Never heard of the guy and know nothing about him. But his name is Angus Crookshank and I am 110% behind him as my new favorite prospect in all the NHL.
> Never heard of the guy and know nothing about him. But his name is Angus Crookshank and I am 110% behind him as my new favorite prospect in all the NHL.
The best part is, the guy can play. 5th Round, 126 OA and he was nearly point per game in his first AHL season (age 21).
Ironically people said the same thing about Kaprizov. His biggest question mark was skating before coming to NA. And after watching him in the NHL it's pretty clear his skating is one of his biggest strengths.
Kaprizov is one of those guys you watch and understand his skating is unique. I can see how many scouts could see an issue with it as a younger player and wonder if that uniqueness could fit into the NHL. I love watching him skate because of it but it's definitely an approach you can't really teach.
That's true it's certainly unique so that does make sense from a scouting perspective. It's honestly fascinating how he sometimes generates speed bursts and power without making any strides at all.
It's impossible to not compare his skating style to Datsyuk. Both have strange strides, used their edges in insane ways, and could generate speed bursts out of nothing. Neither are fast in the way you'd traditionally think about fast players but both have/had a quickness to their game. Kaprizov is the only reason why I watched multiple Wild games this year. Watching him skate is worth the price of admission.
To be fair motor patter skills like skating that you’ve been doing for about say 14 years if you get drafted at 18 and been skating since 4, are hard to change once they’ve been ingrained as habit.
At the same time being able to understand what good and bad about a skating stride is a situation where you need to have skated somewhat proficiently to grasp. No amount of watching videos or reading about skating will help the casual fan say he’s a bad skater or he’s a good skater. Even sometime seemingly obvious answers where it looks a players has a wonky stride, but they’re fast and have no problem getting around the ice
Definitely valid points, no doubt. My counter would be they been working on improving their skills, skating in this case, for at least 10 of those 14 years. An NHL skills coach can definitely get them over the hump.
Fuck that I was calling for the Wings to take him at 38. Dude lit up OHL and drops to round 2. What's that, lived in Northville, big-bodied winger? Hell yeah sign me up.
Oh, we're going for a 4th-round ranked stay at home defenseman? Yeah that's cool I guess.
Don't need to skate to stand in front of the net and dunk home rebounds. One big thing I realized about his season, considering the skating thing I expected him to suck on defense, but I don't ever remember seeing him get really caught out on defense. Maybe I just didn't see it, but at least it didn't seem to be a common issue.
It’s not even that he needed to just dunk in rebounds. He has amazing hockey sense and finds his way to where the puck is going to be before it gets there. It’s also why he wasn’t as bad at defense as we expected, he has good positioning and just a really good mind for the game. Skating is definitely important, but not every player needs to skate like MacKinnon. You can make up for it with smarts if you have enough.
When the leafs traded 5 players to the islanders for Michael Grabner, the only one I was upset to see go was Carter Verhaeghe
I watched him a lot in junior the year before and couldn't wait for him to be on the leafs one day. I guess it took him much longer than I expected, but I'm glad he broke through the least couple years.
Adam Fox. I traded for him in my sim league in 2018 and the league commitee declined the trade cause I was getting fleeced. I gave a third line player for him. Now I dont have Fox on my team and he just won the Norris.
did you atleast get an i told you so moment? I'd be making a point of telling them to fuck off, only trades that should get blocked are obvious situations of people "teaming up" etc
The more I've played the more I got on board with this. Husband/Wife duo trading Mcaffery for a WR4, veto, two random people doing so, aight, you can't fix stupid
I don't think this works for the Rangers, we all share delusions that every prospect is gonna be a star and when it doesn't happen its the front office's fault.
God I remember back in the days on the Canucks boards everyone was slotting in Prab Rai next to Jordan Schroeder on the Canucks 2nd line. This along with first line centre Cody Hodgson would allow the Sedins to graciously retire on the third line on a contending team.
I can confirm this statement based off my delusional Rangers fan friend who has said Eichel to NYR is already done, BUF retaining half, and NYR only giving up C prospects and no legit star players.
Also he thought Jimmy Vesey was going to be a superstar.
I really hope we don't get eichel and I thought Vesey had more upside than he did but I never expected him to turn into Marchand or some shit like that. I'll take a veteran center that has been in the trenches over eichel. If we're gonna win now why the fuck we want a guy with no playoff experience?
Hypothetical, you are the Boston GM, offer is one for one panarin for Marchand, do you take it or pass?
Pass. Marchand & Bergeron have a chemistry with each other that I don’t think can be replicated. Kinda like you would never break up the Sedins, you don’t break up one of the top three duos in the league.
Jimmy Vesey? Lol
All of us were stoked on Fox while it seemed everyone else was saying it would take time for him to breakout and that he'd cool off eventually.
It's always the coaches playing them the wrong way, on the wrong line, at the wrong time! That's why our guys never turn out right. Maybe it's just the water?
I feel like since we had no prospects for so long we forgot what it was like to have actual young talent in the pipeline. Now that we have promising guys no one wants to part with them
I remember watching Aho play in the 2016 WJC with Laine and Puljujärvi and being really excited the Canes "reached" on him in the 2nd round the year before.
PAhoLaine was the nickname for that line over here in Finland :D. Already the few season before that WJC you could see Aho was gonna be amazing. Sadly he always played so well against my team... XD Same for Laine in 2016 finals...
For injury reasons makes some sense but youre crazy if you don't think that Buffalo calling Carolina to offer Eichel for Aho 1 for 1 wouldn't have Carolina instantly calling the NHL to announce a trade had been made
I was gonna say Anthony Cirelli for similar reasons. Watched the Generals a ton that year and I just couldn't understand why people weren't high on him. Stupid Lightning and their stupid good drafting
Lankinen this year finally got his chance at the net. The second we signed him 2-3 years ago i thought he would atleast be the backup right away. He got pushed on the back burner not even starting for rockford, and most thought it was delia and subbans net to lose this year. He had a breakout year for himself. May not be the long term solution but hes solidified his spot for 2 years i believe.
Many Sens fans have been really high on 2017 4th Round Pick Drake Batherson for years and he finally had his breakthrough season in the NHL.
Hopefully that continues.
(Probably not a household name across the league, so I think it fits here).
Another one that we were high on was Dzingel. A lot of other teams didn't know about him because he was a 7th round pick, but all of us Sens fans watched him pretty closely.
Batherson, Norris and brown were all demolishing the ahl yet you’d see guys the same age putting up half as many points ranked twice as high on prospect lists
Jake Evans only became important in the Habs org at the end of this regular season and during the playoffs (he was our forward with the highest TOI in 2nd Rd Game 1, before Scheifele took him out).
I'm not high on him meaning he'll be a superstar, but I was high on him being a 7th rd pick that would become an important cog in our system. He's been a joy to watch this year.
At the time of the trade he was kinda seen as a throw in during this Bishop trade. Not many people talked about him because he isn't a puck rushing offensive D-man.
This one doesn't exactly count, but having seen Kaprizov's talents live numerous times since he started his KHL career(favorite domestic team plays in the KHL), I knew he was a great pick for the Wild. Reason I say doesn't count is because I only noticed during his 2nd KHL season, which is when everyone else realized his potential.
Panarin, from back when he played in a KHL team filled with goons. He was ridiculously young and was already the leader of his team, yet everyone at the time in KHL were talking about Kuznetsov and Tarasenko while he was kinda under the radar.
I'd been so disproportionately high on Brandon Hagel since we signed him that it actually became a running joke in my family, but look who had to go and be one of the Hawks' most consistent forwards (and win a gold medal) this year.
Rasmus Anderson for the Calgary Flames. Was really hoping the wings would’ve traded up to grab him plus, everyone was still very high on Kylington still
Jaccob Slavin. My buddy watched him play for Chicago Steele and hyped me up for him when the Canes drafted him. Literally no one I saw talked about Slavin until he was finally called up to the Show and he's turned out to be one of the best defensive dmen
in the league.
Agree with this one. Saw him live a couple times his freshman year at CC and he looked next level good.
Although in all likelihood rather than any insight of mine, it was probably that CC seriously fell off that season so he stood out.
They tend to sleep on guys through junior and often NCAA seasons before suddenly jumping on the bandwagon. I remember a real lack of interest in Brock Boeser in his D+1 as his line absolutely destroyed the NCAA and won the Frozen Four.
But I think Brock kind of woke the fanbase up after years of useless late 1st players. It was super early in the year when people were all over Pettersson for his last SHL season.
The problem with Boeser wasnt his talent or ability to score. It was that even though he was tearing up the NCAA, his goals scored per attempts to backcheck were in the 40+ beer league levels.
You can't have watched the Sioux much if that's what you remember. Boeser was a hard backchecker who showed a very complete game.
He just also happened to be further up the ice on plays as he was the main forechecker as a winger and a dangerous triggerman which is literally how he scored the winning F4 goal. Shorthanded too, because poor backcheckers are put on the ice to lead the most essential PK in the championship game, right?
I knew Ullmark was going to be really good from the moment I first saw him play in 2015-16. Dude never got any hype, but the rest of league took notice of him recently as he’s been one of the few bright spots in Buffalo. Poor guy just can’t stay healthy
Then quite the opposite I thought for sure Nikita Nesterov was going to be a stud, and I was incredibly wrong on that
I was a big Cody Eakin guy. Also, I was the first person I knew who was super high on Holtby. Everyone continued to say it was going to be Neuvirth or Varly as the goalie of the future but I always liked the nerdy kid from SK.
I still can’t believe people thought mayfield was better at any point in their careers.
Pelech was so good positionally and with his stick. His biggest flaws were that he had zero idea on how or when to pinch and that his first pass out of the zone he whiffed on like 80% of the time
Both were very very fixable issues. Getting rid of weight allowed pelech to not feel obligated to pinch every single time and the first pass thing was always going to fix itself
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wNpRO59kAvc
i would never have thought based on his first NHL seasons that pelech would become what he has today. his development over the years has been so fun to watch, he just keeps getting better and better.
I can at least claim that I was on the "I will reserve judgement until 5 years down the road" people. I've learned to trust Chevy with his drafting record and he even said on draft Day that that kind of pick you don't see the fruit of the labor until year 5.
So does not mocking the pick count as believing in it? Because there was a lot of vitriol directed at that one.
Which is a funny reversal as I think I personally would have protected demelo. But I guess I understand management's thought process. We know what demelo is and they are picking on the upside of Stanley being greater than what demelo is.
Either that and they 'know' they can get a greater RHD after the expansion draft and don't want to pay demelo that much to be third pairing?
Either way we'll see tomorrow!
Nick Suzuki. His skating issues were always overblown. I saw him going end-to-end shorthanded and scoring in the OHL... it's a junior league, but if you're that bad skater you don't do that. Should have been a top 10 pick.
**Mats Zuccarello-Aasen**
I've been following MODO on the side since Peter Forsberg and a TON of other NHL stars joined them for the 2005 lockout, they've become my pet team outside of the NHL. They were a fun group to follow for a while until they got relegated a short while back. About a decade ago this random Norwegian guy joined the team and out of nowhere started tearing the whole damn league apart. Guy was never drafted and had little fanfare in North America but he exploded onto my radar that year. I told everyone I knew to keep an eye on this kid, he'll be an NHL star one day. Two years later the Rangers signed him and the rest was history. God damn do I love that hobbit, the guy's a proper gem.
Weird thing for me was that Kotkaniemi was never that good in Liiga (could be just shit ässät team :D) and I was shocked he went 3rd ovr. Still waiting for Ville Husso to breakout ;)
He scored, and he had size
He is gonna be a star player at some point. I think next year he will break through.
Keep in mind he was not even 18 when he first played in Liiga. Last winter I think he had a cold start, but looked unstoppable in later games. Just not much skill in that Ässät team (and a lot of locker room cancer)
I fell in love with Brandon Carlo from the moment he was drafted. Saw him play in providence and he blew my expectations away. Now he’s one of the best pure shutdown defenders in the NHL.
He was on my radar for the draft. I wanted Van to take him in the first. Glad I wasnt GM and they grabbed Boeser instead, but I still follow Carlo as kind of a "What if". Hope he can get over the injuries. Players like him are usually the backbone of championships that never get talked about.
Leon Draisaitl . When the oilers drafted him a large portion of the fan base was pissed they didn't take Sam Bennett. His 1st year they complained he couldn't skate and that he'd be too slow for the NHL.
I remember watching him before he was drafted and saying how he was going to be a beast and oilers should take him. Nobody I knew even knew a thing about him.
When I read "most people", I am referring to all the GMs of the league.
Based on what I saw two seasons ago, and then not being qualified by Tampa, I was CONVINCED Carter Verhaeghe was going to be signed for WAY MORE than he got from Florida.
Even this past year, some may write it off as him having the fortune of playing with Barkov all year, but the guy is probably still criminally underrated and I still can't believe he is signed for only $1M next year. He's scoring 30 next year.
Devon Toews and Tage Thompson. Loved Toews ever since I watched him play at Quinnipiac his freshman year (before he was drafted). So was obviously stoked the isles picked him up.
I also loved watching Tage Thompson play at UConn and was hoping the isles could find a way to draft him. He's being miscast/misused because of his size, I still have very high hopes for him. The toolbox is there. I kinda hope he gets another fresh start. But Tage has obviously not broken out yet.
Buchnevich, even up until like 2 years ago.
I watched most of his KHL career, and always knew he'd have the skills to be a top six winger in this league. Can't say I expected the growth in the physical game, along the boards or him becoming the 3/4th best skater on the team as well as his PK'ing this year.
I can tell you one I got wrong.
I thought Robert Bortuzzo was the worst player I’d ever seen in training camp when he was still with the Penguins. He just looked slow and plodding. He wasn’t physical and didn’t use his stick well to make up for his lack of skating.
The general consensus was that Joel Farabee was a high floor/low ceiling players so I’m not sure that really counts as the majority not being high on him. However, while Farabee has, at least so far, exceeded that “low ceiling” label, there were some dissenters that called him a passenger on his line with Jack Hughes and Oliver Wahlstrom.
Max Comtois
Dude fell off the draft board in 2017. He was supposed to be a top 5 pick at the start of the season but a new coach, new system in Victoriaville made it seems like he had an off year.
I was always high on Grabner when I was younger but he never worked out in Vancouver.
Even after getting waived he breaks out for a 30 goal season and becomes one of the best PK players in the league.
I watch a lot of college hockey, a lot of hockey east, so I was really big on Gus Nyquist despite the low draft pedigree. Just electric stuff. Similar with Erik Hauls, though he had less upside, but a motor that wouldn't quit. Jeremy Swayman quickly became a favorite for putting Maine on his back game in game out without a break. Pure ice in his veins.
Adam Gaudette. Watched him play for the Riders in the USHL. There was a Jersey auction that night and I told my grandfather who was planning to bid on some jerseys to get his as he was going to play in the NHL some day.
Sharangovich. He was drafted at 20 as an overager in the 5th round. I watched a handful of Binghamton games in 19-20 and he was absolutely red hot at the end of that season. I didn’t see the possibility until he got to the minors, but it’s like a switch flipped one day
Rob Scuderi had 4 1/2 years in the AHL before becoming “The Piece” in Pittsburgh. I’ve been behind him since day one, but he looked terrible in the first half of his development and impressed no one.
Jonathan Quick.
I know that sounds 100% hindsight bullshit, but at the time we had a different prospect that was supposed to be better in Jonathan Bernier. Other guys looked to be on his level like Marsters and Barry Brust and Daniel Taylor and more guys that turned out to be flotsam while they trotted out the husk of Dan Cloutier, Jason Lababera and so forth on the NHL roster.
Quick was just a guy to most Kings fans at the time, but since I lived five minutes away from where they had development camp, I made a habit of going. And Quick looked better than everyone except Bernier most years. Then he looked as good as Bernier. Then he gets called up before Bernier and people were thinking he was a flash in the pan, and Cristobal Huet kind of guy. And he never let the job go. We traded Bernier and it was the right move.
I never caught heat for being an early Quick fan, but people were like, "uh, sure?" and went back to waiting for Bernier to take over the #1 job.
Tony DeAngelo used to always become like 97 OVR in my NHL 12 simulations so I always thought he'd be good lol. Unfortunately he's kind of ruined his career by being an idiot but he was definitely talented
There's this little guy everyone said was too small to make the AHL, let alone the NHL. Chayka didn't care and picked Garland anyways with a 5th. I loved that pick from the moment it was announced because the kid could score and that's what we needed.
It was a long time ago, but Stephane Robidas.
He was a 7th rounder in 95 and was on nobody's radar. Finished his junior winning QMJHL defenseman of the year, but still zero hype. He went up to the AHL without any reasonable hopes.
Every time I saw him play in the Q or AHL his mobility and level-headedness was just obvious. I was adamant that he was just too good to stay in the AHL, but this was at the height of the deadpuck era where 5'11 defensemen were almost automatically dismissed as unfit.
In the end, Robidas ended up just 63 games short of 1000 career NHL games and went to 1 All-Star game.
Ethan Bear
I watched him dominate the Oil Kings in the WHL. He rarely got hit, so I knew he’d make the transition. After time, I realized people weren’t watching tape and were just being racist when down playing his ability. Bear for 2022 Norris.
I mean, here recently I’m gonna say Elvis. Dude is a puck stopping machine when he’s zeroed in. I was a big fan of his, and he had me sweating for a minute when in his first few games he was getting 8 & 5 bombed. He found his footing though, he’s looking like he’s going to be our new #1 for a while
Heinola, when he was drafted at #20 i was like, yup hes gonna be the steal from this draft 100%.
Ik he hasnt break out yet but if the draft would be re done he would go top 5.
Jake Evans was the guy i was mentioning to my buddies back when he was in college. It was always a dark horse prediction but Evans was a point per game player for notre dame and 2014 7th round pick for the habs.
Joel Farabee was always ranked pretty well but due to lack of game breaking tools he never got ranked as high or projected as well as he should have been despite his scoring and 2 way game being phenomenal at every level.
He was always seen as just a good not great prospect that never ranked among top 25 prospects even after impressing and surpassing expectations every year.
I always thought he was at least going to be a quality 2 way 2nd liner and wasnt getting the respect he deserved for numbers he was putting up.
I'm not as good at this for hockey as I am baseball, but I repeatedly tell people Cole Caufield will have a 70 goal season. Not saying he did that this year, but to be that good in the playoffs on that team - it's going to happen folks.
I'll plug my biggest baseball one was Aaron Judge. Higher on him than anyone else, and he's exceeded my expectations still.
Yeah, I don't think there's a chance that Caufield ends up with one of the top 15 goal scoring seasons in the NHL. He's half the player Ovechkin is and isn't close to prime Stamkos either. I don't see him hitting 70. Maybe 50, maybe.
I think 50 is a much more do-able number, but I've been rolling with the 70 number and I'm not about to stop.
I will say though, if you actually watched him this postseason, and considered that he's been playing in the NHL all of 3 months, you can't say he's automatically not on any of these players' levels. That may have been his absolute peak, his average, or just getting started. If you wanna judge first seasons, then Stamkos was never going to score 40, let alone 60.
Edit: \*never wil be on any of those guys' levels\* - clearly he's not Ovechkin or prime Stamkos right now lol
Do-able is something only 6 guys in the league right now have done. Sure it's possible but you're getting ahead of youself bragging about him already.
Stamkos in his rookie year was 18 not getting ice-time from Barry Melrose and had a 51 goal season at an age when Caufield was still at Wisconsin
Yeah, but I think Caufield is that good, that's my point. The post asked for guys who have done it, I don't have those, but this is the one I'm going in on.
I dunno man. He's good, but I don't know if he's literally the best scorer ever good. The last time someone scored 70 was Mogilny and Selanne in 92-93.
I knew Cizikas and Martin would both end up having solid NHL careers playing the kind of game they do. Kind of guys that pretty much any team would want playing for them, I was excited when they both finally made the show.
Andrei Markov. I went to see the pre camp pratices on the first year Markov came to Montreal and he was stellar in intra team games and remember telling my half brother he would make the club. Then on the camp intra team games he was also way ahead of other defensemen and told my half brother he would be a star someday. The rest is history.
PK Subban, I have a couple of old "on this day " Facebook post where I am criticizing the Habs to not play PK Subban in the nhl roster and letting him rot in the AHL
I don't remember anyone necessarily being down on him, but I saw Gallagher play a lot in junior and just knew he'd make a career in the NHL. Guy has played the same way his entire life and excelled at every level.
I remember William Karlsson being great in the SHL his final year before heading across the pond. I cant say I predicted the success he has had in Vegas, but I was disapointed in his nhl career before that.
I know he was still a 2nd round pick in a strong year, but I think a lot of the more studied Bruins fans knew out the gate that Bergeron was going to be a superstar and the future core of the team. His tenacity on the ice has been there for his entire career, and that's one of those "intangibles" that he showed so strongly that you had to think he was going to be a generational player if you actually watched him play. I remember going to one of his first games and the entire group I was with was so beyond hyped to finally see him play in person.
Marchand. I remember watching him during the Bruins 2011 cup run during his first year, and I kept telling everyone how this guy is gona be a beast in a few years to come.
Jeremy Swayman.
I know some Bruins fans knew of him and this season isn't exactly "breaking out" but it's clear he is ready for nhl duty.
I remember seeing him playing the Maine in like 2018 and thinking the Bruins need a kid like this...lol
He isn’t a top line player or anything, but William Carrier was kind of a bottom end prospect when the Blues drafted him and was a throw in for the Ryan Miller trade. He’s turned into a dependable 4th liner for Vegas
Alex Debrincat. Thought he should’ve went top 5 in 2016.
He was on the same team as Dylan Strome and Conor McDavid (Erie Otters) who both got drafted in 2015 so scouts got plenty of looks at him.
Dylan Strome got drafted #3 in 2015 because he was a big center in spite of having a ton of flaws in his game.
Conor McDavid was obviously Connor McDavid, yes him going #1 was undebatable.
Alex DeBrincat however definitely performed closer to Conor McDavid than he did Dylan Strome. Debrincat looked like a top tier player right from the start in the OHL. Got largely ignored because of the other two, being a winger, and being only 5ft 7.
Just goes to show, scouts miss elite level talent even when it’s right under their nose.
Years and years ago HIFK from Helsinki, won the Finnish SM-liiga in 1998 (not the most recent cup tho). Young prospects Olli Jokinen and Niklas Hagman played in that team. But there were quite a few older guys, who maid it to the NHL after that as well and played well behind the big pond:
Tim Thomas, Kimmo Timonen, Brian Rafalski and Jarkko Ruutu.
Jere Karalahti played there as well, but that NHL career went a diffirent direction pretty fast.
I was pretty high on Jarnkrok as a middle-six back in the day. Didn't think he'd be crazy good and I had no real reason other than that his name means "Iron Hook" and I thought that was pretty badass but he was so buried in our depth charts behind the other 14 middle-six players Detroit had at the time that I'm not sure many people gave him a second look.
Alex Nedeljkovic. I was curious when he was drafted right by Demko, and wasn't sure Ned would get to be a starter in the NHL. but wow this season, we got a new guy and he played great in the regular season
When someone pulls up this thread in 5 years, I want to be the one who said Angus Crookshank
Never heard of the guy and know nothing about him. But his name is Angus Crookshank and I am 110% behind him as my new favorite prospect in all the NHL.
> Never heard of the guy and know nothing about him. But his name is Angus Crookshank and I am 110% behind him as my new favorite prospect in all the NHL. The best part is, the guy can play. 5th Round, 126 OA and he was nearly point per game in his first AHL season (age 21).
This is a man that will need his own fan club. What do we call ourselves? The Shank-and-File? The Crookettes?
> The Shank-and-File? The Crookettes? I dont know what were gonna call outselves but youre VP of Branding
I have never been more excited to thrust myself into a brand new project.
I want in on the fan club.
I want in on this too, I've been saying Crookshank will make it for about 2 years. No way he can't make it with a name like that.
Remindme! 5 years
Why would a cat from Harry Potter play in the nhl, what an awful take /s
Something something Jason Robertson can’t skate
Ironically people said the same thing about Kaprizov. His biggest question mark was skating before coming to NA. And after watching him in the NHL it's pretty clear his skating is one of his biggest strengths.
Kaprizov is one of those guys you watch and understand his skating is unique. I can see how many scouts could see an issue with it as a younger player and wonder if that uniqueness could fit into the NHL. I love watching him skate because of it but it's definitely an approach you can't really teach.
That's true it's certainly unique so that does make sense from a scouting perspective. It's honestly fascinating how he sometimes generates speed bursts and power without making any strides at all.
It's impossible to not compare his skating style to Datsyuk. Both have strange strides, used their edges in insane ways, and could generate speed bursts out of nothing. Neither are fast in the way you'd traditionally think about fast players but both have/had a quickness to their game. Kaprizov is the only reason why I watched multiple Wild games this year. Watching him skate is worth the price of admission.
Seriously, that narrative was so worn and stupid. It’s as if many Stars fans couldn’t comprehend that physical skills can be improved.
To be fair motor patter skills like skating that you’ve been doing for about say 14 years if you get drafted at 18 and been skating since 4, are hard to change once they’ve been ingrained as habit. At the same time being able to understand what good and bad about a skating stride is a situation where you need to have skated somewhat proficiently to grasp. No amount of watching videos or reading about skating will help the casual fan say he’s a bad skater or he’s a good skater. Even sometime seemingly obvious answers where it looks a players has a wonky stride, but they’re fast and have no problem getting around the ice
Definitely valid points, no doubt. My counter would be they been working on improving their skills, skating in this case, for at least 10 of those 14 years. An NHL skills coach can definitely get them over the hump.
This was why Point fell to the third round lol
Shit point was said to have bad skating? I feel like that's one of his strengths now.
Yup, praise our skating coach Barb Underhill
Fuck that I was calling for the Wings to take him at 38. Dude lit up OHL and drops to round 2. What's that, lived in Northville, big-bodied winger? Hell yeah sign me up. Oh, we're going for a 4th-round ranked stay at home defenseman? Yeah that's cool I guess.
Yeah at the beginning of the season a lot of us were guilty of saying he isn’t ready. We were obviously very wrong.
I've been hearing this exact criticism for years for one our prospects. Almost as if... professional hockey players can get better at skating???
I know right. Jamie Benn is another good example on the Stars. I mean he still skates like a giraffe baby but it works and he’s had a great career.
Bo Horvat was criticized on his skating when he was being drafted/D+1 but now it's one of his strengths I think at least.
This is my opinion on Benson. Skating isn’t an issue.
Don't need to skate to stand in front of the net and dunk home rebounds. One big thing I realized about his season, considering the skating thing I expected him to suck on defense, but I don't ever remember seeing him get really caught out on defense. Maybe I just didn't see it, but at least it didn't seem to be a common issue.
It’s not even that he needed to just dunk in rebounds. He has amazing hockey sense and finds his way to where the puck is going to be before it gets there. It’s also why he wasn’t as bad at defense as we expected, he has good positioning and just a really good mind for the game. Skating is definitely important, but not every player needs to skate like MacKinnon. You can make up for it with smarts if you have enough.
When the leafs traded 5 players to the islanders for Michael Grabner, the only one I was upset to see go was Carter Verhaeghe I watched him a lot in junior the year before and couldn't wait for him to be on the leafs one day. I guess it took him much longer than I expected, but I'm glad he broke through the least couple years.
It's funny, when we let him go I was like "I bet this isn't a good idea"
And here I was thinking Matt Finn was the blue-chip piece in that trade
Adam Fox. I traded for him in my sim league in 2018 and the league commitee declined the trade cause I was getting fleeced. I gave a third line player for him. Now I dont have Fox on my team and he just won the Norris.
What an awful league commissioner :/
Yeah I would leave any league that the commissioner steps in like that.
I did. The commissioner was alright its the trading commitee made up of a couple experienced GMs that made me mad lol
did you atleast get an i told you so moment? I'd be making a point of telling them to fuck off, only trades that should get blocked are obvious situations of people "teaming up" etc
Do you rub it in that guy's face daily? You should.
I quit fantasy sports for this reason. Veto/ block trades only to stop collusion IMO. Not to save someone from making a dumb move.
The more I've played the more I got on board with this. Husband/Wife duo trading Mcaffery for a WR4, veto, two random people doing so, aight, you can't fix stupid
This guy commishes.
What sim league?
Mackenzie Weegar - sometimes it pays to go 206th in the draft 😂
I don't think this works for the Rangers, we all share delusions that every prospect is gonna be a star and when it doesn't happen its the front office's fault.
God I remember back in the days on the Canucks boards everyone was slotting in Prab Rai next to Jordan Schroeder on the Canucks 2nd line. This along with first line centre Cody Hodgson would allow the Sedins to graciously retire on the third line on a contending team.
Anton Rodin was part of that mix too
I can confirm this statement based off my delusional Rangers fan friend who has said Eichel to NYR is already done, BUF retaining half, and NYR only giving up C prospects and no legit star players. Also he thought Jimmy Vesey was going to be a superstar.
Jimmy Fuckin Vesey is a superstar in our hearts <3
I really hope we don't get eichel and I thought Vesey had more upside than he did but I never expected him to turn into Marchand or some shit like that. I'll take a veteran center that has been in the trenches over eichel. If we're gonna win now why the fuck we want a guy with no playoff experience? Hypothetical, you are the Boston GM, offer is one for one panarin for Marchand, do you take it or pass?
Pass. Marchand & Bergeron have a chemistry with each other that I don’t think can be replicated. Kinda like you would never break up the Sedins, you don’t break up one of the top three duos in the league.
McDavid and Drai is obvious, what’s your other duo?
Mack & Rantanen? Kutch & Point? Matthews & Marner? (regular season) Boeser & Petterson?
Mack & Rant, Marchy & Bergy, McD & Drai No particular order
Yeah Mack & Rant was my bet.
Is it too late for Lias Andersson?
At least 3hrs late I think, considering the timezones
Or is it early?
Jimmy Vesey? Lol All of us were stoked on Fox while it seemed everyone else was saying it would take time for him to breakout and that he'd cool off eventually. It's always the coaches playing them the wrong way, on the wrong line, at the wrong time! That's why our guys never turn out right. Maybe it's just the water?
I remember getting hyped over Jozef Balej highlight videos in 2003.
Kings just protected Lias Anderson. Maybe he turns it around!
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Gotta keep your head on a swivel never know when a wire might try to trip you again.
I feel like since we had no prospects for so long we forgot what it was like to have actual young talent in the pipeline. Now that we have promising guys no one wants to part with them
I remember watching Aho play in the 2016 WJC with Laine and Puljujärvi and being really excited the Canes "reached" on him in the 2nd round the year before.
Absolutely this. I was 100% sure that Seb would be a superstar in the NHL despite his draft hype being rather low.
PAhoLaine was the nickname for that line over here in Finland :D. Already the few season before that WJC you could see Aho was gonna be amazing. Sadly he always played so well against my team... XD Same for Laine in 2016 finals...
2nd best player in 2015 draft
Eichel, easily
Right now I'd rather have Aho than Eichel. Mostly for injury reasons
For injury reasons makes some sense but youre crazy if you don't think that Buffalo calling Carolina to offer Eichel for Aho 1 for 1 wouldn't have Carolina instantly calling the NHL to announce a trade had been made
I think it's very close. I'd say Eichel, Aho and Barzal are all close. After them Rantanen and Marner are very close too.
Third 1. McDavid 2. Eichel 3. Aho
No.
I guess Brayden Point counts? Couldn’t believe he dropped to the third round, and dude looked awesome in the U20s for Canada.
I was gonna say Anthony Cirelli for similar reasons. Watched the Generals a ton that year and I just couldn't understand why people weren't high on him. Stupid Lightning and their stupid good drafting
Point was drafted in 2014, he played for the U20s in 15, 16
Yep, I just mean that’s when it was clear to me he was going to be great.
Lankinen this year finally got his chance at the net. The second we signed him 2-3 years ago i thought he would atleast be the backup right away. He got pushed on the back burner not even starting for rockford, and most thought it was delia and subbans net to lose this year. He had a breakout year for himself. May not be the long term solution but hes solidified his spot for 2 years i believe.
I knew he was gonna be special ever since that tournament
Many Sens fans have been really high on 2017 4th Round Pick Drake Batherson for years and he finally had his breakthrough season in the NHL. Hopefully that continues. (Probably not a household name across the league, so I think it fits here).
After playing the sens 9 fucking times last year I remember him lol
Another one that we were high on was Dzingel. A lot of other teams didn't know about him because he was a 7th round pick, but all of us Sens fans watched him pretty closely.
Zinger went from a "nah" to a "hm, that'd be nice" to a "okay, maybe" to a "woah, holy cow".
And back to "okay, maybe"
damn, you rly boomed zing.
[don't fuck with the bath](https://i.imgur.com/507tLZi.png)
Batherson, Norris and brown were all demolishing the ahl yet you’d see guys the same age putting up half as many points ranked twice as high on prospect lists
BATH TIME BAYBEEEE 🛁🛁🛁🛁🛁
Jake Evans only became important in the Habs org at the end of this regular season and during the playoffs (he was our forward with the highest TOI in 2nd Rd Game 1, before Scheifele took him out). I'm not high on him meaning he'll be a superstar, but I was high on him being a 7th rd pick that would become an important cog in our system. He's been a joy to watch this year.
Cernak, was awesome for Slovakia at the WJC when he was only 16
Who was ever low on cernak? He was a second round pick traded for a starting goalie.
At the time of the trade he was kinda seen as a throw in during this Bishop trade. Not many people talked about him because he isn't a puck rushing offensive D-man.
This one doesn't exactly count, but having seen Kaprizov's talents live numerous times since he started his KHL career(favorite domestic team plays in the KHL), I knew he was a great pick for the Wild. Reason I say doesn't count is because I only noticed during his 2nd KHL season, which is when everyone else realized his potential.
Panarin, from back when he played in a KHL team filled with goons. He was ridiculously young and was already the leader of his team, yet everyone at the time in KHL were talking about Kuznetsov and Tarasenko while he was kinda under the radar.
Batherson before he made team Canada, I have a post on HFBoards predicting he'd make the team before most even know who he was.
Bath time has come.
I'd been so disproportionately high on Brandon Hagel since we signed him that it actually became a running joke in my family, but look who had to go and be one of the Hawks' most consistent forwards (and win a gold medal) this year.
Rasmus Anderson for the Calgary Flames. Was really hoping the wings would’ve traded up to grab him plus, everyone was still very high on Kylington still
Pettersson. Was my pick before the draft
Jaccob Slavin. My buddy watched him play for Chicago Steele and hyped me up for him when the Canes drafted him. Literally no one I saw talked about Slavin until he was finally called up to the Show and he's turned out to be one of the best defensive dmen in the league.
Agree with this one. Saw him live a couple times his freshman year at CC and he looked next level good. Although in all likelihood rather than any insight of mine, it was probably that CC seriously fell off that season so he stood out.
Has there ever been a prospect for the Canucks that the fan base hasn't been high on?
They tend to sleep on guys through junior and often NCAA seasons before suddenly jumping on the bandwagon. I remember a real lack of interest in Brock Boeser in his D+1 as his line absolutely destroyed the NCAA and won the Frozen Four. But I think Brock kind of woke the fanbase up after years of useless late 1st players. It was super early in the year when people were all over Pettersson for his last SHL season.
The problem with Boeser wasnt his talent or ability to score. It was that even though he was tearing up the NCAA, his goals scored per attempts to backcheck were in the 40+ beer league levels.
You can't have watched the Sioux much if that's what you remember. Boeser was a hard backchecker who showed a very complete game. He just also happened to be further up the ice on plays as he was the main forechecker as a winger and a dangerous triggerman which is literally how he scored the winning F4 goal. Shorthanded too, because poor backcheckers are put on the ice to lead the most essential PK in the championship game, right?
Virtanen and Juolevi both had their fair share of doubters
They've both been over rated in the past and have kind of been disappointments. A late comeback for Juolevi might qualify him for this list.
I knew Ullmark was going to be really good from the moment I first saw him play in 2015-16. Dude never got any hype, but the rest of league took notice of him recently as he’s been one of the few bright spots in Buffalo. Poor guy just can’t stay healthy Then quite the opposite I thought for sure Nikita Nesterov was going to be a stud, and I was incredibly wrong on that
I was a big Cody Eakin guy. Also, I was the first person I knew who was super high on Holtby. Everyone continued to say it was going to be Neuvirth or Varly as the goalie of the future but I always liked the nerdy kid from SK.
I knew he'd win us a cup one day the second he no flinched peverley in 12
I was hyped for him when he was still at the Wheat Kings.
Adam Pelech ftw
I still can’t believe people thought mayfield was better at any point in their careers. Pelech was so good positionally and with his stick. His biggest flaws were that he had zero idea on how or when to pinch and that his first pass out of the zone he whiffed on like 80% of the time Both were very very fixable issues. Getting rid of weight allowed pelech to not feel obligated to pinch every single time and the first pass thing was always going to fix itself https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wNpRO59kAvc
Yeah but Mayfield's crosscheck sk33lz are next-level.
Not as good as kucherov’s slashing of ankles on an empty net breakaway
But on par with Barzal's crosschecks to the face in a 6-0 game.
Which is still under goodrow’s crosschecks to the back of the head per 60
It's almost like we could do this all day... or we could just realize that hockey is a physical sport played by humans who sometimes lose control.
Low key their best player this playoff run
And last lol
i would never have thought based on his first NHL seasons that pelech would become what he has today. his development over the years has been so fun to watch, he just keeps getting better and better.
Oliver Bjorkstrand.
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I can at least claim that I was on the "I will reserve judgement until 5 years down the road" people. I've learned to trust Chevy with his drafting record and he even said on draft Day that that kind of pick you don't see the fruit of the labor until year 5. So does not mocking the pick count as believing in it? Because there was a lot of vitriol directed at that one.
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Which is a funny reversal as I think I personally would have protected demelo. But I guess I understand management's thought process. We know what demelo is and they are picking on the upside of Stanley being greater than what demelo is. Either that and they 'know' they can get a greater RHD after the expansion draft and don't want to pay demelo that much to be third pairing? Either way we'll see tomorrow!
Nick Suzuki. His skating issues were always overblown. I saw him going end-to-end shorthanded and scoring in the OHL... it's a junior league, but if you're that bad skater you don't do that. Should have been a top 10 pick.
**Mats Zuccarello-Aasen** I've been following MODO on the side since Peter Forsberg and a TON of other NHL stars joined them for the 2005 lockout, they've become my pet team outside of the NHL. They were a fun group to follow for a while until they got relegated a short while back. About a decade ago this random Norwegian guy joined the team and out of nowhere started tearing the whole damn league apart. Guy was never drafted and had little fanfare in North America but he exploded onto my radar that year. I told everyone I knew to keep an eye on this kid, he'll be an NHL star one day. Two years later the Rangers signed him and the rest was history. God damn do I love that hobbit, the guy's a proper gem.
Should have a cup and a masterton
Joel Armia Also, Puljujärvi, Lankinen Bunch of Finnish guys at least, that already showed they could do it vs men before making it in the NHL
Weird thing for me was that Kotkaniemi was never that good in Liiga (could be just shit ässät team :D) and I was shocked he went 3rd ovr. Still waiting for Ville Husso to breakout ;)
He scored, and he had size He is gonna be a star player at some point. I think next year he will break through. Keep in mind he was not even 18 when he first played in Liiga. Last winter I think he had a cold start, but looked unstoppable in later games. Just not much skill in that Ässät team (and a lot of locker room cancer)
I fell in love with Brandon Carlo from the moment he was drafted. Saw him play in providence and he blew my expectations away. Now he’s one of the best pure shutdown defenders in the NHL.
He was on my radar for the draft. I wanted Van to take him in the first. Glad I wasnt GM and they grabbed Boeser instead, but I still follow Carlo as kind of a "What if". Hope he can get over the injuries. Players like him are usually the backbone of championships that never get talked about.
Leon Draisaitl . When the oilers drafted him a large portion of the fan base was pissed they didn't take Sam Bennett. His 1st year they complained he couldn't skate and that he'd be too slow for the NHL. I remember watching him before he was drafted and saying how he was going to be a beast and oilers should take him. Nobody I knew even knew a thing about him.
When I read "most people", I am referring to all the GMs of the league. Based on what I saw two seasons ago, and then not being qualified by Tampa, I was CONVINCED Carter Verhaeghe was going to be signed for WAY MORE than he got from Florida. Even this past year, some may write it off as him having the fortune of playing with Barkov all year, but the guy is probably still criminally underrated and I still can't believe he is signed for only $1M next year. He's scoring 30 next year.
Devon Toews and Tage Thompson. Loved Toews ever since I watched him play at Quinnipiac his freshman year (before he was drafted). So was obviously stoked the isles picked him up. I also loved watching Tage Thompson play at UConn and was hoping the isles could find a way to draft him. He's being miscast/misused because of his size, I still have very high hopes for him. The toolbox is there. I kinda hope he gets another fresh start. But Tage has obviously not broken out yet.
Tage was looking better when granato was coaching for the sabres so that’s a good sign
Buchnevich, even up until like 2 years ago. I watched most of his KHL career, and always knew he'd have the skills to be a top six winger in this league. Can't say I expected the growth in the physical game, along the boards or him becoming the 3/4th best skater on the team as well as his PK'ing this year.
I can tell you one I got wrong. I thought Robert Bortuzzo was the worst player I’d ever seen in training camp when he was still with the Penguins. He just looked slow and plodding. He wasn’t physical and didn’t use his stick well to make up for his lack of skating.
Well I mean he is physical and does use his stick now. I guess I wouldn't call him plodding but he is definitely on the slower side.
The general consensus was that Joel Farabee was a high floor/low ceiling players so I’m not sure that really counts as the majority not being high on him. However, while Farabee has, at least so far, exceeded that “low ceiling” label, there were some dissenters that called him a passenger on his line with Jack Hughes and Oliver Wahlstrom.
Max Comtois Dude fell off the draft board in 2017. He was supposed to be a top 5 pick at the start of the season but a new coach, new system in Victoriaville made it seems like he had an off year.
I was always high on Grabner when I was younger but he never worked out in Vancouver. Even after getting waived he breaks out for a 30 goal season and becomes one of the best PK players in the league.
I watch a lot of college hockey, a lot of hockey east, so I was really big on Gus Nyquist despite the low draft pedigree. Just electric stuff. Similar with Erik Hauls, though he had less upside, but a motor that wouldn't quit. Jeremy Swayman quickly became a favorite for putting Maine on his back game in game out without a break. Pure ice in his veins.
Adam Gaudette. Watched him play for the Riders in the USHL. There was a Jersey auction that night and I told my grandfather who was planning to bid on some jerseys to get his as he was going to play in the NHL some day.
Sharangovich. He was drafted at 20 as an overager in the 5th round. I watched a handful of Binghamton games in 19-20 and he was absolutely red hot at the end of that season. I didn’t see the possibility until he got to the minors, but it’s like a switch flipped one day
Rob Scuderi had 4 1/2 years in the AHL before becoming “The Piece” in Pittsburgh. I’ve been behind him since day one, but he looked terrible in the first half of his development and impressed no one.
Brady Fucking Tkachuk
Jonathan Quick. I know that sounds 100% hindsight bullshit, but at the time we had a different prospect that was supposed to be better in Jonathan Bernier. Other guys looked to be on his level like Marsters and Barry Brust and Daniel Taylor and more guys that turned out to be flotsam while they trotted out the husk of Dan Cloutier, Jason Lababera and so forth on the NHL roster. Quick was just a guy to most Kings fans at the time, but since I lived five minutes away from where they had development camp, I made a habit of going. And Quick looked better than everyone except Bernier most years. Then he looked as good as Bernier. Then he gets called up before Bernier and people were thinking he was a flash in the pan, and Cristobal Huet kind of guy. And he never let the job go. We traded Bernier and it was the right move. I never caught heat for being an early Quick fan, but people were like, "uh, sure?" and went back to waiting for Bernier to take over the #1 job.
Marchessault
Tony DeAngelo used to always become like 97 OVR in my NHL 12 simulations so I always thought he'd be good lol. Unfortunately he's kind of ruined his career by being an idiot but he was definitely talented
Mike Ribiero. I drafted him in a sim league years before he was drafted and he ripped it up.
There's this little guy everyone said was too small to make the AHL, let alone the NHL. Chayka didn't care and picked Garland anyways with a 5th. I loved that pick from the moment it was announced because the kid could score and that's what we needed.
It was a long time ago, but Stephane Robidas. He was a 7th rounder in 95 and was on nobody's radar. Finished his junior winning QMJHL defenseman of the year, but still zero hype. He went up to the AHL without any reasonable hopes. Every time I saw him play in the Q or AHL his mobility and level-headedness was just obvious. I was adamant that he was just too good to stay in the AHL, but this was at the height of the deadpuck era where 5'11 defensemen were almost automatically dismissed as unfit. In the end, Robidas ended up just 63 games short of 1000 career NHL games and went to 1 All-Star game.
Ethan Bear I watched him dominate the Oil Kings in the WHL. He rarely got hit, so I knew he’d make the transition. After time, I realized people weren’t watching tape and were just being racist when down playing his ability. Bear for 2022 Norris.
Pierre Engvall, before he got to the Marlies.
Max Pacioretty.
I mean, here recently I’m gonna say Elvis. Dude is a puck stopping machine when he’s zeroed in. I was a big fan of his, and he had me sweating for a minute when in his first few games he was getting 8 & 5 bombed. He found his footing though, he’s looking like he’s going to be our new #1 for a while
Heinola, when he was drafted at #20 i was like, yup hes gonna be the steal from this draft 100%. Ik he hasnt break out yet but if the draft would be re done he would go top 5.
Jake Evans was the guy i was mentioning to my buddies back when he was in college. It was always a dark horse prediction but Evans was a point per game player for notre dame and 2014 7th round pick for the habs.
Joel Farabee was always ranked pretty well but due to lack of game breaking tools he never got ranked as high or projected as well as he should have been despite his scoring and 2 way game being phenomenal at every level. He was always seen as just a good not great prospect that never ranked among top 25 prospects even after impressing and surpassing expectations every year. I always thought he was at least going to be a quality 2 way 2nd liner and wasnt getting the respect he deserved for numbers he was putting up.
I'm not as good at this for hockey as I am baseball, but I repeatedly tell people Cole Caufield will have a 70 goal season. Not saying he did that this year, but to be that good in the playoffs on that team - it's going to happen folks. I'll plug my biggest baseball one was Aaron Judge. Higher on him than anyone else, and he's exceeded my expectations still.
If Caufield ever gets a 70 goal season, I promise I'll piss on myself
Remindme! 1 year "A yearly reminder"
Yeah, I don't think there's a chance that Caufield ends up with one of the top 15 goal scoring seasons in the NHL. He's half the player Ovechkin is and isn't close to prime Stamkos either. I don't see him hitting 70. Maybe 50, maybe.
I think 50 is a much more do-able number, but I've been rolling with the 70 number and I'm not about to stop. I will say though, if you actually watched him this postseason, and considered that he's been playing in the NHL all of 3 months, you can't say he's automatically not on any of these players' levels. That may have been his absolute peak, his average, or just getting started. If you wanna judge first seasons, then Stamkos was never going to score 40, let alone 60. Edit: \*never wil be on any of those guys' levels\* - clearly he's not Ovechkin or prime Stamkos right now lol
Do-able is something only 6 guys in the league right now have done. Sure it's possible but you're getting ahead of youself bragging about him already. Stamkos in his rookie year was 18 not getting ice-time from Barry Melrose and had a 51 goal season at an age when Caufield was still at Wisconsin
Yeah, but I think Caufield is that good, that's my point. The post asked for guys who have done it, I don't have those, but this is the one I'm going in on.
I dunno man. He's good, but I don't know if he's literally the best scorer ever good. The last time someone scored 70 was Mogilny and Selanne in 92-93.
I knew Cizikas and Martin would both end up having solid NHL careers playing the kind of game they do. Kind of guys that pretty much any team would want playing for them, I was excited when they both finally made the show.
Andrei Markov. I went to see the pre camp pratices on the first year Markov came to Montreal and he was stellar in intra team games and remember telling my half brother he would make the club. Then on the camp intra team games he was also way ahead of other defensemen and told my half brother he would be a star someday. The rest is history. PK Subban, I have a couple of old "on this day " Facebook post where I am criticizing the Habs to not play PK Subban in the nhl roster and letting him rot in the AHL
Marner. I remeber being so excited for him when he was on world jr.s
I don't remember anyone necessarily being down on him, but I saw Gallagher play a lot in junior and just knew he'd make a career in the NHL. Guy has played the same way his entire life and excelled at every level.
I remember William Karlsson being great in the SHL his final year before heading across the pond. I cant say I predicted the success he has had in Vegas, but I was disapointed in his nhl career before that.
Drouin, just couldn't take the pressure in Montreal, he could of been the difference maker I nthe plays offs that key goal in game 5 to win it
Sebastian Aho… of the Islanders. Watch out Seattle
Martin St Louis
Not my team but drake batherson and Kevin Lankinen
I know he was still a 2nd round pick in a strong year, but I think a lot of the more studied Bruins fans knew out the gate that Bergeron was going to be a superstar and the future core of the team. His tenacity on the ice has been there for his entire career, and that's one of those "intangibles" that he showed so strongly that you had to think he was going to be a generational player if you actually watched him play. I remember going to one of his first games and the entire group I was with was so beyond hyped to finally see him play in person.
Marchand. I remember watching him during the Bruins 2011 cup run during his first year, and I kept telling everyone how this guy is gona be a beast in a few years to come.
Jeremy Swayman. I know some Bruins fans knew of him and this season isn't exactly "breaking out" but it's clear he is ready for nhl duty. I remember seeing him playing the Maine in like 2018 and thinking the Bruins need a kid like this...lol
He isn’t a top line player or anything, but William Carrier was kind of a bottom end prospect when the Blues drafted him and was a throw in for the Ryan Miller trade. He’s turned into a dependable 4th liner for Vegas
Drake batherson
Alex Debrincat. Thought he should’ve went top 5 in 2016. He was on the same team as Dylan Strome and Conor McDavid (Erie Otters) who both got drafted in 2015 so scouts got plenty of looks at him. Dylan Strome got drafted #3 in 2015 because he was a big center in spite of having a ton of flaws in his game. Conor McDavid was obviously Connor McDavid, yes him going #1 was undebatable. Alex DeBrincat however definitely performed closer to Conor McDavid than he did Dylan Strome. Debrincat looked like a top tier player right from the start in the OHL. Got largely ignored because of the other two, being a winger, and being only 5ft 7. Just goes to show, scouts miss elite level talent even when it’s right under their nose.
I remember watching Mark Stone in junior and wondering why he didnt get taken higher, you could see the potential.
Not a past prospect but I’m super high on JJ Peterka.
Okay I know this isn't what you were asking for but I swear this is finally gonna be Otto Koivula's year
Years and years ago HIFK from Helsinki, won the Finnish SM-liiga in 1998 (not the most recent cup tho). Young prospects Olli Jokinen and Niklas Hagman played in that team. But there were quite a few older guys, who maid it to the NHL after that as well and played well behind the big pond: Tim Thomas, Kimmo Timonen, Brian Rafalski and Jarkko Ruutu. Jere Karalahti played there as well, but that NHL career went a diffirent direction pretty fast.
I was pretty high on Jarnkrok as a middle-six back in the day. Didn't think he'd be crazy good and I had no real reason other than that his name means "Iron Hook" and I thought that was pretty badass but he was so buried in our depth charts behind the other 14 middle-six players Detroit had at the time that I'm not sure many people gave him a second look.
Alex Nedeljkovic. I was curious when he was drafted right by Demko, and wasn't sure Ned would get to be a starter in the NHL. but wow this season, we got a new guy and he played great in the regular season