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Ranking Prospects - 2017-18

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It's a tie! ....which basically means the principal author just really wanted Woll on the list.
 
Look, I'll say it. I see all the time people coming up with top 5 or top 10 lists and including 12 or 13 as "ties" because it's "too hard to choose". This is a matter of fundamental moral decay of wishy-washy entitledness. Make hard choices, or make it a top 11 or top 6 list. Have a tie-breaker. There are no rules here, you're writing a list on the internet. 

Society is crumbling people. Crumbling.

Also, Sparks seems like an odd guy to make it.
 
I'm not very high on Sparks either, but going by the body of work and visibility available... who do we put over Sparks?

Dakota Joshua
Fedor Gordeev
Frederik Gauthier
Ian Scott
JD Greenway
Jesper Lindgren
JJ Piccinich
Kasmir Kaskisuo
Keaton Middleton
Martins Dzierkals
Nicolas Mattinen
Nikolai Chebykin
Nolan Vesey
Pierre Engvall
Ryan McGregor
Ryan O'Connell
Tobias Lindberg
Trevor Moore
Vladimir Boblyev
Vladislav Kara

I am bolding my options over Sparks.
 
herman said:
I'm not very high on Sparks either, but going by the body of work and visibility available... who do we put over Sparks?

Dakota Joshua
Fedor Gordeev
Frederik Gauthier
Ian Scott
JD Greenway
Jesper Lindgren
JJ Piccinich
Kasmir Kaskisuo
Keaton Middleton
Martins Dzierkals
Nicolas Mattinen
Nikolai Chebykin
Nolan Vesey
Pierre Engvall
Ryan McGregor
Ryan O'Connell
Tobias Lindberg
Trevor Moore
Vladimir Boblyev
Vladislav Kara

I am bolding my options over Sparks.
Click to expand...

I would have included one of the 2017 draft picks whose existence we're certain of, like O'Connell or McGregor. Their age alone means that their ceiling should be higher than a guy like Sparks', even if they are a long, long ways away. And if I had to put in an older guy I would have went with Gauthier there. I think he's closer to becoming a 4th line NHL centre than Sparks is to becoming a NHL back-up.
 
herman said:
I'm not very high on Sparks either, but going by the body of work and visibility available... who do we put over Sparks?
Click to expand...

I'd add Greenway to your choices. Or you go with Kara and then, boom, you're back down to 25.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I would have included one of the 2017 draft picks whose existence we're certain of, like O'Connell or McGregor. Their age alone means that their ceiling should be higher than a guy like Sparks', even if they are a long, long ways away. And if I had to put in an older guy I would have went with Gauthier there. I think he's closer to becoming a 4th line NHL centre than Sparks is to becoming a NHL back-up.
Click to expand...

I think Gauthier has a more difficult path to the NHL than Sparks, but they're in similar boats (probably nots). Pretty easy to get temporary 4th line centres for cheap on the market, where as Sparks will be called upon anytime Andersen or McElhinney get injured. Probably not hard to outplay McElhinney either.

We're going to get to see a bit more of Greenway (maybe), as he was added to the WJSS US roster. We have a lot of runway with him.
 
23. Eemeli Rasanen

The 'first' of two 2017 draft picks to make the cut of this year's T25U25 is 2nd rounder Eemeli Rasanen. Since I ran out of names I recognized after Montreal took Josh Brook towards the last third of the 2nd, I have no complaints about the team stocking up on RHD with heavy shots, and a huge frame that is still being filled out. As mentioned in the article, this is a template pick but with much greater promise than the previous ones in 2015, 2016. It'll be exciting to see how he shows next season after getting prime minutes with the Frontenacs and more time with Robidas and Underhill.
 
I'm watching the IIHF Swe vs. USA game and for the life of me I have no idea what Liljegrens number is. The names aren't on the back of the sweaters.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

 
Bender said:
I'm watching the IIHF Swe vs. USA game and for the life of me I have no idea what Liljegrens number is. The names aren't on the back of the sweaters.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

#2
 
22. Yegor Korshkov

This is around the area where I expected him to be, visibility bias and injury last season being the primary reasons. AHL next year, and will probably make a mid-season jump as he can play any wing and PK. Skates easily, passes well, shoots often, and hits a lot. Would be a great first forward option on the forecheck.
 
Bender said:
I'm watching the IIHF Swe vs. USA game and for the life of me I have no idea what Liljegrens number is. The names aren't on the back of the sweaters.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

He's the good one.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Bender said:
I'm watching the IIHF Swe vs. USA game and for the life of me I have no idea what Liljegrens number is. The names aren't on the back of the sweaters.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

He's the good one.
Click to expand...

Yeah goal and assist. Not too shabby. Lot of talk about Dahlin as well.
 
21. Miro Aaltonen

I think he'll be very good in the AHL. I don't think he'll be much in the NHL, but I don't mind being pleasantly surprised. Sort of a gapstop stop-gap for Adam Brooks.

Edit: what is words?
 
20. Dmytro Timashov

Timashov has taken a bit of a tumble in the rankings:
a) rookie Marlie, limited ice time
b) didn't find consistency until late in the season (which is normal)
c) influx of pro players into the visible pool

Keefe said as much (but with more detail) at the locker cleanout:

Q: Who stands out on the roster as someone who improved maybe the most out of everybody?

Keefe: We talk about improvement from the start of the season. The guys I look at are Timashov and Moore. Those are two young first-year players that early in the season really struggled. A lot of it was through lack of opportunity. All of a sudden, going from top players on other teams to now the reality of playing lower in the lineup and really having to struggle for your minutes and compete for your minutes and be good defensively, I think a lot of that caught them off guard. They were not close, frankly, but they stuck with it and when injuries happened and they got more opportunity they showed they were ready for it and took advantage of those opportunities and were better players because of that down the stretch. When Kapanen, Leipsic and these guys come back in the lineup, they get shuffled down a little bit and I thought they were better players because of that. I think they leave now with a much better understanding of what it takes to play every single day and to be reliable and competitive. Those guys stand out in terms of improvement. I know Timashov ends up out of the lineup late in the playoffs here and a lot of that is attributed to Carl Grundstrom and his arrival and how he played for us, but I think both players leave here with a better sense of what they need to do.
Click to expand...

I think he has a good angle on a roster spot being one of our better LWers in the system, with JvR/Komarov exiting. As his defensive approach blossoms, he'd be a killer option on Kadri's flank as he's a low, heavy presence with playmaking aplomb. He also has experience with Nylander and they meshed well. He'll be vying primarily against countrymen Johnsson (more seasoned), Grundstrom (more of a shooter), and later on, Korshkov (he's still at least one season away).
 
18. Kerby Rychel

I didn't post this, but I made a list of all the remaining ones and threw a ranking together just going by gut, and Rychel was precisely the next one on it. Which is to say, he's meh for an NHL lineup, and if no one takes him off waivers and he has a great attitude, he'd be a small upgrade on Martin.
 
For additional funs:

Auston Matthews
William Nylander
Mitch Marner
Morgan Rielly
Connor Brown
Kasperi Kapanen
Connor Carrick
Travis Dermott
Timothy Liljegren
Andreas Johnsson
Jeremy Bracco
Adam Brooks
Carl Grundstrom
Josh Leivo
Nikita Soshnikov
Calle Rosen
Andreas Borgman
Kerby Rychel

Italicized is the area of the list I'm most murky about.

I snugged up the Swedish defensemen with our fringe NHLers because they haven't had much visibility, so they'll still likely get ranked behind the players that are falling on the list (Soshnikov, Leivo -- buoyed only by 13 pts in 10 gp), and be surpassed as a group by the up and comers that we're most excited about (ceiling!): the players that rightly should graduate from the Marlies and Liljegren, mixing the current achievements with projection and weighting accordingly.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to see Liljegren in the top-5, just behind Rielly. I think he'll definitely be ahead of Carrick and Dermott.
 
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