Speaking of DSP, Stephens just put up a nice article on his playoff performance and questions whether or not he will challenge the Ducks for a spot or stay in the OHL because he will be too young for the AHL.
DSP had trick in game 5 of OHL Final, prior to that 7 of his 11 goals had been go-ahead goals or game-tiers, too. They lost game 6, he had a goal late there to pull them within one. I am pretty sure that gives him the lead for all OHL players in the tournament, will need to double check.
Edit: tied for the lead as Mignardi also scored for Owen Sound.
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Danny Duberstein is good at two things ...
Speaking of DSP, Stephens just put up a nice article on his playoff performance and questions whether or not he will challenge the Ducks for a spot or stay in the OHL because he will be too young for the AHL.
The rankings are of relative strength, and I barely follow the Ducks prospects, let alone the prospects for the other 29 teams. As a result I have to respect the HF ratings. Being in the top ten is pretty impressive, particularly since a few years ago we were in the bottom half, and one of our first round draft choices (MacMillan) from that period has totally bombed out and another (Mitera) looks like he is about to come and go with no time on the big club.
Looking at the list of Duck prospects it appears to me that we will see at least two or three of these prospects each year, for the next few years. Certainly, the extra draft choices that the Ducks got from the Pronger trade have improved the prospect pool.
Mitera is just a kind of player that takes alot of time to develop. I saw him play in Michigan, plus minus a year to do his knee injury. I thought he had a good year in Syracuse, just off of reading what Crunch fans wrote about him.
There were a number of graduations all over the league and Anaheim had a very strong draft this past year. I imagine they will be high in the fall as well although obviously a lot hinges on the upcoming entry draft.
Mitera had a pretty rough year in Syracuse. He still wears a brace, I wonder if the knee injury has affected him long term. Seems like he lacks confidence out there from what I saw.
I think it depends on his status with the Generals, they may lose their entire top four defense (strength of their team this year pretty much) so if he comes back as an overager for them, why bother signing him now and starting the clock early?
If that doesn't happen, I'd expect him to be signed. He's exactly the kind of player Syracuse needs on its blue line and physically he's ready for the AHL.
I think it depends on his status with the Generals, they may lose their entire top four defense (strength of their team this year pretty much) so if he comes back as an overager for them, why bother signing him now and starting the clock early?
If that doesn't happen, I'd expect him to be signed. He's exactly the kind of player Syracuse needs on its blue line and physically he's ready for the AHL.
The issue is, if the Ducks don't sign him by June 1 they lose his rights all together. So he is able to sign as a free agent with any team.
My guess is he gets signed he certainly showed a toughness the team could use in the AHL.
I thought I read somewhere that Valentine might start the season being the top Dman on Oshawa? I would let him play as an overager down there if he is going to have that prominent a role.
The issue is, if the Ducks don't sign him by June 1 they lose his rights all together. So he is able to sign as a free agent with any team.
My guess is he gets signed he certainly showed a toughness the team could use in the AHL.
Ah, sorry I must have thought he was headed to that impasse next season. I imagine they will sign him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karacter
I thought I read somewhere that Valentine might start the season being the top Dman on Oshawa? I would let him play as an overager down there if he is going to have that prominent a role.
De Haan, Valentine and DeHart are all '90s or '91s, they were their biggest ice-time guys/producers on defense this year. They don't have other solid overage candidates that I can see. So it's possible they designate at least one of those guys, if it's Valentine he would have a ton of responsibility there.
I don't know that it's beyond the realm of possibility that he plays a lot in Syracuse. Clark has gotten a little better late in the year but overall their defense is in need of serious help, there will be plenty of opportunity for minutes there.
Reviewed some Crunch stuff (AHL/ECHL update coming soon), tape and interviews. Promising stints at the end of the season. Holland was pretty obviously a standout in his three games, also saw/heard positive things out of there regarding Schofield's smooth transition to the AHL level in his stint.
Sabres are about to purchase the Rochester Americans which leaves the window open again for a affiliation deal with Portland again I'm hoping. Time to dump Syracuse if this happens.
Ducks appear to be in the Top 10 of HF's Future Organizational Rankings. Good job, Murray etc etc etc.
Credit should go to Murray/Madden. Part of it has to do with the 2 extra picks from the Pronger trade.
I think a large other part of it has to do with the balance in prospects they have been drafting. Unlike say Burke who was a little more formulaic, Murray drafts kids with a range of strengths and deficiencies. That way in our prospect pool, almost anyone can find a guy they are excited with. For example, I'm not a fan of Holland because I don't believe in guys with motivation/compete level problems. But then he goes and drafts kids like Etem and Palmieri, which is the type of hard-working prospect that I do like.
Still top 10 is unexpected. Especially with the loss of guys like Sbisa, Fowler and Gardiner. And the fact that we have no goaltender (that had hurt us before).
Sabres are about to purchase the Rochester Americans which leaves the window open again for a affiliation deal with Portland again I'm hoping. Time to dump Syracuse if this happens.
I'm pretty sure I read there is no out clause from Portland though unless they're going for the enough money cures all wounds approach. Also not sure Portland would want the Ducks back as they know the Ducks will dump them as soon as they can move west again.
Does anyone have any updates on heed or Dahlstrom??? I keep hearin so much about Vatanen but not much at all about these other two. These guys worth the picks or what???
Does anyone have any updates on heed or Dahlstrom??? I keep hearin so much about Vatanen but not much at all about these other two. These guys worth the picks or what???
Both guys will have pretty steep development curves because of their size, the transition from Europe and other reasons unique to each of them. Those were covered in the European update and there's not much to say since then (neither guy was the Worlds or anything).
We won't see either one in North America for a while from the sound of things. I think Heed could wind up a career European, seems well-suited for their style and he's progressing reasonably well there. Dahlstrom has lost some development time with injuries and has been brought along at a cautious pace even when healthy.
Well nice to see something from the OCR nonetheless. Wouldn't have known the numbers myself unless I looked them up.
top 10 w00t
