Remarkable Markus: 2013 Young Stars Tournament

Now that the Vancouver Canucks' Penticton Young Stars "Tournament" is over (I don't know, to this day, why it's called a tournament, but whatever) a lot will be made about who looked good, who didn't, and what it all means.

What it all means, really, is virtually nothing.  Players have come away from this tournament with great performances--think Carter Bancks, Patrick Holland, and Vancouver's Kellan Tochkin--in spite of not amounting to much (or, more accurately, not likely amounting to much).  Conversely, players such as T.J. Brodie (and, this year, Sven Baertschi) have disappointed, only to prove it means less than nothing.  Nevertheless, it's fun to speculate, and this "tourney" does provide us with a window to see our future heroes in real game situations.  The level of play has improved with each successive year (except last year, where the tournament was cancelled for greed-related reasons), and the entertainment value is fantastic.

So, without further wasting of time, here are my thoughts on what I saw from the Flames' youngsters in Penticton (and, to a lesser extent, in Development Camp, since it occurs to me that I didn't post about that).

Oh, and a happy retirement to Miikka Kiprusoff. It's been a wild ride, Kipper!

NHL Organizational Rankings: I'M FREAKING BORED!!!

A few notes before we begin:

• I was surprised at how close most of the systems seemed.  There were very few easy choices other than Tampa Bay first and St. Louis last.
• Many teams' positions have been changed many times.  I'll try to refrain from tampering with this post after publishing, but It'll be very tempting.  That's how close it is.
• Ranking Calgary was, predictably, very difficult.  I had to keep in mind that I was biased, and tried to be as objective as I could.  Even so, I was surprised that I had them as high as I did, but they basically fell in that slot by default (and I'm not the only one who had them that high).  The reason? I essentially consider Chicago/Montreal/Calgary to be almost a three-way tie. The tiebreaker between Calgary and Montreal was Sven Baertschi. After matching players of similar value against each other, Baertschi was left over, and so Calgary moved ahead. If Alex Galchenyuk was still considered a prospect, Montreal would get the edge. Chicago/Calgary was far more difficult.  I decided to give Chicago an edge in goal, considering Raanta's age and track record rather than Gillies' sheer upside. Defense was easier, with the Blackhawks carrying many players with similar (or slightly lower) upsides to the Flames', but who were far more pro-ready. Adam Clendening was what made it easy, as he is easily the best defense prospect in either system.  What made the ranking decision difficult was the forwards, as the Flames have a very good group of players at center and left wing. I consider the Flames' group to be better (the Blackhawks have one player with top line potential in Teravainen, whereas the Flames have four in Baertschi, Monahan, Gaudreau, and Jankowski, though two of those are with high risk). The Blackhawks' depth at center (the more valuable position) made it close, though, and I moved them closer when I considered that basically everyone everywhere is higher on Mark McNeill than I am. In the end, it was Adam Clendening that broke the tie.
• [NEW] Initially I had Ottawa much lower, but I looked at their collection and then at Montreal's writeup and realized they were too low.  Putting them ahead of Montreal basically meant they were ahead of Chicago, as well.
• Edmonton and Phoenix are basically interchangeable. The Coyotes have better forwards and goaltending, but I liked Klefbom and Nurse enough to move the Oilers ahead considering their stupendous depth on defense (and the fact that, like McNeill, pretty much everyone is higher on Martin Marincin than I am).
• I originally had Buffalo second, but I moved them behind Anaheim mostly because of John Gibson. Big fan, not going to lie.
• I am aware that pretty much everyone is higher on the Islanders than I am.  But I don't like Griffin Reinhart, so suck it.
• Before the draft, Vancouver would have been in the mix for dead last with Philadelphia and maybe St. Louis. Horvat and Shinkaruk really saved them.

 

Calgary Flames Top 20 Prospects

This time 'round, I decided to prioritize projectability a little more than usual.  Also, because of the recent influx of talent, I was able to create a list of honourable mentions, since there were enough noteworthy players who didn't make the list who deserved mention.