JoeSchmoe

All the best teams have multiple really good players that weren't top 10s. And the best teams high draft picks actually live up to their draft positions. Dahlins not a #1... Maybe a #3 or #4 level player from a good draft year. Power is maybe a #8 or worse. It boils my blood that anyone that big could be that damn soft. Unless something drastically changes, he'll always be the guy hugging JT Miller's leg.

Trades and FA acquisitions get all the attention, but in a cap world it's the draft that makes or breaks a team. Getting so-so #1's in Power and Dahlin, along with not a lot beyond that ever since the drought started has been our biggest downfall by far. Losing Eichel and Reinhart of course sucks too, but Peterka has been our only major win over all these years.

He announced in his meeting with the media. I saw it on X.

One time I mused aloud that my mind sometimes wonders if a certain player had taken and went off PEDs. The whole place went nuclear. DEFCOM 1. 🤣 We are not a healthy family.

Any news on Thompson?

Being in front of reporters in a position where you have to say something, even though you're ticked off is pretty hard. Its a bunch of verbal diarrhea... And not worth thinking about.

Here are the latest stats. A couple of strong games by Cozens have improved his stats. Byram is still down there, but his numbers are improving a bit. As well as Byram's done offensively, he is still giving up the most high danger chances against defensively. Maybe he's young enough that he can learn to play better defense and his offensive upside will offset this. I'd still rather have Mitts and give Bryson a full time spot in the lineup.

Checking my history, here's the teams I looked at. Most teams don't have a 2006. Those few that do are are all drafted or about to be. 2005's are also few and far between. As such, a tiny % of kids in NCAA are 18. And 19 year olds are rare too. 1999-2002's on the other hand are very well represented. Denver Niagara Ohio State Mercyhurst Penn State RPI RIT Canisius Boston College Boston University UMass Minn Minn St St Cloud Maine

Maybe it was like that in your day, but its not now. I went to 12 different D1 team's elite prospects pages... Half good teams, half lower teams. 2006's don't exist unless they're drafted or going to be drafted (late bday). Undrafted 2005's are few and far between as well. Like I said... Try Google'ing U of Denver Elite Prospects, Mercyhurst Elite Prospects, Ohio State Elite Prospects, etc and see for yourself. Unfortunately it's a man's game now. If you want to play D1 hockey, and you're not eventually playing pro, you better be prepared to take 2 gap years outta high school to do so.

As I said before, only the high end future pros play at 18. Those are the guys you're talking about. 80-90% of the other kids all have to bide their time in a Tier 2 junior league until they age out. Kids like my son's friend will now choose the CHL route instead. If you don't believe me... Pick a team... Any team and look for the 2006's. If they're rostered, you'll also (for the most part) find them on the NHL scouting list or already drafted. https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/606/univ.-of-maine https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/773/st.-cloud-state-univ.

Gilbert's a 7/8 guy at best. He's probably served his purpose and should probably go back upstairs to get some better skill back in there. Hopefully lessons were learned from the press box.

Go to Elite Prospects and look at the college rosters. You'll see very few 2006's. On the other hand, you'll see a lot of guys who by virtue of their age, wouldn't have started until they were 20. FWIW, my son just went through it, and this was the talk amongst the parents. Edit- If you really want to see this in action, look up NCAA rosters where they don't get future NHL calibre players. Niagara and Canisius are good examples. Here are the ages of the Niagara Freshman: 2004, 2003, 2004, 2004, 2004, 2003, 2003 D1 schools want men not boys unless the boy is capable of playing pro.

They'll still want them. Unless they're superstars, NCAA freshmen are usually 20+ years old.

It's Helenius' first year in NA too and he's doing good, despite being 2 years younger.

My son's friend has an NCAA commitment. The OHL team that drafted him begged him to go there instead, but he couldn't say no as the school is one of the top programs both on the ice and academically. So he moved from Ontario to BC this winter to play in the BCHL while he waits to mature enough to play D1. Had this rule came a year sooner, he'd have stayed in Ontario and played OHL. As you said, Tier 2 Jr A is definitely going to lose out big with this. There is no reason for high end kids to play there anymore.