deker Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Basically you just have to say who you think is going to be 1st overall pick of the Entry Draft of 2007. Angelo Esposito is what I'm putting my money on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAK Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Basically you just have to say who you think is going to be 1st overall pick of the Entry Draft of 2007. Angelo Esposito is what I'm putting my money on. James vanReimsdyk esposito might not even be in the top 10 if he doesn't pick it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Jared Staal!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAK Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Jared Staal!! what are his stats ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bacchus Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 what are his stats ?? http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/stats/player.php?id=4647 He isn't doing too well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montreal Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Jared Staal!! He's less then a month away from being a '09 draft pick, so he won't be going 1st overall this year since he's only 16. As for who will go 1st? Kane, JVR, or Turris I'd guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetsniper Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Karl Alzner baby, woo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KovY-27* Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 What about Alexei cherepanov from russia, he's only 5'10 but he was really good at the U20 tournament Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CerebusClone Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 My personal pick would be Patrick Kane. I love the fact that this guy has impressed and dominated at every single level, as well as during every competition. He's the best scorer in the OHL, he was incredible at the WJC this as well as the WJC-18 last year, he impressed at the Prospects Game competition in Quebec City ... everywhere he goes, he's great. If I were a GM, I would do everything to get a kid like that. In contrasts, people still consider Angelo Esposito as a potential number 1 pick, but this guy is the complete opposite of Kane. He went into this season as the potential number pick and fell dramatically, he's not impressing anyone in the Q, he wasn't that good at the WJC training camp (we shouldn't have expected a kid his age to be selected, but he could have made it harder for the coaches), and he was pratically a no-show at the Prospects Game (sure, he had the flu the day before, but that wass just another disappointment coming from him). Again, if I'm a GM, I go with the kid who's great everywhere he goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortcat1 Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/stats/player.php?id=4647 He isn't doing too well. it's his 1st year in the ohl... the coach doesn't give him much ice time... i guess it's both a rookie thing and a run to the post-season thing... i watched him play vs the soo greyhounds... he got a few shifts... he was invisible of sorts... give him time... he'll start to fit in, i bet... i don't know if he'll be in the same category as his older brothers or even better, in the long run, but one thing i'm sure of is that the pressure on him must be already quite high... he was the wolves' first round pick... i've heard some negative stuff about him around here... people can be nasty... GO :hlogo: GO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 I bet the Flyers take Kyle Turris. He is nearly a full year younger than Patrick Kane, will grow to be a lot bigger, and has comparable talent. Kyle is a better skater than Cherepanov, and doesn't carry the same concerns regarding his availability to play in North America. I'm pretty sure that by the time all is said and done, Turris and James Van Riemsdyck will have seperated from the pack at the top, as the two outstanding prospects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Turris is putting up the same numbers in a better league than Dany Heatley did when he was the same age. Actually Heatley was nearly a full year older when he played his final season of Tier II hockey. Kyle should grow to be nearly the same size as Heatley, and I think his character is better. Given that Heatley went second overall in the 2000 draft, and has turned out to be arguably the best player from that draft, I can't really see this draft as being "weaker than average" in any way. After Turris, you have Kane and Gagner who are putting up close to Sidney Crosby numbers in the CHL, and Cherepanov who is putting up the best numbers of any 17 year old Russian in memory in the RSL. Van Reimsdyck is scoring at nearly twice the rate with the USNTDP team that Jack Skille (#7 overall in 2005) managed in his draft year. Skille played for a much stronger team as well. In the USHL, Aaron Palushaj, Max Pacioretty, Cory Tropp, Colby Cohen (a defenseman), and Jason Gregoire are all scoring at the same pace as last year's first round picks Kyle Okposo and Trevor Lewis managed in the league. Lewis was a year older as well. I guess the question which is probably creeping into the mind of Trevor Timmins at the moment would be whether or not to try to package the team's picks to move up in the draft. If the perception is that there are no clearcut top 3 or 4 players, they may find some willing trade partners. As it sits, packaging the team's two first round picks (approx. #15 and #20 overall), would yield the #3 or #4 pick in the draft according to the NFL draft value chart. Considering the uncertainty about the top end guys, it is likely that they could get at least the #3 and possibly the #2 overall pick in exchange. This makes sense from the Habs point of view in light of the fact that they have so much prospect depth in the organization at the moment. Out of the past couple of drafts, they have about 4 or 5 players taken in later rounds who look like they have first round value. Latendresse, D'Agsotini, Kostitsyn, White, Maxwell, and Valentenko have all exceeded expectations, and there is no reason to doubt that Price and Fisher will play for the team some day. I think that Mathieu Carle, Philippe Paquet, and Mathieu Aubin could contribute down the road as well. Can a team have too many prospects? If they start to hinder each other's progress, then yes. With 5 picks in the top 75 or so players that are eligible this summer, I would say that the logical move would be to package at least a couple of them in order to move up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Somewhat off-topic, but I wonder where the young Kostitsyn would fit in this draft if he'd not been drafted already. I get the impression that he'd move significantly up the charts based on his performances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Somewhat off-topic, but I wonder where the young Kostitsyn would fit in this draft if he'd not been drafted already. I get the impression that he'd move significantly up the charts based on his performances. Probably wouldn't move up nearly as much as you think. Sam Gagner, who has the same amount of points in fewer games for the Knights, is 2 1/2 years younger than Sergei. John Tavares who is in the same range point wise in the OHL is 3 1/2 years younger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Probably wouldn't move up nearly as much as you think. Sam Gagner, who has the same amount of points in fewer games for the Knights, is 2 1/2 years younger than Sergei. John Tavares who is in the same range point wise in the OHL is 3 1/2 years younger. Really? He was taken in the 6th round, 200 OA! You're comparing him to guys who are bonified first round pick guys, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Yeah, but if the other guys are doing the same thing 3 years earlier in their development how much can you move him up? Late second round maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Sergei was actually taken in the 7th round, but I think he may not even turn out to be the Habs best 7th round draft pick that year. My money is on Philippe Paquet down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Yeah, but if the other guys are doing the same thing 3 years earlier in their development how much can you move him up? Late second round maybe? Well, 7th round to 2nd round is a fairly large improvement, wouldn't you say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Yeah, second round max, but I think a lot of Habs fans see Sergei as a first rounder. I'm still concerned about the fact that the Belarussian coaches didn't consider him one of their top three performers at the WJC. That has to make you wonder. They know him as well as anyone does, and it wasn't like he had a lot of competition for the honor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Yeah, second round max, but I think a lot of Habs fans see Sergei as a first rounder. I'm still concerned about the fact that the Belarussian coaches didn't consider him one of their top three performers at the WJC. That has to make you wonder. They know him as well as anyone does, and it wasn't like he had a lot of competition for the honor. Which all might be true. But he's a steal for the 7th round, which was all I was trying to find out. Plus, I get the feeling that he's improved his game since the WJC - one has to wonder if he's a kid that takes what's said to heart and does something about it immediately. If that's the case, it shows some solid character from someone I understood was not drafted for character. Guess time will tell on that part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Puck Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 (edited) Which all might be true. But he's a steal for the 7th round, which was all I was trying to find out. Plus, I get the feeling that he's improved his game since the WJC - one has to wonder if he's a kid that takes what's said to heart and does something about it immediately. If that's the case, it shows some solid character from someone I understood was not drafted for character. Guess time will tell on that part. Here's some evidence that he's improved since the world juniors. It's just scoring stats but there is a marked change. Before World Juniors: 17 goals and 33 assists in 31 games. That's 0.55 goals per game and 1.61 pts/game. After world junior: 19 goals and 46 assists in 23 games. That's 0.83 goals/game and 2.83 pts/game. Edit: corrected math error. Edited March 7, 2007 by Peter Puck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Sergei did the same thing last season in the OHL. He started out slowly and picked up the pace as the season went along. He was probably the hottest scorer in the league during the playoff run. I think he probably takes the summers off completely and works his way into top game shape during the season. Which is the right thing to do when you're still in juniors. I don't think that hockey is treated with nearly the same degree of seriousness in Belarus as it is in Canada. Particularly for younger players. It is meant to be fun. Canadian kids, if they show exceptional ability, are groomed for professional hockey from the time they are 13 or 14. Maybe that is why a kid like Angelo Esposito seems burned out at 18. He has been in the spotlight, and under pressure, for the past 5 years or so. The flip side of the coin is that some European players never take the game seriously, even when they are being paid huge sums to play it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Back to the topic. Tommy Cross, a very young prospect playing high school hockey in Connecticut, will join the USNTDP for the balance of the season. Cross is similar to Nick Petrecki in a lot of ways. Big, (6-3, 200), excellant skater with a good shot, and tough in his own zone. He hasn't received the same exposure because he turned down the NTDP to stay home, similar to David Fischer last year. Petrecki played a year in the EJHL (like Komisarek) and has two years in the USHL. But Cross has done well as a U.S. player in a couple of international tournaments, and should get some big time exposure at the U18 World Championship. Ryan McDonagh will finish the season with the Chicago Steel of the USHL. He is a favorite to win the Mr Hockey Award that David Fischer won last season. Like Petrecki and Cross, McDonagh is a big, physical left side defender with good skills. The thing that stands out about Tommy Cross is the fact that he only qualified for the draft by 3 days or something. He was born September of 1989. He is a full year younger than some other prospects like Alzner, Ellerby, Kane, etc. I have the feeling that some of these American kids are going to jump up into the top half of the first round come draft day. Petrecki, Cross, McDonagh, and Billy Sweatt, will all make big jumps by draft day, I think. Possibly Max Pacioretty as well. The good thing for Montreal is that there are a lot of those big, defensively sound players who have a bit of a mean streak in the second tier of prospects behind the eyecatching offensive whizzes at the top end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Watch some of the USHL players go a lot higher than projected in the upcoming draft after the performances of Paul Statsny, Joe Pavelski, and Matt Carle in the NHL this season, as well as the performance of Sam Gagner in the OHL. There are a handful of prospects playing there who are producing as well or better than Statsny, Pavelski, and Carle did in their draft year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexstream Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Watch some of the USHL players go a lot higher than projected in the upcoming draft after the performances of Paul Statsny, Joe Pavelski, and Matt Carle in the NHL this season, as well as the performance of Sam Gagner in the OHL. There are a handful of prospects playing there who are producing as well or better than Statsny, Pavelski, and Carle did in their draft year. Isn't David Fischer from USHL btw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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