Good things are abrewin'...

[turnbuckle]

In the Q. Reminds one of the old days, when the Habs had prospects in the top 10 in QMJHL scoring on an annual basis.

Here are the updated stats (after tonight's PEI game), and the Hab prospects rule the roost:

AD Daoust, Jean-Michel Gat 17 11 18 29
C * Crosby, Sidney Rim 13 14 13 27
C Guenette, F-P Cap 12 15 8 23
AG Stewart, Danny Rim 13 10 13 23
AG Lambert, Michaël PEI 11 7 15 22
C Urquhart, Cory PEI 11 10 11 21
C Talbot, Maxime Gat 13 4 17 21


Three of the top six scorers...not too shabby. All three have been pleasant surprises this season.

Granted, Stewart's stats have been padded playing with Crosby, but he's scored more than a few goals without Crosby's aid. He's looking like a darn good fourth round pick.

Urquhart and Lambert are leading the Rocket to respectability; the team is well above .500 so far - (7-3-1). Lapierre is shutting down the big guns on other teams as he works towards his long-term projection as an in-your-face checking center. He's not putting up gaudy point totals, but that's not his role either.

Meanwhile; Kastistsyn keeps lighting it up in the Russian second division, Locke is leading the OHL in scoring once again, O'Byrne is adjusting nicely to to college life, Flood ( a defenceman) is leading his team (the Petes) in scoring and fellow rearguard Korpikari is receiving regular minutes in the Finnish Elite League at the ripe ol' age of 19.

It's far too early for a stamp of approval, but it appears that Savard and his scouting team have hit another home run at the draft.

I believe the Habs now have a stable of young players (25 and under) that should keep this team competitive for the next decade:

With the big team:

Ryder
Garon
Markov
Ward
Bulis
Ribeiro
Hainsey
Hossa
Higgins

Top prospects:

Komisarek
Plekanec
Perezhogin
Kastitsyn
Urquhart
Stewart
Lambert
O'Byrne
Lapierre
Korneev
Korpikari
Ferland
Locke
Balej
Milroy
Beauchemin
Flood
Archer

At least ten of the above prospects are projected to play in the NHL at some point. Perhaps that total will only be seven or eight, but the fact remains that the Habs have built a solid prospect base thanks to some solid drafting in five of the past six seasons:

1998 produced Chouinard (which got us Lapierre this past draft), Ribeiro, Beauchemin, Markov and Ryder.

2000 produced Hainsey, Hossa, Balej, and Eneqvist.

In 2001 we added Komisarek, Perezhogin, Plekanec and Milroy.

Last year it was Higgins, Ferland, Lambert and Korneev, and as, stated above, this year's crop looks pretty impressive as well.

I'm the first to admit that three or four years ago, after the Habs were out of the playoffs, I was almost hoping for the team to tank so that they'd get a higher pick in each round of the draft.
The team was in desperate need of rebuilding the farm system, and despite the instability of two management changes, the scouting department forged on to produce a group of prospects that, IMO, very few other NHL teams can match.

Messrs. Mondou, Dorion, Berglund, Ruel, et al deserve more credit than they've been given.

[MPLABBE]

Excellent post. I really feel that if you can get 2 solid NHLers out of each draft on average you are gonna be in good shape for a long time. It appears the Habs since 1997 could very well average that if not better. Kudos to the scouting staff.

[montreal]

Add Halak is the 2nd rated goalie in his junior league with some very impressive numbers, although it's just juniors. Plekanec is leading the Dogs in scoring with 4 pts, tied with Gratton. Balej is 2nd with 3 pts.

[franko]

Drafting--a success of past generations--slipped nosedived fell off the charts for a time--too long of a time. Nice to see things back the way they should be.

[Forum Ghost]

And with Andre Savard able to focus directly on scouting and developing players, it should only be getting better.

[StickHandler]

One could argue that we have too many prospects and not enough spots for all of them to flourish. Is it possible to get a 2nd AHL team?

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Nice work, Grant.

Glad to see Lambert picking it up this season. He had a very nondescript rookie camp. I expect those weren't sweet nothings that were whispered into his ear before he was sent packing for PEI. Keep pushing, Michael!

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

StickHandler said:

One could argue that we have too many prospects and not enough spots for all of them to flourish. Is it possible to get a 2nd AHL team?

One could also argue, outstanding quality, vs. mediocre quantity.

[StickHandler]

Habs_fan_in_LA said:

One could also argue, outstanding quality, vs. mediocre quantity.

In terms of young hockey prospects, I believe quality stems from quantity. Look at all the NHL stars today... A great deal of them were not top-10 draft selections. The more talented players you have in the system, the better the chances of finding a Hejduk (drafted 87th) or a Demitra (227th).

[MPLABBE]

And with a new financial era about to happen in the NHL, a team with lots of good prospects should have an advantage when it comes acquiring solid players with bigger salaries since some teams will likely be looking to go with cheaper players. The good organizations are able to determine which one of their prospects are likely to not reach their potential and deal them for something good (see Detroit, Colorado, NJ among others as examples of this). Let's not forget, prospects do not all pan out..but they are assets that can be used.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

StickHandler said:

In terms of young hockey prospects, I believe quality stems from quantity. Look at all the NHL stars today... A great deal of them were not top-10 draft selections. The more talented players you have in the system, the better the chances of finding a Hejduk (drafted 87th) or a Demitra (227th).

You are absolutely right. We have the depth on the team and in prospects. We never know which ones will blossom (Luc Robitaille) and which ones will wilt (Doug Wyckenheiser). I still would like a Crosby, Lecavalier, Thornton, Lafleur, Perrault GILBERT, Forsberg, or Gretzky to build around with a couple of supporting power forwards. The only guy in the organization who could fall into that category is Corey Locke. (correction: players don't fall into that category, they work their way up and Corey works hard) Urkel, Ribs, and Komo may become very very good, but only Locke has the intangible to become great.

[StickHandler]

Habs_fan_in_LA said:

You are absolutely right. We have the depth on the team and in prospects. We never know which ones will blossom (Luc Robitaille) and which ones will wilt (Doug Wyckenheiser). I still would like a Crosby, Lecavalier, Thornton, Lafleur, Perrault GILBERT, Forsberg, or Gretzky to build around with a couple of supporting power forwards. The only guy in the organization who could fall into that category is Corey Locke. (correction: players don't fall into that category, they work their way up and Corey works hard) Urkel, Ribs, and Komo may become very very good, but only Locke has the intangible to become great.

Living in the Ottawa area, I've had the opportunity to see Locke play a few times and I like his skill set. However, I can't help but be sceptical that he'll be a great NHLer. The reason is simple: he's small and his skating isn't anywhere good enough to compensate for his lack of size.

IMO, the player that might become the Habs' next player to build around is Kastsitsyn, not Locke. Time will tell...

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

StickHandler said:

Living in the Ottawa area, I've had the opportunity to see Locke play a few times and I like his skill set. However, I can't help but be sceptical that he'll be a great NHLer. The reason is simple: he's small and his skating isn't anywhere good enough to compensate for his lack of size.

IMO, the player that might become the Habs' next player to build around is Kastsitsyn, not Locke. Time will tell...

Please help me with this one.
How does a guy who is small and slow manage to dominate the OHL in scoring? He doesn't just lead the league, he ran away from it last year.
He has drive to succeed and overcome his difficiencies, but as I remember Junior hockey, there are a lot of headhunters who would love to squash the little guys who have more talent and get more press than they do.
I'm not calling Locke -Gretzky or even Crosby, but there were a lot of guys who wanted to flatten those two and ended up just watching them. In some respects it's harder for a little guy to succeed amongst the goons in Jr. hockey than in the NHL against mature married millionaires who want no part of unnecessary injuries, fines and lawsuits. Locke reminds me a lot of Ribeiro. A Jr. scoring sensation, small stature, outstanding skills, arrogant attitude and drive to succeed at every level.

I may put too much emphasis on success as a Jr. as a predictor of NHL success, but right now that's all we have to go on with Locke.

A couple of years from now I'll be touting Crosby the way I do Ribeiro, Hudler and Locke. I would give up a lot to get the #1 pick in two years.

Could we package our #1 next year for someone elses #1 in 2005 along with Brisebois, Traverse and our extra parts. It could be worth a #3 thrown in. I would even throw in three years of #1's for Crosby. We have a lot of potential in the minors right now and could afford a big risk/reward.