A Look at Rookie Skaters in the Eastern Conference

A Look at Rookie Skaters in the Eastern Conference

Welcome back all right so I talked about the Western Conference rookies now we’re going to talk about the Eastern Conference rookies uh so again alphabetical order Boston through Washington that’s how the alphabet works so we’re going to start off we’re going to talk about the Boston Bruins rookies

First we’re going to start off with uh Matthew ptra who was a topic of conversation a lot early in the season that did that did fall off a bit uh 27 games five goals eight assist 13 points in Patra that the Bruins have a a

Forward who has a ton of potential as a two-way forward he has the offensive side he has the defensive side he’s really quite good uh it it again early in the season he looked better than I think he has lately but allowed to go play for Team Canada that can only

Benefit him so looking forward to seeing him when he comes back from Team Canada and you know how he’s going to look and remember if he plays less than half of the schedule then they don’t burn a year towards unrestricted free agency so if they decide round halfway mark of the

Season this doesn’t really work uh we’re going to send him down then you know it’s it’s not the end of the world if that happens he wouldn’t be the first one that’s happened to if it does uh but yeah we’ll see what happens uh and the

Other one he’s still in the lineup is Johnny beer now beer doesn’t have the same ceiling as Patra uh 31 games four goals two assists six points what really impresses me with beer they’re already putting him out to take faceoffs in key situations so he’s coming out specially

To take faceoffs and then he goes off the ice the fact that he’s doing that as a rookie is insane uh rookies are Infamous for not being very good in the faceoff Circle and so the fact that beers Comm into the NHL already quite good at faceoffs he’s good

Defensively the offensive side is never going to be fantastic with beer I do think there’s potential for him to become a 20 goal scorer maybe a really good third third line Center uh but yeah beer has become a a pretty good player for them and and it it does show that

With the retirements of CI and berser on while it hurts the team short term uh it helps these guys get into the lineup and it may help the Bruns long term all right Buffalo so when Buffalo drafted Benson that was seen as a potential steal at the time and I haven’t seen

Anything in his game to tell me that he’s not a steal 25 games four goals nine assists 13 points uh Zack Benson’s been quite good for Buffalo uh I know Sabers fans have been excited about him since training camp he’s not in the conversation for Rookie

Of the Year either but that’s the thing like we always get hung up on the cder trophy and I’ve talked about this in recent years the guy who wins the cder trophy is the one that had the best years a rookie it’s not necessarily the best rookie overall it’s not necessarily

The guy who 5 10 years down the road will’ll say out of that rookie class he was clearly the best uh but yeah Benson may very well you know continue to prove anybody who drafted somebody else ahead of him wrong over the coming years and

Yeah I I think Buffalo has a keeper with Benson uh and I have to put the first initial because otherwise people are going to be like Eric Johnson no no Ryan Johnson Ryan Johnson 19 games no goals two assists two points Ryan Johnson’s that last piece from the the deal uh that

Brought Tage Thompson in and saw Ryan O’Reilly go to St Louis and I think Brian Johnson’s been a solid defenseman for them uh definitely you know it took time before he came in but I think he’s been good so yeah we’ll see what the upside is

With him but I think he’s been good buffalo obviously is a team that’s underachieved I you can’t put that on the rookies that that just it feels wrong to put that on the rookies Carolina pretty easy uh Carolina in terms of skating like skating like forwards and defenseman no uh katkov

Will get mentioned in the goal tending video that I’m going to be doing later on today uh but there aren’t there aren’t any skaters forwards or defenseman who are actual rookies in the NHL uh there are some very good young forwards in Carolina though so I don’t

Think the canes or their fans are all that upset now there’s three for for Columbus so for Columbus there are there are three players who qualify as rookies I want to talk about first off is fantelli now fantelli has not been the star right out of the gate that I think

Was expected uh he has played oh I’ve got the wrong number of games down I have to have the wrong number of games down let me quickly check so what I had written down was 39 games nobody’s played 39 games yet so unless fantell is playing two games at

Once which he’s good but anyways 35 games for fantelli nine goals 11 assists 20 points so fantelli cruising along he may end up with about a 40 50 point season this year that’s fine um again you know the hype was really high around him there was debate about whether or

Not he would be able to keep up with Bard but again comparing yourself to another player doesn’t make a lot of sense when it’s a rookie uh and and we do that though we want to you know make those comparisons and and that’s that’s the that’s the whole thing too people

Want to declare well this guy’s clearly a bust this guy’s clearly this guy’s going to hit but as I’ve mentioned before in this video even sometimes the guy who has the the great rookie season may not end up having a great career and and end up being an offensive Dynamo and

Sometimes the guy who has kind of a niffy rookie season becomes that star player all right and then the second of the three for the Columbus Blue Jackets is verono Veron of 29 games uh he did start the season in the AHL six goals 11 assists 17 points I think baronov and I

I know there were people that were high in him before the season started I think he’s he’s exceeded expectations and that line with him marenko and shikov very good and it makes sense we’ve seen before Russian lines come in and get formed in the NHL and they just work and

Yeah it’s been the case here in verono again uh you know flying under the radar in a in a really really deep rookie class and looks like he’s going to be a top six forward in the NHL going forward which brings me to the defenseman I

Wanted to talk about because I was like well I’m restricting myself to two with every team but I can’t do that here because year has looked quite good too so year Che uh forward or defenseman who they drafted high was it 2021 what are years anymore but yeah year a defenseman

They were pretty high on when they drafted and I don’t think anything’s happened with him at the NHL level so far to change their minds on him I think he’s been excellent Detroit there’s only one guy there’s only one guy who’s a rookie that’s that’s appeared in the

Lineup and what’s interesting is he’s only played one game and I want to talk about him because Edinson was called up the other day by Detroit I’m excited to see what Edinson can do at the at the NHL level I think Edinson you know has all the tools to be a superstar

Defenseman in the National Hockey League and Detroit could use that I think you know cider’s been excellent for them too but having Edinson there uh once he is 100% ready and I will say this for Steve Eiserman he is doing what Ken Holland did 20 years ago he’s not

Rushing anybody if a player’s not ready they’re not ready and we’ll have the debate I would think at some point if Detroit continues to build that Prospect pool we’re going to see some prospects were asking are they waiting too long to bring them up but that’s just part and partial I think of

How they’re going to run things uh Florida I do have a couple to talk about with Florida but there’s there’s not a lot to discuss here uh so there Samus skich uh Samus skich just the three games no points for him and then you’ve

Got uh sort of or sort of I what the first time I heard it I was like that that’s pretty close to sort of uh but sort of also three games no points for him Florida is also a team that has a good mix of veterans and young players

So the fact that you’ve got two rookies for Florida that played three games don’t have any points not necessarily a surprise and considering the pressure on them uh with what they were able to do in the playoffs last year it makes some sense they wouldn’t have like really

Prominent rookies at this stage uh Sam mavich probably going to end up playing more games by the end of the year I would think than sort of but we’ll see I’m only sort of convinced on that and I I would like to apologize apologize to anybody with the last name sort of

Because it it to me does sound like sort of all right uh Montreal just one to talk about for Montreal but what a story to talk about out of rreal right now I don’t know what it is with them and defenseman it just feels like they have just really really

Smart eye when it comes to drafting defenseman strubel 15 games two goals one assist three points he’s good he’s good and this is this is a Montreal team that already has a lot of defenseman that I’ve said yeah they’re pretty good so Montreal’s Blue Line’s going to be

Interesting to watch as the years go by and we see some of these young players really come into their own uh cuz I I think they’re going to end up in a really good situation where they just have too many and they can take some of that that strength with that young blue

Line and maybe turn that into a forward maybe take that in one of their extra goal tenders and you know go out and actually acquire something that could help them get better in the short and long term but yeah strubel I think’s been fantastic well yeah I’ll go that

Far sure some of some of those games he’s been really really prominent so yeah I know there’s only three points in 15 games but he’s a defenseman so that’s not the end of the world either uh New Jersey we got two for New Jersey and they’re both defenseman for New Jersey

Too so Luke Hughes uh his his numbers with the puck are ridiculous uh in terms of his ability to hold the puck his Zone exits and everything he has four goals 12 assists 16 points in 32 games Luke Hugh is everything that New Jersey was

Hoping for when they drafted him and I I think that fans have been quite excited to see Jack and Luke together I think this is why fans get all excited at the idea of them someday having Quinn and all three brothers playing together but I I went through that with the Stalls

Where I was like well all the Stalls are going to play together and then they never did so I’m not going to make any assumptions that all the Hughes brothers are going to play together either just in case I’m the Jinx maybe I’m the reason maybe somebody somewhere was like

We could we could have all the Stalls together oh he said we’d do that forget it and they would be Carolina um all right nemit uh nth has been good and this is this is part though this is part of what’s going on with me New Jersey so

Nemit 11 games one goal three assists four points they have a young defense and so you have a goal tending tandem in New Jersey that’s put up some subpar numbers and then you have young defense as well uh you know maybe with New Jersey maybe I’ll be right on my cup

Prediction just not in 2024 maybe it’ll be a 2025 cup prediction uh maybe over the summer in you know in July and August they figure out exactly who that starting goal tender is going to be and and we go from there but yeah nemit and Luke Hughes have both looked very good

For them this year just again they’re young there’s going to be some mistakes there too uh the New York Islanders only one one rookie for the Islanders which is not a surprise and that bald Duke’s not putting up a lot of points also not a surprise uh the Islanders are known

For bringing guys along slowly so he just has the one assist I don’t remember baluk making any dumb plays one thing that I I keep in mind with with rookies is you know do they did they make a boneheaded play that cost them goal at the other end that the puck goes in

Their net and you can trace it back to them and so with buluk he doesn’t really stand out which is good um and I’m glad i’ I trying to remember which which broadcast I was watching where an announcer said that said we haven’t said the name of and he mentioned a young

Rookie rookie defenseman he said that’s a sign that he hasn’t made any mistakes that we haven’t had to say his name tonight and that’s that’s very very true that’s a key thing and so yeah uh buluk not necessarily prominent for the Islanders but there you go

Uh New York Rangers just wanted to talk about with the Rangers as well uh very physical player uh also some offense there too 32 games six goals two assists eight points I think kie could develop into a really solid power forward in the NHL if that offense ends

Up translating to 20 plus goals if the physicality stays where it is or potentially ramps up even further uh yeah coie looks like he could be uh quite the player uh similar to like Lawson Krauss Arizona I would say yeah loss and Krauss like a few more hits

Than Krauss but there’s a little bit of recklessness in there too for kolie so maybe the Hits come down a little bit as time goes by but yeah uh Cool’s been a lot of fun to watch uh Ottawa so Ottawa is not short on on young players uh

Ridley Greg of course has played 19 games four goals six assists 10 points I I don’t know that Greg’s necessarily lived up to the hype so far but I mean he again rookie player just just the 19 games the season 10 points it’s not bad for a rookie that’s not bad um Ottawa

Really goal scoring hasn’t been the problem in Ottawa it’s been more of a goal tending and a defensive side of things that’s let them down not really the goal scoring so much so I think Gridley Greg’s been good and another one I wanted to talk about uh Roby yenti uh

Yenti got into some games uh I want to say like a month ago he was playing uh for him seven games one assist for them and yeah yv he looks like he’s going to be a top nine forward in the NHL I don’t see any reason why he won’t be uh Ottawa

It really is a situation right now where I I think they’re going to have to decide is this young core good enough and if they decide no and they decide to trade somebody that could then help a guy like yven or Greg get more minutes if they decide well we’re we’re going to

Change things up a little bit here because this season’s been a disappointment so far for Ottawa they’re going to try to turn it turn it around under jacqu Martin but yeah and that might that might favor yven and Greg to in the instance that that martan says

Yeah this this doesn’t work and he wants to make changes and maybe it gives more ice time to to guys who uh weren’t getting as much ice time uh under DJ Smith Philadelphia Philadelphia has one of my favorites Bobby Brink who should be of the Boston Bruins and I’ve been

Saying it since he was drafted but you know what uh six goals 10 assists 16 points and 28 games that’s not bad that’s pretty good and uh I I still think Bobby Brink would have looked would have looked good in a Boston Jersey but he looks pretty good in a

Philly Jersey he’s got the six goals 10 assists he’s producing well uh again I’m not I’m not saying that these rookies are are error proof because they’re not but yeah theyve they’ve been Brink’s been good for Philly this is a Philadelphia team that’s really gone up

The standings this year and it’s been a lot of fun to watch all right uh the other flyer I want to talk about Forester there was a lot of hype around Forester coming into the season from some Flyers fans based on how he played last season um especially how he came in

And he played quite well out of the gate five goals eight assists 13 points in 32 games I don’t know if Forester is ever going to be like a top-notch offensive forward but he’s good again good top nine forward sure uh and he’s he’s been in the lineup and again with

Philadelphia winning as many games as they have this experience can only be good for young guys like Brank and Forester and Philadelphia has a lot of good young players coming up so if you want to pick a team that could be a wagon team next season Philadelphia may

End up being that team uh they they’ve done a good job of of kind of fixing this uh and again getting coutu and ainson back well that will help uh Pittsburgh uh not not a lot here with Pittsburgh but there are a couple of players worth mentioning here uh ponin

Has been good uh seven games just the four assists so far he’s going to get a goal uh there’s no way he’s not going to get a goal I I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have a goal over the next couple of weeks very prominent when he’s been

Out there uh and because his name sounds so different it’s really you know it it catches the ear so to speak for when I’m watching all the games and it’s all kind of crazy uh yeah he’s been getting good minutes he’s been playing well uh and

The other one uh picked up on waivers earlier in the year ludvig uh ludvig 16 games just the one assist for him and lud a depth player uh but again rookie so he’s young enough that maybe he develops into something a little bit more and Pittsburgh could definitely use

More young players we’ve Ted talked about the Aging uh of the Pittsburgh Penguins and how that affects their future but if they can get some some young players to come in and play well then that helps and Poon in and ludig being examples uh Tampa Bay there’s not

A lot here with Tampa Bay either and I’m just being honest and upfront about it but Cole Ki when he’s played uh he’s he’s looked solid too Tampa Bay is is very good at developing players uh guys come up you’re like I haven’t really heard of him and all of a sudden you’re

Like okay now he’s pretty good uh perck is a good example of that um they they are just very good at developing their players uh Mela Mela was up early in the year uh there the offensive side isn’t there with Mel um no points in 14 games but again

Rookie so you don’t want to you know put a whole lot on him uh and we’ll see whether or not he’s going to be an NHL regular but playing in the Tampa Bay organization one of two things seems to be true either these players become nhlers and they’re solid at it or they

Develop them and trade them at the deadline and they become good nhlers elsewhere uh carder heggy is an example of a player who’s developed in Tampa and has become pretty darn good in Florida uh Toronto all right so Toronto uh the first one is obvious it has to be

Matthew NIS uh 29 games seven goals six assists 13 points n has been good he fits in uh he can play Topline minutes and I think Toronto has themselves a keeper with nce uh I also think think they found themselves a keeper with mitton uh another player to keep an eye

On at the world juniors is mitton he had no points in four games he had a strong preseason that earned him that job and it became pretty obvious early in the year that I wasn’t translating to regular season games yet but it well uh it’s just a matter of players figuring

Out how to play in the NH shell it’s a lot faster players are a lot bigger it’s just it’s a completely different experience for players uh and coming into the NHL than it is playing in any any other league so we’ll see how mitton does at the world juniors uh then we get

To Washington three three caps yep that’s right caps fans you get three players here so Hendrick lapier he’s played 14 games two goals three assists five points and you know what I think he’s looked good I do I think he’s he’s look good when he’s been called up and I

Think part of what’s helped keep Washington afloat is the play of guys like McMichael protus laier guys who who aren’t really you know thought of as as being difference makers for the capitals at this point and it feels like a key times some of these kids have been developing and and producing now

Phillips is technically a rookie uh it’s been a while since he had points though uh 22 games one goal four assist Five Points early in the year it looked like he was going to be a really solid addition and maybe a good points producer but not so much uh just the

Five Points in 22 games so far so with Phillips I think the the jury’s still out on what exactly they’re going to have here but he’s a young player they picked him up and Washington much like Pittsburgh could use some youth in their lineup which brings us to the last one

Now I’m I’m not putting this on the board just because it’s fun to write the name out it kind of is though uh marash nenko a lot of excitement around marash nenko no points in his three games but I I do think the production’s going to be there

And I I think that marash nenko has a ton of potential for the Washington Capitals too so we’ll see but let me know your thoughts in the comment section below as always which rookie have you been most impressed with which name that’s not on the board which

Rookie do you think will be making their debut later this season uh but I did try to limit this to two per team I got three per team for Columbus and Washington because there were three I wanted to talk about but let me know who you’d like to talk about don’t forget to

Hit like And subscribe and if you’re asking where’s the darn toot and goenda 10 that’s going to be coming up in my next video so stay tuned for that thank you guys so much for all your support hit like And subscribe if you haven’t done so already and uh I will

Talk to you again soon

Hey all and now I want to talk about rookies out of the East.

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