First the random Petrov homerism in every Filatov thread.... Now the Skinner homerism from a person in Carolina who has no idea what he's talking about....
WHL and OHL are relatively equivalent leagues. The dub produces much tougher players, and as a result the league is tougher to score in. The OHL produces better pure offensive talents, and is easier to score in.
Strengths: Great playmaking ability. Plays a complete game. Has steadily got better for the last two seasons.
Weaknesses: Skating stride could be a bit smoother. Lacks natural physical aggression. Not a great pure shooter.
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Has come a long way in the last two or three years. Had a late growth spurt and seemed to be improving his athletic coordination right before our eyes this season.
Terrific vision and passing ability. Has a knack for protecting the puck down low, drawing the defense out of position, and then hitting linemates with a sharp pass. Dynamic ability was a revelation in the 2nd half. Started creating off the rush more and beating d-men with some fancy stickhandles. You might wish his shooting touch was a bit better, but his offensive game projects well and could be one of those 2-to-1 assist-to-goal type guys that are so valuable.
Skating improved considerably this season, but still looks like he's on the verge of losing his edges every time he gets going at speed. But despite how odd it looks, he always gets to where he's going and has some deceptive speed.
Turned himself into an excellent defensive forward and a very effective penalty killer. Physical play was the only hole in his game, but he really picked that up after the Top Prospects Game.
Summary: Almost every aspect of his game kept getting better all season long. The possibility that there's still lots of improvement to come is especially intriguing. Has the most upside of anyone in this draft from my area. Could turn into an All Star 1st line center. There is some bust risk here, but not much. He barely edges out Niederreiter as #1 on my list just on the basis of higher upside.
Draft Day: Should be top ten, probably somewhere in 6 to 10 range. It wouldn't shock me if sneaks into the top 4 or 5 picks.
no, not at all, But considering the fact that neither have every played an NHL game, and Juniors is the only thing to go by, its a legit argument
a bad argument is a bad argument whether you know of a better one to make or not. Junior stats are almost meaningless. Colton Yellow Horn would be a better prospect than Johansen by your standards it seems.
I have not seen skinner play so I won't comment on him but I like the potential of Ryan Johansen, I got to see the development first hand. And he didn't come out of nowhere, he played very well in the BCHL playoffs the year prior.
I also don't get the point of comparing prospects of different skill sets and different risk.
Johansen is a great well rounded player with great potential. he showed significant improvement through the course of the season as well. he was the most impressive player on the winterhawks and i saw them play quite a bit
Johansen is a great well rounded player with great potential. he showed significant improvement through the course of the season as well. he was the most impressive player on the winterhawks and i saw them play quite a bit
Wasn't very impressive in rookie camp. Didn't see much fire at all, not sure if he was hurt, but wasn't very impressive IMHO.
Matt Calvert was by far the best Jackets forward
Rookie camp meant nothing. He was playing with a bunch of decent to crappy forwards and all he was trying to do was force passes to a bunch of stone hands constantly.
Wasn't very impressive in rookie camp. Didn't see much fire at all, not sure if he was hurt, but wasn't very impressive IMHO.
Matt Calvert was by far the best Jackets forward
I agree, he wasn't terrible but watching the group I wouldn't have been able to point my finger and say "he should definitely be a top-5 pick in the draft!" He stood out because of his size, but not because he was the fastest or the most impressive puck handler.
Calvert stuck out due to his work ethic. Moore stuck out because he lead the younger kids around, interacted with the coaches a lot, and seemed to be more like one of the helpers at the camp as opposed to a camp member.
I've seen plenty of each, don't assume that just because im from the southern part of the US I know nothing about hockey and have never seen a game
Really, because I still highly doubt that you see much CHL if any at all the way down south. If you did you would have known that the OHL was the high scoring league and the WHL was the league that was harder to score in.
um, I liked Skinner before the draft....don't make assumptions, buddy.
I still don't get why you're discussing skinner in a Johansen thread....was your "Johansen vs Skinner" thread not enough? Seems like you're a little hung up to me.
He was a heck of a lot better this year in basic two-way hockey fundamentals (arguably the best on the team most nights), but not able to convert because we were having crap puck luck. So he was sent back down for the time being.
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