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Prospect Info: Wild Prospect Thread 2023-2024

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Jbcraig1883 said:
RE: ROR - I've actually really come to appreciate his game more this year. I think he is accepting and digging into more of what his role will be. He doesn't overplay the puck, gets shots on net, and plays hard. Wouldn't surprise me if we don't see him for another year or two, but I think letting him get a lot of minutes will make him a good 4-6 Dman.
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I really appreciate the way he covers men in front of the net. In this age of floating coverages it seems to be a lost art, but ROR really sticks to his man with either his stick or body, while watching the puck. Very old school, but i think there's a place for that even in today's game. Goals still get scored(and prevented) in and around the crease. I also like, (not love) his breakouts. Good first two steps and pass, though i'd like to see him lug it out at times, also. Needs to work on his puck retrievals, though....maybe they're better this year. Haven't watched more than a few games.

Doesn't show a lot of offensive skill, but gets off a fairly hard point shot well.

He reminds me of Scandella.
 
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man im getting a good feeling about heidt's potential. sweet goal! ohgren im not worried about either. the next nino or next JEE im good.
 
Digitalbooya said:
Under 2 points per game? Bust.
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Actually, has 68 pts, so back to 2 P/pg, so you can relax.

Apparently Heidt is first up killing penalties, and is over 55% on FO's, so he can't be that had defensively. As much as I am not crazy about the Stramel pick, this Heidt pick is looking like a steal.
 
57special said:
Actually, has 68 pts, so back to 2 P/pg, so you can relax.

Apparently Heidt is first up killing penalties, and is over 55% on FO's, so he can't be that had defensively. As much as I am not crazy about the Stramel pick, this Heidt pick is looking like a steal.
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Phew, he’s really teetering the edge.
 
57special said:
I get the point that leading the WHL in points doesn't mean he will be a good NHL, or even a NHL'er, but I feel better about it than him being 37th in points.
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100% - Heidt was always a point producer and my biggest qualms with him was from the eye test on his shift-by-shift footage so I didn't hold too much stalk in his point totals on draft day. That said, points are points and good signs are good signs nonetheless, and he has progressively increased from last year so its improvement any way you look at it. He's jumped up at least 5 spots above other Wild prospects in terms of my own rankings.
 
Circulartheory said:
100% - Heidt was always a point producer and my biggest qualms with him was from the eye test on his shift-by-shift footage so I didn't hold too much stalk in his point totals on draft day. That said, points are points and good signs are good signs nonetheless, and he has progressively increased from last year so its improvement any way you look at it. He's jumped up at least 5 spots above other Wild prospects in terms of my own rankings.
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What were your qualms with him? I'm assuming there is some reason that he fell to the end of the 2nd round.
 
Digitalbooya said:
What were your qualms with him? I'm assuming there is some reason that he fell to the end of the 2nd round.
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I havent watched any of his games in awhile so i have no sense of how accurate these criticisms still are. When he was drafted Judd Bracket alluded to the defensive issues and threw him a bone by noting how remote Prince George is and how long the bus rides are - which that's true & you can tell PG plays a different schedule from other WHL teams & its not hard to imagine how that could affect a player's mental focus and energy on defense. Also, supposedly, he's been focused on improving defensive play and not really concerned on points per NHL.com interview.

I'm completely open to believing it but not putting much stock in it until I see him play AHL bc imo typically players either stay the same or lose aspects of their games as they move to higher levels of play. A player works to improve a weakness and that's good but as the level of play increases around them it continues to be a relative weakness. (Not a strict rule but just the default I work off of until I see different). Right now I'm imagining him as a play-driving winger but happy to be wrong ofc.
 
One poster who watches him on a regular basis says he plays all situations for PG, and is very effective that way...first off the bench to PK, etc. There is no doubt that he is more focussed on offense than defense, but with his skillset isn't that what you want?

Maybe next year he will spend more time playing both ways, but as of now, he is depended upon to be the #1C on the first place team in the league, with a shot to go to the Memorial Cup.

Maybe next year he will move to another team, though Pescarak(probably will be a 2024 1st rounder) should be back, so that's 2/3rds of a great WHL line right there. He will probably be kept there. AHL will not be an option, so he will just have to work on his game, and his body in PG.
 
57special said:
One poster who watches him on a regular basis says he plays all situations for PG, and is very effective that way...first off the bench to PK, etc. There is no doubt that he is more focussed on offense than defense, but with his skillset isn't that what you want?

Maybe next year he will spend more time playing both ways, but as of now, he is depended upon to be the #1C on the first place team in the league, with a shot to go to the Memorial Cup.

Maybe next year he will move to another team, though Pescarak(probably will be a 2024 1st rounder) should be back, so that's 2/3rds of a great WHL line right there. He will probably be kept there. AHL will not be an option, so he will just have to work on his game, and his body in PG.
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Sounds like wasting a year of development against lesser competition.
 
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Digitalbooya said:
Sounds like wasting a year of development against lesser competition.
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Agreed. Why not go overseas for a year? The cultural immersion will help him mature as a person and he will be forced to adjust his game in a manner that will help his development. CHL is so lame IMO
 
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MNRube said:
Agreed. Why not go overseas for a year? The cultural immersion will help him mature as a person and he will be forced to adjust his game in a manner that will help his development. CHL is so lame IMO
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Playing against men would certainly help. At least go to a league where they play some semblance of defense so he can figure out how to score against it.
 
as long as your not just saying that to justify why stramel is basically not scoring. i wish heidt could play in the ahl next year but im told hes not eligible.
 
Digitalbooya said:
Playing against men would certainly help. At least go to a league where they play some semblance of defense so he can figure out how to score against it.
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I don't think going to Europe is the answer. The AHL is where he should be next year, and the only reason he won't be is because of some nonsense, archaic transfer agreement meant to keep the CHL profitable. This is the exact type of situation where having a blanket rule on this hurts players, their development, and the teams that own their rights.

There are other situations too where it's clear the transfer agreement doesn't work. Lafreniere would have benefitted from a year or two in the AHL, but because that wasn't an option, he had to either go back to the CHL that he had just finished dominating, wasting a year of development, or go straight to the NHL, which he obviously wasn't ready for. We also have good examples of players that went from the CHL to the AHL, Perfetti and Jarvis both played well in the AHL in their D+1 year, and it probably greatly benefitted them when the time to jump to the NHL came.

In the end, it should be left up to the player and team that drafted him to decide what's best for the development of the player. Most times that will still be the CHL, sometimes it may be the NHL, and a lot of times it'll could end up being the AHL. All the transfer agreement does is prevent them from having that third option. It's not good for anyone but the CHL for it to be in place.
 
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The real question is why does the CHL have such a fundamentally poor brand of hockey?
 
Digitalbooya said:
What were your qualms with him? I'm assuming there is some reason that he fell to the end of the 2nd round.
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My viewing of him, I came with "jack of all trades, master of none" vibes, let call them JOATs. And these types of prospects tend to fall in the draft as IMO, teams like prospects with at least 1-2 clear skills that are above their draft class. That is because it's easier to develop prospects who have a clear path to the pros. They know exactly what to work on and what type of player they want to be.

Prospects that either have exceptional skill (Rossi), great skaters (Brodin), or have strength/size to work with (Eriksson-Ek) tend to be favoured. Some rise because of a clear size difference because they still have a relatively solid foundation to work off (from 2024 Simashev).

Players that fall into the JOAT category is Hunter Shinkaruk, Curtis Lazar, Jared McCann, Colin White, Barrett Hayton. From last year, probably Yager. Great junior players but posters always ask, why did they fall? Obviously, I'm sure you could go the opposite say there is more 1-trick ponies that fail and even on the JOAT list, McCann has done very well and the clearest example of a player that just a JOAT but continue to add to ALL his skills is Ryan O'Reilly; but its just a trend that I personally see. Could also explain why Shane Wright fell just a few spots.

This is why I'm in love with the Ohgren pick (solid all round core with clear shot and strength attributes to work with) and skeptical of the Stramel pick (some clear 2-3 tools but missing that well-rounded core, all raw stuff) and Heidt. More was excited about Kumpulainen.

So when I watched Heidt, I thought he was above average skill but he wasn't creating space for himself via great control of the puck (see Rossi how he rolls of players after attacking the zone, then slowing down the pace), he was fast but not exceptional fast, and he doesn't have the size to add more muscle nor is that his game. So his a master of none but a good junior player.

NOW, with ALL the said; IMO that is why Heidt fell on draft day, anything after that is up to him. I still had him in the 40s but 40s is lower than most had him ranked. And if you are going to prove doubters wrong, being 1st in the WHL in scoring is a damn good way of doing it. So I'm excited to see him in the next year's prospect tourney and see how much faster and stronger he is. Could be a steal.
 
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Has there been any chatter about Khusnutdinov at all in regards to a contract extension or anything? 12 points in 27 games with Sochi. Contract is set to end in April. I don't know if he wins an NHL spot next year, but I don't know if he comes over to play in the AHL.

Assuming that if the Wild are in constant contact with Yurov that also means they're in constant contact with Khusnudtinov. It could be fun to have both of them play in the AHL next year together, along with Bankier, Ohgren, Haight and maybe even Kumpulainen.

PS: Yurov and Khusnutdinov's teams will play each other tomorrow at 8AM, if anyone is interested in that
 
Marat might be a bit fed up with Russia considering how this year has gone.
 
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