The Official Prospects Thread

[glen a richter]

Didn't feel like starting another thread for this, but watching the U18 World Championships, Cole Caufield, while under-sized at 5-7 is flipping amazing at scoring. Doesn't matter where he's shooting from, he almost never misses the net - even when picking corners. And it isn't always Jack Hughes setting him up. In the opening game, Caufield had a hat trick before Hughes even registered his first point.

Debrincat 2.0? Still burns me that he fell to the flipping Blackhawks.

I hope we hold on to our first round pick this next year to select someone in 2020. Obviously if something makes sense down the line to trade it then do what you gotta do Army but I'm a big advocate of hanging on to your firsts wherever possible.

Debrincat still burns me, but I think we're in good shape moving ahead, for the most part. Organizationally we could use some more depth on defense and I expect they'll draft accordingly.

[theohall]

The Caufield kid prior to this tournament was ranked as a late 1st rounder. No idea where he is now after the ridiculous show he put on there. The question for all of these guys - other than Hughes - is how much of what they are doing is a product of playing with very talented players who've been together for almost 2 full seasons and how much is their skill. IMO, the Caufield kid is skill. He backchecks and gets up ice quickly after causing d-zone turnovers, he finds space, his shot, as already mentioned, is ridiculously good - regardless of what kind of shot it is - wrister, slap shot, snap shot, jam at the crease - whatever he does - it winds up on goal in the right places. The only negative on Caufield is size. Debrincat has some attitude issues that, along with his size, dropped him in the draft, also. It was a legitimate question at the time. Caufield doesn't have any issues other than size. Caufield tied Ovechkin's record for most goals in a single tournament with 14. That's 14 goals in 7 games.

Hughes, Caufield, Turcotte, Boldy, York, Zegras - all of them looked really good. What's nuts is Hughes wasn't that good in the 1st game - only registering one point, yet wound up leading the tournament in points by the end.

[theohall]

Toropchenko scores 2 in 5-4 win to even OHL Finals at 2 games each. Home teams are holding serve in this series.

Highlights from Game 4

Plenty of videos at that link if one wants to see OHL playoff stuff.

[theohall]

Mikko MIkkola is playing for Finland at the IIHF World Championships, if anyone is interested.

[theohall]

99% of the game, Mikkola looked solid on defense consistently making the right reads - when to reach in for a puck, when to use the body, when to back off. When he backed off, he always took away a passing option. Quiet game, as in you didn't hear his name, because he took away Canada's offensive options when he was on the ice, which is good for a defenseman. The only thing, which might have been a mistake, was in the final minute. Finns have the puck in their own end are moving up ice. There is one forward behind the puck for Canada and another pressuring. Mikkola is smack in the center of the ice, but is on the offensive side of that lone Canada forward. Of course, the puck gets turned over, goes right to that forward and Mikkola has to scramble back, which is enough to prevent the forward from getting in front of the goalie, but not enough to stop a quality shot which the Finnish goalie saved. No idea if Mikkola was supposed to stay behind the deepest guy or just protect the slot in case a turnover happened in the neutral zone - which is why I'm not even sure if it was a mistake. No turnover and it's not even an issue. That taking away the pass option thing away from the puck is a big deal, IMO, because it's one area where the Blues defense is weak sometimes.

[theohall]

Toropchenko added a goal and an assist in Game 5 4-3 win of OHL Championship. Guelph is up 3-2 on the Ottawa 67s with Game 6 @ Guelph.

[theohall]

Guelph Storm wins OHL Championship

Which means Toropchenko will be playing in the Memorial Cup which will be televised on the NHL Network. So, anyone interested with the NHL Network in the US, will be able to watch Toropchenko play at least 3 games. Memorial Cup starts May 17.

[ComradeT]

99% of the game, Mikkola looked solid on defense consistently making the right reads - when to reach in for a puck, when to use the body, when to back off. When he backed off, he always took away a passing option. Quiet game, as in you didn't hear his name, because he took away Canada's offensive options when he was on the ice, which is good for a defenseman. The only thing, which might have been a mistake, was in the final minute. Finns have the puck in their own end are moving up ice. There is one forward behind the puck for Canada and another pressuring. Mikkola is smack in the center of the ice, but is on the offensive side of that lone Canada forward. Of course, the puck gets turned over, goes right to that forward and Mikkola has to scramble back, which is enough to prevent the forward from getting in front of the goalie, but not enough to stop a quality shot which the Finnish goalie saved. No idea if Mikkola was supposed to stay behind the deepest guy or just protect the slot in case a turnover happened in the neutral zone - which is why I'm not even sure if it was a mistake. No turnover and it's not even an issue. That taking away the pass option thing away from the puck is a big deal, IMO, because it's one area where the Blues defense is weak sometimes.

Mikkola is also currently tied for 3rd with 3 assists. So no slouch offensively.

[WaukeeBlues]

99% of the game, Mikkola looked solid on defense consistently making the right reads - when to reach in for a puck, when to use the body, when to back off. When he backed off, he always took away a passing option. Quiet game, as in you didn't hear his name, because he took away Canada's offensive options when he was on the ice, which is good for a defenseman. The only thing, which might have been a mistake, was in the final minute. Finns have the puck in their own end are moving up ice. There is one forward behind the puck for Canada and another pressuring. Mikkola is smack in the center of the ice, but is on the offensive side of that lone Canada forward. Of course, the puck gets turned over, goes right to that forward and Mikkola has to scramble back, which is enough to prevent the forward from getting in front of the goalie, but not enough to stop a quality shot which the Finnish goalie saved. No idea if Mikkola was supposed to stay behind the deepest guy or just protect the slot in case a turnover happened in the neutral zone - which is why I'm not even sure if it was a mistake. No turnover and it's not even an issue. That taking away the pass option thing away from the puck is a big deal, IMO, because it's one area where the Blues defense is weak sometimes.

Mikkola is also currently tied for 3rd with 3 assists. So no slouch offensively.

70 gp for San Antonio this year so he's made the jump across the pond. Future defensive defenseman? Would be great if he generates some offense too but over his (admittedly brief) career the G and A categories have been on the low end.

[theohall]

I would think a future 5/6 defensive defenseman - or the defensive guy for an offensive minded defenseman. Like say pairing him with Parayko, the two of them combined would have more reach in terms of wing span than the current Bouwmeester/Parayko pairing. And Mikkola does play a more physical game.

[ComradeT]

The Finns definitely aren't using Mikkola as a defensive defenseman. He's used on PP. The guy has pretty good passing mitts and good vision.

[theohall]

Which isn't anywhere in scouting reports on him. Watching games from this weekend (wasn't home and recorded them). Mikkola made a great pinch to setup Kaako's goal which gave the Finns a 3-2 lead vs Slovakia the other day.

[glen a richter]

It seems to me that the Bouwmeester contract was as much a "let's give Mikkola one more year in San Antonio on a more seasoned team" as anything else. He's going to be on this team, it's just a matter of another year in the AHL. San Antonio didn't have a great start to the season and a lot of the guys--Mikkola, Kyrou, Husso(?) need to be afforded a full season with an extra year experience to really develop into NHL players.

I like the way they're developing Mikkola, just like I liked the way they developed Binnington. Don't rush these guys, let them get their games in order so when they come up they're ready to contribute.

[theohall]

Guelph Storm Memorial Cup Schedule

Sat 5/18 3:30 CT
Sun 5/19 7:00 CT
Tue 5/21 7:00 CT

Depending on what happens - Guelph could be in any of these, all 3 of them, or none of them.
Tiebreaker Thu 5/23 7:00 CT
Semi-Final Fri 5/24 7:00 CT
Final Sun 5/26 7:00 CT

[theohall]

Since the NHL, in their infinite wisdom, is showing entire IIHF games, the Memorial Cup telecasts are being cut short, so...

Just check this reddit thread to watch the games (just scroll down).... if you know what I mean.

[theohall]

After a first shift where Toropchenko kinda took a bad angle to force an o-zone turnover which led to a goal against, he responded with a first period natural hat trick.

Short-handed goal off of a great forecheck. Hit behind the net. Opposition player rushed the puck to the other side of the net, comes in front, support from another Guelph forward forces a turnover which deflects to Toropchenko directly in front of the net. He buries it.

Next shift, he's the last guy on on a change. Makes a zone entry on the left side of the ice, leaves the puck clean for a Guelph player at the blueline and skates straight to the front of the net. No one fills the lane created when Toropchenko went to the front. Perfect pass across that lane - Toropchenko buried it.

With about 2 minutes to go, he gets sent in on breakaway and scores the natural hat trick.

3-1 Guelph after 1 over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL Champs)

Interestingly, Guelph was an OHL Wild Card team and won the OHL Championship the hard way being the road team and coming from behind in every series.

Next season could be interesting for Toropchenko. He turns 20 in June which makes him a CHL over-ager. CHL teams are allowed to keep 3, so he could be kept by Guelph next season. The catch is Guelph has several over-age players, so it's possible he might not be kept which would push him up to the AHL. At 6-3, 203 while 19, I don't see him having that hard a time making the adjustment to the AHL the way Kostin in struggling. The reason why is he's had to rely on being a complete player at the junior level, because he's struggled in terms of generating goals. The playoffs, and now this Memorial Cup, have been a huge surprise in terms of goal scoring production from Toropchenko.

[theohall]

The hat trick.

https://streamable.com/35ee9
https://streamable.com/rysef
https://streamable.com/8asne

[theohall]

Don't be surprised if the Blues are in the hunt for Conner Mackey.

Big, left shot, defenseman. NCAA UFA.
6'2 183 Age 23

He could've signed with someone last off-season, but chose to go back to Minnesota-Mankato. Guess he didn't like the offers he got from the teams interested in him then

Yes, the Blues have plenty of LD in the system, but... other than Mikkola and the smaller Perunovich, it hasn't been developing well... so... he could be someone the Blues look at. His father played for the Blues for a cup of coffee (64 games from 91-94) as a fill-in due to injuries.

[glen a richter]

Speaking of LD, David Noel is putting himself back into the conversation. I know he’s been on crappy teams which helps explain his -53 from a couple of seasons ago, but he’s putting together a much better effort, as is his whole team generally speaking, this season so far.

[glen a richter]

Tyler Tucker is putting together another great season, averaging an assist a game to put him on pace to outdo his offensive output from last season. The kid is definitely in the picture as a top LD prospect now. He's come a long way since being a 7th round flyer as a stay at home guy. If he keeps up this development he might end up being a bigger draft steal than Colton Parayko was for lasting into the 3rd round.