The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL Pipeline Rankings Teams 9 through to 16

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

On the Wednesday the Athletic Hockey Show, Max Bultman and Corey Pronman continue to present the Prospect Series Pipeline rankings. On episode three of this four part series, the guys layout the pipeline rankings for team 9 through to 16. The pipeline rankings comprise all players under 23 years of old before September 15th in an organization.Save on a subscription to The Athletic: theathletic.com/hockeyshowThis episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/nhlshow and get on your way to being your best self.Sign up for Chime today, and make this summer the best one yet - for yourself and your wallet. Get started at chime.com/nhlshow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody, Max Boltman here alongside Corey Pranman for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's prospect series. We are now on episode three of Corey's pipeline rankings counting down from 32. That means we're tackling team 16 through 9 today. And that starts Corey with the Nashville Predators. Barry Trott steps in his general manager. And he steps into a farm system that I think has improved. I mean, they made some picks in this recent draft.

That's always going to help you. You restock this system here, especially when you get a player at the very top in Matthew Wood, who you've got as a potential top six forward and a goaltender in Yaroslav Asgrav, who may be a legit starting goaltender in the NHL, a upper tier starting goaltender in the NHL. Yeah, I remember seeing the rumors about Asperov being on the block when we went into the draft this past summer. But when I watched Ascarov in the American League, last season. I thought he looked excellent and impactful, which is not something he always used

with a young goalie. But yeah, I thought he would make a difference in a lot of the games I saw in the American League. His athleticism is elite. He's a smart goalie. He's aggressive and tracks the play very well. And I think this is a guy who, like you said, he has a chance to be a legit number one goalie in the NHL. And he's in the conversation for the best goalie, not currently in the I think with Nashville, so you like him, you like Wood, those are two guys who are not in the league yet. But I think with Nashville, it was reassuring was the production they got in the NHL from some young players this season. And part of it was just them, you know, taking some steps back and giving their young guys a look. But I think, you know, Tomasino, after not making the team in the opening parts of the season, comes up in the second half and produces again.

And you have Luke Evangelista after a great first year as a pro comes up and looks really good in the NHL. And what I think was really reassuring was the play of seventh round pick, Yuso Parsons, who ends up playing a significant portion of the year in the NHL and looking quite good. As a big forward who displayed high-end skill at times during the season, I like his compete too, even though his skating isn't the best. So it's a combination of guys who are here now who will be there in the future. But that being said, I think there's still a lot more work here to do. I think you look at this organization and you're still wondering where are the premium centers,

where are the premium young defensemen going to come from. But I'm going to guess they will not be very good this coming season. And this will be a couple more years of trying to accumulate assets. Parsons is an interesting one because I think this is really what all teams are hoping for when they take a shot in the seventh round that you're, you're going to get this six three guy who, yeah, he's got this skating question,

but, you know, if he pops a little bit, all of a sudden you have a player who could factor into your top nine. And last season, it really does look like he, he has that power to his game.

He has that skill to his game at his size. That is an intriguing combination on the top nine. Yeah. And I said, I think he really like what you're getting in a guy like that. Even in Evangelica as a mid-second round pick. If he can play, it's very reassuring.

and then if what kind of thing is probably going to happen, you're going to get some high first over the next couple of years. Now you're starting to form a group that could win. Yeah. The interesting thing I think for the predators is going to be where they find kind of the, they've had these top defensemen, Roman Yosi, Matias at Coleman over the years. They've even had some centers that they had to go trade for. The cream of this prospect core, though, Corey, is on the wings,

whether it's with Wood. Parsidon will see if he's a center or a wing long term. Jo Kimmel, Evangelista, as you mentioned, Reed Schaefer, a high pick. They're still kind of needing these most in-demand pieces. Right. And they need to pick in the top five, frankly, to get those pieces, which is not something that's been a common outcome for Nashville in recent memory. Yep.

All right. On to the next one. We got the New York Rangers, and they are still headlined by a couple of top two picks, speaking of top five picks, Alexei Lafranier and Capocco, Corey. You've got both of them still projected as top of the lineup players, which should give a little bit of reassurement to Rangers fans out there who maybe it hasn't come as quickly as they want, but you still see that path ahead of both of those guys. Yeah, and obviously these are two players. We've talked about a lot on this podcast and two players who's been very difficult to assess where they are just because of how the Rangers are built, where they have built, you know, that great power play, some really high-end forwards that. play at the top of their lineup and and thus for cockle and left for a year they haven't always

gotten the chance to to get those premium opportunities and the devil's advocate argument would be well if they were so good they would have forced their way into getting those opportunities and I think some you know we would watch their play at times in the last few years that sometimes it's been good and not as good I think cockle this past season it was more reassuring that you saw some consistency with power and the skill game I don't know if the offense is ever going to be elite elite but I think this is a guy this is a guy going to be a very good player for a long time left friend year is the tough one remember the healthy scratch in the middle of the season for example but you also see the high end flashes a skill and offensive creativity that he has to both players

aren't great skaters that's probably contributed in part to their long adjustment into the nchl but i think i understand why it's easy to kind of harp on left ranier a little bit you compare them to say two other wingers in the same draft who people, I think universally think very positively about on Lucas Raymond and Jack Quinn, his production this past season isn't far off those two. So I think you want to kind of keep in context how young he is, while I still think he has a very bright future.

It could be a very important player of an HL team. But I think it's reasonable given how the beginning of his career has gone to maybe say, hey, this guy may not be the impact piece you thought you were getting when you picked him one-one, but not all one-on-ones are that player. But if he could still be a legit 50, 60 point winger, I still think that's a really important part of an NHL lineup. Their first round pick this year is Gabe Perot, who is incredibly skilled and smart offensive player, another winger. If I'm a ranger's fan, though, as much as I think that that has a chance to be a real steal in the first round, my fear is that when you look at what has slowed kind of Lafranier and Kako's development,

in theory, this is a little bit of speculation analysis, opportunity on the wing, for the Rangers have been hard to come by. Premier power play time for the Rangers has been hard to come by. Gabe Perrault is a guy who I think needs to be in those roles, those kind of premier offensive roles to really play his game. Should Rangers fans be concerned by that? Or is the timeline going to work out better for him where some of these guys age out right in time for him?

Yeah, he's going to take a few years because, you know, his body isn't very physically developed and because of the skating. I think he's going to be at least, you know, he's going to do two years in college at least, maybe even sometime in the American League. It's going to take some time for him. But we'll see. I think it's a great argument.

It's one that I instantly thought of the second they picked him. And I think I kind of speculated on the podcast afterwards that they must have had this guy rated dramatically higher than where they picked him. And the kind of things I've heard after the draft is that was accurate that they just had him so high on their list that they were, even if they would have preferred a different kind of player type, I think they would prefer to get bigger, for example. They just love this player so much that you just have to go and pick him. But they do have some bigger guys in the organizations.

I think Will Cooley looked really promising in the American League last year. He's a big physical winger who has some secondary scoring. I think Brennan Othman can be a secondary score who provides physicality too. I'm going to butcher this player's name for sure in terms of his official European pronunciation. But I think Yaroslav Shmolash has looked very, has looked, good, both between the world juniors and his time and in college, has a big wing who skates really well and has not the best offensive touch, but enough that I think he could be a bottom six four in the NHL. So there are those different traits, but yes, but when you used

your first round pick on another guy who is a small, especially slow, high-end skill winger, it's going to be to see if his development goes differently than say left for any airs goes. All right. On the number 14 is Carolina. And Corey, this is an interesting team. because I feel like every year we leave the draft and we are hearing about, you know, wow, Carolina, they traded down so much. They made so many picks. Look, look what they got. And in a lot of ways that shows up here. You have 24 players ranked as prospects who at least have a chance for the Carolina Hurricanes. And at the very top is a guy who I think is one of those kind of fines, right? But maybe not the one that you would expect. It's Alexander Nekishin, the Russian defenseman, who I know is one of your favorite prospects in the world. Yeah, and I think what you mean is by what you wouldn't expect is that obviously, Dekechion is a fantastic player. He's a big, mobile defenseman who led all KHL defensemen in scoring as a 21-year-old.

And on top of all of that, he's very hard to play against. He runs over his checks routinely, and it looks like a guy who has a chance to be an impactful two-way pro-defenseman in the NHL. and I think if he would, and he has a couple of years, I think two years left on his KHL deal with Skha, but I honestly think if he was in the NHL starting next season, he would be a quality top four defensemen from day one. What I think it's interesting is when you say why you don't expect him to be the top Hurricanes prospect, as he hasn't really been the player type they've targeted with seemingly 95% of that plethora of picks. they've tended to target more high-end skill guys. And while Nikitian offense has developed over the years,

it wasn't what he was primarily known for when they picked him in the third round. Right. And I think when you think of Carolina, you think of guys like Felix Ungersorum, a guy who they picked in the second round this year, who I really like. And you come away and you say, wow, like, hey, there's real offense here. But, you know, Nikitian does have that. And I think it's an extremely valuable profile for this big, two-way defenseman who can skate and by the way it does have offense as well.

And it gives, I think when Nikisha does eventually come, it gives them some flexibility. Okay, how are we approaching Brady Shea? How are we approaching Brett Peshi and the decisions that need be made on that blue line when you feel you have another one of those guys coming in? Yeah. I think you could also talk about Scott Morrow and a little bit similar lines of that. He's another big mobile defenseman who's on the way. Maybe it doesn't have quite the ceiling that, that in the case.

Kishen might, but a player that a lot of people are excited about. Yeah, he has the size skating skill that Nekishen does, but he has nowhere near as good a defender and nowhere near as competitive. I think that's kind of the issue of Morrow is we're not really sure if he'll be able to make stops in the NHL, whether he'll be consistent enough in the physical parts of the game, but the offense is legit. And I think, you know, he's a very good player and has a chance to be on NHL power play. Where you had on Seth Jarvis, I know you've got him ranked as the top of the lineup player, which is obviously a great tier to be in. But as Carolina especially kind of continues to progress here, their pan Sebastian Aho a lot more,

money's going to get a little tighter to come by. You see this as a guy who can drive for them in the next year or two. Yeah, I think so. I think his overall season maybe didn't have the offense you hoped for over the course of the year, although I thought he looked outstanding in the playoffs for them, which was reassuring. And he's such a young player that I think we'd. with how good a skater he is, and how competitive he is.

I don't know, I think he's really skilled and intelligent. I don't know if it's ever going to be elite, elite offense. I'm not sure this is going to be like a 70, 80 point producer by any means. But I think he can be a really important two-way player who does drive play in his strength, even though he's not the biggest guy and contributes quite a bit of offense. Yeah. After that core,

I mean, you get Bradley Nadeau, the 20-23 first-run pick. But beyond that, a lot of kind of in that tier that our prospect, but aren't as shiny. So for a team to be this high, they are really riding those top few prospects. We talked about 24.

20 of these are either in the projected to play NHL games tier and that has a chance tier. Yeah, and I think that is, you know, it goes to the difficulty of drafting in that if you aren't getting those high picks, it's really tough to get guys who are going to have NHL careers. and the math is, you know, not in your favor, but you're really hoping that when you make those, whatever, those 20 picks that you get one of them that becomes a legit player. Never mind if it becomes as good a prospect that I think Nikitian is and could be in the NHL,

but even if he's a notch or two below that, it changes the scope of your organization a lot. But it's, like that, you can have all, you can draft all the prospects you want in the second, third, fourth round. It's very difficult to find, Because usually after that first round, there's one, two, maybe three players left. Somewhere in the rest of the draft, they're going to become important NHL players. And it's very hard to find that one or two players.

And usually it takes luck more than anything else as much as. Oh, completely. I mean, I think Carolina would even admit that the Keish and Pick was left. I mean, this is a guy who had medical issues in his draft year, didn't show that kind of offense. And then overcomes kind of both of those issues to become the player he is right now in the KHS. that's in part, you know, it was, that's a largely in part luck. It is just, it is what it is. They identified the traits and it worked out well.

All right. On to team number 13, that is the San Jose Sharks. And of course, you're going to get a lot better year over year when you add a top five pick, especially one as good as Will Smith. And especially when you can follow it up with a second first round pick and Quentin Mustie, who has a lot of skill it upside himself, Corey. Yeah, I think it's post two players really helped the system, especially Smith, but I do like Shakira Macamudulin a lot, the player they got on the

team of Meyer trade. I think Philip Bistet, who they picked in the first round a year ago, had an outstanding season in Sweden between its play in the SHL and with international play, particularly at the World Juniors. I think this is a, you know, he's a big center who skates well, he's showing good offense this year. Same thing with McCamaduland, he, those are two players that have all the traits you want in both top six fours, the top four defensemen. So I think you look at those guys to go with Smith, to go with Musty, to go with the former top 10 pick and William Eklund. And the shark, I still think, have more work to do here.

This is not a core yet that can win. But I think you're starting to see the core come together that can win. I think especially up front, you really like this group. I think this is a core that can grow together, particularly if some of those guys, like say, Thomas Hurdle stay and maybe become, maybe not, even if it becomes less productive over the years, he can help be a supplemental piece of this core. But I think with San Jose, what they really need now going forward is some help on the blue one. But Kamalduulam is a really good player, but they need more than him. They need like a one or two premium young talent on the blue line.

And then I think you can see this organization start to turn the quarter. And it could be a good year for that in the draft with some defensemen who at least based on the early looks could project pretty high in this class. I want to talk you about what? William Eklund, who's the guy who obviously had a huge amount of hype in his draft year, obviously cooled, I guess, a little in year one out. But he has a really strong season in the HL, and you've still got him projected kind of right in that top six area for a winger. Yeah.

Whenever I watched the barracuda, he stood out, is skating, is high end, he competes well, he's really creative, and he makes a lot of plays with pace. You know, he's a smaller winger, and I think there's always going to be questions on that player type that when you're a small opening, you have to be outstanding in several areas to be a top six forward. But I think he is, and I think he has a really good chance to be that kind of player. I don't know if he's going to be like the star. I know you're reference to maybe the hype coming into the draft or people thought

he could be the second or third or best player in the draft. I'm not sure I would say that right now. But I think he can be a very good NHL player. Let's take a pause right there, Corey. Get a quick advertisement in. I'll be right back to talk about the top half. All right, Corey, we are back. breaking down your pipeline rankings list.

And we're going to pick it back up at number 12 with the Arizona Coyotes. Obviously, they just signed some of the bigger news of the summer so far, Logan Cooley. So after at one time looked like he was going to go back to college, now it looks like Cooley's going to be in the NHL, which obviously hugely exciting for those out in Arizona. But just as exciting is what they did in this last draft class. They take both of the locomotive kids, DeNeil Boot and Demetri Simashev, two of the more exciting, interesting players in this draft class.

and all of a sudden you can really start to see the pieces putting into place in Arizona for the long term. I still think there's a couple more years left to build here before they do have that foundation of a winner, but you can start to see the pieces coming together. They rank in the 12, they were 11 last year. Per that is that Barry Hayton graduates who didn't have a really good first half, but it was really good in the second half of the season. J.J. Moser graduates who's been playing big minutes for them. So those two guys come out and then you have the parts of the draft come in.

So at the end of the day, their ranking doesn't really move that much. But I do like what they are building in Arizona between Kooley, between the locomotive kids, between Genther and Hayton. I think you'd like, I really like the four group especially because I think even though he didn't have a big year, I still like Connor Geeky. And I think an organization that has Hayton, that has Logan Cooney, I think Geeky can slot in on the third line and have success in that. that role if he isn't the guy you're leaning on to be, you know, your big time player.

I think Dylan Genther's going to be a very nice top six four for them over the long term. And, you know, and Michael Rubal was my top ranked goal. He's going to last year's draft. Goleys take a long time. He's probably four, five, six years away. But I do like that player quite a lot. Probably one of the toughest players for me to evaluate in the entire pipeline rankings series was Matthias Machelli.

Yeah. I really struggle with where to slot this player because he has looked good since his draft several years ago. He has developed well in his play against men first in Finland and then in North America. It looks very skilled, looks very intelligent, competes well enough. The reason he went in the middle of the draft is he's a smaller winger, who's not a great skater. And then he has this absolutely outstanding rookie season in the NHL one. completely reasonably warranted culture votes. And the question is, is did he take this massive jump in development?

Was he just got opportunity as a highly skilled player on a, on a, you know, frankly a weaker offensive team? Is this a top six forward? Is this a middle six forward? This is a premium player now. I really struggle with where the Rick Machelli. It is a tough one because his production at his age would suggest he maybe deserves to be a half tier higher than what you have him.

that middle of the lineup player. You don't see many 21-year-olds, 22-year-olds, I suppose, putting up 50-point seasons. But you make the point about the opportunity. And when you look at who will eventually be ahead of him, I don't know that I see him passing Genter or boot, and I don't think they're done adding. And they're going to keep a couple of players from the team they have, and I'm sure, too. He probably does end up right in that middle six, probably like a really good third-line winger. Yeah, like it's funny

I mapped out the depth chart to kind of look at this You know obviously Keller's there for the long term now And then you have boot And then you have Genter We'll see whether they keep Nick Schmaltz Or not over the long term But it's to the earlier argument I've made You know, it's just so hard not like to make the NHL

But to have success in the NHL Because there's a lot of other really good players in the league too And the team you have When you're losing It's not always a team you look like when you're winning Right. When I won better athletes join the lineup. One player that I wonder if Coyote's fans are starting to get impatient with is Victor

Soderstrom, who was the 11th overall pick in 2019. You've got him down a couple tiers from where that would have been in the projecting to play NHL games tier. Are you losing hope there? Yeah, I mean, I think he's a good player, but he is a guy who is offensively driven. He is a skilled, intelligent puck mover, and the American League has been just fine. he's a good skater, he's not that big, he's not super physical. So it's like, what is his role exactly in the NHL?

Is he going to be on a power playing in the NHL? Will he be trusted with even strength minutes in the NHL? He did get NHL gains this season, but again, not a great team. Somebody's got to play those minutes. Will he be a tough Ford offense when they're actually trying to win? At this point, I'm not convinced he will be. Is the question that I guess for this system going forward, maybe the forward group's not totally complete, but probably the investment really needs to be

made on the next draft or so. Right. I think you obviously you love Dimitri Senechav. J.J. Moser has as well as you could have hoped. And I do think Maverick Lamaru has the potential maybe to be a Jamie Olixiac type of player, but they do need to add one or two more ideally, you know, really good young defense talents as they continue to rebuild over the next couple of years.

You might be able to say the same for the team you have at number 11. That's the Philadelphia Flyers. Obviously, the headline here is Motvay Michkov, and they did get Oliver Bonk in this draft as well. But really, let's start with Mitchcov, because I don't even know how we can start anywhere else with this team. Yeah, and I think people always will talk about Mitchcock. I mean, even his preseason in the KHL right now has generated a buzz as he's, as Scott has announced, well, we're going to try him at center now and see how it goes this season. And obviously it's just been preseason, but he's looked promising and showing the skill and the creativity and the hockey sense that have made him such a good score for such a long time.

And I'm sure Mitch Kov and the decisions that were made in front of him and the Flyers decision will be debated for years to come because you have to wait at three more full seasons of him not being in the NHL. But everyone knows that I love the player. I think he's an outstanding offensive talent. He's not a perfect player by any means. There are holes in his game, but I think the skill and the hockey sense are so elite that he will be a really important player for the Flyers when he does eventually come over.

There other recent really high pick is Cutter Gautier, and I noticed that you had Gautier's position here listed as a winger. In his draft year, there was a lot of hope that this is a guy who can project to play center. Sure. But this was always a possibility that longer term, his profile was going to be more on the wing. And then that position listing is not official by any means.

It's just he has a position. You have to list it. But he could be a center. I mean, he did play center with Boston College this season. And I'd say historically, he's had more of success on the wing than I've centered, but he still was good in Boston College this season.

Or maybe not quite as good as he was with when he played for Team USA on the wing. Particularly his world championships, I thought he was so good. That was some of the best hockey I've seen on play. and I think this is a guy who has all the tools to be a top line for in the NHL. Will he for sure be a top line center? I don't know. I think if he is a center in the NHL, it might be like a really good two C on a contender.

But he could be a one, too. I don't think it's unreasonable. Yeah. One of the things with Mitch Kov and the timeline that it's going to take from to get here is this Flyers team does still need quite a bit more. They are still in the early phase. And while they have some good depth with their prospects, you talk about Cam York, Bonk, Tyson, Forrester, there's going to be more to come here. And you would hope that some of it's coming on D and, of course, at center.

Yeah, even though it's still a highly ranked system, it's not the deepest system in the world. And I think the time, you know, they are, they really are tearing it down now and trying to rebuild. Obviously, he's a graduate. We didn't mention, you know, guys, like I wouldn't tip it, for example. But you're really hoping by the time Mitchcoff is ready to come over, that you will have accumulate a lot more young assets and that you are ready as an organization, maybe not to be winning, but to start the transition towards winning more games. I think 17 total prospects kind of ranked here for you in some kind of tier.

Is there anybody that you're watching in 2020, 324 thinking that they could be a riser? Well, there's a couple of ones that are more interesting to me. I mean, I think Ethan Samson is a guy who, as a late pick, has progressed really well in junior. and he's a big, you know, not big, but a decent size of defenseman, and moves the puck really well. And I think there's some intriguing elements in his game. As a high second round pick, you know, Bobby Brink is someone I want to see if he takes a step or not. His skating at his size has always really concerned me,

and it's concerned me when watching him in the pros, quite frankly. So we'll see how his development goes. Same thing as Emil Andre has looked really promising at times outside the NHL because of his skills. competitive in this, but he's not the biggest defenseman. He's not an elite skater. So we'll get it down in the NHL. We'll see how his next season goes. All right.

We are into the top 10 now with Minnesota. And the wild are really interesting. I mean, first of all, they have one of the hardest things to find, which is a top tier goalie prospect and Yesper Wollstett. They have Matt Boldy, who's one of the very best young players in the NHL today. But ranked right in between those two, you've got it, Boldie, won Wollstet 3 for them. You've got Marco Rossi, who you still has a bubble top and middle of the lineup player here. One of the most interesting prospects in young players in the NHL for me,

because we all know what he battled through kind of post-COVID. And he's still trying to work his way in here, but you've still got him as a projected top six player here. Yeah, I still, I mean, Marco's a really good hockey player and had a very nice year in the American League after it didn't go so well from in the NHL and start the season. He has got great skill, great vision. He competes hard. And he has a really good track record of scoring. There's a lot to like with Marco. I think with Marco maybe the hype on him got a little bit out of control at times in terms of thinking, you know, this is going to be a premier player,

legit number one center in the NHL. I'm not sure that was ever realistic, but I think he has a chance to be a legit top six four in the NHL. I think with Marco will be interesting as, you know, I think there is this need in Minnesota. We need centers. We need to draft centers. We need to develop centers.

And I'm not 100% convinced Marco is going to be an NHL center. He could be, but is it the worst outcome in the world if he's a top six winger, given the skill and the competitiveness he provides? You know, given that you do have still have Erick's neck in the system, you do have still with Charlie Strainwell, you have Marikuznadinov coming to. I think those are all really good players. I don't think it's the end of the world if Markle does end up on the wink. Yeah, a skilled smart winger is something that you got a lot of time for there. I mean, I don't know that I would rank him in the same quite level as Cole Perfetti, but I think that's a profile you can. could see with Cole Perfetti, even a guy with that skill brain combo without maybe the skating

or size element. Yeah, and I kind of have, I actually have them quite close. I would probably lean Perfetti over Rossi, but I have those two players quite close for the same reasons. And it's, you know, there's there's flaws there, but they still could add quite a bit of offense to your team. Yeah. You mentioned Charlie Stramel. He's the first round pick from 2023. And obviously a guy who I think there's going to be opinions all over the map on coming into this year, had a chance to be a really high pick, didn't have the best year at Wisconsin, but still a first rounder, mainly because there are very few players, really anywhere in hockey today, who kind of have the Scott, the size skating meanness that Charlie Stramel has with a little bit of skill to

go with it. Yeah, I don't think you're ever going to get a ton of offense out of Charlie, but I think there will be enough offense in his game to go with those things you mentioned that he'd be a very valuable player. My comparable from going to the draft was Lawson Krause, and I think you don't love getting lost in Krauss at 11, where I think that was his draft slog on floor, took him. But if you can get lost in Krauss in the 20s, I think you're very happy, especially if loss and Krauss can play the middle. Yeah. Danila Yorov was one of their

two first rounders in 2022, and one of the guys who I think was most interesting. This was the year of the first year of kind of the Russian questions, at least in this go around. How did you see Danela progress over the course of the year and what makes him still a top five prospect for the wild for you. I mean, his development really didn't go great this past season, be quite honest. He barely played with Magnetagoras, who were top KHL Club last season. So actually, I did lower his rating a little bit from where he was a year ago, just because there wasn't a ton of progression, but I don't think you want to hold it against him too

much, given the unique circumstances that he had to deal with, and that we didn't get to see him with the national team. It's a tough evaluation without Russia being part of these major national tournaments, is when you would have these KHL play. who are on these good KHL teams, and I'll play a lot, you'd say, oh, but at least he did this at the World Junior. So you see that where he's developed and where his talent rates compared to his age group, we didn't get that with Europe.

So it makes him a very tough evaluation. I can see both people being positive or negative about him and it being quite reasonable. I still think with the skating, the skill, and the work ethic, he's got enough there to be a second line wing in the NHL. Maybe it's a third line wing. We'll see what time. But I do think he's a good play. And how about Brock Faber?

Obviously, one of the key pieces coming back in the Kevin Fiala trade and a guy who has now gotten his feet wet in the NHL, but what do you see from Brock Faber? And he looked quite good in the NHL. Obviously, he didn't play big minutes, but I thought he looked like he belonged. And I think this is a guy who's going to be a top four defenseman for a while. I think, you know, just he's such a good skater. He competes really hard. The hockey sense is good enough, you know, not any elite puck movement, but it's good enough. You know, I think he's a good player.

And finally, on the wild, one player I wanted to call out was Kim. and bank year, a guy who was a third round pick a couple of years ago. Offense in the W.HL throughout his career was never amazing, but I think it was good enough, especially this past season, where you combine the fact that he is, you know, quite a big center. You have 6-2. He skates well, he competes well. Made Canada's a world junior team. This is a guy who I think is trending in a very good direction.

All right. Our last team of the day is at number nine for you, and that is a Seattle Cracken. And of course, it's going to help when your very first pick as a franchise, Maddie Baneers turns into your, in your tier, the bubble elite NHL player at NHL All-Star. This is what you dream of building around as an HL team, a young top center, and the Cracken certainly look like they have one of Maddie Baneers. I think even Baneers' biggest advocates in the league probably wouldn't have seen the offense that he produced so quickly two years after his draft. Everybody knew that, okay, this guy is a good skater, he's got good size, he can compete. Pete's really hard. He has skill, but the question of him in his draft here was, I don't know if

the offense is ever going to come. But this year, he did show him. He's running a power play. He's making like really crafty plays with a puck on a consistent basis. And I think he still needs to prove whether he's going to need to back that up next season so he can do it again. But I think all indicators with Benirs now are extremely positive. And this, like you said, this looks like that kind of foundational number one center. You can build a winner around. Yeah. And their next pick, the next first round pick, one year later was Shane Wright, who I think if you told people right after they got Maddie Baneers, they were going to get Shane Wright the next year. They would have lost their minds. Obviously, things have changed a little bit for Shane Wright, but you still have him ranked very highly. What do you see as the projection here? I mean, he had a strange year, a lot of bouncing around good to play in some stretches, not so good play in other stretches of the season. and Shane is what we've discussed about for well over a year now in discussing Shane Wright in that

I think there's a lot of positive trades in his game. He skates well. He has good offensive skill. He's smart. He can shoot the puck well. He works hard. I don't know if he has like that elite offensive game in him. I don't know if he has that ability to take over a game.

But I think if he's your second line center, which he will be in Seattle, I think. I think he could have a lot of success in that. role just like with team Canada when he wasn't the go-to guy Connor Bedard was Shane was able to have success in that role yeah when Seattle kind of launched I think one of those striking contrasts from what Vegas had done to what they did was they weren't able to just make as many picks early as a franchise as Vegas had done obviously teams had more time to prepare for that expansion draft they learned some lessons in 2023 I think Seattle finally got to have really a haul of players from the first three rounds come in they're not picking quite as high

but you come away with Edward Shala. You come away with Lucas Dragasev, Oscar Fisker, Moldgaard, Carson Rakov, Caden Price, all these guys picked in the top 85. And that, I think, really boosts the depth of this group. Yep. I mean, I really like that draft for them. It wasn't as impactful as they drafting the writer in the years,

but it added a lot of depth to the organization. And this was also an organization that saw their American League team go to the Calder Cup finals. And that was in the part, there's two young players that would call up. One was a free agent signing. Ty Karchi, who was really good in the American League last year, actually played playoff games in the NHL with Seattle this past year.

It was even on the power play during those playoff games. You know, that's quite the jump for a guy who wasn't even on an NHL depth chart a year ago. And then you have to play of Riker Evans, who was one of the better defensemen in the American League last season, a really good skater. He competes well. He's not that big. But, you know, like I said, I think his physicality will give him

real chance to play in the NHL and the fact that he is, like I said, not elite offense, but it's good offense. And this is a guy who looks like he has a really strong chance to play in the league for them next season. One thing I like about what Seattle's done here is they've got these two centers up top, of course, but some of their top wingers, too, are bigger wings with offense, right? You're not all relying on the small skill winger here when you talk about Edward Shala, who I wouldn't call him like a hard winger per se, but he does have some size to him. Yanni Neiman's got some size to him and some offense. And Carson Raycobs got some size to him on the wing too there.

I think it makes it a little easier because I think you will have an easier time finding the smaller winner players. And if you can get the big guys in early through the draft, it's going to help you. And I've really liked the progression of Yanni Neiman as well. I mean, he's a guy who looked quite good in Finland last year versus pros. Yeah, and he was good at the summer showcase recently, too. Big shot and a big body, no surprise there. Anyone else on Seattle you want to highlight before we wrap this one up?

I think that's pretty much. I think ideally they like to add a little bit more on the blue line. Obviously, I mentioned Evans. Drag a sandwich is a good player. Tyne Nelson had a really nice year in the O, but he's, you know, he skates really well. He competes well. He's, he's, like he said, he showed offense, but he's such a small defenseman. I think he's going to, there's going to be doubts of whether he'll make it until he actually makes it.

But I think that's ideally in the next draft of two, they would add some more defensive debt. All right, that's going to do it for us. Thanks for listen to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. We will be back with more of course. his pipeline rankings tomorrow. Wrapping up with the top eight. You can follow us on YouTube at YouTube.com at the athletic hockey show.

And right now you can get a one-year subscription to The Athletic for $2 a month when you visit theathletic.com slash hockey show. Talk to you soon.