Welcome to the Dark Side Minions: The Top Draft Prospects'14

[ClamRussel]

As soon as we have a coach who will give Kassian a legit shot on a top line we'll see his offence flourish. He's got a very decent shot and is already perhaps our best playmaker not named Hank. For that reason alone he'd work well w/ the Twins, create room for them, do the dirty work, cycle w/ them & protect them. He'd also do well w/ Kesler in he could BE the setup man 17 needs. Wingers who are setup men don't grow on trees and are invaluable for a shooter like Kesler. Down the road he could be laying the sauce for Shinkaruk or whoever we land at 6.

[Island Nucklehead]

As soon as we have a coach who will give Kassian a legit shot on a top line we'll see his offence flourish. He's got a very decent shot and is already perhaps our best playmaker not named Hank. For that reason alone he'd work well w/ the Twins, create room for them, do the dirty work, cycle w/ them & protect them. He'd also do well w/ Kesler in he could BE the setup man 17 needs. Wingers who are setup men don't grow on trees and are invaluable for a shooter like Kesler. Down the road he could be laying the sauce for Shinkaruk or whoever we land at 6.

I agree that he's got all the tools, but I worry about his conditioning and mental make-up to play a top-6 role consistently. He was playing great in a depth role this year, and if that development continues he should be able to solidify a top-6 role. The biggest obstacle will be his conditioning and maintaining his awareness. If he can't keep the feet moving and the brain working at a high level for that 16-18 minutes/night he will be less effective.

He definitely should be on the PP, though.

[ClamRussel]

As soon as we have a coach who will give Kassian a legit shot on a top line we'll see his offence flourish. He's got a very decent shot and is already perhaps our best playmaker not named Hank. For that reason alone he'd work well w/ the Twins, create room for them, do the dirty work, cycle w/ them & protect them. He'd also do well w/ Kesler in he could BE the setup man 17 needs. Wingers who are setup men don't grow on trees and are invaluable for a shooter like Kesler. Down the road he could be laying the sauce for Shinkaruk or whoever we land at 6.

I agree that he's got all the tools, but I worry about his conditioning and mental make-up to play a top-6 role consistently. He was playing great in a depth role this year, and if that development continues he should be able to solidify a top-6 role. The biggest obstacle will be his conditioning and maintaining his awareness. If he can't keep the feet moving and the brain working at a high level for that 16-18 minutes/night he will be less effective.

He definitely should be on the PP, though.

Maybe CoHo can get him invited to Roberts' summer training slumber party.

[Island Nucklehead]

Maybe CoHo can get him invited to Roberts' summer training slumber party.

I'm sure Roberts would benefit Kass, but it really depends on how much training Kassian wants to do vs. crushing beers at the lake with the boys.

[Diehard1]

Ritchie is much more polished - I don't know who said he was a project like Kass but they are wrong. He's likely not ready for the league yet but that's mostly because he needs work on his conditioning, not his skills as much.

Guess we will see - still Ritchie as my pick assuming the top 5 stay as is, followed by Nylander who is looking very good at the u18s. Ehlers and Virtanen are the next two and there's some distance in my mind.

I said that, usually w/ power forwards like this it takes longer to arrive at their potential than pure skilled forwards. It takes patience for proper development, it's not a criticism. Kassian needed to work on his conditioning as well, his skills were always there. Coaches wanted a more responsible error free game from him which is reasonable. Do you see Ritchie as sound defensively? Can he step in at 20? How effective would he be playing w/ men as a 19 or 20 yr old? What I was getting at was I saw him as a player who might take a few years to hit his stride. Kassian looked pretty damn good in junior as well, he's starting to look like that in the NHL consistently at 23. Most online opinions are based on limited tv or highlight videos. You've seen Ritchie multiple times so you'd have better insight on him than most.

I've seen them both play in junior in person. Different players, Kassian was essentially a skilled goon - fought, went out of his way for big hits, but never seemed to be the best player on his team. You could see how much bigger her was than everybody else on the ice but I wasn't all that enamoured with him. This was in 2010 when he was with the Petes.

Ritchie I've only seen live once, the rest on tv. He makes much more of an impact, to me looks like a guy who carries his team as the best player by a fair margin, but he does it in a skilled way. To me, he's a skilled player who fights where as Kassian was the opposite. Ritchie looks even bigger than Kassian did, an ox on skates. He definitely has more power in his stride than Kassian did at the same age, not sure he will ever be there in top speed given his size but when you're 230 you don't need to have that much top end speed. His acceleration and lateral movement are very good for a guy his size.

As for his defence, I didn't notice it that much mostly because I wasn't paying particular attention to it. He seems to know where to be but like any young player I'm sure he's going to have to work on it. He does seem to coast at times which I think is mostly a conditioning thing, will probably need a year more in junior before he's ready for a shot at the roster. Maybe even a year in the AHL, depends on how his game matures but the talent is definitely there.

[olpaddy]

Yeah I'd grab Fleury, we could use some depth on D prospects

That's a good point...

[Diehard1]

Hey paddycakes, if we do that rumoured trade deadline deal with Anaheim, snagging Ottawa's first (10th) who are you taking? With the presumption that Nylander, Virtanen, Ritchie and Ehlers are gone by then?

I like McCann as well. Smart player, good offensively and plays both ways. Also like what I hear about Adrian Kempe, the big forward out of Sweden.

My guess is it's much more likely we obtain a later 1st, perhaps in the 20s, in a potential Kesler trade. If that's the case I like Robby Fabbri, not stop motor and great skills but is small. Same for Kevin Fiala.

It all depends on who the pick is at 6 - a big forward allows you to go many different ways, otherwise you might be picking somebody with size either in the 20s or in the early second round at 36.

[Chef Boi RD]

Yes to Kempe and yes to McCann. Kempe, like Nylander, apparently is looking pretty good at U-18's. McCann, scored in the last game for Canada.

If it comes down to Ehlers and Nylander if I'm going all in on skill, I'm taking Nylander.

This is a real tough decision, I like Virtanen, the physicality is there but I have concerns for his hockey intellect, puck possession and using his linemates. He seems to like making like David Booth and Taylor Hall when he gets the puck, play without thought and ignore teamates. The game today is all about puck possession and playing well as a unit which takes a fair bit of brains.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Nucks shocked us and selected Nylander.

[rats19]

Mock drafts have been saying nylander all along for Vancouver..

[Chef Boi RD]

I'm hoping for Claude Lemiuexs kid with our 36th or the giant Hunter Smith who is a pretty decent player and scrapper. Smith is Cassels linemate in Oshawa. I'm sure the Canucks scouts have seen a lot of him. Could be like a Tom Wilson type.

With the way Fiala is playing at the U-18s would not surprised to see him go top 15

If the Canucks do a Pens/Kesler trade getting their 1st pick that puts us in Lemiuex, Smith, Fiala territory

[Chef Boi RD]

Mock drafts have been saying nylander all along for Vancouver..

A lot of scouts say he is the most skilled player in this class, Reinhart, Bennett included.

[Lancer]

Mock drafts have been saying nylander all along for Vancouver..

A lot of scouts say he is the most skilled player in this class, Reinhart, Bennett included.

skilled + small + soft + most of his stats playing in 2nd-teir leagues in Sweden = recipe for first-round failure. You look at the playoffs this year and years past, and this kid will get pulverized into the ice before he can think of a dangle. Let him go to Nashville or some place where not much is expected of him or the team.

[Chef Boi RD]

Mock drafts have been saying nylander all along for Vancouver..

A lot of scouts say he is the most skilled player in this class, Reinhart, Bennett included.

skilled + small + soft + most of his stats playing in 2nd-teir leagues in Sweden = recipe for first-round failure. You look at the playoffs this year and years past, and this kid will get pulverized into the ice before he can think of a dangle. Let him go to Nashville or some place where not much is expected of him or the team.

Reports are that Nylander looks like a men amongst boys in his peer group of some of the best U-18's of the world. I'm not advocating taking him, still want Ritchie or Virtanen. Don't kid yourself, there a lot of draft day busts in that big bodied prospect category cause they tend to get overrated while the small skilled guys like Giroux, Read, Gallagher, Desharnaits, Schwartz, Nyqvuist, Tatar get pushed down the list

The Blues, Wings, Flyers and Habs I'm sure would like to thank the scouts of other teams for passing in small skilled players

[rats19]

I wasn't advocating him either..just reporting the mocks..

Ritchie or Virtanen sound sounder to me too

[Arachnid]

I wasn't advocating him either..just reporting the mocks..

Ritchie or Virtanen sound sounder to me too

Tall whites eh?!

I am fine with Ny the Swede Guy™

The draft is a crap shoot after the first 5 picks right?

Go high skill first, goal scoring ala Sasha and then...

....maybe we trade someone in our lineup for a early 2nd or mid-1st and go big and fast as well...