Dale Weise won the tie-breaker in round 18 by a good margin. Scott Stajcer became the second goalie in our poll.
Don't forget to write-in who should be added in the next round. Also would be good to include a discussion/argument on why you voted for a particular prospect.
TOP PROSPECTS
1. LW Chris Kreider
2. D Ryan McDonagh
3. D Tim Erixon
4. RW Christian Thomas
5. D Dylan McIlrath
6. LW Mats Zuccarello
7. LW J.T. Miller
8. LW Carl Hagelin
9. RW Jesper Fasth
10. D Pavel Valentenko
SECOND-TIER PROSPECTS
11. C Oscar Lindberg
12. D Tomas Kundratek
13. LW Ryan Bourque
14. C Andrew Yogan
15. C Steven Fogarty
16. RW Shane McColgan
17. C Michael St. Croix
18. RW Dale Weise
Dale Weise
Right Wing
Born Aug 5 1988 -- Winnipeg, MAN
Height 6.02 -- Weight 206 -- Shoots R
"He's very underrated as a goal-scorer, so I would have expected close to 20 in his first year, and I'm not at all surprised he got this many (28) in his second year. I think this is a big off-season for him in getting himself prepared to take a run at a position on the Rangers. He had a great year for us in Hartford... He's got a combination of size and skating. The thing we licked about him in juniors was his penchant for finishing checks. He still does and can pop anybody. He plays an all-around game and plays in all positions." - Gordie Clark
"I do have some skill, too. I'm not a guy that just fights and mucks. I think I can score, and eventually someday, I can probably score 20 goals in the NHL." - Dale Weise
Tough, banging winger projected to play on the bottom two lines as a physical player who can hopefully add some offense.
"Wilson is going to surprise some people. He can really play.”
-Gordie Clark
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D MIKHAIL PASHNIN
Hard-hitting defenseman with an all-around game. Similar in style to Scott Stevens, though obviously nowhere near as talented. However, he is on the first pairing defenseman in the KHL at the age of 21.
"Pashnin is a warrior, who goes all out in games and does everything it takes to win. He is a good influence on his teammates, because he has great character and is a solid, hard-working player... He acclimated very well on the Red Army team and to the big city. Since playing at the KHL level, he has really improved his intensity and quickness. His body-checking has become harder and he plays a stronger physical game. He is a very hard player to play against and he plays with a lot of confidence."
- Vladimir Lutchenko, the Rangers' Russian scout.
"He plays like a North American. I loved what I saw from him in the 2008 Canada-Russia Challenge series. The Canadian players came after the Russians, and this guy just gave it right back to them. He's just a real warrior."
- Gordie Clark in 2010.
"The KHL arenas have wider ice, and there's very little hitting, but Pashnin's game is a North American game, and that's why he stood out at Development Camp last year. The way he plays is very North American. Defenseman Mikhail Pashnin, the Rangers' seventh-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, celebrates the MHL championship he won with Red Army 2, the top affiliate of CSKA Moscow on April 22, just a few weeks before he turned 22 years old... He came here and he opened a lot of eyes"
- Gordie Clark in 2011.
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RW Andreas Thuresson
A two-way player with good size and an aggressive, physical game, but has limited offensive skills.
Could not find any quotes on him.
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G SCOTT STAJCER
Put up good stats behind a bad team. Good size and good at controlling rebounds, but needs to improve his positioning.
"We had him scheduled to go earlier in that draft, but our scouts read the draft and we figured we could maybe grab some other guys and still get Scott. In the end it doesn't matter where you get him. For a fifth-round pick he's got a heck of a shot at the NHL."
- Gordie Clark
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G CAMERON TALBOT
Goalie with good size on a weak team. Did for his college team what Lundqvist did in his early days: keep a bad team in the game, giving them a chance. Dominated at every level he played at, though he was always in rather weak places (OPJHL, College Hockey America). Almost defeated the top ranked Miami-Ohio while backstopping the very weak UofA team.
"He has size and the athleticism we like, and he was able to keep a very weak team competitive... I told our scout I expected them to get spanked in the game, but they won," said Clark. "They won it and got to go to the NCAA tournament, so I sent another couple guys in to watch him. They got beat in that second game, but in both games, they were in it... Benoit (Allaire) really likes him."
- Gordie Clark
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D BLAKE PARLETT
Offensive defenseman with good size. ECHL All-Star in 2011.
“A good defenseman has to be able to move the puck, whether it’s in transition, regrouping, breaking out or making plays under pressure. He does all those things, and those are often skills that I try to polish in young defensemen who come here. If you have a kid who shows up and has that element in his game, it’s a good plus.”
- Whale Assistant Coach J.J.Daigneault.
“I like the way he moves the puck, and he’s a strong skater, so that’s always helpful when you’re defending and can close the gap and take away time and space. He’s really poised with the puck; he doesn’t just throw it away, which is part of being a good player. And he makes plays that make a difference in the course of a game."
- Whale Coach Ken Gernander.
Going with Talbott. The kid has done phenomenally at every level he's played in. Playing for the last-ranked U of Alabama he almost defeated the #1 ranked Miami-Ohio. And that has been his story at every level.
Again, add Sam Noreau. He's a recent 5th round pick. McColgan got drafted the same round and he's gotten a spot 3 rounds ago. No way that Noreau shouldn't be there now.
what will be really funny is Pashnin didn't win this one lololol
Usually, the loser of the tiebreaker wins the next round, though I'm hoping that won't be the case here. I don't think the next Vladimir Denisov should be ranked in our top-20.
Notice that almost everyone defending Pashnin brings up the KHL draft and doesn't understand anything about the way the KHL draft works.
If we are going to be choosing low-end physical defensemen, then Blake Parlett is clearly a superior prospect. They were born 2 days apart, Parlett is bigger and stronger, and he's established himself as a very competent AHL defenseman, while Pashnin has been a bubble player for a struggling, non-playoff team in the KHL.
Put up solid numbers in the AHL last season. He could be a guy who is a career AHLer, but might be able to latch onto a 6/7 spot on some nhl team. Always like guys who had to pay their dues and are playing well in a league.
In the first poll that I conducted two years ago, we went all the way to #35. I thought it was justified at the time before we had just so many prospects.
A bunch of guys ranked after the top-20 are still seen as prospects:
21. LW Carl Hagelin
23. RW Dale Weise
24. G Chad Johnson
28. RW Roman Horak
29. C Max Campbell
31. D Mikhail Pashnin
35. G Scott Stajcer
Hagelin should be a good third liner and Weise should be at least a fourth liner. It's possible that one of the other prospects (most likely Horak) will make the NHL.
So I definitely think it's worth voting beyond the top-20 because we are still talking about (some) guys who will be players that are going to be either NHLers or at least long-time prospects on whom we won't give up for a while.
They're prospects, but does anyone care to vote between guys like Stu Bickel and Jason Missiaen? I think you should just go to 25, and then add on honorable mentions. No point voting past 25 IMO, as the difference between those guys is negligible.
He doesn't seem like a future NHL player to me. Didn't put up good numbers as an overager. He will likely be a decent grinder at the AHL level at most.
They're prospects, but does anyone care to vote between guys like Stu Bickel and Jason Missiaen? I think you should just go to 25, and then add on honorable mentions. No point voting past 25 IMO, as the difference between those guys is negligible.
Yeah, that's what I was going to do. At first I thought to go to the top 20, but then a couple of rounds ago I thought we still had decent prospects left over. So I figured I will look a couple of years back to see if we had any past-20 prospects who turned out to be decent, and we did have just that.
I think going to 25 makes sense.
After the top-25, the 5 players who made it into the poll, but didn't win any round will be "Honorable Mentions." All other prospects will be listed as "Rangers Property" because if someone can't even make it into the poll, he is probably not much of a prospect.
I will also list JAM and Kale Kerbashian as "Honorable Mentions with AHL contracts". Had Jam been signed to an NHL contract, I am sure he'd have been voted onto the list as one of the top-25 guys, and there's a substantial likelihood that so would Kale, or at least he'd have been in the poll and therefore got the right to be an Honorable Mention.
Thurreson quite easily, I actually have him and Weise around the same.
Not really.
1) Thurreson is a year older which matters at this key age. A 23 year old still has 1-2 years that he'll still be improving. A 24 year old has at most a few months of additional improvement, so he's really just putting icing on the cake at this point.
2) Weise's goals per game is almost the same as Thur's points per game. Goals vs Total Points.
3) Weise is also a little bigger and significantly tougher.
Sure, the difference doesn't seen enormous, but it never is when comparing a bottom-6 NHLer to a top-6 AHLer. Weise seems to me to be just better enough to be an NHL player, whereas Thurr peaked just below where he has to be to crack the NHL.
I really think people are underestimating Weise. He's very close: if he improves his skating and his fighting just a little bit, he'll be a valuable NHLer as good as Michael Rupp (smaller, but more skilled).
1) Thurreson is a year older which matters at this key age. A 23 year old still has 1-2 years that he'll still be improving. A 24 year old has at most a few months of additional improvement, so he's really just putting icing on the cake at this point.
2) Weise's goals per game is almost the same as Thur's points per game. Goals vs Total Points.
3) Weise is also a little bigger and significantly tougher.
Sure, the difference doesn't seen enormous, but it never is when comparing a bottom-6 NHLer to a top-6 AHLer. Weise seems to me to be just better enough to be an NHL player, whereas Thurr peaked just below where he has to be to crack the NHL.
You might be underselling Thuresson. He had 22 NHL games by age 22. Nashville fans say he was buried in the AHL this past season because they have an abundance of bottom six grinders as it is. Just like us with Weise.
Weise has been a better scorer in the AHL, but how will that scoring touch translate to the pros? I don't think it will. I think he, like Thuresson, will be a fourth line player always on the bubble going into camp each year.
I have no issue with Weise over Thuresson at this point, but I think in terms of NHL projectability they're extremely close in value.
