Over the course of the next 30 days, I'll be doing a review of each NHL team's prospects (playing in the OHL) from the past season, in addition to an outlook on their future. I'm calling it 30 teams in 30 days.
Originally I was posting each review on the team boards, but I figured it might find an audience here too, for people looking for info on their favourite prospects.
Really enjoyed reading your thoughts on Rakell. Didn't get to hear much of him other than the WJC. Glad to see how well he has improved his offensive game without breaking away from how good he is defensively.
Very interesting to see how highly you regard Mahalak and Schmitz from Carolina... and how relatively "down" you are regarding Austin Levi. I really liked what I was able to see of Austin and thought he would have been a good fit for Team USA last year. As always, great discussion points here and some really nice insight.
Very interesting to see how highly you regard Mahalak and Schmitz from Carolina... and how relatively "down" you are regarding Austin Levi. I really liked what I was able to see of Austin and thought he would have been a good fit for Team USA last year. As always, great discussion points here and some really nice insight.
It's not that I'm down on Levi. I've always liked him as a prospect and a player. It's just that I think he's going to take some time to develop in the AHL. He'll have a big adjustment period I think, especially in handling the opposing forecheck and being effective in zone coverage (as I alluded to in the article). I still think he's probably a future NHL defenseman, just not any time soon.
Schmitz is not as good of a prospect as Levi, but he needed to be applauded for the progress he made as an overager. As I've said a few times before (I believe to you when you asked about Schmitz), I don't really know where he fits in as a pro. He's a well rounded defenseman, but he's a tad undersized. And none of his attributes as a player are what I would consider well above average. I'm sure he'll be starting in the ECHL, so we'll see how he handles things there.
Couldn't agree more with you're assessment on Brandon Saad. This guy was an absolute monster this year and proved to everybody that they made a mistake letting him fall to the second round. I wasn't all that impressed with him in his draft year but wow, what a turn around. This guy was a man amongst boys out there most nights.
Couldn't agree more with you're assessment on Brandon Saad. This guy was an absolute monster this year and proved to everybody that they made a mistake letting him fall to the second round. I wasn't all that impressed with him in his draft year but wow, what a turn around. This guy was a man amongst boys out there most nights.
Nice to see somebody admit as much around here lol...
Keep up the good work Brock. Always like reading your stuff.
Good write up on Jack Campbell. Thats the way his career has looked to me too up until this point. I dont know if also the trade to the Soo had something to do with it as well. They underperformed this past year.
Jack Campbell really is an enigma. If I didn't think it was impossible, I'd swear there were two people pretending to be Jack Campbell: the mediocre goalie who suits up in the OHL, and the elite goalie who shows up in the WJC.
