage games, Kapanen returned in QF game against the Swiss. Hard worker, good skater and quite good in the faceoffs, he could use size more. Kapanen played with Lambert most of the time and Lambert kept hoarding the puck all the time, so we didn't get to see what kind of offensive skills Kapanen have.

Järvelä was good, very hard working bottom-6 grinder and Järvelä did use his size very well. But for some reason, coaching staff didn't give much ice time to Järvelä and he played only 5 games. Which was weird considering how many weak forwards got to play much more. Huuhtanen and Matikka also played a good tournament.