I give Kleinendorst a lot of credit for Matt O’Connor being the goaltender sent down to Wichita. As the organisation’s golden child when signed, it must be a hard pill for management to swallow. I’d suggested O’Connor should be reassigned once Andrew Hammond returned to Binghamton, as there’s no question that Chris Driedger has outplayed him both seasons they’ve been together (.912 and .911 for the latter, .895 and .893 for the former). This is O’Connor‘s first ever ECHL assignment, as until now it’s always been Driedger sent down.
I’ve been holding off discussing Ben Harpur because I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop–for his performance to slip and for him to regress to the mean. For those who weren’t been able to watch Harpur last season, I can only emphasize just how awful he was (so clear to everyone that I didn’t feel the need to address it my season review). I felt he would have been better served playing in the ECHL to round out his game. As a prospect Harpur showed limited offensive abilities (the scouting consensus saw him topping out as a bottom-pairing, defensive defenseman), but from December 9th until now he’s put up impressive numbers: 25-1-17-18 (0.72). To put that in perspective, he started the season 18-0-1-1 (0.05) and all of last season he was 47-2-4-6 (0.12). His current pace is above his best junior year (0.54), so it’s not sustainable, but it is a sign both that the lightbulb has turned on for him and that he has more utility than I imagined. How much of his performance is attributable to others is an open question, but for now I’ll eat a dose of humble pie because after last season I thought there was no hope for Harpur at this level.
It’s been awhile since my last prospect update, so here’s a look at how Sens prospects are doing (sorted by league and arranged by points-per-game):
CHL
Filip Chlapik (Charlottetown; 2-48/15) 43-29-49-78 (1.81)
Remains first on his team in scoring and is also first (in PPG) in the entire QMJHL (having moved ahead of Nico Hischier)
Logan Brown (Windsor; 1-11/16) 26-12-21-33 (1.26)
Fifth on his team in scoring, but second in PPG (17th in the OHL in that respect, but dropping)
Thomas Chabot (Saint John; 1-18/15) 23-6-22-28 (1.21)
Second in points for a blueliner, but first in PPG (2nd in the Q in that respect, still behind Samuel Girard)
Filip Ahl (Regina; 4-109/15) 43-24-17-41 (0.95)
Remains eighth in points and seventh in PPG on the high flying Pats
Cody Donaghey (Charlottetown/Sherbrooke; T-16) 49-11-27-38 (0.77)
First in points and PPG among defensemen (11th overall in the Q); finally producing on his new team
Maxime Lajoie (Swift Current; 5-133/16) 54-7-26-33 (0.61)
Remains second in points and PPG among blueliners (24th overall in the WHL)
NCAA
Colin White (Boston; 1-21/15, sophomore) 27-14-12-26 (0.96)
He’s neck and neck with Ryan Fitzgerald for the PPG lead
Robert Baillargeon (Arizona; 5-136/12, senior) 28-9-12-21 (0.75)
Ahead of Anthony Croston for the PPG lead
Christian Wolanin (North Dakota; 4-107/15, sophomore) 26-3-12-15 (0.57)
Second on the team among defensemen (still behind Tucker Poolman)
Chris Leblanc (Merrimack; 6-161/13, senior) 20-4-6-10 (0.50)
Now tied for fourth on his punchless team in PPG; well behind the top two scorers
Shane Eiserman (New Hampshire; 4-100/14, junior) 24-4-7-11 (0.45)
Eighth on the team in points and PPG
Kelly Summers (Clarkson; 7-189/14, junior) 30-1-10-11 (0.36)
Slipped to third on the team among blueliners in PPG
Miles Gendron (Connecticut; 3-70/14, sophomore) 30-3-7-10 (0.33)
Fell to second in both categories among defensemen
Todd Burgess (RPI; 4-103/16, freshman) (injured)
Joel Daccord (Arizona; 7-199/15, freshman) 3-8-1 4.03 .892
Improved to second in both GAA and save percentage
Europe
Jonathan Dahlen (Timra; 2-42/16) 39-20-15-35 (0.89)
Remains second on the team in PPG (behind Elias Pettersson); it’s important to remember Timra is currently in the Allsvenskan (the Swedish second division)
Christian Jaros (Lulea; 5-139/15) 33-4-8-12 (0.36)
Slipped to third on the team in PPG among blueliners, bur remains second among defensemen 21 and under (well behind Sebastian Aho); Lulea is a low-scoring team
Markus Nurmi (TPS Jr/TPS/TUTO; 6-163/16) 8-1-0-1 (0.12)
The numbers are for his time in the Mestis (the Finnish second division); he’s the only teenage forward on the team and playing limited minutes
Marcus Hogberg (Linkoping; 3-78/13) 16-12-0 1.88 .932
He’s fourth in the league in save percentage and well ahead of his partner in both categories; remains second to Linus Soderstrom among those in his age group
I hadn’t seen Andrew post much on WTYKY in quite some time but knew he must still be writing his long, thoughtful pieces somewhere. I stumbled across them the other day and you can find them here. I’ve always liked Andrew’s work and recommend you check it out (not everything there is hockey related, keep in mind).
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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[…] has been awhile since my last prospect update; regular seasons have ended; here’s a look at how Sens prospects are doing (sorted by league and […]