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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 7, 2020 3:17:18 GMT -5
A lot of potentially lost development time with a start that late, and the whole Provincial Minister stance on no bodychecking is nuts. Those kids cannot alter their game that much. Players spend way more time in close proximity when they are in a scrum or board battle. Body checks are over and done with quickly. 2 of the 3 Habs prospects in the OHL (Dichow and Mysak) are loaned to European clubs and playing. Only LeGuerrier is left in limbo. Going to affect the draft also For sure. The last draft was crazy without the benefit of playoffs in many leagues and the U18s. This year is a gong show already, with so many leagues starting at different times if they all get going at all. How the heck do you compare same age kids in such different environmental situations? Two year age groups in a row with developmental challenges against other year’s peers. I wonder what the long term implications will be. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 8, 2020 9:59:33 GMT -5
Gordin had been up with the VHL team, but not getting in the lineup. He was back with the junior MHL today and had an assist in a 2-1 win.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 9, 2020 10:15:49 GMT -5
Vejdemo returned to action this past weekend after missing a few weeks of action due to concussion protocols after that big open ice hit he received. He was held pointless on Friday, but had two assists yesterday.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 10, 2020 13:45:03 GMT -5
A little piece about one of the least known recent draftees..high schooler Jack Smith.
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Post by seventeen on Nov 10, 2020 16:47:07 GMT -5
I didn't realize that Jack Smith's cousin is John Doe.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 12, 2020 13:11:12 GMT -5
Northeastern has announced a hockey schedule!
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Nov 13, 2020 12:43:45 GMT -5
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 13, 2020 15:11:50 GMT -5
Hard not to cheer for this guy.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 13, 2020 15:16:48 GMT -5
Gordin holds of his check for the assist.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 13, 2020 15:20:09 GMT -5
Vejdemo with some nice work on the half wall on the PP. Over to Oilers’ Evan Bouchard for the PP goal.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 13, 2020 15:21:14 GMT -5
2 helpers for KK today.
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Post by Cranky on Nov 13, 2020 15:25:27 GMT -5
'Bout time! Kk should own that league.
I'm going to chalk it up as "disinterested" rather then "capable".
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 13, 2020 20:49:37 GMT -5
CC finally gets back into action. A secondary assist.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 13, 2020 21:36:57 GMT -5
After a false start that was postponed as the league sorted out its COVID protocols, the USHL is seeing some action tonight.
Jack Smith with his first USHL goal. Nice turnover. A little give and go. Really quick feet and nice shot.
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Post by seventeen on Nov 13, 2020 22:53:35 GMT -5
Gordin holds of his check for the assist. The thing you wonder about with Goldin, which is the same risk as for any big guy in a lower league, is whether his size is a big part of his game. That factor lessens or disappears at the NHL level. If he can overpower a guy like Weber, then he's a prospect. If not, just another Guillaume Latendresse, or less. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 14, 2020 12:06:45 GMT -5
Ylonen with some nice moves through traffic to set up a goal. #72 in black.
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Post by BadCompany on Nov 15, 2020 10:07:31 GMT -5
It's early of course, but Dylan Holloway is off to a quick start in proving that he does indeed have some offense to his game. Two goals in two games, playing as Wisconsin's top center. I wanted Holloway, and while of course we will never know, I have to think that given that we took a similar player in the 2nd round in Tuch that Holloway would have been on their radar. He, like Tuch, is exactly the time of player that is missing from the prospect pool; a big, tough, power-forward. Granted, the Oilers took him before we picked, so it's not like there is blame to be assigned here, and I do like the Guhle pick. In fact, I'm hoping that Guhle has a similar "oh I didn't know he had offense" start to the season as well. But Holloway is off to the start that we hoped Caufield would get off to.
Speaking of Caufield... I watched that first Notre Dame game. Again, one game, start of the season, etcetera, etcetera. But... I was not impressed in that one game. He got an assist, but it was a three foot chip pass to his center in the defensive zone, who then skated all the way down the ice, drew a whack of defenders and set-up the other winger for the goalie. See NWTHabs highlight above. It wasn't quite the equivalent of a goalie assist, but it wasn't far from it either. Otherwise, Caufield hardly ever carried the puck, and he spent most of the game trying to sneak into open areas in the offensive zone, waiting for a pass. I get that this is his game, find space, score goal, but if the puck doesn't come to him I found him to be largely invisible. Unlike Holloway, who was all over the ice (okay, I'll stop now). On a more positive note, our other Badger Jack Gorniak looked good. Not NHL good, but he was certainly noticeable. Skated hard, was involved, blocked shots, forechecked. Noticeable. Right now I would say that he's not likely to get a contract offer from the team, but who knows? He could have a late, Jake Evans type progression.
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Post by folatre on Nov 15, 2020 11:31:10 GMT -5
BC, I did not watch the game you are talking about, but based on the ones I saw last season I concur with your general assessment of Caufield.
I think in this day and age it is unreasonable to hold the kid's size against him. However, having said that, I believe that the similarities, say, between Caufield and Marty St. Louis or Gaudreau are not really there. St. Louis was a feisty burner on the wing who really drove play. Gaudreau, while not super fast or all that feisty, is another little guy who specializes in zone entries and breaking down defenders with the puck on his stick.
Caufield is not a little winger who drives offense. For me he's a finisher and that's about it. Now, there is nothing wrong with that per se because putting the puck in the back of the net is the most prized skill in a league like the NHL where the goalies are really good and the defensive systems take away so much. But I think it is probably not a bad idea to measure expectations for Caufield a bit. I feel good about his future in the organization but to be honest I would rate him a notch below a "can't miss" type prospect.
Holloway does indeed possess an interesting package with that size, speed, and positional versatility (centre or left wing). Luckily for Bergevin and Timmins, like you said, no one in Montreal will ever bother comparing Holloway to Guhle since the choice never arose on draft day. Bergevin and Timmins will probably not be with the organization five years from now when the verdict may start to be clear about whether Guhle is more of a difference maker than, say, Lapierre or Perreault but if that happens it will become a topic of conversation among Habs fans for a long time.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 15, 2020 19:39:32 GMT -5
Farrell had a good first game of the season, notching 2 PPGs and one assist.
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Post by Cranky on Nov 16, 2020 18:20:55 GMT -5
Any "special" attributes in junior league means squat. Monster size players, goal scoring specialist with no other attrbutes, players like that that have a one dimension attribute are questionable future NHLers.
Show me a great skater with above average hockey IQ and i will trade you a 7' defensman faster then you can pick up the phone.
We shall see if Caufield was worth the hype when he "fell" into our lap. I suspect that other GMs and scouts saw a one dimensional undersized forward. Sadly, it's probably true.
We shall see....but...
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 17, 2020 11:35:44 GMT -5
It looks like underperforming Swedish forward Olofsson will be leaving his SHL team where he has been moved to wing and is getting less ice time, to his old Allsvenskan team Timra. The start of this season has not been kind to Jacob, so maybe a change to a team where he gets to play a bigger role, albeit against weaker competition, will rekindle his game. Maybe.
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Post by GNick99 on Nov 17, 2020 12:41:34 GMT -5
It looks like underperforming Swedish forward Olofsson will be leaving his SHL team where he has been moved to wing and is getting less ice time, to his old Allsvenskan team Timra. The start of this season has not been kind to Jacob, so maybe a change to a team where he gets to play a bigger role, albeit against weaker competition, will rekindle his game. Maybe. is he the 2nd round pick we took the other year? We have drafted terrible in Sweden. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 17, 2020 13:13:08 GMT -5
It looks like underperforming Swedish forward Olofsson will be leaving his SHL team where he has been moved to wing and is getting less ice time, to his old Allsvenskan team Timra. The start of this season has not been kind to Jacob, so maybe a change to a team where he gets to play a bigger role, albeit against weaker competition, will rekindle his game. Maybe. is he the 2nd round pick we took the other year? We have drafted terrible in Sweden. Norlinder? |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 17, 2020 16:00:57 GMT -5
It looks like underperforming Swedish forward Olofsson will be leaving his SHL team where he has been moved to wing and is getting less ice time, to his old Allsvenskan team Timra. The start of this season has not been kind to Jacob, so maybe a change to a team where he gets to play a bigger role, albeit against weaker competition, will rekindle his game. Maybe. is he the 2nd round pick we took the other year? We have drafted terrible in Sweden. Yeah, in 2018. He was a good pick then, as he had really performed well and been an offensive catalyst for Timra getting promoted from the Allsvenskan to the SHL. He was decent sized, played centre, had good skating, and was responsible in his own end. He then suffered from injuries and stalled offensive development. He actually was playing well last season before his injury. Missing the WJC did not help either. Hopefully he can turn it around with his old team and more ice time and opportunities. They just lost two players who are under NHL contracts who are heading back to NA to start their quarantine in advance of training camps possibly in December. I know the Habs recently switched their Swedish scouts. He was the one was who along with Rockstrom found Norlinder. I figured they would go to Sweden again this draft with lots of good options with all those picks. |
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Post by seventeen on Nov 17, 2020 18:40:14 GMT -5
Interesting to look back and judge picks after they've had a few years to marinate. I thought the Habs had a very strong 2017 draft at the time and a year later. How does it look today? | Pick | Round | Player | 25
| 1 | Ryan Poehling
| | 56 | 2 | Josh Brook
| | 58 | 2 | Joni Ikonen
| | 68 | 3
| Scott Walford
| | 87 | 3 | Cale Fleury
| | 149 | 5 | Jared Tyszka
| | 199 | 7 | Cayden Primeau
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Poehling is still an unknown. There is value there, but he has to show something this season. Both Brook and Ikonen seem to have been affected by injuries, with Ikonen having the much harder time. Neither looks like they are they are going to make it, though the book isn't closed on either. WAlford was let go. Fleury was a good pick at that spot, #87. He is likely an NHL player, probably a solid 3rd pairing guy with marginal 2nd pair upside. Tyszka has been let go. The best pick, based on potential and how he has progressed, was our last pick, Primeau. Nothing was expected from him, but he is a Grade A goalie prospect. Overall, that draft has to be classed as an average result with the rating subject to change if Primeau becomes a #1 goalie and/or Poehling establishes himself. Three likely NHL players, with one being a potential difference maker, but that's a ways off.
We should do this each year. Preliminary results for 2018 are mixed as well. Those kids are only 20, though, so there's a lot of development to take place. Romanov looks like an excellent pick at 38 and Ylonen looks solid. We can't afford to miss at #3, however, and that is the elephant in the room. After that, maybe 1 or 2 guys might make the NHL. That's how it works, though. It's rare to have more than 2-3 guys from one draft be long term NHL players. And tougher to get a difference makers. That's why those top 10 picks are so important. Price, Galchenyuk, Sergachev and KK. Those are our top 10 picks in the last 15 years.
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Post by folatre on Nov 17, 2020 18:48:44 GMT -5
I concur with your assessment of Olofsson. He certainly has some attributes (size, skating, defensive awareness/ethic) that should make him a potential NHL player. But injuries have no helped and overall something seems a bit amiss about his development.
I remember seeing him play in the World Juniors a few months after the Habs drafted him and almost nothing about him offensively stood out in a positive way. I know that Swedish team that hit the ice in BC was not a vintage one and clearly Sweden lacked skilled difference makers up front that year. But still, I would say that is when I started thinking Timmins went with a safe pick rather than a targeting a kid with any real offensive upside.
Tampa always seems to know what they are doing scouting the Q. I am not claiming that I was campaigning to pick him, but in retrospect Fortier probably would have been a better pick in 2018 at #56.
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Post by Tankdriver on Nov 18, 2020 0:27:35 GMT -5
Yeah I am not a fan of picking sweedish and and Finnish forwards. I understand it is a way of stashing player away a few more years. I just find that it is hard to get a good read on them offensively. Everyone says those leagues are defence first leagues. I just keep having images of Jacob de la Rose, a 4th liner with limit offensive upside when they are drafted round 2 and later.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 18, 2020 9:12:08 GMT -5
Farrell will be staying the full season with Chicago Steel of the USHL now that the Ivies cancelled their hockey season. No hockey this year for Harvard, which he planned on joining once their hockey started up this year. At least he is playing.
A side bar is that, as a result, the annual Beanpot (Northeastern, BC, BU, Harvard) has been cancelled too. That would have been an awesome showing for Habs prospects with Harris, Struble, Tuch and Farrell all playing. Next year...
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 18, 2020 13:19:18 GMT -5
KK vs Ylonen, part II, today. Ylonen with some good shifts, but KK has two goals so far!
That is some nice sneaky deception on that second goal.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Nov 18, 2020 13:31:34 GMT -5
Leskinen also playing today. Nice snapper.
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