The Athletic Hockey Show - U23 NHL players and prospects rankings

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

Max and Corey deep dive into Corey’s 2024 ranking of the best NHL players and prospects under the age of 23 and discuss the Brayden Yager-Rutger McGroarty trade, the Sharks acquiring Yaroslav Askarov, the Blues cashing in on their offer sheets to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, and more.Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody, Max Bolton here alongside Corey Prondman for another episode at the Athletic Hockey Show's prospect series. Today we're going to be talking about Corey's U-23 rankings. And Corey, this is always a fun episode. We get to kind of take you to task, put you on the hot seat. But I do have a little bit of sympathy for you because this year you had a ton of player movement to deal with as you were doing the pipeline rankings. All these guys that are on all these teams' lists changing hands. in the literal week before these lists come out.

Yeah, that was slightly inconvenient. We get more movement in a random week in August than we did around the draft. And we actually recorded the Pipeline series podcast right before all those deals happened, too. So if people listening to them happened to notice that some things sounded odd or out of place, is because I think we had to do some very near-term editing to when they actually went out. but it was a slightly inconvenient, but I'm more happy to happen before and not the days after the list went out.

Although a lot of the team ratings wouldn't have changed, really, because not surprising, you know, I think, you know, when you looked at the, say, Brayn Yeager Perrug and McGority trade, I had both of those players similarly rated. We looked at the Ascarov trade. I had him a little bit higher rated, but similarly rated to David Edstrom.

So the actual farm rankings wouldn't have changed substantially, although the articles would be notably outdated. Yeah. Well, let's run through some of these deals really quick because there were some big-name players, some big-name prospects, I should say, dealt, and obviously the impacts of those will take time to see. But just your initial read on something. Let's start with the one you first mentioned Yeager and McGroar.

You mentioned you have them in similar territory. They are in the same tier of your rankings. But just ranking by ranking, there is a bit of a gap. Yeager up at number 105, Regority at number 147 for you. I think that's a little flipped from maybe the perception that people had where, well, you got to be willing to give up a guy like Yeager to get a Magrory.

You kind of have it a little bit of the other way here that, Hey, Winnipeg actually made out pretty well in this. Yeah, I'm actually a little surprised by how well they made out. I think there was definitely a market from Regroity. I knew there was a lot of teens interested in him going into the draft. And if Pittsburgh wanted to acquire him, they really only had two significant young ass that's a deal with.

Owen Pickering, their defense first round picked from a few years ago, or Brayden Yeager. I had Pickering rated over Yeager's, and I don't think Yeager. Jaeger is still a really good prospect. He had a good year. He didn't have an amazing year. So if I was in Pittsburgh's position, didn't surprise me if they had to pick between one of those two guys, that they would lean towards Yeager being the name that would end up being moved in this deal. I do think he is a very good player, though.

I think there would be some that would look at him and wonder, is he a dynamic enough 5-11 forward? Is he really going to score in the NHL? Is he a checker? Is there going to be real offense there? How is the game going to translate? But I think you could ask really the same questions about McRourty. I think McRourty had huge numbers in college last year,

but I've watched a lot of this guy for the last three years. There is definitely a lack of, I guess, sizzle in his games at times. He's not, you know, that skilled. Yeah, even though he does have a pretty good skill in hockey sense, his skating is, you know, below average. It's an awkward-looking stride at times. And I do think there are significant questions on how his game's going to travel,

how much offense he's going to have. So similar questions on both of them. I like Yeager because of the position. He is a center. Is he a center in the NHL? I don't know. I think he could be, though. He is a reliable two-way player.

He works hard. He has good hockey sense. So I could see him stick in the middle, which is why, you know, when I do these lists, especially when you get to those tiers where there's 75 names involved, guys who can play the middle, get a significant bump for me, guys who can play defense, get a significant bump for me.

Scoring wingers have to be pretty special to get a really high grade or high ranking. So that would be the distinction there for me. But if Yeager doesn't score and McGorority does, then I can easily see it be flipped. And ultimately, I do have them graded similarly in turn of their NHL projections. Relevant to Pittsburgh, too, here. and I'm sure this is part of the motivation. Magrorty, we think, is going to play in the NHL this year at some point, whether it's the whole season or what,

but you have to expect that's part of the calculus for an older team that wants to win sooner. Yes, I do think that was a significant part of this trade. I think McRourty has a very good chance to make this team to be in their middle six right away out of camp. And Pittsburgh's in a very precarious position in terms of their rebuild. in that I don't really know how you actually like win with this current group again and by win I mean actually contend for like Cuff not try and make the playoffs again

maybe they can do the latter but if they are going to try and win more games Yeager wasn't going to be in the NHL next season and maybe not even the season after that whereas I think McRourty showed in college this past year he can excel versus bigger players and I think he could play versus Mendez here

depending how his skating holds up All right. The other big trade of the two of the young prospects on this list was San Jose and Nashville. Yaroslav Ascarov gets his trade. He gets dealt to the sharks who all of a sudden have really looked quite a bit different than they did at the start of this past season. They get David, Nashville gets David Edstrom at a first rounder in return, which is pretty much what they got for Tomash Hurtle earlier this year, trading him to Vegas. How did you kind of handicap this one here? Obviously, the sharks get Ascarov and he's a great goalie prospect, but they do give up quite a bit. Ascarov was number 55 on your list. David Edstrom is number 67 and they get the future first. Yeah. And I think one reason why Ascarov was able to get such a strong haul, although you can debate whether maybe I'm a little too high on David Edstrom. You know, I had him pat and braided there for the last year, even though he went a little bit lower in the draft that I had him rated. But now he's been part of two major deals, one, the Thomas Hurdle trade. And then second now in the trade for Yaroslav Ascarov.

So clearly other teams seem to value this player, who I think is a big center who can skate, he competes, showed some offense at the SHL level this year. So he seems like a very good pro prospect in my eyes. But if you wanted Ascaro, my understanding it was, as there was a significant market for this player, a dynamic young goalie in terms of his athleticism. Some of the saves he'd made at the American League level were of the elite variety. and I think this guy has a potential to be a legitimate starting goal in the NHL,

someone who can help a team win games. And there really aren't that many players out there who look like that. We had that little run of first round goalies for a series of years. You had Spencer Knight and then Escarov and Esper Walsstead and Sebastian Kosa. But that's pretty abnormal. We don't really see a lot of first round goalies or goalies who even three, four years later, you're still looking at and thinking, wow, they're a really good young prospect. I think, you know, with Spencer Knight, for example, I think he is a good young prospect.

We're still not sure what his future holds, even though he did get that big second contract. Where Sebastian Kosa had a really good bounce back year, but we're willing to see what his NHL future holds. But it was really just been Ascarov and Walstead, who have been very good at the pro level in North America and still look like premium young goalies. And a lot of teams don't have that. They have middle-in goalie prospects. They have guys who you think are back-ups. They have guys who you think could maybe be played 30 games. in the NHL.

So, you know, Ascarov looks like a kind of guy if he hits, which is not a guarantee, but if he hits, he looks like that 50, 60 game starter who can really be a difference maker for you some night. So it doesn't surprise me that San Jose did whatever it took because they have absolutely nothing in their pipeline when it comes to goalies. And there's a big gap to your point. You've got Walsett and Ascarov right in the early 50s here. You almost have to go 100 spots before you get to the next goalies on this list.

So to get one of those top two. I imagine that's like a differentiator for San Jose. You're not just getting a good goalie prospect. You're getting one of the clear-cut two top goalie prospects in the sport. And they have a lot of really good young fours. Even, you know, even after they trade Edgham is still the case. Before, definitely, you know, you have Celebrini, obviously, you have Will Smith, you have William Echlin.

And Edgson. Don't forget Philip B. Stets, who's a good player. You have Quentin Mustie, Caspar Halton, and Igor Chernyshev. You know, or, you know, a lot of those guys are going to be wingers as pros. I think Esham could be an NHL center, but matter of fact is if you, I think they have scoring talent up front. They really needed more on defense and especially in the net. They needed to find ways to keep pucks out of their net. And I think trading Estim for Ascarov was a very good move for San Jose Sharks.

And then the only other bit of player movement court here that I want to get that, at least that affected the U23 lists, was the offer sheets. And only one of these two offer sheets that St. Louis executed against the Oilers. I guess would count toward the U-23s. That'd be Dylan Holloway. He is on this list down there at number 103, which is still pretty solid. But also Philip Broberg. I wanted to give your thoughts really on both of these offer sheets,

particularly the prices St. Louis paid. I mean, given Philip Broberg, four and a half million right away, and then to pry Dylan Holloway, even at 2.3, how did you feel about those moves by the Blues? I didn't mind it. I think if you have the cap space, and I think they're still building up

their young talent pool, but there's a lot more work left there to do. I liked it for them. I think a lot of people particularly looked at the Broberg number, and they questioned it. And I think if you looked at his body of work in the NHL over the last three years, you would arrive at a similar conclusion that this is not a player who's worth four and a half million. He's barely been in NHL regular at times. But I think from the hockey people I've talked to over the past week or two about what

happened there with St. Louis and Emerton, they say, well, you have to look at not just what he did in the NHL, but you have to look particularly what he did in the playoffs this past spring. And then you can, you look at that in the context of what you've known about Broberg for a long time. What kind of athlete this guy is? He's a six three defenseman who is a premium skater. And I think he's just been a guy who there's been some minor questions on can I move the puck? Is there any hockey sense there? And I think, you know, there have been times in his career where he's looked like the answer is yes. That's why he was a top 10 overall pick in his draft class. And there were times where you thought it was no, which is why he struggled to

maintain his spot in Edmonton. But I think the player you saw in the spring was a guy who looked like a top 10 pick, where he's a dynamic skating big man who may not be a true scorer, but can make an reliable first pass, can transport pucks up the ice, and that to a lot of scouts. And front office people looks like a really solid top four defensive. and that's what you pay to get top four defensemen or and so I think quite frankly there was a I talked to I think a lot of people on Twitter were saying you should match Holloway and let Broberg walk but a lot of the hockey people I were talking to were saying they should try and match Broberg and and let Holloway go so but ultimately they let both go they value the cap flexibility which you know

it's their prerogative. I do think it will be interesting to see where they go from here because now those were their only two really significant young pieces close to playing NHL games. We'll see how close Matthew Savoy is, you know, probably needs at least a year or two in the American League, I would imagine. But I do like this for St. Louis. Obviously, the issue now with Broberg's because you paid in such a big number that has, you know, you hope he plays well because you've got to pay him at least that much now going

forward when he goes to his arbears. But I like the player. I think he can be a legit topboard offense minute and I think Holloways a legit middle six forward. So I don't think those are outrageous numbers to offer them. And I guess the give and take there,

like when you compare it to like the Asperi Kotkinemi offer sheet, which I think is one of the reasons that people would be more skeptical of giving that number to Broberg is that's kind of what Carolina did to get cockanyi. That was a long term deal. So they were really on the hook for that no matter what.

If Broberg doesn't pan out, yeah you lose the pick that sucks you wasted some cap space for a couple years but then you just move on versus like a cockanyam you are locked in the same way although as you say the q o number obviously lingers but if they really just don't want to do it they don't have to do it yeah man the terms of the pick it's i i don't think that obviously second round pick is still valuable but i think obviously the contract is the biggest part of this i think if you would have watched that player in the spring and you would have said i can get him for a second round pick i think almost every an NHL organization would have would have jumped at that offer.

But and I think obviously when you look at just the RFA years, you have to keep in mind that guys supposed to be paid less than what the open market prices. So that's probably closer to like a seven-ish million numbers. He's definitely overpaid relative to what he's done. I just don't think it's an outlandish number, given what I think he could be this coming year and beyond, especially if he's given real ice time, which I imagine he will get in St. Louis.

All right, let's take a quick break right there. come back and we'll start the teeth pulling on your U23 ranking. All right, we're back, Corey, and we are going to get into your U23 rankings here. No Chris Peters this time to really hold your feet to the fire. I am a little bit of a softer touch than Chris on this, but we'll try to at least get your thoughts on a few things. And one of the things that stood out to me right away looking through your list was how well represented this most recent draft class is really high up.

I think it's six players in the top 17 from the 2024 draft class. which this spans five draft class in theory, although there's some age element to this that a couple of guys could age out. But that's a oversized share, I would say. So how much of that is that this was just a really, really strong class? How much of it is all the possibilities are still ahead of some of these guys where the rest have proven one way or the other?

What do you think is the driving force behind that? I think sometimes people will see something like this and they'll claim recency bias, which could be possible. and I'll just say it's the shiny new toy but I maintained during the pre-draft process that I was a fan of the top of last year's draft maybe not the very very top

compared to say the draft before that that's a 2023 draft but I maintained I would much rather have a pick between say five to 10 in this draft than I would in the previous draft and I think that's reflected in this year's ranking where you have that many players who I have very high grades on

and who I think could potentially be impactful at H.L. players. It was just that the 2023 draft just had these tremendous prospects at the top. Those four names in particular in Carter Bedard, Adam Fantili, Leo Carlson, and Muttfei Michikov. And those guys are still all in the top seven to your point. So that didn't really change. But, you know, the presence is still real for the 24 class. We're talking about number three, McClabrini's number three overall, Artem Levchenov, number eight, Carter Yakumchuk,

Anton Salaev 11. And these are ahead of some really established guys. Ziv Boullum 16, Ivan Demadov, 17. Ahead of, you know, for example, the 2021 first overall pick, Owen Power doesn't check in until 19. Right. And I'm sure some Buffalo fans may have some protests with that. But I would say, you know, compare power to say Z, volume.

And I, obviously, Power is six inches taller. But Z, Boyam was, I think, significantly better at the same age in college. and as a lot more individual skill and creativity than Owen, whether that's going to translate into the pro game. I think that remains to be seen as I think as part of why ZEFL, as some NHL teams were questionable about his size and how he's going to be able to defend versus men. But I was just a big fan of that player.

And I think when we were going into the 2024 draft, we had said that once you get past Elbrini, there's this kind of group of 10-11 players that all the teams really, really like, that are all really highly-graded players, all have had historic seasons. And not everyone had those guys in the same order. I had my preferences.

Other people had their own preferences. But I thought there was a lot of really, really strong pro prospects in the last year's drafts. To go back to that group from the 23 class that you have clustered at the top, there was another interesting little trend here. Not necessarily a trend, a placement. Adam Fantilli, I feel like him and Leo Carlson have kind of been linked forever. They've kind of been this pair, Fantilli and Carlson.

And then they are back to back on this list at number four and five. But there is a tier gap there where Fantilli joins that Bedard, Tim Stutzler, Macklin-Cellibrini group, and he rounds it out as a top four in the elite NHL player group. Carlson starts the next tier, which is bubble elite. So it's not a huge drop, obviously. But what created that little separation between those two in this case? Now, I have been a giant, Adent Finilly fan now for a couple of years.

I'm not alone in that. Obviously, everyone knows this guy. It's a fantastic pro prospect. And I know he had a good year, same thing with Leo. He had a good rookie NHL year. Neither of them had these dominant statistical seasons. Both had, you know, health issues that contributed to that in some part. But when Fantanillo was healthy, even though he didn't post-shyne numbers,

I still was really impressed by what I saw. I thought he was a little bit Snakeman at times, to be quite honest. And I just think his toolkit is so unique when you have his skating, his size. I think it's elite skill he has. He's a very competitive and physical player. And I just think he's such an exciting and rare type of talent that when he puts it all together, and I think he is going to. I think this guy has the potential to become a legitimate star number one center in the NHL.

We had this debate about Fantilli versus Carlson going into their drafts. I think Carlson, most scouts would agree as a smarter hockey player. I think people would agree with Van Tilly. He's a more physical and competitive hockey player. So why the distinction there is I think the offense still with Fantilli is just, I think he has such tremendous puck skills and game-breaking offensive abilities that I think even though Carlson sees the game a little bit better, I think their overall offensive outputs are going to be similar over the long term. I think we have a big center who plays hard like Fantilia. I think that's just going to be a coach's dream when he matures. Did it give you any pause, though, to include Fantili?

in that, like, Bedard Stutzla grouping? Yes, it did. That's one, you know, obviously this whole process is subjective. Whenever you start going through, ranking every single major young player, you have to go through a lot of debates in your head. And that's one where you look at it and you're like, man, this doesn't feel right. Am I off here? Should I, you know, I'm looking at ways to get Fantilia out of this group

because my first instinct is he shouldn't belong here. But the more I kept going through my process and watching his games and thinking about what I know of this player for years, I ended that he does belong here. And I think that I wouldn't surprise me if he just had a monster second NHL season. I believe a lot in this player. And I think he is the brightest art about Columbus's rebuild currently. All right. Let's move to the 2022 draft because I think part of this whole exercise, everyone, if they're like me, you're reading it and you're looking for the guys. that are in the same class and you're starting to do these kind of redrafts in your head.

And the draft that I feel like we've redone the most on this podcast at least, it's 2022, because at the top it was so chaotic and there was that suspense of will it be right, will it be Slavkovsky, Dark Horse, Logan Cooley. I feel like there's been some push and pull ever since then, but you've got Slavkovsky kind of holding strong still. Holding off a little bit of a push from Shane Wright coming back in and Logan Cooley is still hanging around though. Yeah.

And obviously you have other players there like Simon, Nemmage, David Deerichek, Kevin Kortinski, Cotargoche. I don't, I don't all of them are really good players, pro-prospects. I think at the end of the day, though, it is still the three names that we thought could have gone first overall two years ago, remain at the top of the draft

for me in Slavkovsky, in Kooley, and Shane Wright. And some might ask, why Shane Wright, the other two players have done very well at the NHL level. We still haven't seen Shane at the NHL. Simon Nemich has played in the NHL. Kevin Kornski has played in the NHL. But I think

Shane was really good in the American League last year's a 19-year-old, especially in the playoffs, where he was a point for game, stood out consistently in my viewings of him at that level. I think just the overall combination of trade between his skating, his skill, his competitiveness, his hockey sense. I think this is going to be a really good pro-forward. Maybe not the superstar or the first overall pick levels had a prospect. Some thought he was going to be three years ago, but I think this is still an excellent pro prospect.

Although if you ask me who's the best player from that draft, I think, at the moment it is down to Urii Slavkovsky or Gloven Kuhli who both had excellent years last year in the NHL Slavkovsky in his second year where I think he's really watched it from the second half on of the season.

He was so good. I don't like just cherry picking data like that. I think you got to look at the totality where he did have the disappointing first half in some part and Kulis is a little bit more of a dynamic player with his skating and his skill. But the way Slavkowski did look in those closing months of the year with the

rare package of traits he has, running Montreal's power play off the flank. He could have some true star level impact if he continues to develop at this pace. And Pavel Minchukov could probably work his way into the fringes of that best in the NHL conversation now too. Yes, I forgot to mention it, but he definitely belongs in that conversation, probably ahead of some of other names that I mentioned before. He's a guy on this list who it's pretty much the right top eight that actually went on, I shouldn't say the right, the top eight that actually went there on draft day. Minchikov works his way up into that top, I think he's fourth that you have him right now among that group. Let's take a quick break right there. We'll come back and talk more on the U23

rank. All right, Corey, one debate that I don't think there was any chance we were going to escape this episode without making you dip into is the one that's been waging a little bit as Russian hockey has started back up again. It's Maveh Mitchkov versus Ivan Demadov. You've got Mischkov at number seven on this list, Demidov at number 17. But obviously, this high on the list, you like all these players. What did it come down to for you when figuring out how to parse Michkov first to meet off? Yeah, interesting that that debate is going on. I understand and they're both, you know, these dynamic Russian wingers who were drafted relatively around the same spots in the draft. And next year, we got another really good Russian four coming in Ivan Ryavkin. It's funny,

for years we were talking about how good Montvath-Michikov was and now Demidov comes around. Is Demidov better than Mitchcov? And I've talked to some scouts now who assert Reapkin. It's just as good as those two. Some would say I even had one scout

suggests he's better than either of them. So obviously we'll see over the next 10 years how all their careers go. But it is fun to have those debates because of the similar leagues. For me with Mitchcove versus Demadoff, obviously Demadoff is bigger. That was actually a variable for me.

me that I think some will look at this list and be like, hey, you have Demadoff higher than where you had him on your pre-draft ranking by about two or three slots. And I would say to that, well, that's because for most of the year, I presume Demadov was 5'11. And that might have been incorrect. And it's hard to tell on video sometimes how tall a guy looks. And then I stood next to him, and he clearly wasn't 5 foot 11. And he was measuring nearly 6'1, I think, by Angel Santo scouting. And that's significant difference for me to at least not massively change the value. But that's enough, especially when you, you know, talk about NHL projection and the margins at times in comparing players. And so that changed my evaluation of the player a little bit.

So he's now not just taller, but notably taller than Mitchcoff, a much more competitive player too. And both of them are super skilled. I thought with Mitchcov, though, the hockey sense he has is just special. He is one of the smartest hockey players I've ever seen. And that was a differentiating factor for me. that doesn't always mean things are going to work out well, though even if you have special hockey sense. I thought Trevor Zegro's had special hockey sense too,

and I love Trevor Ziger. I think he's a great NHL career, but obviously things aren't going well right now with him in Anaheim because still going to be able to compete. You've got to play with Pace, and I think those are two minor questions with Mitch Kopp, but I just think his skill, in his sense, it's so special. This guy's on nothing but score everywhere he's been put

for a very long time, that I think he is still, even though with his physical limitations, I think he's going to find a way to score in big numbers in the NHL, whereas I think Demodagh's hockey sense is very good, but I definitely don't think it rises close to that special level, even if the way he plays, I think translates a little bit better. I also have some minor questions on his skating.

I know that's been a point of debate with some people of our readers, is they question whether they question my questions of his skating, but I think he's just an awkward-looking skater, and I do wonder how that's going to translate into the NHL. The last time we saw Badaard and Mischkov at the same event, I believe was that 2021 under 18 championship where they were both excellent. And I think if I remember right, Michikov actually outproduced Bidard at that tournament. And I think that's been one of the kind of those mitigating factors as we've gone through this world where Russia's not at these events. We don't see him head to head.

Where I'm going with this is, Badaad had 61 points last year in his first NHL season. You've taken the over or under for that for Mavei Mischoff in year one. That was the last official event they were together. They actually did play at the canceled World Junior where Mitchkov also was excellent before the tournament got canceled. And I've heard that argument made before about those two is, well, they always look like they were matching each other up. It's like, yeah, but Bard is better skater,

notably more competitive. So I think, you know, even though I think their skill is similar, their scoring ability is similar. I think there are also questions there. In terms of Mishkov, first year over under on points, I think he's going to be given a lot of opportunity there in their top six and on their power play. 60 points was what you said for Bidar in his first year.

And it was in 68 games, but different factors. No, it is, no, that's definitely a variable. And the fact that he was given every opportunity, but he didn't really have a lot of talents around him. But I think, you know, in terms of an 82 game pace, I think 60 is a fair number. All right, so Corey's taken the line, not the over or the unres. under on Maffe Mitchcoff.

One more thing, Corey, that I want to get your thoughts on before I let you go is a couple of guys who have really moved their way up this list from their draft position. You know, a lot of these guys high on the list were top 10 picks or at least first round picks. There's a couple guys in the top 35 to 40, really actually top 30 for both of them. Logan Stankovin and Alexander Nekisha, number 29 and number 22 respectively, that were much later picks than a lot of their company here. What have they done to kind of get there?

And how did you kind of push past a little bit of the uncertainty that lingers where you've still only seen a bit of Stankovic in the NHL, none of Nikitian in the NHL? Right. Well, Stankov, which is so good in the American League, too, as a first year pro, the best player in that league. And then he comes up with Dallas, and he's helping them win games, helping them win playoff games. I just, you know, a really impressive overall first year continuing off his fantastic junior career. What's really interesting about both Stankov and Johnson, obviously they're great players. I wouldn't seem what Wyatt Johnson has done in the NHL the last two years. He's a tremendous young player, super skilled, intelligent, competitive, two-way centermen.

He's going to have a tremendous NHL career, I think, for a very long time. Both of them were drafted in what was really the COVID year. COVID impacted two drafts significantly, 2020, 2021. But we got to see most of 2020 in a somewhat normal fashion. 2021 was the abbreviated season. You know, Wyatt Johnson didn't play minus basically. basically six games at the U18 Worlds in his draft year. And Logan Stankovin got a handful of games in the Western League that is U18 Worlds.

And they were both drafted in that context where Dallas was predominantly going off their underage viewings and a little bit of information you got in their draft seasons. And both players look significantly better than where they were drafted, Johnson in the late second, late first, sorry, and Stankovin in the mid-second. And I think it's just a really, you know, looking at that draft from five, six years is going to be so fascinating to just see how much those draft year viewings really do matter and how much maybe the lack of development might have impacted players too. But, I mean, you really look at those two players in particular who were really highly touted 16 year olds at times too. And I think it's just, you know, a tremendous job by Dallas by making, by doing their homework, obviously getting a little bit lucky to. who would be,

if people knew these players are going to be that good, they would have got a lot higher, but it's obviously similar set of circumstances for those two players is the year that they were drafted in. Ekesian's going to be 23 in just over a month here, so he won't be on this list a year from now. Will he be on the Carolina Hurricanes a year from now?

It seems like it's trending that way. My understanding is that there's a good chance he's going to sign in the spring or the summer. I think he can. It's so tough because I don't know what the rules are, with the transfers, because there's no more Russians in the world championships anymore. That used to be a factor that the national team wanted a player,

that I took priority. But I think there's a chance he could end up being on Carolina presuming that they would make the playoffs this spring. So I think that would be a fascinating thing to watch for them, presumably they don't have a big trade deadline. The timing for that, though, could be huge, right? I mean, they've got Orlov and Burns, both entering the last year of their deals. If you could replace one of those guys right away with Alexander Nikitian, you're really in business.

Well, and that's how you keep the contending windows open, because eventually if you keep winning a lot of games and picking in the light first, you're going to run out of assets. You can't out draft the league consistently. You get the odd great pick every once in a while, but even the best drafting teams can't out draft the league year over year. But you do need to get those big hits once every five to six years to take. take your contending window and extend it out. And it looks like Nekhejan has a chance to be that kind of player. As Carolina had to lose some of these very valuable defensemen, he has a chance to at least stabilize their blue line right now,

depending as well as like the guy like, say, Scott Morrill could help them or not, although he's way less of a sure thing. All right, that'll do it for us. We just got through a whole episode without mentioning that Corey Head Carter Yakumchuk ahead of Jake Sanderson. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. you can catch more of Corey's work on The Athletic. We'll talk to you soon.