Coming out of the Traverse City tourney yesterday, I started into a series of ‘like’ and ‘room for improvement’ for the prospects who played in the tourney. Yesterday’s article included Andrei Svechnikov, Jeremy Helvig, Janne Kuokkanen, Nicolas Roy and Luke Henman.
Today’s Daily Cup of Joe continues with similar comments/notes on a second set of Canes prospects who played in Traverse City.
Jake Bean
Like: I think Bean’s vision, puck handling and poise on the point of the power play are good enough to play at least on a second unit on the power play in the NHL today. With a bit of room to assess the situation and take a couple strides, Bean also looks capable of advancing the puck up and out of the defensive zone. Considering that skill set alone, Bean projects to be an offense-oriented third pairing defenseman in the right situation.
Room for Improvement: But the problem is that is exactly what I project for Bean right now. To become more, his game will need to mature defensively, and to be honest, I question whether Bean is on the right trajectory make the necessary improvements. The biggest issue I have with his play is his tendency to just keep backing up and backing up when facing players coming at him with speed. That issue with gap control is problematic in today’s NHL where even bottom half of the roster players can convert time and space quickly into scoring chances. In the name of full disclosure, I have not been as high as the consensus on Bean for some time now, so I admittedly have a bit of a bias with Bean.
Morgan Geekie
Like: In Traverse City, Morgan Geekie centered a line with Luke Henman and Stelio Mattheos. The line was arguably the team’s best early in the tourney before maybe fading a bit. What I liked about Geekie was his propensity to play in straight lines and attack the defense straight on. The result was a good number of chances off the rush and a pretty clean game in terms of not turning the puck over in bad places. That simple but effective game projects well as he continues his development.
Room for improvement: One of the raps on Geekie from the beginning was his skating. Giving credit where it is due, he has made progress in this regard, and his efficient point to point style of play works well for a player without skating as a strength. That said, he still has room to improve in this regard.
Julien Gauthier
Like: In Traverse City, Julien Gauthier had two power play goals from the top of the crease and a couple other chances to boot. His willingness to go to the front of the net and finish is promising. The Hurricanes need more of this, and his 6 foot 4 inch and 230-pound frame is built for this style of play.
Room for improvement: My issue with Gauthier is mostly unchanged since first watching him in prospect camp a couple years back. With the puck on his stick, even the slightest head start and a head of steam, Gauthier projects to be an elite power forward at the NHL level. But he continues to be too quiet in between those peaks. In Traverse City, he had a decent number of times when he carried in over the blue line off the rush, but he was mostly thwarted on the way to the net and converted exactly zero of these opportunities into goals. As of now, I am still watching closely to see if Gauthier can find an ignition switch that converts him into an every shift force. So far I am skeptical.
Aleksi Saarela
Like: When Aleksi Saarela mounted a small burst in the first period of the final game, he was impressive. He collected a goal and at least two near misses in first period alone. Fans will have to see if it translates to the NHL level, but Saarela possesses the tool kit of a goal scorer.
Room for improvement: I put him a bit in the same category as Gauthier. Saarela could likely make enough good plays to stick at the NHL level, but the question is whether he could make enough small good plays otherwise. There is usually room for a mid-20s or 30s goal scorer on most NHL teams, but if a player’s contribution is minimal otherwise, it is tough to win and maintain an NHL roster spot with only depth level scoring and minimal contribution other than goal scoring.
If my count is correct, today’s article makes for 13 prospects considered. The last four should find their way into a Daily Cup of Joe post soon.
Go Canes!
Matt, thanks very much for these detailed observations about individual prospects. I’d like to ask for a bit more detail, if possible, about Gauthier and Saarela. Have you seen ANY improvement in either of them over the last two years?
Saarela is one of the prospects I am least familiar with. Injuries kept him away from prospect camp, Traverse City and NHL training camp in the past, so the volume of game ice time I have seen from him is lower than most of the prospects. My impression from Traverse City was a bit like my general impression of Gauthier. Saarela has decent skill and finishing ability which gives him a chance to be an NHLer, but for me he just does not do enough to impact the game otherwise. It takes A LOT of goal scoring to make it as an NHLer with that balance.
Gauthier has become an enigma for me. His combination of size with good agility and what he is capable of doing every once in awhile with the puck on his stick screams top 6 NHL power forward. But most games I watch him, I struggle to find enough other than what would be on his 25-second highlight reel for a game.
So though each’s skill set is significantly different, I view both as players whose offensive skill set could project to the NHL level, but who have a ways to go to add enough else to their game to get there.
Important to note for all of these evaluations is that they are still young, so it’s very possible they eventually put it all together. Better to have the higher-end skill as a starting point to set a high ceiling.
Does anyone know if the Canes will publish heights and weights for players coming into training camp? I’m curious about whether Necas succeeded in adding weight and Darling in getting into top shape.
The Canes’ website roster still lists Necas as 6’1″ and 167 lbs. The training camp roster published a few days ago lists him at 6’2″ and 179 lbs.
Matt, a few questions…
1. Aho listed as RW, do you have a guess on RBA’s plans for him?
2. Could you make an educated guess on where these guys fall on the depth chart?
3. Are you eligible for admission to the practices (that are closed to the public)? …if so what are your thoughts on Training Camp articles?
Thanks
Brind’Amour has made comments that he liked Aho at wing, but at the same time, I think he makes more sense as a center, and I think Brind’Amour will end up at same place trying to build a team that is strong down the middle.
It’s only the first practice that was heavy on drills, but Aho slotted at center in Friday’s practice.
Now Rask is out for awhile…what now COACH?
Think “The Committee” will trade for a Center?
At least Willy is the CAPTAIN!
…yeah
That makes for an opening for Lucas Wallmark. Despite having a strong 2017-18 AHL season that seemed to suggest he was ready for a lengthy NHL audition, he entered training camp 5th on the center depth chart in my book (Aho, Staal, Necas, Rask). He now gets a chance to win a slot.
Why did the team wait so long before deciding on surgery? If performed in June Rask might have been ready. I don’t think management wants to splurge on a center. I guess this is going to be the big opportunity for a certain Checker or one of the morising T city prospects (well, not much to choose from there).
There are a couple of decent bottom 6 PTO options out there.
I think half the Canes forwards on opening day will be new to the NHL or with less than 20 games of NHL experience.
Hope that not addressing the Rask situation is not a sign of deliberate tankage.
The competition for tanking this year is pretty intense, with the state of Ottawa and Detroit (admittedly Ottawa would not want to tank since their first round pick is owned by the Avalanch).
Rask was ready. His “kitchen injury”, which is what required surgery, only happened in the last day or two.