In that grand scheme of things, I don't care, but I guess it's a good means of discussion.
There are definitely a few teams that could make a case for being higher. Montreal looks extremely high. I'm not too fond of Chicago's group, as I think that Barker is their only d-man with top 2 potential.
In that grand scheme of things, I don't care, but I guess it's a good means of discussion.
There are definitely a few teams that could make a case for being higher. Montreal looks extremely high. I'm not too fond of Chicago's group, as I think that Barker is their only d-man with top 2 potential.
I said over on the prospects board...I think Montreal is way too high and that Philadelphia could be higher.
On second thought, I agree about Chicago. They have a great set of Dmen, though I don't think it's any better than ours (I would consider ours a slight notch above). Their forward core is real bad. Not a sure thing (or even a good bet) in the bunch. Their goaltending prospects are solid and likely better than ours, but if I had to break it down...
Our D = Their D
Our Forwards >>Their Forwards
Our G's < Their G's
I think they were definitely good, but I think we are slightly better.
I think we've got a very good group of wild-card prospects. I'm expecting a couple to emerge as core NHL players.
Our wild-card group is:
Gamache, Stehlik, Glaz, Lassila, Shafigulin, Klein, Sulzer, Irgl, Widing, Setzinger, Shish, Soin, Niskala, Kulysah
And to a lesser extent:
Hutchison, Haydar, Pivko, Santorelli, Segal, Schaeffer.
From best I can tell, we've got one of the best group of wild-card prospects out there. But I may be bias, and it's not like I've seen all other team's prospects.
I think we've got a very good group of wild-card prospects. I'm expecting a couple to emerge as core NHL players.
Our wild-card group is:
Gamache, Stehlik, Glaz, Lassila, Shafigulin, Klein, Sulzer, Irgl, Widing, Setzinger, Shish, Soin, Niskala, Kulysah
And to a lesser extent:
Hutchison, Haydar, Pivko, Santorelli, Segal, Schaeffer.
From best I can tell, we've got one of the best group of wild-card prospects out there. But I may be bias, and it's not like I've seen all other team's prospects.
I really do not think it is bias. A lot of our players have shown great skills over-seas, and I would wager we will have more fail because we cannot get them to come NA rather than not possessing NHL talent.
To be honest, I am fine with the top 5 ranking, but our prospects are clearly better than Montreal's (who should barely crack the top 10 IMO) and also edge Chicago.
Still, no worries here. This is much better than the 14th we were slated after the 03 draft........That write up was SO bad....I believe the Devils were 4th!
A lot of our players have shown great skills over-seas, and I would wager we will have more fail because we cannot get them to come NA rather than not possessing NHL talent.
I'm really not concerned about us be able to sign guys. It's not like we have a bonafide NHL-star sitting in Europe that we can bring across the pond.
One of the major benefits to drafting in Europe is that you don't have any deadline to sign them. So until a guy like Setzinger, Irgl, Soin, etc have a major break-out year ala Zidlicky, I'm not too concerned with getting them over here. You know we do have a limit to the number of NHL contracts we can have (I think it's 40 something).
But considering that our AHL forward prospect batch (Gamache, Smith, Upshall, Shish, Pivko, Haydar, Fiddler) are close to using up their AHL eligilbity, I wouldn't mind brining over a couple next year. It sounds like Setzinger will be coming over. I'd be willing to sign a couple of Irgl/Widing/Soin/Shafigulin as well if I was Poile. But until they have a mega-breakout year, I'm not really fretting it.
Shea Weber's stock has really gone thru the roof these past two seasons. With him and Suter out there it really bring the Preds rankings way up. Radulov having a good season in juniors didn't hurt either.
The Preds are the ONLY Western Conference playoff team in the top 15 and one of only three playoff teams in the top 15 (Montreal at #4, Philly at #15 are the others). We are one of only two Western Conference playoff teams in the top 20 (San Jose is #17). Now HF's organizational rankings are hardly definitive proof of our future, but they definitely show we are on a great track.
I think the biggest reason 1) Preds are not higher and 2) for some people to claim Preds are too high is the lack of bonafide G prospect after Finley's struggles this year.
I think the biggest reason 1) Preds are not higher and 2) for some people to claim Preds are too high is the lack of bonafide G prospect after Finley's struggles this year.
I think your absolutely correct, but thankfully, goalie is a position we can work with until Vokoun leaves us. Poile has drafted several goalies a year, granted they have all been 4th round or later.......I'm thinking he has been hoping to find a homerun late in the draft, which usually happens with goalies as you have more time to let them develop.
Alex Perezhogin (RW), Andrei Kostsitsyn (RW), Chris Higgins (LW), Yann Danis (G), and Kyle Chipchura (C).
Ryan Suter (D), Shea Weber (D), Alexander Radulov (RW), Scottie Upshall (RW) and Brian Finley (G).
would i trade our five guys for montreals five? no way in hell, two russians who knows what they will turn into, higgins is a two way player not a top knotch scorer. chipchura could be a good third liner, but does have very good potential. don't know anything about danis.
would i trade weber and suter for barker and seabrooke, no way. weber and suter are better than both of them. barker is a big guy, but slower and not as strong as weber and seabrooke is a ray bourke type, doesn't get caught out of place. good on the PP and PK
suter has way more upside than seabrooke and weber has more upside than barker, the preds have the two best defensive prospects right now. i do also predict weber will have a better career than dion paneuf will.
really tells you how difficult it is to judge the future. Two top 10 teams (NYR at #9 and WAS at #10) didn't have any players mentioned truly pan out. The Preds at 12 didn't have any players mention pan out either (as of yet), though Arkhipov did have his year in the sun. Neither did the Penguins, Carolina, Toronto, Detroit, L.A., Atlanta, Minnesota. In other words, the top 5 of 1/3 of the NHL organizations didn't produce a single legit NHLer. A few of these teams have prospects that are still working their way up, but it's amazing to think about. Of the remaining teams, only a few have more than 1 of their top 5 pan out legitimately. Makes you really appreciate prospects like Dan Hamhuis, who is already an NHLer.
I think the biggest reason 1) Preds are not higher and 2) for some people to claim Preds are too high is the lack of bonafide G prospect after Finley's struggles this year.
now, i'm definitely no finley fan..but it's not exactly fair to say he "struggled," either. he was, if anything, inconsistent...but he always has been, and the improvement he's shown from year to year has been remarkable. yeah..he crapped out in the playoffs, but he had a pretty solid regular season. he'll do better next year...he'll have to, especially if lassila is indeed coming over. i think the preds are hoping a little pressure underneath him will motivate him. He certainly wasn't getting that from Seamus Kotyk.
really tells you how difficult it is to judge the future. Two top 10 teams (NYR at #9 and WAS at #10) didn't have any players mentioned truly pan out. The Preds at 12 didn't have any players mention pan out either (as of yet), though Arkhipov did have his year in the sun. Neither did the Penguins, Carolina, Toronto, Detroit, L.A., Atlanta, Minnesota. In other words, the top 5 of 1/3 of the NHL organizations didn't produce a single legit NHLer. A few of these teams have prospects that are still working their way up, but it's amazing to think about. Of the remaining teams, only a few have more than 1 of their top 5 pan out legitimately. Makes you really appreciate prospects like Dan Hamhuis, who is already an NHLer.
exactly why you cann't get too high or low on prospects in general...the majority of them rarely really pan out to begin with,and as often guys evaluated down at a level like segal or brown prove to be better NHL'er than a team's higher rated prospects...watching this same thing year after year has generally turned me into a 'show me' type of evaluator for young talent...and why i have some trouble getting overly excited about prospects in general
