International Scouting Services Top 15 for 2004

[Patty Roy]

www.hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=7000&mode=threaded&order=0

1. Alexander Ovechkin LW 6’2" 214 09.17.85 DYNAMO
2. Evgeni Malkin C 6’3" 185 07.31.86 METALLURG
3. Lauri Tukonen RW 6’2" 198 09.01.86 ESPOO BLUES JR.
4. Andrej Meszaros LD 6’2" 195 10.13.85 TRENCIN DUKLA
5. Robbie Schremp C 5’11.5" 200 07.01.86 LONDON
6. Cam Barker LD 6’3" 214 04.04.86 MEDICINE HAT
7. Alvaro Montoya G 6’1.5" 193 02.13.85 U. of MICHIGAN
8. Rostilav Olesz C 6’1.5" 204 10.10.85 HC VITKOVICE
9. Andrew Ladd LW 6’2" 200 12.12.65 CALGARY
10. Wojtek Wolski LW 6’3" 202 02.24.86 BRAMPTON
11. Drew Stafford RW 6’2" 200 10.30.85 NORTH DAKOTA
12. Marek Schwarz G 6’0" 180 04.01.86 SPARTA PRAHA
13. Boris Valabik LD 6’6" 210 02.14.86 KITCHENER
14. Ladislav Smid LD 6’3" 200 02.01.86 LIBEREC HV
15. A.J. Thelen LD 6’3" 205 03.11.86 MICHIGAN STATE


Some interesting rankings....Schremp at #5, Meszaros at #4, Valabik at #13 ahead of Thelen...no Picard, Chipchura or Radulov in the top 15!

Like Bozo said, this ones gonna be wide open past the first 4 or 5 selections...

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Chip chippery
Chip chippery
Chip chip chur-ah!
18 is as lucky
As lucky can be

Intresting that the Montoya and Schwarz have managed to stay in the the top dozen among virtually all rankings. *If* one of them should be available at #18...

Valabik. Sure he's BIG and he racks up the PIM, but I don't know...

Hmmm, Meszaros ranked the highest I've seen. Wouldn't mind to hear Bo growl out his name.

[seventeen]

This is the kind of draft where AS and Timmins can really stand out. Easy pickins at first and then having the 30th pick may be no worse than the 8th. If your scouts are worth a darn.

[franko]

Savard did it with the Sens . . . hope he can continue the magic.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

They think highly of Valabik and they aren't put off by Schremp's juvenile antics.
We will get a good potential player at 18, but not necessarily better than the players currently in our pipeline. We always think more highly of these kids before they actually play a game in the AHL. I wouldn't trade our proven AHLers to move up a few spots.
Schremp, Valabik, and Graham. All three are a few years away, and a lot can happen in three years. Adding great talent and size to our prospect list is not a bad thing as our current prospects list a lot of good kids under 6' tall.
Gainey has shown he can find good third line players like Langdon, Dowd and Begin without having to use draft choices and big signing bonuses to get them. Let's shoot for the stars!

[Bob]

Habs_fan_in_LA said:

I wouldn't trade our proven AHLers to move up a few spots.

I wouldn't either. It's amazing how many junior 'stars' disappear once they hit the pro ranks.