Jump to content

in search of a hockey maven


Recommended Posts

One of the things I just love to do in my spare time is study hockey, especially coming in to the "AHL Entry Draft." The AHL stands for Alternative Hockey League and I've been involved in this fantasy league for years, winning it all twice. Well this year I have the #2 overall pick in our entry draft and it's very important that I draft well. Our pool rewards goal scoring first and foremost, so I'm not preoccupied with how well they play defensively. I want an offensive machine. Benoit Pouliot seems like he might be the right guy, but I have to do more research. There are more draft picks to be done though, and I need to find the 60 most offensively skilled players that haven't already been drafted by an AHL team. If you know of a 14 year old, that qualifies! We can draft whoever we want (for full set of rules check out www.alternativehockeyleague.com ) So to the point, since I'm going to be soooo busy with things this year I might need some help finding talent. If any of you out there are very up to date on the junior hockey scene today... please share! I need a list of 60 players, in order. Forwards take presidence over defenceman.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Assuming Crosby is going #1, Benoit Pouliot is probably the best choice. I would suggest checking out Gilbert Brule (projected by tsn.ca to go #6 in the draft). I've seen him play for the Vancouver Giants many times and he can score with the best of them. The only concern some people have about him is his size.http://tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=7329 : a link to the top 30 prospects.

Link to post
Share on other sites

wish i could help but hockey is not my forte, hit me up when the NFL season starts tho, coz I consider it my #1 fantasy sport. good luck

Link to post
Share on other sites

Here in Indiana on the Indiana Ice we have a great young player by the name of Todd McIlrath. Todd hurt his knee last season and missed the last part but before that he was second in the league in scoring with 41 pts(13G 28A). I think he would be a great value pick. the doctors gave him a clean bill of health and the offense is going to be more focused on him. P.S. Good luck and congratulations on the upcoming wedding. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Here Daniel, I play in a lot of fantasy leagues, so I made a list of talented junior forwards that have yet to be drafted.The following are in order, Talented scoring forwards:Sydney CrosbyBenoit PouliotGilbert BruleBobby RyanAnze KopitarAlex BourretJack SkilleMartin HanzalNiklas BergforsRyan O'MarraDevin SetoguchiMarek ZagrapanKenndal McardleRyan StoaChris DurandThat should be more than enough for now,Pete

Link to post
Share on other sites

I couldn't access the rules on the website so I don't know all the specifics but a few players that wern't already on teams to look for.Travis Zajac and Gabe Gauthier both in College but put up big numbers per game in short seasons and should make an impact in the NHL. Zajac was actually a first round draft pick last year, suprised he hasn't been picked yet. Dan Bertram is another in the college catagory.John Tavares is 14 and already being called the next Crosby. I didn't see Phil Kessel on anyones list either.Devin Setoguchi was mentioned before, but I'm familiar with him and he has tons of potential. Should be drafted high this year.There are a lot of players in Canadian junior leagues that have the potential to put up 100+ point seasons next year, but will doubtfully do much past juniors if that would be helpfull.

Link to post
Share on other sites

take a look at www.whatifsports.com. or, you can go right to the nhl page here.you can setup a team from current players or any players in history and sim against other teams. exhibition seasons are free. they ran a 64 team tournament for tsn and some newspapers simmed the whole nhl season after the strike. you get a full commentary on the game and a boxscore (if that is what it's called in hockey). you can see an example here.they also do nfl, mlb, nba, ncaa basketball. disclaimer: i might have something to do with the site. :wink: however, there is plenty of free stuff on the site. play all the exhibition leagues you want. note: if someone feels this is spam...relax. if every person that reads this thread went over and signed up for 10 teams, it wouldn't even be a blip in the monthly revenue.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Anonymous

Hey Daniel. Following hockey and playing poker are two of my favorite hobbies as well, so hopefully I can help out a little bit.I follow American college hockey more than the pros, but I think I have a pretty good idea of the college guys. I can't really give you a ranking list, but I can help you find a few sleepers that could turn into good players.The top two forwards in the 2006 draft are going to be Phil Kessel and Peter Mueller. A lot of people compare Phil Kessel to Mike Modano. He'll be very good. Mueller is a very big forward that should do well in the NHL as well. Maybe you could steal them this year in the later rounds of your draft, because they'll probably be top picks next year.I think the list that SlickPetey gave covered pretty much most of the top guys in this year's draft. I've seen Jack Skille play a few times and he looks like he'll be a good player. I wouldn't draft Ryan Stoa. I don't think he'll make it to the NHL. One sleeper that wasn't mentioned was Andrew Cogliano from Toronto. He isn't as highly rated because he played Jr. B last year, but Bob McKenzie(the draft analyst for TSN) compared him to Pavel Bure. Peter Statsny's son Paul is rated pretty highly in this draft, but he's ranked that highly for his defensive play as much as his offensive skill, so he's probably not the best for your league. I know you aren't looking for defenseman, but if you have to, Jack Johnson is far and away the best in the draft. He's going to be a great NHL player for a long time. He'll put up a lot of points too, as he's a very good offensive defenseman.One guy that I would think about drafting is Marty Sertich. He was the top scorer in all of college hockey last year. He'll be an undrafted free agent either this summer or next summer, but should sign on with a pro team and put up decent numbers. His situation is almost exactly similar to that of Peter Sejna, who did pretty well for the Blues two years ago.As far as I can see, the top two college players that haven't been drafted yet are David Backes and Brett Sterling. Backes especially should be a very good NHL player.I hope that helped. Your league looks like a lot of fun. Good luck with your draft.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Anonymous

If they really cut down on the interference this time around i'd pick Gilbert brule in the points deparment and just the thought that he might end up on a line with Rick Nash is pretty interesting.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Here in Indiana on the Indiana Ice we have a great young player by the name of Todd McIlrath. Todd hurt his knee last season and missed the last part but before that he was second in the league in scoring with 41 pts(13G 28A). I think he would be a great value pick. the doctors gave him a clean bill of health and the offense is going to be more focused on him. P.S. Good luck and congratulations on the upcoming wedding. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Yeah my HS coach is not the assistant for the Ice, says he's pretty good. Watch out for Phil Kessel in the next couple years too.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Daniel, I got a letter back from my friend in Germany. He recommended www.hockeysfutures.com, but you alredy know about that. He said supposedly Brule at #2 would be a can't miss, FWIW. I follow hockey closely, but the juniors, not so closely.Hope that helps.

Link to post
Share on other sites
If they really cut down on the interference this time around i'd pick Gilbert brule in the points deparment and just the thought that he might end up on a line with Rick Nash is pretty interesting.
hehe this was me i hope some of you poolies listened these 2 should burn out a few red light bulbs together :club:
Link to post
Share on other sites

no one else has for future development, watch for John (I think thats his first name) Van Riemsdyke. He will be going the U17 National Team Development Program, and has tremendous upside potential. He is 6'3 or so but very light at age 15 or 16, and when he bulks up some will be even tougher to control than he is now. He has great hands and speed, scoring the OT goal in the NJ State Championships, and led his youth team to the USA Hockey Midget Minor Nationals.While you are in TO, I'll be in Calgary watching the top goalie prospects in North America. If I spot anyone new for you to draft, DN, I'll let you know, but meanwhile, a young goalie to watch and draft early is Steve Mountain's kid, Brian. Steve was Ron Hextalls agent, and owns the top goalie school in NA, run by the Canucks goalie consultant, Ian Clark. Brian Mountain is an incredible athlete, scoring in the 90th percentile in every category of testing, and you wont find a better positioned goalie at any level of hockey. Steve also owns the Summit Training Centers, a Philly area chain of gyms, which the St Josephs basketball team credited with the turnaround from a 1-26 team to a NCAA Final Four (2?) team in 3 years. I'm sure having them at his disposal hasnt hurt Brian any either!

Link to post
Share on other sites

I believe you're talking about James Van Riemsdyk. He's a good player, but some of his teammates on the US Under-17 team next year are a little better. Probably the top forward out of that class in Jim O'Brian. He'll probably spend a lot of time with the U18 team this year. Another player that I would watch out for is Ryan Hayes. He's a natural goalscoer that is very similar to Robbie Schremp.I dont' remember if I mentioned this in my previous post about college players, but Dave Gagner's son, Sam, is one of the top '89 birthdate forwards in hockey too.You'll have to let us know when this draft is. I'm interested to see who gets selected.

Link to post
Share on other sites

thanks for the correction. Dont know the others you mention, I'm much closer to the goalie side of things. I agree about JVR right now though..its his potential given his rather slight stature, and the NTDP has a great training regime.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey DN if u need any help here i can help u i live in Erie where two of our boys went in the draft Ryan O'Marra 15th to the islanders and Mike Blunden who went 43rd to the hawks. I have season tickets so i can inform on the whole Ontario league and am good friends with both of those guys. SO any help needed from the OHL im ur guy.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Daniel, I don't know if it's too late but hopefully not.....Draft Guillame Latendresse! He was taken by the Canadiens in the second round but could (should) have gone in the first. He is a big, strong scorer who has been compared to Tim Kerr and if goalscoring is a priority then that is exactly what you need.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Other than the Ranger Dans (Blackburn and Cloutier) who spent some time in Calgary tuning up their games and spending some time with the younger players, the standout was Brycen Eberwein. He led the Shattuck Tier I team to USAH Nationals, and shut out a great LA Selects team, stopping 22 shots.Blackburn's two blocker style was fun to watch and he was rarely beat on the "glove side" by these shooters (mostly Canadian Jr A and WHL players)...his coach swears he will make it back to the NHL, but Ive got to believe NHL shooters will find the top corner on him too often.Cloutier was amazing as always.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 7 years later...

Lot of people were touting Kessel and JVR in this thread.

 

Awesome they ended up on the same line many years later.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...