-There’s been criticism of Ben Bishop after a rocky first start for Binghamton, but I don’t put that down to fan myopia but rather simple boredom–there’s such a small sample size of current hockey action that people have to write about something, so why not crap on a goaltender for one bad game? It’s a little like the pointless furor over Robin Lehner‘s fight last week.
–Darryl Dobbs tries to write about how young NHL players who play a season in the AHL in a lockout scenario do better the year after. I have two problems with this: 1) his sample size is intentionally reduced to players where that’s definitively the case, 2) players should improve year after year irrespective of the league they play in. It’s an interesting topic, although the limited sample size is so small I’m not sure any useful conclusions can be drawn from it.
–Corey Pronman has made yet another list, this time looking at the top-50 players under 23 (you know, why not?). I’ve already commented on the general uselessness of these kinds of lists, but I think it is worthwhile exploring the value of this one since his name gets thrown around a lot. Pronman has been drinking the Ken Hitchcock Koolaid as he has Alex Pietrangelo higher than Erik Karlsson. Sens who make his list: Karlsson (#7) and Cowen (#50). Here’s a good reason to not take Pronman seriously:
I’ve talked to scouts who see [Ryan] Ellis as a top of the line prospect and a potential star. While I may not share that degree of optimism, due to his tremendous skill, shot, and hockey sense, I think he could be a top player despite is diminutive frame. The negatives for him are that he has not done much in the NHL as of yet, and of course, his size.
So the guys who actually know what they are talking about (scouts) think he could be a star, but list-maker Pronman see’s him as a bit too small and he wasn’t a star in his NHL rookie season, therefore they are wrong. There’s no consideration for how Nashville handles its young players (slowly brought up and into the lineup) or the players eating up minutes in front of him. He’s not offering real analysis here, he’s just saying Ellis is short, which is pretty worthless if you want to understand how players are being differentiated.
-Here’s the weekly prospect update:
CHL
Cody Ceci (OHL Ottawa) 14-5-10-15
Matt Puempel (OHL Kitchener) 14-10-4-14
Stefan Noesen (OHL Plymouth) 14-7-3-10
Jordan Fransoo (WHL Victoria) 10-0-3-3
Jakub Culek (QMJHL Rimouski) DNP
Jarrod Maidens (OHL Owen Sound) (injured)
Francois Brassard (QMJHL Quebec) 10-3-0 2.42 .907
Chris Driedger (WHL Calgary) 6-3-2 2.72 .909
Allsvenskan (Swe)
Mikael Wikstrand (Mora) 14-7-3-10
KHL
Nikita Filatov (Salavat) 21-5-6-11
NCAA
Bryce Aneloski (Nebraska-Omaha) – 6-1-4-5
Max McCormick (Ohio) – 6-1-3-4
Ryan Dzingel (Ohio) – 6-2-1-3
Michael Sdao (Princeton) – 2-0-2-2
Jeff Costello (Notre Dame) – 3-1-0-1
Tim Boyle (Union) – 1-0-0-0
USHL
Robbie Baillargeon (Indiana) – 13-2-6-8
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
eyeonthesens 