Dane Byers's readiness to play in the NHL overtook everything else and he's prospect #12. Pavel Valentenko is added for round 13. I am really looking forward to posting a picture of his I found.
TOP PROSPECTS
1. Artem Anisimov
2. Evgeny Grachev
3. Michael Del Zotto
4. Bobby Sanguinetti
5. Ryan McDonagh
6. Derek Stepan
7. Matt Gilroy
8. Chris Kreider
9. Michael Sauer
10. Ethan Werek
Boyle should have been in this poll a long time ago.
It's tough, we have A LOT of good prospects with impressive pedigrees. There are bound to be a couple of solid prospects lower in our rankings. I agree that Boyle is one of them.
It's tough, we have A LOT of good prospects with impressive pedigrees. There are bound to be a couple of solid prospects lower in our rankings. I agree that Boyle is one of them.
I think we have a lot of high-end potential prospects in the top 10, while the second 10 will be mostly role players who will be cheap, and will allow us not to waste millions on UFAs. If we can get a third liner for $800K instead of $2M, that could make a big difference in the cap era.
There are exceptions, of course, like Bourque in the second third, and Sauer in the top third, but this trend will mostly hold.
Between the top 10 with high-risk, high-reward defensemen and the second 10 with safer, but lower reward prospects, I think our defense is set.
We have Staal and Girardi already in the NHL. I'm sure one of the 10 D prospects will nicely round out the other 4.
Our D prospects, in no particular order:
1. Sang
2. DZ
3. McD
4. Gilroy
5. Sauer
6. Kundratek
7. Nigel Williams
8. Potter
9. Valentenko
10. Heineken
This might be another ideological fight between people who like high-end potential (Bourque) and those who like nearly-ready prospects (Boyle).
I voted for Williams because he has a higher potential than Boyle and less of a risk than Bourque. I think he has a reasonable chance, maybe 50-50, of being a second pairing defenseman, which would be key for our team.
Look for a lot of close fights in the next 10 rounds. In many ways, I think the second tier is much more interesting than top prospects because there's more to discuss here. I'm sure the first 10 will contribute much more in the NHL, but the second 10 are a more interesting bunch.
Right now yeah, when he first came up people thought he wasnt ever going to be more than a borderline 3rd liner....sounds familiar.
Maybe, but Cally also over-performed every step of the way. He potted 52 goals his last Junior season, and 35 in 60 games as an AHL rookie. Callahan has way more talent than Dupont. I always thought Callahan would overachieve in the NHL. Granted, I thought Ryan Russell would as well...
Players like Callahan are the exceptions to the rule, you know? Dupont has a ways to go before he's even a really good AHL player.
