Blue Jackets Top 20 prospects
 

The Top 20 list for the Blue Jackets features a new No. 1 prospect, four fresh 2007 draft picks, and several prospects falling down the rankings.

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anyone happen to see who is at the end of the list???

20. (18) Jared Boll, C, 21

I'm a little confused about how those rankings work. So Boll makes the team, plays well, and his rank drops from 18th to 20th? Must be scientific.

and people still dont understand what PROSPECT means. its amazing how every time a list like this comes out, people just dont get what prospect means. prospect has nothing to do with what you are doing now, where you are now, or anything. its all about your TOP END POTENTIAL. according to the people/person who made this list, Boll doesn't have the potential of the 19 players ahead of him.

my only beef with it would be the ratings of the players. first time ive looked at them in a while. Voracek and Mason off the top of my head were rated way to low. (i.e. 7.5, 6.5 rating, not ranking)

Does anyone know who makes this ranking for HF?
 

Is it one or two peoples opinions or is there a group of folks that all give an opinion and rank the players?

I don't know how much stock is put into it as mentioned Boll is #20 on the list and has leap frogged many. I know they are trying to project final production.. but in my eyes a guy making the NHL so early has to mean his skills have elevated, and or his style is just more NHL ready.

How can someone look at our "prospects" and not make mention of Andrei Plekhanov or Sergiei Moyzakin. Where is Dmitri Kosmachov? or the tall skinny center Arsi Pispanen(SP?)?

I don't think the ratings have been updated lately. Mason has been a 6.5 for a while. That made sense a while ago but it's obviously in need of an update.

Andrei Plekhanov not in the top 20? wow, someone dropped the ball there.

I like how Sestito is described as “a naturally large man.”

I’m waaay to classy to start making jokes about that observation.

As to the serious business, I don’t have too many quibbles with the list. I think Mason should be a few spots higher. I think Marquardt and Dorsett are a little too high and I think Boll is too low (but not drastically out of place as some others feel).
Maybe 15thish? In my mind at least.

These lists always seem to be heavily weighted toward offense and, as RD noted, the maximum upside, I’m not sure that Boll is ever going to be a notable offensive player and though I’m pleased with his play, is his ceiling that far off from where he is now?
I’m not convinced it is.

I think that'll change by this time next year. Andrei has long been a bit of a mystery man.
It looks like he's going to get plenty of exposure this year though.

Boll is more ready to compete and succeed as a 4th line player right now than other players who are working on their skills at lower levels. doesnt mean he is as good as said players.

I cant agree with you more. I think Platt is a little bit too high and Boll is definetly too low. Im a big Dorsett fan though. And i dont see how a kid has reached his ceiling with 10 games under his belt at age 21. But then again i dont type words in all capitals or bold type to act like i know what im talking about.

7. (3) Alexandre Picard, LW, 22

What is the reason for this?
I haven't really followed this prospect closely, so any info would be awesome. Thanks

He's broken.

Anywho, I was surprised to see Starkov was playing in the ECHL. Did he drop the ball or what?

The reason for the drop from 3 or the reason he's 7 overall?

The reason for the drop from 3 is he's been injured and has 1 NHL point in 40 games. He hasn't really shown he can play at the NHL level and there are other guys in our system who have shown more in camps and their respective stints with the Jackets.

I'd guess the reason he's 7 overall is there's still plenty of upside to the kid. He plays a hard nosed, agitator type game and has the potential to chip in offensively as well. He may never turn out to be anything more than a depth guy but his ceiling isn't known either.

cydawg-
Thanks for the info. I was thinking the drop from 3, but why he is at 7 was great insight too.

I can't say I have too many beefs with this article:

I'd put Brassard over Voracek

I'd put Mason higher and Picard lower.

My Top 5:

1. Brassard
2. Voracek
3. Russell
4. Mason
5. Lindstrom

Favorite darkhorse prospects: Starkov and Weber

Legein and Methot seem low to me, and I'm more than beginning to wonder about Lindstrom. I hope Picard can get things going once he returns. I'm with Slash' darkhorses.

I think this is the first prospect list by HF that I never agreed with. I don't bother with their numerical rankings because i think that stuff is bollucks anyway.

My top 25 would be:

1) Voracek
2) Brassard
3) Russell
4) Mason

5) Lindstrom
6) Pineault
7) Picard
8) Legein
9) Methot
10) Platt

11) Mayorov
12) Starkov

13) Marquardt
14) Boll
15) Sestito
16) Dorsett
17) Weber

18) Wright
19) Popperle
20) Dupuis
21) Hansen
22) Plekhanov
23) Wharton
24) Lacosta
25) Dudas

Legein has definitely been underrated in these rankings. The guy was very impressive last season. He was only second to Kane in even strength goals per game.

That is pretty much how I'd line them up, except I might lump Boll up with Starkov and Mayorov

These rankings are so confusing.

How is Voracek ahead of Brassard.

First Voracek is rated as a 7.5B and Brassard is a 8.0B.

And Voracek was the 7th overall in what was considered a much weaker draft class than Brassard's year where he was #6 overall.

Is this just a case of the newer the better?

I think what gets me more than Boll being rated so low is that if I look at his future analysis (which says it was updated 10/30/07) it is way underplaying him.

"Future
This autumn, Boll will need to force his way into a spot with Syracuse or accept a role with Dayton of the ECHL. While it is difficult to project Boll as anything more than a grinding AHL regular, players with his package of skills occasionally find themselves able to capitalize at being in the right place at the right time and hustling their way onto the back end of an NHL bench. At this point, Boll will need to show marked improvement and a healthy dose of luck to appear on the Columbus radar in a significant way.

Stats
Stats Coming Soon...

Profile Last Updated: October, 31st 2007"

Now obviously it wasn't updated then because it would have said Elmira for the ECHL team he would be playing on but I can say from previous experience that as good as HF is at doing what they do they don't really completely qualify people who they choose to write the articles as far as hockey knowledge. (I was once given chance to write this same analysis and was never asked about hockey background. I was not able to complete it well enough because at that point my knowledge of the prospects was not high enough to really know too much about them and get it put down in print in a readable manner.)

I was thinking Andrei Plekhanov should easily make the top 20 next season if not the top 10.

Provided he plays 60 games this season in the AHL he could get around 40 points. That is pretty good for a 21 year old AHL rookie defenseman. Next season as a 22 year old works on rounding out his defensive game and gets 40-50 points as QB of the PP in the AHL.

Then at 23 cracks the Jackets top siz and plays point of the second PP unit. Moves up to the first unit at 24.

A few solid years of development could be a pretty good defenseman for the Jackets by 24-25 years old.

How's Stefan Legein's treatment going?

My top 10:

1. Voráček
2. Legein
3. Brassard
4. Majorov (do not forget he would draft in first round but Russia has not agreement with NHL)
5. Mason

6. Russell
7. Picard
8. Methot
9. Lindstrom
10. Pineault

11. Boll
12. Sestito
13. Wright
14. Dorsett
15. Starkov

Platt does not play for Columbus :).