yzerman19

I posed the question, because I disagree with that. I think elite Fs want D that move the puck and cover the back end as opposed to carrying the puck and trying to create through the neutral zone

Does bringing in an elite offensive dman who likes to carry the puck turn off elite Fs? especially centers who end up covering...

RJ Thompson and Maverick McKinnon are two of the top 2010's in the country and both received invites to the HS Elite League as freshman. A handful of elite 2010 sophomores also did: Gramer, Korten, Hontvedt, and Jackson. These are 1 year out targets, as I have heard both Thompson and McKinnon have accelerated to join the early 2010's grade wise.

Kid put up points vs top competition in Minny AA too...wasn't like he padded vs the little sisters of the poor. I think he's a legit college prospect. He put up solid numbers at USA dev camps and in the elite league. I think he projects as a middle 6 college forward that could play top 6 with the right program.

Carleton is one of the top liberal arts schools in the country

Ellingsen, #1 pick in WHL draft and planning to play up in Brandon should be a target. Already plays Sioux hockey.

Fitzy is probably the best goal scorer in the 2009 age group. He would be an unreal get. He will have every blue blood offering him on 8/1

This is a very good call out that I hadn't reflected on. Great post.

top 2009 and 2010 talent not going to commit right away...kings going to be looking for sacks of cash

With all the CHL options and NIL$ out there, I think we are going to see a trend of top recruits NOT committing 8/1. I think a lot of chippaz going to play the field for awhile before pulling the trigger.

State has made a huge investment in facilities and they have a great dev head coach in Nightingale. They are definitely formidable on the recruiting trail. RIght now, they are probably the most formidable in the Big 10 for players not just looking for sacks of cash.

Quite a few talented 09's and 10's have been attending junior camps over the past couple weeks. Heard glowing reports on RJ Thompson, Jack Hair, and Henry Meier (all 2010's). All 3 were on Minnesota Blades and Minnesota Fire back in the day, Meier went to Shattuck, Hair and Thompson to Little Caesars. Henry is Neal Broten's grandson.

not quite a chippa, but could be a real nice player for us

We've seen several signings of guys that were previously likely USHL...Spehar, Kraft to name 2. They are definitely all-in on the 2010 class they just drafted- pretty much every Minnesota kid on that draft board was planning on NTDP or USHL before the rule change.

yeah, if you think about the area they cover and the population, I mean Toronto is the hotbed for hockey in the world...although the GTHL can be a bit of a dumpster fire

agreed for the most part...sometimes the OHL will jump into first. QMJHL is the third though for sure.

didn't mean to single out your post and sound like a jerk. nothing aimed at you. Just calling out the click hound vultures

most of the guys running these prospect sites are like 19 years old, and they get paid for clicks. nobody that has any influence pays 1 second of time on any of those sites.

i wouldn't put much salt into old puckpreps....

Agreed. Early committing chippas will be committing in concert with heading off to the CHL in August of their 16 year. The Wild West of this year will start to settle down. There will be a market for overagers, but they will be depth players most likely.

Its already happening...the pipeline for chippas is going to be 2 years in the CHL, 1-2 years of top end NCAA, then NHL. The CHL will get younger and more skilled, the USHL will get older and more gritty...some teams already played by that ethos. The only part still in question is the NTDP...

Big10 written all over him. He's an August of 2007. No way should he be playing high school again. Especially if he goes 2nd round NHL draft (or higher)...

The other key thing is this: we haven't had a great pipeline into the NTDP...that doesn't matter as much now. We need to cultivate our kitchen....western Canada and the WHL...stud US kids are now seriously looking at WHL for their 17yo season to go as high as possible in the NHL draft...pipeline: US high school or Tier 1 to WHL to UND. Which brings up the issue of not much legit Tier 1 west of the Mississippi in the US.

The facilities are great, but chippaz are only choosing facilities as a tie breaker. Other top programs aren't exactly playing with chickenwire and garbage...the hockey as #1 on campus is a pro and con. You don't have big time hoops and football to watch live while you walk around campus ...the chippas have beautiful girls all over the country talking to them, so being a leg up over the QB for the local bombshell isn't a big draw. the fair assessment is we have got to overcome the handicap of Grand Forks being where and what it is, and (to your point) the fact that we aren't the factory we were under Blais and Hak. favilities plus path to the show is the only way. Path to the show isn't going to happen overnight. As much as we love Chyzy and Jax, we need Toews, Oshie, Parise, Stafford, Zajac, Greene, Nelson, Boeser, Schmaltz, Pinto, Sanderson pumping how playing at UND was instrumental

I think that our deal has got to be that we teach pro habits in a pro environment, so if you want the NHL this is the ONLY real choice.