A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE TOP 20
The top 20 list this winter is a bear. Seriously. The top 5 were easy (Nail, Schultz!, Klefbom, Marincin and Hartikainen) but after that there’s a long list of higher picks underperforming, last year’s emerging talents playing like this year’s NP’s, and a couple of forgotten Finns posting some impressive numbers.
So, I’ve decided to pick this point in the conversation to remind you of what holds value on the Lowetide top 20. I hold “wide range of skills” dear, so a big man with good hands and foot speed will be favored over a player with fewer skills who is more of a finished prospect.
What does that mean? Well, this week I’ll be posting names 6-10 for this winter’s 20 and unlike the top 5 there has been a lot of movement. #6 first thing tomorrow.
I am excited
this is going to be great
Has anyone thanked Eric Tillman recently?
LT, could you remind us what your definition of a prospect is? No doubt you’ve told us in the past, but I’m forgetting. Just thinking about it since Paajarvi and Lander feel like they ought to be prospects. They’ve both been full-time NHLers then played themselves back to prospect status, but they’re both still young, so continuing to consider them prospects feels right. I presume they won’t be included, but you did include Hartikainen who is no longer Calder eligible (just barely).
Thanks, and enjoy the series!
JP: It is 50 NHL games, 40 for goalies. However, Lander is a special case in that the Oilers played him in 57 but he’s still clearly working on getting there.
Not eligible: Hall, Nuge, Eberle, Petry, anyone who has played 50+ NHL games. And then guys like Bumagin or Motin the organization clearly has no interest in. Hesketh. That Swedish guy Quist, he’s not eligible. But Arcobello is.
Here are all the players I considered:
Nail Yakupov
Justin Schultz
Oscar Klefbom
Martin Marincin
Martin Gernat
Teemu Hartikainen
Tobias Rieder
Tyler Bunz
Daniil Zharkov
Tyler Pitlick
Olivier Roy
David Musil
Colten Teubert
Mitchell Moroz
Dillon Simpson
Jujhar Khaira
Curtis Hamilton
Erik Gustafsson
Brandon Davidson
Taylor Fedun
Cameron Abney
Mark Arcobello
Tanner House
Ryan Martindale
Kristians Pelss
Alex Plante
Antti Tyrvainen
Chris VandeVelde
Phil Cornet
Toni Rajala
Travis Ewanyk
Kyle Bigos
Kellen Jones
Joey Laleggia
John McCarron
Samu Perhonen
Frans Tuohimaa
Cool, thanks.
I’ll go ahead and slot Paajarvi in at #5 and Lander somewhere later in the top 10 on my own “prospect” list.
LT:
Where can we see your pre 2007 top 20 prospects write-ups?
I’ll guess the next five, in order, are:
Pitlick, Rieder, Musil, Gernat
Really not sure how you (or how you should) slot the goalies.
There is a lot of drop off after the top 5, and maybe no more than one or two half-decent players. IMO.
Bob: A few top 20s from pre-2007
http://lowetide.ca/blog/2007/11/oilers-top-20-2003-2007-through-the-past-darkly.html
Kris11: The 2010 winter list was the best
http://lowetide.ca/blog/2010/12/2010-winter-top-20.html
My guess is Jujar? 8 points in 10 games with Michigan Tech. Quite impressive for a college rookie. Michigan Tech is in the WCHA, along with other top-flight Divison 1 programs like Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan, and Denver.
Mitch isn’t even on pace to match his goal-scoring from last year, and barely exceeding PPG.
Blacque is probably right.
Me iz dumb.
Wow, that 2010 list is something.
Looking at those two lists, it’s interesting how both Gilbert and Petry weren’t particularly highly touted until they arrived in the show. I guess they both got docked for being older prospects, but it’s kinda surprising that even when they were playing well in the AHL it wasn’t clear they’d be decent NHLers. Then they turned into top 4 NHL guys real quick. Let’s hope that Fedun can follow Gilbert/Petry rather than Chorney…
Also, I think Gernat is up next. He’s not dead, just injured.
jp,
I can’t speak to Gilbert early on but LT just didn’t like Petry very much back in those days. Kind of Smid’s half brother….
I’m biased but I’d second Blaque Jaque with Khaira in the top ten.
Khaira just seemed to get better every game, and encouraging thing was that his growth curve seemed to be limitless during his time here in PG.