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Fast Rising Prospects of the 2024 NHL Draft
Photo Credit: Steven Ellis
Now that most leagues around the world are well into their respective seasons, we are starting to see a few names that previously weren’t on anybody’s radar begin to shoot up some of the latest mock draft boards. But while these players (that I am going to talk about in this article) may have virtually been unknowns a few months ago, the time and effort they have put into developing their craft this season may prove to pay off big time as they are certainly starting to have scouts scrambling to book plane tickets to be able to see them play in person.
The first name that has been catching many people’s attention lately is the towering 6’7, 207-pound Russian defenseman Anton Silayev. This impressive young blueliner, who is only 17 years old, has already managed to make his way to Russia’s top professional hockey league, the KHL. He plays for the Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and, through 54 games played thus far, has been able to accumulate three goals and eight assists for a total of eleven points.
Anton is highly coveted right now because, along with his impressive size and grit, he possesses the rare ability (for a big man) to move his feet. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he skates so well that he is capable of outskating most defenders who are a foot smaller than him. But that’s not all. Silayev already has broken KHL records for most points scored by a defenseman under the age of 18. He managed to break that record by utilizing his NHL-caliber shot to fire in that piece of vulcanized rubber from the point at speeds the goalie cannot see but can only hope to get in front of and later (because of the bruising) wish they didn’t.
Because of these attributes, Anton is starting to draw comparisons to future Hall of Famers like the Lightning’s Victor Hedman. And, I have to say, although that seems like an enormous reach, I’m starting to believe there is some validity to those evaluations.
With that being said, as his stock continues to rise, the sky is the limit for Silayev because it is extremely rare that teams ever have the opportunity to draft a player with his size and skill set. So much so that you should not be surprised if you hear his name being called as one of the top ten players selected this summer.
Switching gears, we will now take a look at an imposing 17-year-old center who goes by the name Cayden Lindstrom. This 6’4 216 pound forward, who plays for Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League, exhibits just the right blend of physicality and skill that should have teams clamoring about on the draft floor for the chance to select this intimidating power forward.
At the beginning of the season, Lindstrom appeared as though he would be nothing more than a potent scoring threat, but throughout the course of this season, he has proved to be so much more. Being a true student of the game, Cayden continues to impress scouts with something new every time they head back up to Alberta to watch him play. This is the case because, with each passing game, Lindstrom appears to have improved in yet another facet of the game. For example, his noticeable size and strength would lead one to believe that Cayden would rely solely on brute force to create chances offensively. But he instead has been able to transcend those physical traits into things like a powerful skating stride to create the kind of speed that allows him to have the separation he needs to breakaway from defenders. Or how about his ability to utilize his size and strength to protect the puck so well that he can stick handle using only one hand to get by the opposition so he can then sell an apparent shot with his body in order to make a perfect pass to an awaiting teammate in scoring position. Therefore, it is these constantly changing intangibles to Lindstrom’s game that make his potential seem immeasurable.
To date, Cayden has played 32 games for the Tigers this season and, during that time, has managed to score 27 goals and 19 assists for 46 points. Folks that means Lindstrom is scoring at a 1.46-point-per-game pace right now, which, if you happen to tune into a game, is believable considering that he looks like a man playing against boys out there.
Since we have been talking about guys who would appear better suited to play basketball rather than hockey given their physical stature, I thought we should continue with that trend and mention the 6’7, 209-pound center known as Dean Letourneau, who plays for Saints at St. Andrews College in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. All jokes aside, Letourneau has exploded onto the map this season to the point where St. Andrews might have to begin to limit their seating for their student body in order to accommodate the growing number of scouts in attendance for their games.
Now, some are comparing Dean to the Buffalo Sabers’ Tage Thompson for his obvious size and elite scoring ability. And there is definitely a reason for that, considering Letourneau has been able to total a combined 57 goals and 49 assists for 106 points in just 49 games played so far this season. He is so dominant, in fact, that it appears that he can quite literally score any time he wants to while out on the ice.
And when you’re scoring goals at a rate of over a goal per game and accumulating over two points a game, you can expect one of those teams with scouts in the stands to come calling. Much like Boston College did when they recently persuaded Dean to agree to play for them in the not-so-distant future. With all this being said, expect a team to take a chance on him by moving up to select Dean late in the first round.
The last player that we will talk about who has been making noise as of late is Justin Porier. Justin, (who is the younger brother of the Flames’ Jeremie Poirer), plays for the Bair-Comeau Drakkar of the Qubeuc Major Juinor Hockey League. But unlike the others listed in this article, Porier does not possess great size and strength. Instead, this 5’8 diminutive player relies heavily on his shoot first and ask questions later approach that has gotten him to where he is today.
Luckily for Porier, he is able to back that sometimes selfish approach up with the kind of shot-to-goal ratio that few others are currently capable of achieving. For instance, this season, Justin has been able to record an impressive 35 goals and 17 assists for 52 in just 47 games played thus far. And if he keeps playing at this pace, he will finish the season with over 50 goals to his credit.
As you probably saw in this highlight video presented above, Porier already possesses all the pieces needed to be an offensive threat at the NHL level. He has a great one-timer, a strong wrist shot, and the kind of speed that allows him to set the pace needed to develop the optimal scoring chance for every situation he encounters along the way.
The only thing is, because of his size or lack thereof, Justin is probably destined to be taken in the second round rather than the first. But let me assure you, whatever team that chooses to select Porier will see him paying dividends soon enough.
As always, stay tuned in to Prospect Watch to find out all the latest news on these players and other great ones like them as the season continues to draw to a close.
What are the Flyers to do with the Sudden Vacancy In-Between the Pipes?
With the recent heart-wrenching news that Flyers goalie Carter Hart had to ask the team for an indefinite leave of absence due to him being named a person of interest by the London Ontario Police Department in their ongoing 2018 Team Canada rape investigation, Philadelphia has been left in not the best of situations.
On the one hand, they do not want to overreact and trade for a starting goalie with the possibility of Carter still being found innocent of any wrongdoing and thus cleared of all impending charges. But on the other hand, they don’t know how long this ongoing investigation will last or how much time Hart may be looking at if convicted.
So, what are their options? Well, they still have Samuel Ersson on the roster. Still, while this 24-year-old netminder has looked rock solid at times this season (especially in shootout situations), the idea of forcing a kid who has only played in 37 career NHL games into solely taking over the starting role does seem a bit too much to ask of this promising youth.
And in saying that, if you thought that goalie Cal Peterson (who the Flyers acquired from the Kings in the trade of Ivan Provorov) was a viable option to back up Ersson for the rest of the season, you are sadly mistaken. For example, in fifteen American Hockey League games played this year for the Phantoms, this now 29-year-old veteran netminder who is signed to a five million-dollar-a-year deal has managed to win just five games. In addition to that, when he played with the Flyers this year, Cal managed to win just one game out of his three appearances. And to add insult to injury, in those three outings, Peterson maintained a less-than-impressive goals-against average of 3.38 and a .889 save percentage.
With those facts now out in the open, it is my opinion that if the Flyers wish to stop their current skid and remain in playoff contention, they better be willing to go out and obtain Ersson some help.
One way that they could do that so it would not cost the Flyers to have to cough up that much for a player’s services would be to watch the waiver wire closely. Waiting for a team to be forced to waive one of their up-and-coming netminders that they intend to send back down to the minors after one of their everyday NHL netminders returns from injury would be ideal. However, there is no guarantee that it will happen again any time soon, considering the Blue Jackets just lost goalie Spencer Martin to the Carolina Hurricanes when the team recently tried to send him back down to the minors.
If the Flyers did not wish to wait for a similar situation to happen, they could try to acquire 27-year-old Finnish netminder Kaapo Kahkonen from the San Jose Sharks. Kaapo is in the last year of a contract that pays him a reasonable 2.75 million dollars, making him an impending free agent. Kahkonen rose to fame a few years ago while playing for the Minnesota Wild in his rookie campaign, where he was able to win 16 of the 24 games that he saw time in.
But, after Marc-Andre Fleury joined the team, Kahkonen was quickly dealt to the Sharks, and his progression then came to a grinding halt. Now, while there’s no telling that if attained by the Flyers, Kaapo would be able to return to his winning ways, he would undoubtedly be an improvement over Cal Peterson.
Another short-term-ish option for the Flyers that might be made available in the coming weeks would be Czech-born Karel Vejmelka of the Arizona Coyotes. Karel, who is also 27 years old, is a big, bodied guy whose 6’4, 224-pound frame tends to take up a lot of the net. And, while his stats may not appear at first glance to be that impressive, you have to remember he has been stuck playing with a team in the Coyotes who have been in a rebuilding phase since they moved to the desert from Winnipeg back in 1996. Because of this, though, Vejmelka should be able to be had for a minuscule return. Karel is currently signed for this year and next at the rate of $2,725,000 and could prove to be a solid 1B option until the club’s already drafted goaltender prospects come to fruition.
The last and possibly the best trade option for the Flyers, in the long term, may be to obtain the 29-year-old Latvian-born guardian of the blue paint, Elvis Merzlikins, from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Since his first appearance in the NHL some five years ago, Elvis has been a solid option for the struggling Blue Jackets. That is until recently when he felt that his apparent starting job had been taken away from him undeservingly by the Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent in an effort to give newcomer Daniil Tarasov, who is 24 years old, more playing time to prove himself capable of being the starter of the future. This decision infuriated Merzlikins so much so that he asked the team for a trade because he only just started to not have to share his crease after his former goaltending partner Joonas Korpisalo was traded to the Los Angeles Kings last season. But it won’t be easy to obtain Elvis because he is in just the second season of a five-year $27 million deal that pays him $5.4 million a season. Now, you notice I said difficult but not impossible, and that’s because the Blue Jackets are well aware that in order to expedite getting this now frustrated goalie out of the teams’ locker-room, they know they may need to retain some of his salary.
And, if things weren’t already hard enough to attain Elvis, he has a 10-team no-trade clause that he has the right to invoke.
These are, of course all options to gain help A.S.A.P. ONCE/IF it is deemed that Carter Hart will no longer be returning to the Flyers and thus be forced to play for the Canadian Penal Hockey Leagues.
If the team is relucent to make a trade, what then may be in the best interest of the Flyers (especially if the team continues its recent descent in the standings over the next few weeks) is to wait it out until potential reinforcements come next season in the form of one of their already drafted goalie prospects.
One of those such players for the Flyers who could perhaps be deemed the most NHL-ready out of the bunch would be the already-signed goaltender Alexei Kolosov. Alexei, who was drafted by the Flyers back in the third round of the 2021 draft, is now 22 years old, and after being loaned to the KHL this season so he could play for the Dinamo Minsk, he has managed to play in 37 games so far, this year. In those games, Alexei has managed to average a very respectable 2.39 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.
As for the other prospects in the system that strap on the pads, neither Carson Bjarnason, who was drafted by the Flyers last summer in the second round, or Yegor Zavragin, who was taken in the third, will be ready to make that jump next season.
In the end, there is no good option for the harsh reality of what recently blindsided most fans. And I fear that regardless of the outcome of this case, Hart’s wholesome reputation will forever be tarnished in this city. Ultimately, leading to his eventual departure from Philadelphia, that is, if he ever returns. So, in an effort to make the best of a bad situation, I feel it is imperative that the Flyers try and acquire Samuel Ersson some help sooner rather than later before the pressures of being thrown into a starting role affect his development so much that he becomes the next goalie in a long line to play for the Flyers whose promising career was for not.
Was the Re-Signing of Center Ryan Poehling what the Flyers Really Needed?
Recently, the Philadelphia Flyers chose to sign their 25-year-old center Ryan Poehling to a two-year contract extension worth $3.8 million; this new deal will ensure he gets paid a $1.9 million salary for the next couple of seasons. This deal comes after the team was wise enough to bring in this then-free agent to assist them in trying to fortify their ailing penalty-killing unit. A feat that Ryan proved to be more than capable of doing, seeing that the Flyers currently rank second in the entire league in that particular category.
But was this re-signing really needed? Now, I recognize that under the direction of head coach John Tortorella, there is undoubtedly a set standard that all his centers are to be defensively responsible 200ft. players, but CAN WE GET ONE THAT CAN SCORE A GOAL?
If you take a closer look at the Flyers’ depth chart at the center position, they seem as though they were made from the same cookie cutter-like mold. Let me explain.
Sean Couturier, the team’s 2011 first-round pick that the Flyers chose to take 8th overall that year, has developed into what they think is a capable top-line center. So much so that the team decided to reward this now 12-year veteran with an eight-year 62 million dollar contract a season ago that is due to pay him $7,750,000 until the end of the 29-30 season. Now, I’m not doubting the fact that he is a good player; we all know he won the Selke Trophy back in the 19-20 season for being voted the league’s best defensive forward. He’s just not the stereotypical first-line scoring center most people think of and other teams’ employee. For instance, Sean, who is 31 years old, has played in 766 NHL games with the Flyers to date and has a career-high of 33 goals during that time. But if you take into account his entire body of work, he has only averaged 15 goals a season for his career, or to put it another way, Sean has managed to score only 0.24 goals per game (G.P.G.) That’s not exactly hitting the mark of some others that we will compare these guys to later in the article.
Morgan Frost, for whatever reason, has been viewed by the team as their second-line center for some time now. He is 24 years old and was initially drafted by the team back in 2017 in the first round with the 27th overall pick. He was seen as being a potential offensive juggernaut coming out of the Ontario Hockey League, where he had back-to-back 100+ point seasons while playing for the Soo Greyhounds, but has done very little offensively since turning pro some five seasons ago now. During that time, Morgan set a career-high in goals last season with 19 but has only managed to amass seven this season and just 33 for his career. That means, on average, Frost has only managed to post six goals a season, or 0.16 goals per game. Again, that’s well off the pace for a player taken in the first round.
Scott Laughton is another center that has been around Philly for a long time. Laughton, who is now 29 years old, was taken by the Flyers back in the 2012 draft in the first round, 20th overall. Scott has played 569 games in his eleven seasons with the Flyers and is the consummate professional. It doesn’t matter where he plays up or down the lineup; Scott doesn’t complain. He is a team player and, for that, is viewed as a leader for this franchise. He, too, is a defensive dynamo. He forechecks, he backchecks, he is a 200ft player who gives it his all every time he steps foot on the ice. Although, the only place he doesn’t really seem to help the team all that much is on the scoreboard. Through his 11 seasons, Scott has managed to set a career-high of 18 goals, which came last season playing under Tortorella’s tutelage. But on average he has only been able to amass seven goals a season, or if you want to look at it this way, 0.15 goals per game. If you’re starting to keep count now, that’s three centers drafted in the first round by the Flyers, who can’t manage to put the puck in the back of the net consistently.
Ryan Poehling, now that you see where I am going with this, let’s take a look at why I say Ryan might not have been exactly what the Flyers needed moving forward. Again, I am not trying to put Poehling down here. I liked the team’s decision to sign him this season, especially considering they had just traded away Kevin Hayes and had Coots just coming back from an extensive injury at the time. But Ryan is yet another center that the team now has on their roster for the next couple of years who was a first-round pick back in 2017 that can’t score. This season, Ryan has five goals in 45 games played. That’s good enough to see him average 0.11 goals per game. I would like to say this is below average for him, but it’s not. Throughout his five-year career in the NHL, Poehling has played in 183 games and has only managed to put up a career-high of nine goals. And if you do some quick math, that means that during his career, he has averaged just five goals a season and only 0.13 goals per game.
That’s now four former-round picks playing center for the Flyers right now, who have played a combined 1,716 games in the NHL and have only been able to compile 335 combined goals to date. So, when you factor Poehling’s new contract in, that means Philadelphia has chosen to pay $14.75 million next year to four men who lineup in the dot and collectively score at a rate of just 0.19 goals per game. And you wonder why this team is ranked among the worst in the league in both goals per game (2.86) and power play percentage (13.29).
Something has to change. This type of defensive center is great to have on the roster as long as they’re playing on the team’s third or fourth line, but it is not conducive to winning games if all four of your centers are like this. The team has to stop coveting this type of player and draft someone who plays down the middle that can score! Now, I know the Flyers thought they had done just that when they selected the injury-prone Nolan Patrick second overall back in 2017, but that mistake was made more than seven years ago. Since then, what have they done to try and rectify the problem? Please don’t say draft Cutter Gauthier because he was at the time and, in my mind, is still best projected to be a winger. The Flyers were trying to coerce him to be a center out of necessity, and we all saw how that worked out for them.
I’m sorry, but if you look around the league, practically every team has a dominant first-line center who is a primary contributor offensively. But to make this article not drag on, we will not be taking a look at Western Conference teams like the Edmonton Oilers, who aren’t even playing fair in this sense since they have Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who combined have scored 897 NHL goals thus far in their careers. Instead, we will just stay focused on teams in the Eastern Conference.
Boston – is trying to find who will be their next first line center, seeing that long-time Bruins Center Patrice Bergeron just retired. But at this time they seem to be managing just fine with veteran Charlie Coyle filling in until they can draft Bergeron’s replacement.
Buffalo- has 26-year-old Tage Thompson, who was taken 26th overall back in 2016. He scored at a rate of 0.60 goals per game last year, totaling 47 lamplighters in 78 games played, as well as 22-year-old Dylan Cozens, who scored at a rate of 0.38 G.P.G. last year, totaling 31 goals in 81 games played.
Carolina – has Sebastian Aho, who is 26 years old and wasn’t taken until the second round of the 2015 draft. For his career, he has 235 goals and has scored at a rate of 0.41 G.P.G
Columbus- has youth on their side, with players such as 20-year-old Cole Sillinger already manning the faceoff circle on the team’s top line and would probably benefit more from letting both Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson revert back to center instead of making them play wing.
Detroit- has Dylan Larkin, who has 22 goals at the midpoint of the season and is scoring at a rate of 0.51 goals per game right now.
Florida- has Alexsander Barkov, who has managed to average well over 20 goals a season during his 11 years playing thus far.
Montreal- Is another team that is in the middle of a rebuild but has youth on their side, with players like Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, and Alex Newhook continuing to develop.
New Jersey- who was smart enough to pass on Nolan Patrick, now has a young duo of Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes to continue to build upon. Hughes of course surprised many last season by scoring 43.
The Islanders- traded for Bo Horvat, who has 20 goals already this year.
The Rangers- have Mika Zibanejad, who, against the Flyers alone, has 18 goals in just 42 games played versus the orange and black.
Ottawa- has the 22-year-old German-born center Tim Stutzle, who looks promising, seeing that last year he was able to light the lamp 39 times.
Pittsburgh- as we all know, our cross-state rival has had much success from having had the duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (who both have combined for 652 regular season goals) having played for them for almost two decades now. But they also added insult to injury when they brought in former Flyers Jeff Carter a few years back, who, although now showing some signs of slowing down, still brings with him the experience of scoring 436 NHL goals.
Tampa Bay- for years, had Steven Stamkos leading the way down the middle but now he has since moved over to the wing. But Stamkos who managed to help bring multiple Cups to the Gulf region by scoring a career 536 goals in 1,050 games played, has averaged over half a goal a game for his career. And he has turned his former role over to Brayden Point, who managed to put up 51 goals last year while centering the Lightnings top line.
Toronto- well, this one is easy, Auston Matthews. What can I say about this player that his highlight reels don’t already? He is currently scoring at an unreal rate of 0.86 points per game right now with him already netting 40 goals in only 46 games played this year. Since he came into the league some eight years ago, he has managed to average 42 goals a year. He is only 26 years old, but if he keeps up at this pace, he could find himself in talks with the likes of Gretzky, Ovechkin, Howe, Jagr, and Hull real soon. If that wasn’t enough, the Maple Leafs also have John Tavares manning the dots for them. And he isn’t anything to sneeze at either since he has managed to post 440 goals through 1076 career games thus far.
Washington- is making the most out of other teams’ discarded players like Dylan Strome, who is a former top-three pick who went from one bad team to another when the Arizona Coyotes drafted him and then traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks. But Strome has since found a home in our nation’s capital. Now, in his second year with the Caps, Dylan finds himself playing on a line with Alexander Ovechkin and has managed to score 19 goals of his own so far this season.
So, you can see, although it is nice having so many centers that can be defensively responsible like the recently re-signed Ryan Poehling, it would behoove this team (that we all love) to seek out someone with a little more offensive capabilities. Although they may already have some impressive centers like Massimo Rizzo and Denver Barkey in their system, they, too, are cut from the same pass-first, defensively responsible mold. And until the Flyers find themselves a legitimate 1st line center who can score 30-40 goals a year like they had in Bob Clarke, Eric Lindros, Jeff Carter, and Jeremy Roenick, they will continue to fall short of expectations.