Just one man's opinion and it's behind the Athletic paywall, but I usually like his stuff.
Players not eligible are those who played "significantly" last year, which is a little subjective, but removes players like Dahlin, Tkachuk, Kotkaniemi, Svechnikov, Chytil, etc.
To summarize for teams where BBI has fans (to the best of my knowledge)
Hughes #1 overall (seeming by a lot).
MTL: 3 (Suzuki #15, Caufield #25, Poehling #50)
NYR: 3 (Kakko #2, Fox #10 - he thinks Fox is a top pair D, Kravstov #36)
NYI: 3 (Dobson #21, Wahlstrom #45, Wilde #46)
PHI (I think someone here likes PHI) 3:(Cam York #24, Morgan Frost #32, Joel Farabee #35)
NJD: 2 (Hughes #1, Ty Smith, #40)
TOR: 1 (Rasmus Sandin #42)
COL (for Davisian): 3 (Makar #4, Bowen Byram #8, Alex Newhook #28)
Sorry Tony, No Capitals. But you have a cup so whatever.
No Bruins, no Penguins and no Lightning.
He did mention about 100 players could have been in the 30 - 50 range (including K'Andre Miller).
Link - (
New Window )
I think he'd probably be there, but he only went to 50.
Just because he's local and probably gets a lot of Av's news and maybe even follows them to an extent.
I feel like i know a shit load more about the Bruins than I ever wanted or cared to know because I live here and my kids are fans.
The Isles are obviously very high on Sorokin. IMO one of the main reasons they added Varlamov was to help convince Sorokin to come over next year when his KHL deal expires. I think he is going to be a star once he arrives next year.
So I wouldn't read into it.
I think Carter Hart made it last year, so I don't think he's immune to including them, but Hart was a 20-year old phenom.
If Spencer Knight isn't on here (and he's not) wouldn't think any goalie should feel bad about not being on it.
So I wouldn't read into it.
I think Carter Hart made it last year, so I don't think he's immune to including them, but Hart was a 20-year old phenom.
If Spencer Knight isn't on here (and he's not) wouldn't think any goalie should feel bad about not being on it.
Not reading into beyond what Wheeler said about Sorokin in his pre-amble:
Quote:
so could have been 4. Isles system is in good shape to support the NHL team with Dobson likely phasing in somehow this year, fingers crossed on Sorokin next year when his contract expires, and most of their interesting F's/D set to be in the AHL this year. If they could just find a scoring upgrade with their cap room.
The Isles are obviously very high on Sorokin. IMO one of the main reasons they added Varlamov was to help convince Sorokin to come over next year when his KHL deal expires. I think he is going to be a star once he arrives next year.
I think there's definitely some truth in that, but bigger than Sorokin I think they were trying to lure Panarin with Varlamov since they don't have any other russian players (same as they were rumored to be in on BOB expect obviously a lot cheaper). They all the same agent as well - Panarin, BOB, Varlamov, Sorokin (Paul Theofanous). Panarin really was such a perfect fit for what the Isles need. Huge kick in the nuts.
Quote:
goalies made the list.
So I wouldn't read into it.
I think Carter Hart made it last year, so I don't think he's immune to including them, but Hart was a 20-year old phenom.
If Spencer Knight isn't on here (and he's not) wouldn't think any goalie should feel bad about not being on it.
Not reading into beyond what Wheeler said about Sorokin in his pre-amble:
Quote:
The age eligibility created a problem for one player in particular: 23-year-old goaltender Ilya Sorokin. Sorokin remains one of the top goalie prospects in the world after a .940 season for CSKA. He was included on my 2018 list. And while I could have used a different age cutoff for goalies than players, in the interest of simplicity and continuity in my ranking each summer, he was not made eligible for this year’s ranking.
I just meant in general - not one goalie on the list.
I just meant in general - not one goalie on the list.
Right but last year Sorokin was 1 of 3 on his list and he specifically spelled out that the other 2 dropped out due to graduation (Hart) and just getting passed over (Samsonov) while Sorokin could have been on the list if he hadn't aged out. I don't think it's a stretch to take that to mean Sorokin is his top G prospect currently and may have been the 1 goalie on his top 50 had he not been 23.
Wheeler has consistently liked Bouchard more, had him 7th pre-draft last year, and about 20 spots higher in his top 50 so he's just sticking by his eval. He could be right. He moved Dobson up almost 30 spots from last year's rank so while he's a little lower on him than others it's not obscene. The consensus has him somewhere between 10-20 overall so he's not far off that range. I suspect Pronman will have him closer to 10 since he's been higher on Dobson even going back to last year but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. Both think he's one of the best young D not in the NHL yet.
If you had access to read the comments I think you'd see almost every top 50 prospect is expected to be an impact player or better.
And he's tiered things too that you can see in the article but i couldn't copy. Hughes and Kakko pretty much a notch above everyone. that a couple tiers basically with most players in them.
It's a data point, not an outcome.
But I like Wheeler's work.
If you had access to read the comments I think you'd see almost every top 50 prospect is expected to be an impact player or better.
And he's tiered things too that you can see in the article but i couldn't copy. Hughes and Kakko pretty much a notch above everyone. that a couple tiers basically with most players in them.
It's a data point, not an outcome.
But I like Wheeler's work.
100% agree, I mean what makes Kakko the #2 overall prospect ahead of a guy like Maker? It's his opinion and I think he did a pretty solid job with this list.
If you had access to read the comments I think you'd see almost every top 50 prospect is expected to be an impact player or better.
And he's tiered things too that you can see in the article but i couldn't copy. Hughes and Kakko pretty much a notch above everyone. that a couple tiers basically with most players in them.
It's a data point, not an outcome.
But I like Wheeler's work.
Agreed. It's funny with prospect lists we all get hung up to some degree of placement, meanwhile with established players (think about something like the NFL100 list every year) we all realize how subjective it is and that at the end of the day they are all good players. 1 year Landon Collins could be in the top 10 of that list, other years he's off it altogether. There's no exact science to how players end up producing excellent seasons in any sport and usually lots of factors are out of their control (coaching, role, supporting cast, etc).
It's just a good thing to have players who have talents + production that consistently stands out from their peers. Some will work out as expected, some will overachieve, some will underachieve. As you said the specific rankings are just a speculative data point, not an outcome.
Also keepers are hard to predict, so I won't question no Shesterkin
He could be a top 10 pick next year.
And Spencer Knight is the best positional goalie and puck handler I've seen since Price.
neither could pan out, that's how hard IMO it is to predict goalie success.
Thanks for sharing pj.
Thanks for sharing pj.
Not sure. I didn't think so, but this guy knows better than I do.
I always thought of him as a lesser McAvoy, but clearly a good player.