What Team has the top future D corp ?

[Hockey Duckie]

Some of Anaheim's D-corps have some noteworthy accolades

Tier 1

• LD/RD Zellweger - 2X WHL DotY 2021-2023, CHL DotY 2022-23
• LD Mintyukov - OHL DotY 2022-23
• RD Luneau - QMJHL DotY 2022-23

Tier 2

• LD/RD LaCombe
• LD Solberg (aka the Norwegian Nightmare)
• LD Dionicio

Solberg is the only shutdown d-man in the top 2 tiers.

Tier 3

• LD/RD Hinds - QMJHL Defensive Doty (Kevin Lowe Trophy) 2022-23
• RD Warren - 6'5 and 216 lbs, will take the long route to the NHL like Alex Vlasic as a shutdown guy
• RD Moore - 6'3 speedster forced to play shutdown role on a weak Harvard (NCAA) team; Harvard ranked 7th in 2023, but 50th in 2024.

 

[Jared Dunn]

Crazy or not, what I said was true.

Guhle .2 g/60, .73 a/60
Harris .21 g/60 .64 a/60

I mean eventually you just have to watch the players and see that comparing these players is absurd

 

[dj Mahoney]

My question is where are the Ducks here?

Of those 3 I'm taking the Sabers, NJ, Montreal but the Ducks could be #1 when it's all said and done.

Columbus as well.


While I like these guys as a group, I don't see a consistent top 10 Norris candidate here and that's important in these evaluations.

Many liken Levshunov to a bigger version of Drew Doughty. I for one wanted the Hawks to pick Demidov but he does look potentially as good as any young defenseman in the game. Wheels , big raw boned ,long reach, great shot yet unrefined and coming from a system where he had inferior coaching . the Blackhawks scouting staff seem to think Arty hasn't even begin to scratch the surface of what he can become in the future . Del Mastro reminds me very much of a young Brent Seabrook .Kaiser is a smaller skilled defender in the Duncan Keith style . Korchinski is growing still and has fantastic puck skills and skating . Allan is a nasty defender . Vlasic is already a top 3 or 4 defensive defenceman in the league at a young age. Rinzel is a 6' 5" real good skating defender with good puck skills and has a bit of a mean streak.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Crazy or not, what I said was true.

Guhle .2 g/60, .73 a/60
Harris .21 g/60 .64 a/60

Lol

Cool numbers, too bad it's completly taken out of context

 

[DollardStLaurent]

Many liken Levshunov to a bigger version of Drew Doughty. I for one wanted the Hawks to pick Demidov but he does look potentially as good as any young defenseman in the game. Wheels , big raw boned ,long reach, great shot yet unrefined and coming from a system where he had inferior coaching .

Inferior coaching? Michigan State won the Big 10 over Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Notre Dame, all of which had more talent than the Spartans. The CHL doesn't play defense, so that's not an option. Are you suggesting that he should have played at Denver, BU, BC or North Dakota?

 

[dj Mahoney]

Inferior coaching? Michigan State won the Big 10 over Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Notre Dame, all of which had more talent than the Spartans. The CHL doesn't play defense, so that's not an option. Are you suggesting that he should have played at Denver, BU, BC or North Dakota?

B E L A R U S , Not exactly a hockey hotbed . Who's the top Belarusian Ruslan Salei ? He played 1 year at Michigan State

 

[DollardStLaurent]

B E L A R U S , Not exactly a hockey hotbed . Who's the top Belarusian Ruslan Salei ? He played 1 year at Michigan State

He also played for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL under Mike Leone in 2022-2023. That's 2 years to develop with good programs with good coaching.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Many liken Levshunov to a bigger version of Drew Doughty. I for one wanted the Hawks to pick Demidov but he does look potentially as good as any young defenseman in the game. Wheels , big raw boned ,long reach, great shot yet unrefined and coming from a system where he had inferior coaching . the Blackhawks scouting staff seem to think Arty hasn't even begin to scratch the surface of what he can become in the future . Del Mastro reminds me very much of a young Brent Seabrook .Kaiser is a smaller skilled defender in the Duncan Keith style . Korchinski is growing still and has fantastic puck skills and skating . Allan is a nasty defender . Vlasic is already a top 3 or 4 defensive defenceman in the league at a young age. Rinzel is a 6' 5" real good skating defender with good puck skills and has a bit of a mean streak.

Lev won't be a bigger Drew Doughty. Maybe DD is his upside, but he still needs to hit his upside. Size wise though, he'll top out around the same size; he won't be bigger than Doughty.

EDM can likely become a solid middle pairing 2-way guy who is physical. Don't think we should be comparing him to Seabs right now.

Kaiser will never be Keith and I have my doubts he's still here in five years. Also question if Allan will remain long term.

Korchinski is a wild card. Didn't show much last year in the NHL, but he was the youngest defender league wide. He could hit BIG or he might not. Really tough to predict.

Vlasic is a stud. Remember reading an article this season from The Athletic making the case he was the 2nd best shutdown defender in the league (and a decade or so younger than the #1).

Rinzel projecting well to being an NHLer, especially with being a righty with size who can skate. Hard to say if he's more than a middle/bottom pairing guy yet.

I basically see all of KK, EDM, Vlasic, Lev, and Rinzel as NHLers. That's 3 lefties and 2 righties, all with size and average/above average skating. But there are questions that remain about how good some of these guys are; not yet sure any of them are perennial Norris contenders.

 

[dj Mahoney]

He also played for the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL in 2022-2023. That's 2 years to develop with good programs with good coaching.

Yup and 12 years with Neanderthal techniques .

 

[Mrb1p]

Crazy or not, what I said was true.

Guhle .2 g/60, .73 a/60
Harris .21 g/60 .64 a/60

Something is amiss in your statistics. Do you think Seider and Harris are close offensively?


.22 and .74 for Seider
.21 and .64 for Harris

 

[Double Dion]

I'd say New Jersey even though I don't think Casey is a player. Huge fan of Nemec long term. L Hughes will be pretty good too. Silayev I know nothing about.

Columbus is being slept on a bit in this thread. They'll have a nice group in a few years too.

Montreal is being very overrated here as usual. There isn't a top pairing guy in their group of B and C level D prospects. 3rd pairing guys are easy to find. Top 3 guys are harder.

 

[jfhabs]

His offensive production 5on5 is nothing special. It's below Xhekaj. His goal production is about the same as Jordan Harris and his pts/60 is only marginally better.

He's a good D, but he is overrated.

Overrated by some in our fan base I think.
But he just had a bad second year (injuries)
His a 2-3 defenseman in the making if he can stay healthy.

 

[Chainshot]

This is fair, but they're also the only team that already has 4 top 4 D who are 24 or under. Also I can't remember his name, but that Russian kid from Drummondville is an all around RHD and I think will be a bigger factor in their future than people expect

Vsevolod Komarov is the name you were thinking of.

 

[Chainshot]

My question is where are the Ducks here?

Of those 3 I'm taking the Sabers, NJ, Montreal but the Ducks could be #1 when it's all said and done.

Columbus as well.


While I like these guys as a group, I don't see a consistent top 10 Norris candidate here and that's important in these evaluations.

Mintyukov is only 20 and is dynamite. Zellweger is a top-end offensive catalyst. Luneau got hurt but made the team as a 19-year old, coming off an excellent year as best defenseman in the Q. Dionicio, Warren, Hinds, and now Solberg all offer a cross-section of quality with different standout aspects. Helleson and Lacombe are only 23, Lacombe in particular had a nice rookie season on a team that was trying to find itself. They may not be NJ, but I get the reasoning.

 

[Xirik]

I'd say New Jersey even though I don't think Casey is a player. Huge fan of Nemec long term. L Hughes will be pretty good too. Silayev I know nothing about.

Columbus is being slept on a bit in this thread. They'll have a nice group in a few years too.

Montreal is being very overrated here as usual. There isn't a top pairing guy in their group of B and C level D prospects. 3rd pairing guys are easy to find. Top 3 guys are harder.

What's your thoughts on Lane Hutson as a player then?

 

[Czechboy]

It's new jersey...

Anaheim has a beauty backend developing.

Not sure it will materialize but Columbus has a nice thing going.

I'm often told that the Detroit draft picks will all win the Norris eventually.. so they get the 3 spot for their very ambitious hf fan base.

 

[HawksDub89]

More than half of those are just names. No sure thing top pairing guys there. Decent prospects but not close to BUF, DET or NJ.

I mean Vlasic is a borderline top pairing D right now. (Elite defensively, maybe ends up 35-40 point guy in his prime). He’s definitely trending in that direction.

The last 2-3 are definitely just depth guys.

I’d also argue Levshunov absolutely has the potential to be a top pair D.

Korchinski and Del Mastro are more 3/4D types. I think Rinzel is a big time sleeper.

I voted Jersey, by far the best pool of D prospects. After that it’s basically which guys players you prefer.

 

[Double Dion]

What's your thoughts on Lane Hutson as a player then?

Similar type of player as Casey, a bit more dynamic on the point for a PP, but overall similar. He's just not blocked with one high end PPQB in Hamilton already at his peak and 2 more guys who should be able to do that and are better at everything else. Casey won't be a player because the thing he's best at he won't have the opportunity to do.

 

[Xirik]

Similar type of player as Casey, a bit more dynamic on the point for a PP, but overall similar. He's just not blocked with one high end PPQB in Hamilton already at his peak and 2 more guys who should be able to do that and are better at everything else. Casey won't be a player because the thing he's best at he won't have the opportunity to do.

ohhh I thought you meant that he won't be a player in the NHL. Not that he won't have the opportunity to show his skills on his current team.

 

[Double Dion]

ohhh I thought you meant that he won't be a player in the NHL. Not that he won't have the opportunity to show his skills on his current team.

I kind of mean both. I think he needs a situation where he can be used like Edmonton used Tyson Barrie. Some guys get that situation and some don't. Hutson isn't really blocked in MTL to be used like that. I like Casey's all around game a bit more, but Hutson a bit more on the PP. I don't think either guy is playing top 4 minutes in the NHL. If they can play 7 minutes as ES and 6 minutes on the PP somewhere they can play, but those situations are rare.

Admittedly I'm higher on Nemec (think he'll deserve a Norris in some seasons) than most and lower on Casey.

 

[Xirik]

I kind of mean both. I think he needs a situation where he can be used like Edmonton used Tyson Barrie. Some guys get that situation and some don't. Hutson isn't really blocked in MTL to be used like that. I like Casey's all around game a bit more, but Hutson a bit more on the PP. I don't think either guy is playing top 4 minutes in the NHL. If they can play 7 minutes as ES and 6 minutes on the PP somewhere they can play, but those situations are rare.

Admittedly I'm higher on Nemec (think he'll deserve a Norris in some seasons) than most and lower on Casey.

Hutsons Higher skill in certain areas might allow him to stay in the NHL but also think that Casey's more well rounded game might also allow him to play in the NHL.

in the end it will be interesting to see what happens to them both.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Byram, Dahlin and Power is a nasty trio.

Gotta go with them.

 

[DJN21]

Even then Buffalo's Dcore is very unbalanced reminds me of last year of when Sens had a supposed deep blueline but had too much unbalance. Byram, Dahlin, and Power are too similar of players (Especially Byram and Power being very raw but not very intelligent players). Samuelsson is nice, but he's one player and he gets injured often.

All very true. And yet 75% of the league would trade their d situation with Buffalo so thats the reason for the inclusion

 

[Hockeyville USA]

I kind of mean both. I think he needs a situation where he can be used like Edmonton used Tyson Barrie. Some guys get that situation and some don't. Hutson isn't really blocked in MTL to be used like that. I like Casey's all around game a bit more, but Hutson a bit more on the PP. I don't think either guy is playing top 4 minutes in the NHL. If they can play 7 minutes as ES and 6 minutes on the PP somewhere they can play, but those situations are rare.

Admittedly I'm higher on Nemec (think he'll deserve a Norris in some seasons) than most and lower on Casey.

I wonder if Casey becomes the guy who gets half a season in New Jersey and then is traded at the deadline when the Devils are making a big move, going for the Cup. Even if he never becomes a full time guy for the Devils, Fitzgerald can take advantage of his value before it declines. He certainly has more value on the market than many taken before him (ex: Cam Lund, Paul Ludwinski, Topias Leionen, Dylan James)

 

[Hisch13r]

I wonder if Casey becomes the guy who gets half a season in New Jersey and then is traded at the deadline when the Devils are making a big move, going for the Cup. Even if he never becomes a full time guy for the Devils, Fitzgerald can take advantage of his value before it declines. He certainly has more value on the market than many taken before him (ex: Cam Lund, Paul Ludwinski, Topias Leionen, Dylan James)

I mean sure he has more value on the market than those guys but I don’t think his value on the market matches his actual talent level because of the size stuff. I’m super high on Casey and always have been and he still completely blew the doors off the expectations I had for him in Michigan. I have no doubts on him being a top 4 guy.

I don’t even see where the cap space is coming from for him to be used in a big deal unless it’s a Coleman/Hagel type deal for someone super cheap and with term. The cap space isn’t really going to open up until Dougie’s moved and at that point you’ll be kicking yourself wishing you still had Casey. Dougie’s going to have to be moved in the summer 2026 as you really cannot be paying him, Luke, and Nemec all 8+. I really have no interest in trading Casey

There’s also no better partner for him than Silayev and Casey’s great for Silayev. They both perfectly cover for the others potential weaknesses. Between Luke/Nemec/Casey/Silayev you could be looking at the best top 4 for like the better part of a decade all through their primes and not have to worry at all.