Here's a little scouting report on Luke Kirwan, that also talks about some of the up and coming top hockey prospects for USA Hockey who attended the recent development camp over the summer, players like Denis Yan, Jordan Greenway, Jeremy Bracco, etc... are mentioned in this article as well.
Thatcher Demko committed to Boston College. Huge pickup for the Eagles in getting the best '95 American goalie. Demko also stated he's headed to BC in 2013. I guess he's on pace to graduate early (he's a HS junior) as he's a late '95 (thus 2014 draft eligible) and had previously stated he'd return to play for Omaha next year.
Should be interesting to see how this affects Chris Birdsall, a touted '96 goalie committed to BC.
Last edited by William H Bonney: 12-16-2012 at 04:07 PM.
Cam Askew, a touted '97 forward, also decommitted from Northeastern recently. Huskies just can't catch a break. With the way BC is rolling, he'll probably commit soon.
Cam Askew, a touted '97 forward, also decommitted from Northeastern recently. Huskies just can't catch a break. With the way BC is rolling, he'll probably commit soon.
Ugh I was just going to say, BC has essentially cornered the New England market for elite talent.
Not that I blame the kids. I'd probably want to play for York as well.
Thatcher Demko committed to Boston College. Huge pickup for the Eagles in getting the best '95 American goalie. Demko also stated he's headed to BC in 2013. I guess he's on pace to graduate early (he's a HS junior) as he's a late '95 (thus 2014 draft eligible) and had previously stated he'd return to play for Omaha next year.
Should be interesting to see how this affects Chris Birdsall, a touted '96 goalie committed to BC.
Birdie looked great last night vs the U18s. He stopped 28 of 30 and also all 3 shootout attempts.
Erne was ranked 1st amongst forwards in their rankings from last summer's festival. In their write up they admitted that they hadn't rated him as highly in the past because they feared he may have peaked early due to being physically mature from a young age. Guertler has actually dropped in their rankings over subsequent years.
It should be kept in mind that USHR lists aren't exclusively based on pro upside as much of their content is intended for college and junior scouting.
Erne was ranked 1st amongst forwards in their rankings from last summer's festival. In their write up they admitted that they hadn't rated him as highly in the past because they feared he may have peaked early due to being physically mature from a young age. Guertler has actually dropped in their rankings over subsequent years.
It should be kept in mind that USHR lists aren't exclusively based on pro upside as much of their content is intended for college and junior scouting.
Interesting on the "physically mature from a young age" part. I sometimes wondered if that was ever taken into account.
Here is video of the shootout with the U18s vs Cedar Rapids from Saturday. Birdsall stays very poised in net and stones Leblanc, Fasching, and Kelleher.
Askew is due to enroll at BU in the fall of '16 right now so it'll be interesting to see if he accelerates or not. He seems like he could be a high end NHL prospect so I'd imagine he'll have to do so if he's ever going to end up at BU.
Shane Gersich just committed to North Dakota. Big pick up for them, especially since his dad and uncles (Neal and Aaron Broten) all played for the Gophers.
Last edited by William H Bonney: 12-20-2012 at 07:23 PM.
I pulled this out of the u17 World Challenge - Players to Watch thread as I didn't want to carry on there since we're not really talking about this year's tournament.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeissFC
I'm not going to go into a ton of detail, but here's why I think I can make that statement.
Lots of top players are going the CHL route and it's not difficult to figure out who those guys are. Some have signed with WHL clubs already.
Zach Werenski, Troy Henley, and Dennis Yan are all expected to go the CHL route at this point. Who else? Other top '97s like Hanifin, Bracco, Aibel, Jackson, Kirwan, Tkachuk, White, Evers, Compuware kids, etc. are not expected to go to the CHL at this point from every indication I've seen. That doesn't seem like "lots" but they're certainly going to lose a couple of the top '97s.
The only "top" '97 I can think of signed to the WHL so far is Keoni Texeira. Who else am I missing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeissFC
Year two of the tender rule in the USHL has really stepped up the battle between NTDP v. 15 member clubs. Askew and Dello would have been NTDP locks and there are several other guys that are in talks with teams about tendering in the coming months.
I don't haven't looked into this at this point, but I've heard the NTDP is already holding spots for guys next season because of tender rule.
Has the USHL officially defined the relationship between the tender rule and the NTDP? I haven't seen anything but the USHL's site is notoriously poor on those kinds of things. Also, I remember when the NTDP rejoined the USHL that a lot of folks said the same issues would arise for the NTDP due to the futures draft and/or players that had already played games for a USHL squad and those ended up being unfounded. The rules aren't always the same for the NTDP.
The NTDP always offers (holds spots) for the top guys at this point and I'm sure Werenski, Hanifin, etc. already have offers. I don't think that's a new development but it may get ramped up if the tender rule does in fact work against them though. I've also heard Hanifin is a lock for the NTDP. They'll get top guys and they won't get some. It happens ever year. I'm not sure I would call a guy like Dello a lock for the NTDP, especially in a class as deep as high end as the '97s look right now on the back end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeissFC
I think a lot of players are seeing the writing on the wall that the NTDP benefits about 11 players and that's it. You look at guys like Josh Jacobs and Seamus Malone who have both benefited more this year by not ending up in Ann Arbor. Jacobs is playing top pairing minutes and has improved every time I've seen him this year. Kid could easily be a top sixty pick next June.
I think players have seen that for awhile. Some will ignore it for the pride of playing for Team USA, international competition, etc. but others will choose a different route like an Adam Erne, Nick Schmaltz, Shane Gersich, etc. Heck, even the NTDP has noticed that as they now try to structure a team when picking their players instead of just going after the best 23 kids they could as they did in the past. And I don't think that's necessarily a sign that the NTDP is on the decline - they've just better realized their operational goals. You certainly have a point that some of the guys like Malone and Jacobs are probably better suited going to another USHL team instead but I wouldn't really cite players the NTDP didn't want as reasons they're on the decline (not to say they're always accurate with their picks though). The NTDP should be able to find able players to play bottom six/bottom pair roles easier than they can find top end guys. When all the high end guys start turning down the NTDP then they'll be in trouble.
Re: William H Bonney's post-Not going to go into a ton of depth because I have some WJC and features to work on, but if I don't do it now I'm bound to forget
There are a lot of rumblings (more than I remember in prior years) about guys strongly considering OHL route. Obviously there's a lot of time between now and the USHL Futures, OHL Priority, and NTDP Eval Camp so we'll see.
Evan Sarthou signed with Tri-City. Yeah, just two signings thus far, but two pretty big signings already.
I don't know if the league itself has said anything about it, but it's obvious that after seeing the other member teams screwed by the NTDP this was something in place to give them a leg up on the NTDP. I talked to two different USHL scouts in depth about the tender rule (partially because I hate it, especially after seeing how much it has ruined the start of players' junior careers in the NAHL) and they both talked about it giving all the teams a leg up on the NTDP. Last year tenders weren't really signed until after the Evaluation Camp (If I remember correctly), but we've already seen three (two would have been locks for NTDP IMO) (we'll agree to disagree on Dello).
It depends what you define as "awhile". I would agree the NTDP has started to shift their structure, but I think a lot of that may have to do with the program not being held in such high regard as it was in the past. If the NTDP would have restructured as the way I think you are talking about, we wouldn't see guys like Connor Chathams leave every year. If they know their role (a guy like Andrew Copp at Michigan comes to mind), they should stick with the program. I think it's a lot tougher to do that type of structure with a team that is generally known as the best 16 and 17 year olds from the US...hopefully that makes sense.
At this point in the season, I'd think every player on that 17 team is happy with playing at the NTDP, but a lot of that may change as players get healthy. I also found it interesting that Dylan Larkin was centering the 4th line after playing a pretty prominent role early in the season on the team. Not sure what was up with that.
Going back to the shift away from the prestige of playing for the NTDP, look at the top draft eligible players the last two years in the USHL. The USHL is definitely not being carried by the NTDP in June anymore. Yes, most players did not turn down the NTDP rather they were cut, but people see the success/are going to see the success of guys like Taylor Cammarata, Luke Johnson, Gabe Guertler, Michael Brodzinski, Ian McCoshen this June and it's going to be even more apparent that the NTDP is not the only place to get exposure in the league.
Very little organization in this post and a lot of rambling, I know.
Shane Gersich just committed to North Dakota. Big pick up for them, especially since his dad and uncles (Neal and Aaron Broten) all played for the Gophers.
"We have it on good word that 97 born dual citizen (Russia/US) Dannis Yan will likely suit up for the NTDP next season, not the OHL..."
I wonder if their "word" would know if this is posturing to slide to a preferred team. Or how much they trust their source to know this isn't a leak for that purpose. Would be a huge pickup but screams posturing.
"We have it on good word that 97 born dual citizen (Russia/US) Dannis Yan will likely suit up for the NTDP next season, not the OHL..."
I wonder if their "word" would know if this is posturing to slide to a preferred team. Or how much they trust their source to know this isn't a leak for that purpose. Would be a huge pickup but screams posturing.
dont really know much about Dannis Yan. what kind of player is he?
"We have it on good word that 97 born dual citizen (Russia/US) Dannis Yan will likely suit up for the NTDP next season, not the OHL..."
I wonder if their "word" would know if this is posturing to slide to a preferred team. Or how much they trust their source to know this isn't a leak for that purpose. Would be a huge pickup but screams posturing.
I'd be a bit surprised if USHR passed along that info if they suspected it's posturing at all. It seems to me that given the fact Yan showed up at last summer's select festival and made the move to play in the US for this season that there's likely interest in going with the US program in the manner Galchenyuk has. Putting in a few years with the NTDP would reinforce that notion and potentially help his draft stock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbadbruins7
dont really know much about Dannis Yan. what kind of player is he?
He's a pure goal scorer. He's leading one of the top US U18 leagues in goal scoring as a 15 year old right now, which quite simply doesn't happen very often. He could develop into a high end NHL prospect.
Speaking of another interesting eligibility issue, apparently top '97 forward Daniel Sprong is an American citizen. He's spent most of his playing life in Quebec but is not a Canadian citizen. Hockey Canada invited him to the All-State All Canadian camp last summer despite this and there's talk he could be getting Canadian citizenship. I guess it seems he's a long shot to play for the US but you never know just what will happen over the next few years.
These wild citizenship issues are becoming remarkably common place all of a sudden.
I'd be a bit surprised if USHR passed along that info if they suspected it's posturing at all. It seems to me that given the fact Yan showed up at last summer's select festival and made the move to play in the US for this season that there's likely interest in going with the US program in the manner Galchenyuk has. Putting in a few years with the NTDP would reinforce that notion and potentially help his draft stock.
He's a pure goal scorer. He's leading one of the top US U18 leagues in goal scoring as a 15 year old right now, which quite simply doesn't happen very often. He could develop into a high end NHL prospect.
Speaking of another interesting eligibility issue, apparently top '97 forward Daniel Sprong is an American citizen. He's spent most of his playing life in Quebec but is not a Canadian citizen. Hockey Canada invited him to the All-State All Canadian camp last summer despite this and there's talk he could be getting Canadian citizenship. I guess it seems he's a long shot to play for the US but you never know just what will happen over the next few years.
These wild citizenship issues are becoming remarkably common place all of a sudden.
No surprise as the world becomes more and more globalized. Hockey is an international sport and you are going to have guys with multiple citizens. The US soccer team probably has more guys with dual citizenship than without. Even Kyrie Irving the #1 overall NBA player from 2011 is Australian and American
I'd be a bit surprised if USHR passed along that info if they suspected it's posturing at all. It seems to me that given the fact Yan showed up at last summer's select festival and made the move to play in the US for this season that there's likely interest in going with the US program in the manner Galchenyuk has. Putting in a few years with the NTDP would reinforce that notion and potentially help his draft stock.
He's a pure goal scorer. He's leading one of the top US U18 leagues in goal scoring as a 15 year old right now, which quite simply doesn't happen very often. He could develop into a high end NHL prospect.
Speaking of another interesting eligibility issue, apparently top '97 forward Daniel Sprong is an American citizen. He's spent most of his playing life in Quebec but is not a Canadian citizen. Hockey Canada invited him to the All-State All Canadian camp last summer despite this and there's talk he could be getting Canadian citizenship. I guess it seems he's a long shot to play for the US but you never know just what will happen over the next few years.
These wild citizenship issues are becoming remarkably common place all of a sudden.
Wow, if Sprong could commit to the US that would great. Would help offset the apparent Sean Day loss, even though they play different positions.
Have you heard any NTDP early commits? Are they putting a team in the World Youth Olympics again?
Wow, if Sprong could commit to the US that would great. Would help offset the apparent Sean Day loss, even though they play different positions.
Have you heard any NTDP early commits? Are they putting a team in the World Youth Olympics again?
It'd be nice as he seems to be a pretty high end player. Haven't heard anything beyond rumors regarding early commits nor have I heard anything regarding the Youth Olympics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by capswon
Sprong is not an American citizen, he is I believe of Dutch decent. As for the NTDP when do those invites go out and can you see who was invited?
Apparently his father is American and his mother is Dutch. If he's dead set on Canadian citizenship and will be able to get it within the next two years it might not matter either way.
Within the next month or two the NTDP's invitational camp should be announced and within a few months there'll likely be an announcement regarding the first commitments. The team probably won't be finalized until the end of the summer.
I thought that there was a dutch connection. Thanks for the info on the NTDP. It will be interesting on who gets an invite and obviously who makes the team.
I am almost certain if Yan joins the NTDP then it means he will play for the US I mean why wear the US jersey for a year or two only to suit up for Russia, wouldn't make much sense. Sprong btw is Dutch. But playing hockey in Quebec atm, don't know of any strong American ties.
