Shouldn't be terribly shocking considering Etem wasn't even named in the Hockey News top 100 prospects (to the best of my knowledge)
1 company makes a mistake because they base 80% of the ranking on WJC, how does this justify repeating the mistake...
Its fine, nobody gives Ducks prospects respect until the leave the Ducks (Tangradi, Schultz, Gardiner). If Etem was a Canadian team's prospect he would be hyped to the point of a top 10 prospect.
1 company makes a mistake because they base 80% of the ranking on WJC, how does this justify repeating the mistake...
Its fine, nobody gives Ducks prospects respect until the leave the Ducks (Tangradi, Schultz, Gardiner). If Etem was a Canadian team's prospect he would be hyped to the point of a top 10 prospect.
Etem's not nearly on the same level as Granlund, yet MiG didn't get an honorable mention either. It has nothing to do with "disrespect to the Ducks" and everything to do with the fact that there's significant concern whether Etem's play will be able to translate to the NHL level. Obviously his 4 games, 1 point at the AHL level isn't a sufficient sample to draw from, but it's not like he's proven he'll even make the NHL.
Just because THN messed that one up doesn't mean he isn't a top 50 talent. Granted he isn't going to upset Tarasenko, but 60 goals in a year deserves some credit...
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The fact that THN kept him out of the top 3 was proof that they put too much stock into the WJC.
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1 company makes a mistake because they base 80% of the ranking on WJC, how does this justify repeating the mistake...
Its fine, nobody gives Ducks prospects respect until the leave the Ducks (Tangradi, Schultz, Gardiner). If Etem was a Canadian team's prospect he would be hyped to the point of a top 10 prospect.
Maybe you guys should ensure that you have at least some notion of what you're talking about before writing? Every year there are people not just dismissing the FW ranking, but also pretending to know just what huge shortcoming or bias is preventing THN from seeing the light and sharing their hard-on for some prospect or other. And then it turns out they are clueless about the basics of how that ranking is compiled and hence what it reflects: The THN ranking is based on the rankings of ca. 20 NHL scouts, not on some biased THN office poll. It is more than justified to assume the result of that exercise is a reasonable approximation of the general judgment of the NHL scouting community at the time, and hence meaningfully reflects the reputation of a prospect within that community. Probably counts for a little bit more than Pete in Cleveland who's sitting in front of his keyboard and have managed to convince himself that only rampant bias or idiotic over-reliance on the WJC could possibly explain why his favorite prospect isn't rated.
As for Etem, he wasn't ranked that high last year either. Presumably for the reasons observers have been pointing out for years and which nearly pushed him out of the first round, such as an underdeveloped all-round game and limited decision-making. 60 CHL goals or not, he has never been regarded as a top-flight prospect and he isn't regarded as one now.
The Ducks, by the way, have several other of their porspects highly commended in the same issue. In fact, four of them are ranked ahead of Etem.
No HM for Baertchi? He was the best player in the CHL this year.
Yeah. Pretty seamless transition when he was called up for 5 games too. Not like he just looked good in those games, he potted 3 goals, but I guess even a HM would mean acknowledging the Flames have a worthwhile prospect!
I know, I'm heavily biased as a swiss, but a 2 PPG regular season is quite impressive. Add the 34pts playoff performance and I'd say it isn't THAT far away from "Best player in the CHL". I wouldn't say he was the best (Way too hard to evaluate across the leagues) of the entire CHL, but I'd say he has some strong arguments to be the best player of the WHL. Doesn't really matter, though...
