The Athletic Hockey Show - Corey’s midseason 2022 NHL Draft rankings, BioSteel All-American Game notebook, listener questions, and more

Episode Date: January 21, 2022

First, Max and Corey, who were both in attendance at the BioSteel All-American Game, featuring the top American-born prospects eligible for the upcoming NHL Draft, discuss the game and the smart decision to mix up the rosters to make for a better scouting environment, as well as the play of guys like Cutter Gauthier, Jimmy Snuggerud, Rutger McGroarty, Logan Cooley, and an interesting USHL second-half player to watch, Sam Rinzel.Then, the guys dive into Corey’s midseason 2022 NHL Draft rankings and discuss how the shine has faded off of still-No. 1 ranked Shane Wright over the last six months, point projections for the presumptive top pick, the possibility of someone else getting selected first overall, including guys like Logan Cooley, Ivan Miroshnichenko, and Juraj Slafkovsky, how many potential first-line centers will be available after Wright and Cooley, where top defensive prospects David Jiricek and Simon Nemec could get selected, Owen Pickering, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Adam Ingram entering the top-20 of Corey’s rankings after being previously unranked, and more.Plus, to close things out, the guys open up the mailbag and answer listener questions about Corey’s thoughts on New York Rangers defensive prospects Nils Lundkvist, Braden Schneider, and Zac Jones, at what point does this year’s NHL Draft switch to “below average”, which bottom-10 first rounder has the most potential to move up the rankings, if Corey has been disappointed by Tim Stützle’s development, if Shane Wright could become a better player than Josh Norris, how much of an impact Cole Perfetti could have on the Winnipeg Jets roster next season, and which overseas scouting destination is Corey’s favorite to visit.And, right now, you can sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, Max Boltman here alongside Corey Pranman, back with another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's Prospect Series. Corey and I were both at the BioSteel All-American game in Plymouth this week. We're going to talk about that. Corey promptly got back from the game and put out a new set of 2022 draft rankings. We'll get to that. And then some fun mailbag questions that we'll end with. But first of all, Corey, do you miss me already? Only mildly. No, it was a great weekend in hockey. You got to see the All-American game. I saw the program play once, another U.S.HL game,

and I went off to see Michigan play Penn State. So a very productive weekend, seeing a lot of good junior in college hockey. And obviously, that led into the article I published on Wednesday. We're going to get to that in a minute. A lot of really good stuff, a lot of interesting stuff that we'll get to there. But let's start with the All-American game. I think we had a conversation after about the second period at that game. I came and found you on the concourse and asked you what you thought so far.

And I think your answer was all the obvious guys looked good. And I think that's a pretty good way to sum up the game. A lot of the top NTDP players, Cutter Goatee, Jimmy Snuggaroo, Logan Cooley, I thought, looked like the best player on the ice as you would expect. Those guys were, Rucker McGority looked like the best players in the game. Yeah, I mean, for me, if, like I said, all the programs, guys I thought stood out. I think there was like a surprise USA Jell or high school guy that came in and did a lot more than you would have expected.

I think if anybody had any kind of theory that Logan Cooley wasn't the best USA prospect in this year's draft, I think it would have been hard to come away from that game still believing that. I think he looked, I think he looked like he had the puck, or at least his line had the puck, any time he was on the ice. you know, really stood out. And just like a majority of other program guys, whether it was Gauthier or Snuggarrund, McGrady, Nazar, Howard, they just looked like Casey, Hudson. They just looked kind of a little bit of a level above the rest of the guys. Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it.

And every one of those guys did it a little bit differently. I mean, three of those guys we just mentioned, Magrory, Gautier, and Snuggabrored played on a line. And that line, I think, proved to be pretty overpowering, with the exception of, as you said, when they got matched up against Kooley, but provided plenty of offense. And Gote is a guy that we're going to get to in the rankings, but I wanted to start with him a little bit here because he has seemed to kind of elevate his stock. He jumped from outside of your top 32 into the top 20 in these rankings. And I think you saw why a little bit

in that game, big powerful skater with a big shot. And that's a package that to NHL teams, you know, that gives you a really good floor there, basically. Yeah, I think it's a combination of things with Gautier. He was kind of always like a second, third-line winger on this team over the last year and a bit of late. He's been playing center and playing it effectively, which I think has intrigued a lot of NHL personnel, given he's 6-2, 6-3 and skates well and can play the middle and is showing some offense. That combination, I think, is getting people excited. There's a little bit of a question how much offense he has. I think the shot is really high-end.

I worry about his playmaking a little bit. He has zero assists so far on the season in the U.S.HL, not a great statistic. But I think he has good hands, a very good shot, as I said before. And I understand why this player on the rise, although it's not a player who I talk to people around the league. Some people love this guy, and some people think he might just be a third, fourth line forward. He did have an assist in this game. It was not a high-end play. It was off an entry, and he just kind of dropped the puck off to snugger.

who wired at home, but he did have an assist there. So it doesn't count for the USHL, but let's make sure we get it. It was. So maybe it counts. It was actually, so this is one thing I wanted to talk about this game. I thought that the game made a really smart decision this year by mixing up the teams. Last year, we watched the NTDP really control back. Last two years.

Last couple years. Yeah, that's right. And this year they mix them up. And it led to, I thought, it was an overtime game for one. But you got some kind of cool. I mean, there was a moment early. I think it might have been the first period where, McGority stood up Logan Cooley in the neutral zone and those two guys are teammates.

That's something you're not going to see a whole lot in the game. I thought it made for a much better scouting environment and a much better game. Yeah, I agree. Several years ago when they used to hold this game in September and they would bring guys in from the program and the CHL and the USHL in high school, that was the way they did. They just blended the teams. And yeah, I agree. You know, the U.S.HL is a good league. They have good players, but just you've seen the last couple of years.

They don't have enough of a roster there to be able to match up against the NTP, given that they're usually the best USA players tend to go to the NTDP in a given age group. So I thought this format made a lot more sense and made for a much better game and showcase for the U.S.HL. It was fun to see, too, you know, some of the guys get paired up with maybe guys that they're not used to playing every single day with, I think, that's a good thing for the game, for scouting environment. McGority was the player of the game. We mentioned him with the big head. He ended up with a secondary assist on the snuggerwood goal,

but he also had a really nice goal that was, I would say, pretty typical of him, a great shot. He actually had to win a race to the pocket, and I think was important because one of the questions on him is his feet. I thought, you know, that was an encouraging goal to see him score. Yeah, no, for sure. He's really competitive. You mentioned the hit on Logan Cooley.

In general, I think he's a highly competitive player. He has skill. The skating is quite awkward, and I think that's the kind of debate around him, is he for sure, first rounder or not because of the skating. But it was a promising game for him, a promising game for his other NTPV teammates. And one guy I asked how kind of wanted to mention. He was a USHL player. Played on the line with Frank Nazars, Cam Lund.

I don't think he was a top player at that event, but I think you see 6'2 good skater has skill. I liked him in a couple of games I watched on the weekend, too. I think he's a highly intriguing guy, I think, will definitely be, has a good chance. chance to be a top 60 pick in the summer. Anybody else that popped for you or just you thought had a notable game one way or the other in this game? No, I think we kind of touch on everybody. There's some guys down the line, like a Ben Strindon or something like that, who are reentry

guys who, you know, look like he competed well, has a chance to be a later round pick. But the premier guys, I think, were Lund and the NTP players. The one guy, and I asked you about him at the game, I don't know that he had a particularly notable game, but Sam Renzel is a guy who jumped from high school into the year. USHL. And he was there. And so I think you can kind of see the outlines of the toolkit there. Six-four skates pretty well. I think, I don't know that he made a big impression at this game, but I think it's going to be, he's a player that I'm interested in in second half, how he does in the USHL. Yeah, and like that kind of he says, six-four, good skater. I've heard a little bit minority

opinions of late one, early two buzz with him, probably more of a second rounder. I'm about to guess that the draft happened right now because of the fact that he hasn't played consistently high-level hockey, a couple of games in the USHL with Waterloo where he played very well, and he played the Link of Gretzky where he had some flashes. And that's kind of a tough part with evaluating players who play high school hockey is if they're not truly dominant high school players, which I wouldn't characterize a season as such, you're basically taking a leap of faith saying he's going to, you know, project great to higher levels because he has the skating and the size. And he has a little bit of offense. Not sure it's great. It's a great puck game, but some offense.

Probably wasn't his best game, but he's still a guy I know there's a lot of optimism about. All right, let's move now into your rankings. Do we call these the mid-season rankings? What's the official title of this one? Yeah, I think that's fair. Last year it was kind of an odd way of doing it because of the fact that we didn't have CHL hockey for long stretches. But, you know, there was at October, this is a mid-season one,

and then there will probably be an end-season one roughly sometime around the spring, whether it's May or June. All right. So we'll call this the midseason, and it starts, I guess, familiarly with the guy who we've expected to be number one the whole way at number one. He's in the only player in your kind of bubble NHL All-Star top of the lineup tier. And that, of course, is Kingston's Shane Wright. Yeah.

And I should know that's a half tier below where I had him in October. But I still think he is the number one prospect in this year's draft. very well-rounded player who can play the middle. Probably doesn't have anything about his toolkit that will be at the very, very best on an NHL team. Maybe his shot. But just a player with no discernible flaws who does a lot of things at an NHL level. It's a very promising prospect. The question, I think, with Wright, is, you know, is he a number one pick that's going to change your franchise?

or is he just a nice number one pick, an average number one pick who's going to be an excellent, excellent player, I think most NHL scouts at the moment lean to the latter. Well, and then that's a pretty significant, I guess, development, because I think when you looked at the hype coming in, like there was a lot, and there often is, you know, it's always funny. I think kind of the guy two years out is always seen as the franchise saver, and then you get to the year of and the scrutiny picks up. Yeah, and the hype, I think, you know, you can blame the media or whatnot. I've hyped him up before, but I think the hype is a lot on him, too.

I mean, you score 40 goals as a 15-year-old in the OHL. He goes to the U18 World Championships as a 16-year-old as arguably the best player there. I think he scores something like nine goals in like five games, something like that. His play in prior years has deserved the hype he got coming into the season. But, you know, when you get new information, you have to adjust, and I still think he's an excellent, excellent prospect. But, you know, the shot on him has faded a little bit over the last six months. Well, I guess the question then that I have is, has it faded to the point where,

I mean, we still think he's a really good player, to your point. You still have him as your number one ranked player. The question I have is, is it now more conceivable that he does not go number one? Is there someone who, whether that be Logan Cooley, whether that be, I don't know, Uri Slavkovsky, whether it be Ivan Miroschenko, a couple of the other, guys you have in the top four, could one of those guys conceivably pass him? Yeah, I'm starting to hear that a little bit more, not that some teams have those guys overwrite, but they're at least, like, particularly with Logan Cooley or Euroskoski, I keep hearing

that at least it's being discussed as like, hey, it's closer that we think. I think, I think the reason why I don't think I'm hearing, like, it's a tight race is because with those two players, while they're excellent, excellent prospects in their own right, It's not like they're having monster seasons on their own. And it's kind of one of those things where, you know, if we would have had a completed world juniors, maybe something could have changed in that regard. You know, maybe, you know, Slovakia upset somebody and Slavkovsky is huge.

Or USA moves on a deep run. Logan Cooley is a second line center. And Shane Wright still struggles. And then all of a sudden the narrative changes a little bit. So that's kind of where I think it's going to be tougher. I'm going to sit right, at least at this current stage, because he may not be having an amazing year, but it's not like Cooley's having a statistically historical year.

Slafkowski's got one goal in league of this season. There's probably a path where, like, if Cooley goes to the U18 World Championships, and it's just unreal. Like, they win gold medal, and he's the best player, and just leads the end, and is that good. That could be a variable. Slavkowski's going to the Olympics in February. if he really pops versus men there, that could be a variable.

So, and Wright would need to continue to struggle. Maybe Kingston, you know, gets knocked out earlier than expected, like in the first or second round. Those are kind of the paths. I think that would need to happen. But as of now, I still think you would probably make a very strong bet that that right would be the first pick. All right. So I'm going to pull up one of the questions that I had earmarked for the mailbag then in that context. because you did note, and this is from Zachary P,

that Shane Wright may not be an elite NHL score when he gets to the league. What does that kind of mean in context? Would you estimate that if he plays an 82 game season, you think he's a consistent 60 guy, a 70 guy? He asks, I think he's a Sends fan. Would you guess that Wright is a better player than Josh Norris, a guy who I know you feel is a legit top line center? Kind of contextualized for us.

What is an elite scorer? Yeah, I think he's better. I think he's, sorry, I think, you know, if you ask me, and I love Josh Norris. Like, Josh Norris has looked awesome this season. So I think it would be close between the two of them. I think Wright's a better two-way player, I would say. And there's, you know, there's a little bit more. You've got to take the game between the guy who's already in the NHL and proven versus the junior player.

I think you're hoping for Wright somewhere between, I would say, 55. to 70 points. I know it's a large range, but it's just projections. With excellent two-way play. And at the first line center, I think, it's a guy who's a really important player. But I just am trying to say, you know, he's not, I don't think, you know,

McKinnon, you know, Matthews, you know, so on and so forth. You know, the guy who's the star number one center, I think it's unrealistic to expect that kind of offense from him. But I still think he's an excellent, player. All right.

So we'll see how things develop for Shane Wright the rest of the way here. But one of the guys, you have him number two, I've been Miros Nish Nishenko. One of the commenters, Namedan, called you the last man on Miroshenko Island, which I thought was a funny descriptor. You have heard a little bit of people maybe questioning Miros Nishenko as the season's war on. Do you feel like the last man on Mirrish Nish Nishenko Island? Why do you have him number two still? Not among NHL scouts I talked to.

I would say most HL scouts I talk to have him in the 3 to 6 range right now. I've talked to a minority that still have him as a number 2 player and some who would have him a little bit of lower than that 3 to 6 range. I think he's going to be a guy whose U18 Worlds in April, like with Cooley, would be very, very important to see him kind of where he finally slots into the draft. I think a lot was made over his cut from the World Junior team. It's not ideal, but when I watched him with the U-20 team in November, I didn't think he played poorly. I still thought he was one of their better players.

My understanding is, too, is he was sick going into the camp. I don't know if it was COVID-related or not, but I do know he was sick going into the camp, so that might have affected the comments regarding his fitness. I have put all those puzzle pieces together, but I still, I've watched this guy for years. I think this is a guy with all the NHL assets. 6-1, good skater, really skilled, makes plays, highly competitive, you know, really good shot. I think you kind of saw when he's played versus junior players over the last few years, such as at the Honolinkogredski, the EOachian Championships last spring,

that he could be a very impactful player. That being said, if, you know, he was in last year's draft, he probably wouldn't be two for me. me. Each possible more three to five kind of thing. I think it's just this draft in general, there hasn't really been

a lot of players that have stood out, that have elevated their play. The two who have Yo Kim Kamel and Matt Savoy are undersized guys who are probably wingers. Savoy has played center

though this season in the W.HL. So those are values, but a lot of the top guys we've mentioned, like Kulis, Lovsky-Rite, Connor Geiki they haven't had really big year so Miroshenko too

hasn't had like an incredible year but at the end of the day I still think the toolkit like kind of like with Wright there's no discernible flaw other than the fact that he's not a center and the fact that he is kind of playing VHL hockey

it's tough to contextualize but he is playing versus pros and has been scoring more of late all right well you talked about the center thing let's just go there right now because beyond right and coolly. I think that's one of the questions about this draft. It probably does not, it's probably a factor here that I cover a team in the Red Wings that desperately could use a

high-end center prospect and probably is not going to be in range to get right or coolly. But I think that probably applies to several teams that are going to be picking in kind of that four to 10 to 15 range. And I want to ask you like how many potential first-line centers do you see beyond right and coolly? Because you talk about Savoy, he's been a big name for years and because of his size, I think, in large part, and maybe the skating at the size, it's a question whether he ends up as a center. Connor Geeky, not often maybe the dominant start, you would think. How many potential first-line centers are there beyond right and coolly?

Well, for me, just the two, and two would probably be round par, if not slightly above average for him and draft that have two first-line centers. Probably more par, actually. So, boys, interesting one, I've bumped up the skating from where I was previously on it, but I still think for 5'9, it's not like exceptional feet. And that's kind of a question that we have with Savoy is, all right, you know, how many centers in the National Hockey League look like him? Where they're 5'9, they're very skilled, they're good skaters,

but not like exceptional skaters. And how many of those guys, never mind our top two line centers, but first line center, I would be hard pressed. I mean, your mind goes to a great point, brain point I think has a little bit more size than him. Yep. I think he does too. Yeah. So it's why a lot of scouts I talk to, not all of them. I think it's like 50-50 honestly on this, think that geeky will go ahead of Savoy when it's all said and done.

Just because he's six foot three in a center and very skilled and has some physicality in him. Even though the other one is laughing him in terms of production this season. But, Pete, there's a lot of people who think that at least one, that geeky is going to be an NHL center. but there's a minority opinion who think he could be a first-line center in the National League. One thing that jumped out when I was reading the rankings is I think you had Slavkovsky even listed as a center. How plausible is that that he could play center in the National Hockey League? That was, we pulled all that information from Central Scouting, and they haven't listened to as a center. I've never actually seen him play much center over the last two years.

It's possible he's played in the past, but whenever I've watched him play, I've been as a winger. and I'm not sure he has the size of the skating to be a center. I wonder if he has the all-around play to actually be an NHL center though. And I talk about this with NHL people all the time about how hard it is to really find that premium center

because you saw in last year's draft with Mason McTamiphanepiners, they go fast. It's why I think even if Kooley's not having this monster statistical season, he's going to go I think second or third overall in this year's draft because trying to find

premium centers are a very difficult thing for NHL teams to do. And in his case, a elite skating and rather well-rounded one. The last guy at the position I wanted to talk about, Nathan Gosey, big guy. He's a late birthday from last year. I wouldn't say he's blazing fast, but relatively powerful, has had some offense at times. Where does Gosey fit into all of this? How high can he get? Is he more of a teens pick, or can he get into kind of that mix in the top 10?

Yeah, I'm probably on the high side among NHL people I talk to on Gosey, but I kind of see a lot similar between him and Giki in that they're both, I think, these big centers, they have good, they have some good, they have good skills, probably not an incredible skill, but good skill. Both have some power in the game. I think Gosek is probably a little more well-rounded, and maybe Gigi has a little bit more touch. But they both play on very good teams, Quebec in the Q, Winnipeg and the Dub, and don't always get like the premium power play time.

geeky is often on the second power play in Winnipeg, for example, where Savoy's on the first. And, you know, I look at Goce, I see a 6-3 center with some skill who's competitive, red shot center too. And I think there's a lot of value there. Like I said, I think I'm on the highest side among NHL people I talk to, but I see a guy with a chance to be a second-line center in the National Hockey League. Beyond the center position, I thought it was interesting. You made the note, it's a forward heavy group at the top of this draft class. and the two names on defense that stand above the rest, Simon Nemitz and David Yerechek, you made the note, like, they could go really high if the draft was held today.

You have them ranked, I believe, numbers four and six. Is that a, they could go higher than four or six if the draft was held today? Well, you just think, look at history in terms of where the first defenseman goes in an NHLF draft. You're typically inside the top three and definitely inside the top five. So I think you will see at least one of those guys go inside the top five. five, and there's at least a chance there's two of them. Now, I think most NHL people I talk to think that those two are the two guys at the top of the draft.

There are minority opinions building for Pavel Mintakov and Saginaw and Owen Pickering and Swift Current, but as of now, I would say those two are the guys we expect to go very high in the draft because of their, one, they're just overall talentability, and two, their track record having played very well versus men internationally over the last two seasons. Really glad you brought up Pickering and Mintyukov because they are two of four guys who went from unranked in your early season or preseason. I don't remember exactly the timing of that to midseason. The other two being Gautier, who we mentioned earlier and Adam Ingram from the USHL. What have, we can do all four of them, but let's start with the two defensemen, Mintyukov and

Pickering. What did they do to propel themselves up into the top 20? Mintakov is one I think is definitely a guy whose ranking coming into the year was affected by not playing at all the previous season because the season before, meaning three seasons ago, sorry two seasons ago, mind you. He was one of the more impressive prospects at the World New 17 Challenge.

It was a big part of why Russia won a gold medal there. And then he commits the Saginaw, doesn't play at all the last season because of the OHL shut down. And he comes in and his hype started to build really quickly among scouts. He's starting to see a 6-2 defenseman. He's a really good skater. He can make a lot of really high-end offensive plays as a stick handler, as a rusher, as a passer. It seems to offend well enough. So now people are getting really excited about this player. Starting a lot of

text messages for people in the league over the last month or so that this guy's got a chance to go top 15. So I think, you know, he's he rose rather sharply too just because I think I think I there's just an unfamiliarity with him. Owen Pickering, I think he grew as a player, both in terms of his actual game, and physically he's grown a lot over the last year or so. I think he popped from like 6-1 up to like 6-4 or something along those lines to go with pretty good skating for his size. He's showing offense.

Swift doesn't have a lot around him in Swift-Current, but it's still producing offense. So I think that's a guy who there's been a lot of interest in, was not even part of Canada's U-18 camp at the summer, but I think for him, he's a guy who should he go to play at a U-A-T World Championship in April, I think that's going to be a pretty big event for him to prove whether he can go higher in the draft or not. And the last one he mentioned was Adam Ingram, who didn't play USHL last season, comes in, and is one of the leading scores in the league right now for Youngstown, 6-2 forward, was dabbled at center

but I think we'll probably be a wing in the NHL with skill, playmaking, and scoring ability. Anybody else that I haven't brought up to you here that you feel like kind of merits a little further elaboration here that you really want to talk about from this list of 32 at the mid-season mark?

I think we kind of mentioned a lot of them, but the important ones. I think, you know, there's a Brad Lambert's future will be interesting one to monitor going forward. I still haven't rated at 12 on my list, but he's going to be the guy I think among NHL teams is going to be debated a lot over the coming months in terms of, because you could argue on pure overall talent, he's the most talented player in this draft.

I mean, he is a dynamic skater. He's very skilled. He has decent size. You saw it the World Junior when he's at his best. Man, did he look good? but that player shows up very infrequently. And I've seen him lay eggs, a lot of eggs too. So I think I still like this player a lot because he is just so dynamic at times.

He just transferred to a new league of team. I'll be very curious to see how he does there in the second half. And then time will tell how the rest of his career goes. All right. Let's move now, Corey, into the mailbag. Some good ones. Some little more spicy ones, I think, today. Bayer wants to know about Nils Lunkfuss and Brayden Schneider who have been attached to some trade

talks. I don't know exactly where, but he wants to know what your thought on their play would be this year and oh, would you trade him for J.T. Miller, I guess that's probably the trade talks that he's referring to. I ever heard about that one, but I think the Rangers are in a very interesting predicament. And it's a good predicament to be, and is that they have a lot of very good young defensemen. I'm sure a lot of NHL managers would love to have that problem, where you have, I think, three excellent young defensemen coming up who are not, you know, either been in the league

or kind of been in the league briefly in Brayn Schneider, their first round pick a couple years ago, Niels Lunkfist, the first round year of the prior year, and then Zach Jones, who was a third round pick, but has risen rather sharply since the draft. The issue, I think, really centers around Jones and Lunkfist in that you have these two players who are puck-moving defensemen, offense-driven defensemen, and they're competing for ice time on the same team that has Adam Fox, who just signed a very long contract, is an incredible offensive player, it is not going anywhere anytime soon. And you got, you know, Niels is 511, Zach Jones is like 510, and it's, you know, that's

going to be an issue, I think. You know, eventually one of those guys are going to have to move on. I have a hard time seeing Schneider being moved, to be quite honest, because I think he's a more two-way guy, more well-rounded. His role is easily more defined. to go with guys like Truba and Keandre and Fox. But I've talked to

NHL coaches who have said they don't want more than one defensemen on their team being under six foot tall. I'm not saying that's what the Rangers' preferences are, but I think that's a generally well-thought idea around the league that you don't want to have two,

never mind three small defensemen in your lineup. So I think eventually something's going to give here, which again is a great problem to have. But it is something that I do think at some point we'll have to be sorted out. Of course, I guess in the context of this trade that this questioner is asking about, Vancouver has a pretty notable defenseman under six foot who runs the power play as well. Yes, that would be something there too, although New York's

winning a lot more games than Vancouver is right now, at least over the year, although Vancouver's won more of late. Yeah. All right, Patrick McConnell. Did we bring this up, Patrick McConnell? You mentioned in your mid-season ranking that Scouts said it's a below-average draft. At what point does it stop being kind of quote unquote average? I don't think we talked about this. Is it about the top five? Is it about the very top or is it, you know, just the collection? It's a little below average at every point.

I feel like a broken record when I say this on the podcast, but the drafts usually are defined for me at the very top of the draft. The reason why I feel the below average draft is because the very best players are not playing incredibly well this season. So I think once you get past like the top five, I think it looks, if you look, if you compare you from my rank, rankings in terms of how the tiers look. This is why I like using a standardized grading process that helps people look year over year.

I think once you get past the top three, top five, it starts to look like every other draft. All right. I think that's a good answer. Rogue 5, which prospect in the bottom 10 of your first round right now has the best chance in moving up the rankings and why? Do you have them in front of you? Do you want me to read to you who this pool of players is? No, I haven't in front of me right now.

I heard of had some people pushed me on a couple of small wingers. Isaac Howard, Philip Meshars, guys I think should be higher. I think both guys, small winger, typically don't go high in the draft, but I had Howard a lot higher and Meshire are a lot higher coming into the season. I could see myself be swayed in the second half to move him back up. I've heard some buzz about Luca Del Bellaloo's and Mississauga. And Mississauga has been one of the biggest surprises in the OHL this season, and him and when Beck have been big reasons why.

So I can see if he continues to have a lot of success. I can see an argument for him. And those are the ones that would come to mind right away. Howard and Mesa are both in your top 15 earlier. So that's the context there. If they kind of have a little bit of an uptick in the second half, the path to going back would not be unprecedented. Mitch asks us to know about Tim Stutzlow, who he expected to be an absolute star in the NHL. He wants to know if he's been disappointing it all to you because he's not yet an absolute star.

and why you think he hasn't, I guess, burst onto the scene. I mean, I still think he's going to be. He was 19 coming to this season just recently turned 20. Whenever I've watched him, I've been rather impressed for how he looks as a teenager. You know, these things take time sometimes. I think whether it's next year or the year or after, I think he'll reach that level. I'm not saying he's going to be like a regular like 70, 80, 90 point guy. But I think he's going to be an impact player in the National Hockey League.

It's just, you know, rebuild to take time, develop takes time. I know for Ottawa fans, that can be particularly frustrating right now. But I do think he will get there eventually. I watched him over the weekend against Edmonton. I thought he was really good. I mean, the skating pops at a way that you just know at some point that's going to, and he is smart enough. He is skilled enough that when you combine all those things together,

I still think you're looking at a really good first line forward and potential to pop into that star echelon. Yep. I agree. All right. Michael R wants to know your thoughts on that your Cole Profetti is having and his overall development. Do you see him being an impact player for the Jets next year? I'll tack on to that or even by the end of this year in time for the playoffs.

Yeah, I watched their game last night where he scored his first goal. I think impact player for a guy his age is probably aggressive. I think they wish you should be happy. If he's a regular top nine, top six guy by next season, I think you're thrilled for for a 20-year-old, if he's helping your team win games at all this season as a 19-year-old, I think, you know, you're ecstatic. Like, that doesn't happen very often for a team that's trying to make it to the playoffs. I think a season's been positive.

I don't think it's been overwhelmingly positive. I can't say, like, you know, he's defied all expectations, just crushed in the American League. But, you know, he's done, while you watch these American League games, he looks, you know, the skill, playmaking type of guy that's very high-end in that regard. whose game doesn't have a ton of pace. It looked same for Canada's U-20 team in the brief amount of time. He was there. I think he's on track, roughly, you know,

from where he's been the last couple of years, not, I would say, overly exceeding or coming, you know, way under that mark. I'd say one thing for Winnipeg fans out there measuring Cole Perfetti, like one thing that he's going to kind of contend with that some of the other guys that were picked in the range he was aren't, is that Winnipeg's forward core is already really good. And a player like Perfetti with the brain that he has

isn't going to automatically walk into the power play time that say a Lucas Raymond has in Detroit. That's something that like it's, that's an area that his game can really thrive that he's, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I mean, we've seen for years like the debate over, like Nick Ily years or Cal Connerby on the first point when you're in there, you know, never mind Cole Perfetti. Yeah, totally. And so that's something that you'll have to kind of be patient with, I think, especially with the production numbers.

But he's a prospect that still has, I think, really tremendous episode. Last one's from Brian. He wants to know of all the places overseas you've had the chance to travel for scouting. Is there a place that's your absolute favorite to go? I mean, I wish I could give a better answer because I haven't had a lot of chance to travel overseas much over the last couple of years. There was a period there where I was going quite frequently pre-COVID. It's a lame answer. But my favorite city I've been to has been Prague.

Just an unreal city, unreal experience. whenever I go over to Europe too me having a Jewish background I always like seeing whether it's Holocaust memorials or things along those lines and there's a Jewish quarter of there that I've had a chance to visit

along with an incredible city and I've been to check probably the most of any European country so I've had a chance to see a lot of hockey in that nation and just that city has always been kind to me and always been a memorable experience I have never been overseas, so I cannot answer this one.

But I actually hope to. I have a trip tentatively booked for the very near future. So hopefully, if you ask this question again in a couple months, I can answer that with at least my only city that I'll have been to. I very, very, very much hope to be in Germany and April for the U-18 World Championships. But all you can do is hope. Yeah, absolutely. All right, that's going to do it for us.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's prospect series. subscribe to the Athletic Audio Plus on Apple Podcast to get all the bonus content from our entire network. They're going to start you with a 30-day free trial and then it's just 99 cents a month. After that, right now, annual subscriptions to The Athletic are just $3.99 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show.

Thanks so much. We'll talk to you soon.