Prospects

Which porspects should make a push to make the team next year?

Which prospects will most probebly play in the AHL next year?

Which porspects should make a push to make the team next year?

Which prospects will most probebly play in the AHL next year?Kostitsyn will probably make the team out of camp. What happens to him after that is up in the air at this point.

Ferland has to make the team next year or else... I doubt he'd make it through waivers.

Latendresse has an outside shot, but it will depend on how many slots we have to fill.

No matter who our starter is, I believe Danis will be our backup.

Chipchura and Aubin will be in the AHL next season.

Hopefully a few of O'Byrne, Emelin, Korneev, Korpikari wil be signed for next year.

Halak should get the starter position in Hamilton next season.

Which porspects should make a push to make the team next year?

Which prospects will most probebly play in the AHL next year?


Danis, Ferland, Lapierre, Kostitsyn, Cote, Latendresse

Locke, Lambert, Halak, Urquhart, Lemieux, Benoit, Archer, Milroy, Chipchura, Stewart, Aubin, Emelin. Sanford?

Danis, Ferland, Lapierre, Kostitsyn, Cote, Latendresse

Locke, Lambert, Halak, Urquhart, Lemieux, Benoit, Archer, Milroy, Chipchura, Stewart, Aubin, Emelin. Sanford?

Does Urquhart still have enough potential to make the NHL or is he a lost cause?

Does Urquhart still have enough potential to make the NHL or id he a lost cause?

He still have the potential...IMO, you can't lost your potential, but to reach it, you have to work hard. He's young and he's not a lost cause for sure, but he's not our best prospect at this point...

Does Urquhart still have enough potential to make the NHL or id he a lost cause?


Too early to say for a 21 year old but I wouldn't be buying a Habs jersey with Urquhart's name on the back. I do think he'll make Hamilton's roster next year but I could see a guy like Aubin moving ahead of him or forcing him to the wing. Aubin reminds me a bit of Urquhart just not as soft, a better skater with more speed. Both are around the same size, good hands/vision/offensive skills. Urquhart is just as soft as they come whereas Aubin still needs to learn how to use his size to his advantage.

He still have the potential...IMO, you can't lost your potential, but to reach it, you have to work hard. He's young and he's not a lost cause for sure, but he's not our best prospect at this point...

I agree with you about Urquhart. And even though it is at a lower level than the AHL, Urquhart is averaging more points per game than any of our other prospects playing minor pro hockey.

IMO Locke is a guy that is really on the bubble. In the games that I saw, he played completely on the perimeter. Great hands, great vision but he didn't even try to compete in traffic.

Danis, Ferland, Lapierre, Kostitsyn, Cote, Latendresse

Locke, Lambert, Halak, Urquhart, Lemieux, Benoit, Archer, Milroy, Chipchura, Stewart, Aubin, Emelin. Sanford?

I would also like to see Mathieu Roy, Jamie Tardif and maybe even Steeve Villeneuve with the Bulldogs. Of course they aren't our propects... yet but depending upon the draft and the free agent signings they could wind up in the Habs camp.

The big wildcard could be O'Byrne.

What's the minimum age for a junior player to make the jump to the AHL? Aubin turns 20 on Sep. 18.... D'agostini turns 20 on Oct. 23... What's the cut off date? Wouldn't they both still be considered old enough to play in the AHL next season? They both can stay in CHL as 20 year olds I believe.

latnedresse will be on the big club next season . i think he come to camp a very angry/hungry man and will make the 2006/07 club .


Ryan O'Byrne i hope he forgoes his last year of school and signs with the habs.

if you can get the chance to watch him do so !!!





http://www.elynah.com/?articles&id=46

Week 12: The Twin Towers

It's hard to miss either of them on the ice and not just because they are the biggest players out there. Over the last handful of games, they have arguably been the team's two best players. And recently, they have even been paired together.

Junior Ryan O'Byrne has been the team's most valuable player so far this season, logging a ton of minutes and contributing at both ends of the ice. He came to Cornell with a great deal of promise and an unusual amount of press for a Cornell recruit. The fact that Doug Murray was leaving at the same time meant that fans had even higher expectations for him. As most figured out quickly in the 2003-2004 season, it is impossible to replace a player of Murray's presence and caliber and it is ridiculous to expect a freshman to step into that role, particularly when they are not exactly replicas of one another.

So O'Byrne's first two years were met with some growing pains. He took a lot of penalties and struggled to get comfortable at the college level. He often drew the ire of fans with his undisciplined play and untimely mistakes, most notably his missed assignment that led to the overtime goal against Minnesota in the NCAA Tournament last season. As difficult as his first two years were, he slowly progressed in each area of his game. This year, with the team's top defensive defenseman and top offensive defenseman both graduating - Jeremy Downs and Charlie Cook - O'Byrne was essentially handed the reigns of the team's defensive corps. Certainly assistant captain Jon Gleed shoulders the leadership and other intangibles but O'Byrne received the most on-ice responsibility in wake of last year's graduations.

From the very beginning of the season, he has been the main pointman on the first powerplay unit, serving as a second scoring option to Matt Moulson. With four powerplay goals, all coming on his lethal one-timer, he is clearly a legitimate threat from the point. However, O'Byrne could have zero points and he would still be the team's best defenseman. When Gleed and Danny Glover were hurt earlier in the season, O'Byrne was seeing an astronomical amount of ice time, playing well over 30 minutes a night, something that perhaps no other defenseman in college hockey does. He does not just play against the opposition's top players. He will probably also see a fair amount of ice time against their second line, as well as time on the penalty kill.

Composure is not something that a defenseman is born with; he gradually gains it with experience. Some do it faster than others but O'Byrne has shifted from second gear to fifth gear this season. All over the ice, he has a presence that only truly dominant players like Murray, Baby, and Vesce have. And that is not to compare his style to theirs. He just controls games with his poise both with and without the puck. When a player has that poise and decision-making ability while being 6'5" and 210 pounds, you get a dominant force that controls the tempo of games. A year ago, the National Hockey League seemed a galaxy away for O'Byrne. Now, all of a sudden, it is very realistic. The hope for Cornell fans is that he stays around for his final year before undoubtedly signing with the Montreal Canadiens.

As unbelievable as O'Byrne has been this season, not many people remember that he missed a game, which happened to come against arguably the best team the Big Red have faced all season, St. Lawrence. That game also happened to be the best game Cornell has played all season, despite O'Byrne being out with an injury. Some might wonder how this could possibly be unless they were actually at the game. Anyone at the game that night probably left with jaws dropped from the play of another 6'5" defenseman, Sasha Pokulok. If a scout from the Washington Capitals were on hand for that game, then Pokulok would probably be playing in the National Hockey League right now. If one thinks this is an exaggeration, then they probably were not at that game. In fact, he has not been all that bad since then either, garnering three goals and three assists in his last four games, starting with his two goal performance against the Saints.

Some, including myself, have suggested that National Hockey League scouts vastly overrated Pokulok and that the Capitals were very much reaching when they made him their first round pick last July. After all, if there is anything NHL execs love in prospects, it is size. How else can one explain a player of Hugh Jessiman's mediocre ability going in the first round? While Jessiman dominates the East Coast Hockey League, Pokulok is poised to be playing in the big time sooner rather than later. Like O'Byrne, Big Red fans hope he sticks around for at least another year.

The fact of the matter is that Pokulok struggled mightily through the first portion of the season but has more than doubled his point totals over the last four games. Getting invited to the Canadian World Junior camp will very likely prove to be the turning point of Pokulok's entire career. He looked lost, confused, and almost disinterested prior to the World Junior Championships. Since then, he has been completely dominating games.

Pokulok and O'Byrne may be the same size but they are pretty different players. Pokulok could use his size a lot more defensively, but he uses his body perfectly to protect the puck and make plays. He is a puck possession defenseman in that he needs the puck to be effective. He does not necessarily need the puck in the offensive zone to create offense. Pokulok has created a great deal of offense of late by starting in the defensive zone and threading a perfect pass to start a rush. He has unbelievable skill and ability with the puck. The decision-making aspect of his game is the area that he needs to improve on, but it has improved extraordinarily since the beginning of the year.

O'Byrne is the main pillar of the team's defense while Pokulok has quickly become that of the team's offense. Even as a defenseman, Pokulok is creating a ton of chances for a team that does not generate many of them, particularly five-on-five. Not many teams at any level of hockey can say that their two best players are defensemen but that is quickly becoming the case for Cornell. Moulson and David McKee are of course legitimate contenders for that title as well, but it is the two towering blueliners that have proven to be the biggest difference-makers for the Big Red of late. What is scary is that they could both return next year. As good as they have been, they can be a whole lot better. They are already two of the top defensemen in the ECACHL and probably for all of college hockey.
3 Stars of the Weekend for Cornell

1. Ryan O'Byrne

2. Sasha Pokulok

3. Chris Abbott
Whether he was actually the one who scored the overtime winner against Brown or not, Abbott was the team's best forward on the weekend. He anchors the checking line with Tyler Mugford and Raymond Sawada and the trio was the team's best line both offensively and defensively. Abbott showed great hustle and made a lot of little plays in all three zones.

I agree with you about Urquhart. And even though it is at a lower level than the AHL, Urquhart is averaging more points per game than any of our other prospects playing minor pro hockey.

IMO Locke is a guy that is really on the bubble. In the games that I saw, he played completely on the perimeter. Great hands, great vision but he didn't even try to compete in traffic.

I have Urquhart over Locke in my prospect list. Urquhart has a bigger upside. Locke is AHL carreer material to me while Urquhart have some interesting potential.

What's the minimum age for a junior player to make the jump to the AHL? Aubin turns 20 on Sep. 18.... D'agostini turns 20 on Oct. 23... What's the cut off date? Wouldn't they both still be considered old enough to play in the AHL next season? They both can stay in CHL as 20 year olds I believe.

I know Aubin can play for sure since he's in the same boat as Urquhart who turned 20 just a couple days before the AHL season started, he turned 20 on 10-1. D'Agostini I am not sure of but I assume he can play in Hamilton since he turns 20 about 3 weeks into the season. But again I'm not really sure and since he was a rookie last year, perhaps it wouldn't hurt him to play another year in the OHL. I really like what I've seen from him, so it would be cool to see him in hamilton.