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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Aug 1, 2018 9:11:03 GMT -5
Nice quote from Sweden's World Junior coach, on Jacob Olofsson. From Corey Pronman, in the Athletic. For the record, the rest of the article talks about some other Swedish prospects, and it isn't all sunshine-up-your-skirt quotes. He seems to really like Olofsson. CP: The other one is Jacob Olofsson (MTL), who was the top junior player in the Allsvenskan. He had an interesting season, somewhat up and down. Monten: He was very good every time I had him in November and in the pre-tournament games in December. I still don’t know if I made the right call not to put him on the final team. My feeling is he should have maybe been on that team. I know he was up and down. He had an injury at the Under-18s. I know a lot of scouts had issues with him before the draft. His club team went up a division, he scored I think eight game-winning goals. It was a surprise for me he didn’t get picked earlier. CP: What stands out the most to you about him? Monten: His hockey IQ. He’s so smart, he’s big, strong, he always ends up on the right side of the puck. I think a lot of NHL teams are going to feel down the road we made a bad call. CP: I know Montreal is very excited about him. Monten: They’re going to have a great player. That would certainly be welcome ... Cheers. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2018 9:27:15 GMT -5
Thanks for posting that BC. I read the whole article and was surprised that this is the first that I heard that Olofsson was playing with an injury at the U18s. That might explain why his regular season and playoffs with Timra were impressive but his U18 was underwhelming and likely hurt his draft stock as a lot of draft lists saw him going early in the second.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2018 9:52:57 GMT -5
Appreciate the effort that went into that list, NWTHF ... not sure I have the knowledge on these guys to evaluate them, but I'll try to respond to a few later ... Cheers. When you are out in these neck of the woods we can discuss a few of these guys over some nice cold non-Molson/Coors beverages!  We have a lot more prospects now, so there are a few that I really know very little about first hand. But I do research what I can about the ones that I don't know that well. I also was lucky enough to have seen games of 7 of our most recent draft crop prior to the draft, so at least have some viewings to match up against what others who have seen them lots are saying. I have gone back at watched some of their games post-draft as well to focus on their play. I expect I am going to pull up a game or two of the Czech Republic team at the World Championships to see the two defenders in action as I have only seen them in summer scrimmages against kids at the Habs Development Camp. Pretty meaningless viewings in the big scheme of things, but you get a hint of mobility and hockey IQ. The real test is against real competition. TSN did show a number of NCAA games last season, so I am hopeful they do the same again this year. I was able to see a number of games with our prospects that way. This will be my easiest way to see Harris and Gorniak for the first time in game situation assuming their teams are being shown. I understand Northeastern might do free streams of their home games again this season, so that is good to watch Primeau and Harris. RDS did show Laval Rocket games last season, but I took RDS off my cable package since the team was so bad and the Habs regional games were blacked out here anyway. I may look at either getting RDS back or streaming those Rocket games this year, as it should be a better product and there will be a few new guys that I would like to see in action. I also watch a lot of the CHL on Sportsnet games and attend WHL games live here. With at least four prospects in the Dub this upcoming season (it would be five if Fleury is not playing in Laval this fall), I also get some games live with our prospects. The 2019 draft is a good one for the Dub as well, so I will be watching a few of those guys with interest. There are streams for European leagues, but they vary in quality and accessibility and cost. I tend not to watch those games, but might think about it given our prospects in Europe this upcoming season. Fortunately, most of them should be at the WJC and thus available on TSN. If not for work, family, and other life priorities, activities and hobbies, I am sure I could watch more!! For now I merely dabble. |
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Post by blny on Aug 1, 2018 10:09:21 GMT -5
Great write up NWT. Nice find with the article BC. Further cements what seems to be a vg pick.
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Aug 1, 2018 10:57:25 GMT -5
Appreciate the effort that went into that list, NWTHF ... not sure I have the knowledge on these guys to evaluate them, but I'll try to respond to a few later ... Cheers. When you are out in these neck of the woods we can discuss a few of these guys over some nice cold non-Molson/Coors beverages! Thanks very much, NWTHF ... please let me know what I can bring ... I'll be in your neck of the woods August 12th and I'll be there for most of the month ... will be missing the Ivan Hlinka tournament, but I also see Edmonton will be hosting that tournament again in 2020 and 2022 ... I keep forgetting about these two guys because a lot of my focus has been on the prospects that have been drafted over the past two years ... if they're anywhere near Jakub Jerabek's level then it will be good for the club ... Well, you're dedicated to the task and it's certainly appreciated ... it's often one-stop shopping for me when I look for info on prospects ... Cheers. |
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Post by seventeen on Aug 1, 2018 13:54:44 GMT -5
CP: I know Montreal is very excited about him. Monten: They’re going to have a great player. Was Monten the same guy hyping Arvid Henriksson? Yes, I'm joking. There's no connection. No one hyped Henriksson, except Swedish scout Christer Rockstrom (who has retired). |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2018 14:22:44 GMT -5
Was Monten the same guy hyping Arvid Henriksson? Yes, I'm joking. There's no connection. No one hyped Henriksson, except Swedish scout Christer Rockstrom (who has retired). Henriksson was a 7th round pick out of a junior league in Europe. A decent flyer with a pick that nobody expects has much of a chance to pan out. He has size and decent mobility, but has really fallen from grace as he currently has no deal to play with a team for next season yet. Nothing to see here!! Rockstrom is still around from what I can tell. He was very involved in the Olofsson pick and was even on stage when Kotkaniemi was picked...dude at far left.  |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Aug 1, 2018 15:26:32 GMT -5
"I had Lidström as an idol growing up and if he was playing I would choose that game. Now I follow P.K. Subban a lot. I am not the same kind of player though, but he is an amazing guy." - Arvid Henrikson
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2018 7:39:57 GMT -5
I appreciate the ranking, NW. My top ten would look almost identical. The rest of it seems trickier because there are grown men (age wise and physically) like Moravcik, McCarron and Valiev and then there are true kids. That is the trickiest part. Ranking players where the age variance is up to 6 years (and these are significant development years) is hard. I just gave it a whirl. I agree that after ten there can be a lot of variance with all those players. Agreed. He did nothing wrong this past year, it is just that his development went sideways. That is not what you want to see in a draft plus one season. He was picked ahead of both Fleury and Tyszka, both of whom had positive development years and improved. Thus I dropped him until he shows something in terms of upwards trending. He is still young and only one year removed from his draft, so he is hardly a bust yet; however, he does need to show something this season I think. The Habs do have to make an ELC decision on him by next summer, so it is a show-me year for him. Walford is another of those TT picks where he picks a guy either out of nowhere or quite ahead of where he is ranked. Walford is the latter. TT then usually goes on post draft about how the guy was under scouted or else another team was after him, so they had to pick them or else risk losing him. This year it was Romanov, although that pick is a huge risk because the Russian was picked miles ahead of any ranking and it was with a high second with a lot of really solid prospects on the table. Really solid. TT needs to start winning a few of these types of picks in my opinion to make me a fan of when he does this. I am not there yet. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2018 9:26:43 GMT -5
Thanks very much, NWTHF ... please let me know what I can bring ... I'll be in your neck of the woods August 12th and I'll be there for most of the month ... will be missing the Ivan Hlinka tournament, but I also see Edmonton will be hosting that tournament again in 2020 and 2022 ... It is too bad you will just miss the Hlinka. A few of the top prospects for 2019 will be missing because they are in Kamloops at the Summer Showcase right now battling out for a spot on their U20 teams for the next World Juniors (Hughes, Kakko, etc.). Weird timing for the two events being so close to each other. I guess this is the start of the official scouting season for NHL teams as most of the top 2019 prospects that are healthy will be at one or the other of those two summer events. The "big" name missing for Team Canada is Alex Newhook. He was a surprise cut yesterday from the team. It is too bad as I was looking forward to seeing him live. It is always good to see a kid playing in Junior A (he plays in the BCHL) matching up against top players in his age group. How he fares in a best-on-best tournament is a really good gauge compared to watching him dominate in the BCHL. TSN starts its tv coverage of the Summer Showcase today. We went from 6 prospects playing down to two now (Olofsson and Primeau), so it is a lot less exciting for Habs prospect watching than it originally looked to be. The WJC in December should be a good one though. SWE plays USA this afternoon, so both our prospects should be playing head to head. SWE (Olofsson) vs USA (Primeau) TSN 4:00 pm EDT, 1:00 pm PDT Canada plays Finland tonight in prime time. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2018 9:55:39 GMT -5
Olofsson's goal from Tuesday's game at the Summer Showcase. Not the greatest video, but it is summer time!! Filming a game live off the big screen is very artistic. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2018 14:54:04 GMT -5
Confirmed that both Primeau #31 and Olofsson #18 will play today. Primeau is the starting goalie and Olofsson is the top line centre.
TSN - starts shortly for anyone lucky enough not to be stuck at work!!
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Post by folatre on Aug 2, 2018 20:33:17 GMT -5
I appreciate the ranking, NW. My top ten would look almost identical. The rest of it seems trickier because there are grown men (age wise and physically) like Moravcik, McCarron and Valiev and then there are true kids. That is the trickiest part. Ranking players where the age variance is up to 6 years (and these are significant development years) is hard. I just gave it a whirl. I agree that after ten there can be a lot of variance with all those players. Agreed. He did nothing wrong this past year, it is just that his development went sideways. That is not what you want to see in a draft plus one season. He was picked ahead of both Fleury and Tyszka, both of whom had positive development years and improved. Thus I dropped him until he shows something in terms of upwards trending. He is still young and only one year removed from his draft, so he is hardly a bust yet; however, he does need to show something this season I think. The Habs do have to make an ELC decision on him by next summer, so it is a show-me year for him. Walford is another of those TT picks where he picks a guy either out of nowhere or quite ahead of where he is ranked. Walford is the latter. TT then usually goes on post draft about how the guy was under scouted or else another team was after him, so they had to pick them or else risk losing him. This year it was Romanov, although that pick is a huge risk because the Russian was picked miles ahead of any ranking and it was with a high second with a lot of really solid prospects on the table. Really solid. TT needs to start winning a few of these types of picks in my opinion to make me a fan of when he does this. I am not there yet. NW, I am very supportive of the approach predicated on going for the skilled, higher upside type kids in the second and third rounds and even more so when the club has multiple picks in those rounds. You follow the W closely and I really do not to any extent, but watching some video clips of Walford he does not look like a diamond in the rough from a skill perspective and he does not look to me like a defensive stalwart who is a pain in the rear to play against. It is hard to know, he is still young for a d-man so maybe he takes a noticeable leap forward this year. In terms of the present and near term future, the left side of the Habs' defense is not comforting when one thinks about who the vets are and what the ceilings for the under the age of 30 guys probably are. Basically, Mete and Reilly are the only guys that deserve patience and frankly I am not sure I see the whole package to project either of those two as guys who will ever excel playing 23-24 minutes. It really feels imperative that either Romanov or Harris pan out because Walford looks like a long shot and there is no one in Laval who profiles as more than a bottom pair or fringe NHLer. Fortunately, I think the organization is in much better shape on the right side whether or not all of the hard miles and injuries ever allow Weber to be a #1 d-man again. Petry likes Montreal and he is a good player with plenty left in the tank. Juulsen is a guy that already made enough of an impression on me that I feel certain he can have a 10 year NHL career and my only open interrogation is whether he can be a second pair guy for a winning Montreal team. I really like Fleury and if Brook can avoid injuries he looks like a nice prospect too. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2018 21:38:26 GMT -5
Folatre, the prospect depth on the left side has numbers but none that scream guaranteed top two pairings quite yet. When you look at Reilly, Mete, Tyszka, Valiev, the two Czechs (Sklenicka is only 21 and has ready played three years vs men and is mobile), Harris, Romanov and Walford...I guess we hope a few turn into NHL regulars. We still need a LHD that can play top line minutes. At this point, I don’t see any of those guys being there.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 6, 2018 21:51:56 GMT -5
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 7, 2018 12:52:15 GMT -5
Sounds like Brook is one step closer to a full recovery from his injury that left him off the ice in the Summer Showcase (likely a precaution). Tim Hunter is head coach of both the WJC team and Moose Jaw, so I am sure that he wants to start the season in the WHL with a healthy Brook after last year's rookie camp injury that held him out for a while.
Brook's big competition on the right side at the WJC selection camp in December should come from younger guys Noah Dobson and Evan Bouchard. Those three on the right would be very solid for Canada.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 7, 2018 17:36:59 GMT -5
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 9, 2018 14:00:13 GMT -5
Romanov gets some playing time in CSKA's KHL preseason. The KHL has a long preseason (I think they mentioned on TSN during the Summer Showcase that it runs about 7 weeks.). I still think he eventually spends this season split between the junior league (MHL) and the second league (VHL). CSKA is a pretty deep team with lots of veterans to knock the teenagers down a rank or two.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 10, 2018 10:36:35 GMT -5
Romanov getting more icetime alongside Alexey Marchenko, the ex-Red Wing (and short time Leaf). Young Alexander is at least getting good exposure alongside a returning regular.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 10, 2018 10:41:22 GMT -5
Kotkaniemi also getting some pre-season action in today with his Finnish club team. Unlike his rookie season last year at wing, they have him slotted at centre today.
For folks at home really wishing to stream this game...here you go. It is on now. I am not watching, but he is wearing a goalie number!!
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Post by seventeen on Aug 10, 2018 16:34:34 GMT -5
Sweden vs Russia in Hlinka semifinals. Sweden looks slow. A step behind. Wouldn’t have put it past Putin to drug the Swedes. They looked much better vs Canada.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 10, 2018 17:42:41 GMT -5
Sweden vs Russia in Hlinka semifinals. Sweden looks slow. A step behind. Wouldn’t have put it past Putin to drug the Swedes. They looked much better vs Canada. Still shocked this high-flying Russian team has not scored yet after 40 minutes. |
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Post by seventeen on Aug 10, 2018 18:54:20 GMT -5
Sweden vs Russia in Hlinka semifinals. Sweden looks slow. A step behind. Wouldn’t have put it past Putin to drug the Swedes. They looked much better vs Canada. Still shocked this high-flying Russian team has not scored yet after 40 minutes. I had other things to do, but taped the rest of the game. Came back in time to see the last 2 minutes which is when most of the scoring took place. Always happy for Putin to have a bad day. |
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Post by seventeen on Aug 10, 2018 18:54:58 GMT -5
Update on Kotkaniemi from first pre-season game.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 11, 2018 1:14:23 GMT -5
Controversy at the Hlinka. Did CAN tie it up on time or not? In the rink, it seemed they did. No idea that it was being questioned so much on tv.
This is not an IIHF event. It also does not have video replay since the small rink in downtown Red Deer that they used is basically a community rink. They did not play at the Rebels’ top notch WHL rink. They, of course, have video replay capacity at Rogers, but they cannot apply it to one rink and not the entire games at the other rink.
I have watched all four CAN games, and this was by far the most tentative, nervous and poorly executed game. You forget these are 16-17 year old kids (and some 15 on other teams). The raw skills, and raw mistakes that go with it is what to expect with this age group. You see the kids that should progress. You see potential. You see big blunders too. #2 on CAN defence was brutal. Yet Tourigny kept playing him. This is also about development.
Anyway, not sure how I was getting Mrs NWT downtown for a SWE USA final of kids. Right or wrong, our kids play for the big prize. Maybe they will remember to relax and play their game again.
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Post by folatre on Aug 11, 2018 8:20:42 GMT -5
Nice, enjoy that final.
I was watching on television and I thought even after seeing it a handful of times via replay that the puck was off Cozzen's blade before 0.0; well, maybe I need glasses.
The strange thing was that the officials seemed to use the replay from the television feed to reverse the original no-goal decision on the American's first goal.
Maybe the officials were not 100 percent of the protocol that had been agreed upon?
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 11, 2018 12:51:35 GMT -5
In both situations, all four on ice officials huddled and talked about it for a while before coming to their conclusions. That last goal was split second close. I have finally seen the tv replays. When they showed them on the big screen, they showed time remaining on the clock.
What they cannot take away was it was a heck on an exciting game. Same with the first CAN-SWE game this week. Hopefully we are in for another today.
Still shocked that the Russian offence dried up yesterday, but SWE does have solid goaltending and D. A few of those Russian forwards and Swedish D will be in demand next draft.
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Post by seventeen on Aug 11, 2018 13:52:35 GMT -5
I thought that was definitely one of Canada's weaker games. Not to take anything away from the US, but Canada kept giving them PP after PP, from really dumb plays, usually because they muffed a simple execution. On the US' second goal (Robertson on the backhand off the faceoff), the faceoff would never have taken place if Bowen Byram hadn't whiffed on a simple pass around the boards on the previous shift. It seems that pairing had a tough day. Byram was no where near his usual self. I'm guessing much of the team was 'too' psyched up for the game. It's a fine line to be up and yet not overly excited that the adrenaline kicks in too much. I also thought Canada'a goalie was inconsistent. Great saves one moment and not so good at others.
Maybe it's just the purist in me, but I've never liked those "lacrosse" goals. There seems to be something immoral about them, like kicking the puck in. I don't think hockey was ever intended to be a game where the puck is stuck to the stick. I wonder if they'll ever consider making those types of goals (where a player is 'carrying' the puck) illegal. I appreciate that it takes a lot of skill to do that at game speed, but I still don't like it, no matter who's doing the scoring
That was a tough call at the end. One doesn't know which clock was being used by tv or if it was even the official game clock. Either way it was a 10th of a second. Frankly , I think Canada is a much better team than the US, who are missing all their USNDTP players at the Hlinka, so I'm not displeased we're moving on.
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Post by folatre on Aug 11, 2018 22:22:46 GMT -5
Canada is certainly in control now. That bad start seems like a distant memory. Well, Sweden is not the second most talented team in the tournament, though I like Raymond and Holtz looking ahead to 2020 prospects.
One would have to think Podkolzin from Russia has now kicked down the door for a top 10 ranking. Is this kid interested in coming over to play for Medicine Hat or is he staying place in Russia for another one, two or even three years?
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Post by seventeen on Aug 11, 2018 23:03:23 GMT -5
Canada is certainly in control now. That bad start seems like a distant memory. Well, Sweden is not the second most talented team in the tournament, though I like Raymond and Holtz looking ahead to 2020 prospects. One would have to think Podkolzin from Russia has now kicked down the door for a top 10 ranking. Is this kid interested in coming over to play for Medicine Hat or is he staying place in Russia for another one, two or even three years? One perspective: Podkholzin put the Russian team on his back several times in the Hlinka. When they needed a goal badly, he came through. He's really strong on his stick, like Mark Stone, but he has a lot more speed than Stone  . Picks corners too. Interesting how things can change. Jack Hughes may still be the #1 guy because he's a centre, but there are other talented players available next year. Lose for Hughes, or Podkholzin, or Dach or Krebs or Farinacci. Why do I keep thinking Farinacci should wear #5, or 8 or 13 or 21?  I thought the turning point today was when Tourigny changed goalies after Sweden's 2nd goal. In hindsight I wonder if there was a lack of confidence in Maier. He wasn't consistent in the previous game against the US. Canada seemed to turn it up after the change. |
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. Picks corners too. Interesting how things can change. Jack Hughes may still be the #1 guy because he's a centre, but there are other talented players available next year. Lose for Hughes, or Podkholzin, or Dach or Krebs or Farinacci. Why do I keep thinking Farinacci should wear #5, or 8 or 13 or 21? 