Thoughts? He played very well in his short stint in the AHL, producing 2 goals and 3 assists in just 6 games. Then, upon returning to the WHL he’s pacing over 2 points per game, 30-41-71 in 34 regular season games and now 4 goals in his first three postseason games (game isn’t over yet).
Could they be slow cooking a star?
https://x.com/sabresprospects/status/1775685732964692092?s=46&t=YlTVofE0kzzZzg0MJO4avw
by idislikehate
9 Comments
Yes, he has a lot of the ingredients to become a very good player. Becoming a true “star” is harder to project. But he’s got a very good chance at being a top-6 NHL forward.
He goes to the net and skates as fast as he can, it’s a beautiful combination
Watching him & Benson together at the prospects challenge, they had great chemistry.
He’s in his D+2 year. Every year there’s a bunch of other undrafted 20 year olds in the CHL producing well over a ppg who aren’t going anywhere.
He’s gonna get his shot cause of his draft position but he’s probably gonna be a Jimmy Vesey type if he can stick it out in the NHL. He’s not gonna make it as a top 6 forward.
53-72-89
77-24-22
9-?-?
12-19-?
Dare I say Girgensons is back on another 1 year deal … who knows. But if 77 and 22 get term off of those ELCs everyone mentioned above has 2+ years left on their deals besides 12,19 but you have to fit what looks like for sure Kulich, Rosen, Savoie, Ostlund onto this roster within the next 2-3 years. Haven’t drafted this year yet, and some 2nd,3rd round picks like Wahlberg, Kisakov, Neuchev, and Poltapov haven’t even been thought of yet. Sabres are absolutely hording these prospects and now are stacked on defense and have a good young tandem developing in net. So if you trade the forward prospects, it has to be for an already proven forward on a downward team without a NMC and low cap hit. Good problem to have, but nerve racking to weed out who’s a for sure thing and who’s the next Nylander/Grigorenko.
I haven’t seen anything from him in juniors that screams NHL star tool wise. So the deciding factor will probably be how he handles playing with and against better players. Is he someone that will create more because his teammates will be better at capitalizing on what he creates? Or is he someone that will struggle because his opponents are so much better at preventing offense? Chances are it’s the latter but you never know.
Yes he has the tools to be an extremely good NHL player. Impossible to say if he’ll be a star, but he absolutely can be. People on this sub are way too low on him because he didn’t do much at the WJC on a team Canada that was a mess.
If he’s going to immediately figure out how to translate his game to the NHL speed he can drop an easy 20G 30A rookie season.
Big if.
We have Benson Kulich and Rosen also. Not enough roster spots for all of them. Trade Savoie for a top 6 forward or a top 4 defenseman