Prospects Thread

[E.L.]

The rest of the league is about to get FUCKED UP.

[Stinky]

[E.L.]

In addition to Hutson's Calder nom and Demidov arriving in style, the Laval Rocket are in the third round of the AHL playoffs with a team led by prospects. Pretty rare for an AHL team.

Reinbacher, Mailloux, Engstrom are the Big 3 on defence.
Xhekaj is their shutdown centre.
Farrell, Beck, Roy, Davidson are all getting points.
Kapanen is straight up too good for the AHL. He's an NHLer.
Fowler went straight from college to shutting out AHL teams.

[E.L.]

Laval is probably gonna get destroyed by Charlotte in the east final, but I love what I’m seeing from Reinbacher and Engstrom. They can move the puck and Reinbacher has a crazy reach too. Nasty player.

Mailloux is a physical beast, he can really lay out guys. Just needs to not make so many boneheaded plays with the puck.

[E.L.]

Rocket got destroyed by the much older Checkers, as expected.

Meanwhile, the ECHL affiliate in Trois-Rivières won the Kelly Cup a year after nearly going bankrupt. No prospects on the team, unless you count former Avs forward Alex Beaucage.

[Pokecheque]

Rocket got destroyed by the much older Checkers, as expected.

Meanwhile, the ECHL affiliate in Trois-Rivières won the Kelly Cup a year after nearly going bankrupt. No prospects on the team, unless you count former Avs forward Alex Beaucage.

Ah yes, Beaucage. Shoots like a cannon, skates like a poisoned snail.

Anyway, some kid named Lane Hutson won the Calder. Congrats. It wasn't even really that close IMO.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/montreal-canadie ... -1.2319410

[E.L.]

Habs at the draft: dealt their two first rounders, but they traded up on day two to get talented Russian winger Alexander Zharovsky at 34.

So no first rounder but they take a chance on an upside guy who tore up the MHL.

[E.L.]

When will Reinbacher become a full-time NHLer? If I compare him to Seider, arguably his closest comparable draft-wise:

Seider played 101 pro games in Europe and 49 in the AHL before hitting the show and never looking back.

Reinbacher played 84 pro games in Europe and 34 in the AHL. I think he'll play 25 games in Laval and they'll reassess. He's close.

[E.L.]

Forgotten man Filip Mesar is finally healthy and at his fourth rookie camp. They’ve been feeding him Brad Marchand clips because they want Mesar to learn how to get by in tight quarters at his size.

He’s a long shot, but he still has elite one on one puck handling skills so you never know.

[E.L.]

With Hutson graduating and Demidov clearly ready, the team’s top two prospects have arrived. But there are still a lot of nice pieces to follow this season:

Reinbacher: future 2RHD after Dobson. I think he takes Matheson’s top 4 minutes before too long.
Fowler: goalie of the future. Laval starter for now.
Kapanen: good chance of winning a lineup spot, otherwise a PPG guy in Sweden and a future third liner at C or RW.
Beck: 200-ft guy. Vincent seems to like him more as a winger.
Rohrer: really scrappy RW who played really well in Switzerland. Future 4RW?
Florian Xhekaj: brother of WiFi. Big boy, future Brian Boyle.
Mesar: still elite speed and puck skills. Can he figure it out?
Engstrom: nice mix of offence and defence on the backend. Future 3 RD (off-hand)

[E.L.]

We know the pecking order of the middle range forward prospects with camp in mid-swing:

1. Beck (most NHL ready)
2. Kapanen (kinda disappointing camp)
3. Rohrer (the next Lehkonen)
4. Xhekaj (most upside of the bunch)
5. Roy (bad camp)
6. Mesar (great camp)

[Stinky]

Florian is going to have a hell of an interesting year in Laval. I can see him playing a big role in future years as he reinvents himself as the kind of gritty player that will cause chaos in front of the net and have pucks bounce in off him.

[E.L.]

Florian is going to have a hell of an interesting year in Laval. I can see him playing a big role in future years as he reinvents himself as the kind of gritty player that will cause chaos in front of the net and have pucks bounce in off him.

With his size, scariness, and ability to jam home goals, his upside as a future unfuckwitable 3C is tantalizing. The kind of x-factor that puts a team over the edge. That’s why I’m cool with letting him cook in Laval.

[E.L.]

Beck was in the lead but Kapanen found instant chemistry with Demidov so he wins the one available lineup spot.

Florian Xhekaj and Beck are close to ready, but more time in Laval won’t hurt.

Engstrom was head and shoulders the best defenceman in camp to not make the team. He’s way ahead of Reinbacher, which is good because with all the injuries Reinbacher needs an uninterrupted season in Laval to get back on track. Engstrom can be the first call up instead.

Dobes wins the backup job. Fowler will play a bunch in Laval. Goaltending is deep.

[E.L.]

Reinbacher has nine points in 12 games since coming back from injury and it’s getting to crunch time for the other defencemen on the big club.

Matheson-Dobson-Hutson-Guhle are locked in. Reinbacher is coming fast. Not many chairs left for Xhekaj, Struble, Engstrom, Carrier etc.