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Top-10 Prospects: Tampa Bay Lightning (6-10)

August 27, 2014, 5:06 PM ET [7 Comments]
Adam French
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I’m going to take some advice from my long time HB rival and frienemy and be putting these out 10-6 then 5-1 for the bigger teams, and just a solid dump of 1-10 for some of the smaller viewership. Mainly because I’m a wiener like that. With that in mind let’s look at the leftovers of Tampa with their 6-10. 1-5 being:

Drouin
Vasilevski
Namestnikov
Erne
Koekkoek

For the purposes of this list, prospects are not counted if they have played over 40 games in the NHL, regardless of whether they established themselves or not.


6. Anthony De Angelo : Defenseman, 5’10 174lbs, 19th Overall, 2014, 18 Years Old, Sarnia Sting in the OHL


51 games 15 goals 56 assists 71 points


The Lightning swung for the fences with one of the more volatile players in the 2014 draft. Many speculated his lack of defensive awareness, often reckless behaviour and size issues might see the talented American fall into the early second rounder...instead Tampa made him their first. The other reason why some speculated he might drop had little to do with hockey and was fairly controversial after the Sting suspended him for violating the OHL’s harassment, abuse and diversity policy. That and a five game suspension saw him miss a lot of ice-time. Regardless of all that, the positives with his game are plain to see. He is an offensively brilliant defender who has been one of the top scoring defensemen for two of his three OHL seasons (third and first). Excellent skating, fine creativity, the ability to take risks and capitalize on them and pure PP potency really show his strengths and what he was drafted for. Much like Ryan Murphy and Ryan Ellis before him, he’s a controversial early pick due to his outrageous skill level, but small size. De Angelo mixes that size problem with his physical game style that often sees him out muscled, but willing to retaliate (see the Ivan Hlinka tourney from 2012, oh boy). When allowed to make mistakes he can dazzle and the terrible Sting allowed him and Goldobin (Sharks) to make as many as they needed to entertain their fans as they were a two man team. At the next level it is always hard to peg what undersized defenders will amount to, it’s always a crap shoot, just look at one of the most highly decorated junior defenders in OHL history in Ryan Ellis who is still struggling to carve out his niche in Nashville for an example of when sometimes “size matters.” De Angelo will have a few years to work out all the bugs and get as big as necessary for the NHL grind. Next season will be his final year with the Sting where one could reasonably expect him to again lead the OHL in points (maybe goals this time with Ekblad gone) by defenders. I think it’s also a cool tidbit to point out that De Angelo is the youngest player in USHL history, playing in the USA’s top ranked junior league at an astonishing 14 years of age.


Potential : Top-Four Offensive PP Defenseman


7. Nikita Nesterov : Defenseman, 6’0 187lbs, 148th Overall, 2011, 21 Years Old, Syracuse Crunch in the AHL


54 games 4 goals 12 assists 16 points


The mainstay for the Russian junior squads defense, Nesterov made the move to the AHL after a full year as a KHL regular (3rd pairing) in another move of Yzerman getting Russian and European players to commit to North America earlier than expected (the next guy on this list is heavily rumoured to be doing the same). Presumably he shows them pictures of beaches in Florida or something. Nesterov had a hit or miss year depending on expectations, he has always been a more effective defensive defender with a hard shot than an offensive guy, though in junior he was often forced to rush the puck for the simple lack of anybody else to do so. Known for solid reliability, decent skating and some physical play that sometimes leads to his often feared knee-on-knee tactic, Nesterov found himself third in scoring for Crunch defenders with a modest -2. An overall strong showing for a young rookie in a new environment. I read he had some early struggles, not dissimilar to his early struggles in the KHL last season, but evened out his play. While I used to really think he was destined to be a top-four guy back in his draft season, that solidified with his continued success in the MHL and junior circuit, I’m probably more inclined to think his “jack of all trades, master of none” kind of game might just lead him to be more of a bottom-pairing guy who can move up at times. Next season he will undoubtedly start with the Crunch and looking at their projected roster, should see some fairly heavy minutes.


Potential : 4-6 Two-Way Defenseman


8. Dominik Masin : Defenseman, 6’2 189lbs, 35th Overall, 2014, 18 Years Old, HC Slavia Praha U20 in the Czech U20 League


39 games 2 goals 19 assists 21 points


At first glance, I see that they really want to recreate the pleasant surprise that is Radko Gudas. Masin is one of the most penalized prospects to come out of the Czech league (led the league with 102PIM) since...Gudas, and has found his niche primarily as a physical, no-nonsense shutdown defender. This was highlighted with a star performance for the Silver Medal Czech team at the U18’s where he was playing about 30 minutes a night for them while also being their captain. I haven’t seen a whiff of Masin’s game outside of the U18’s and the Ivan Hlinka so I’m not really sure how good he was domestically, especially as defensive defensemen are harder to track stats for...unless some Czech math whiz has some graphs for me from their U20 league? No? Rats. I like that he looks like he can skate fairly well, I like that he had good gap control against some seriously talented opposition and I loved that he punished players that managed to get behind him. One criticism I have is that he doesn’t seem to have a good shot, or the inclination to use it often. His play away from the puck looked vastly superior to when he had it, sometimes handling it sloppily. At the moment he’s a work in progress like many second rounders, most of the prospect world will get a better sense of who and what he is next season should he decide to fulfill the rumour mill of joining the Peterborough Petes of the OHL who took him 25th in the CHL Import Draft.


Potential : Second Pairing Shutdown Defenseman


9. Kirsters Gudlevskis : Goaltender, 6’4 190lbs, 124th Overall, 2013, 22 Years Old, Syracuse Crunch in the AHL


34 games 2.68GAA .901sv%


Known mostly for that ridiculous performance against Canada at the Olympics, the Latvian goalie isn’t really as obscure as many probably thought at the time. Drafted as one of the oldest eligible players in the 2013 draft, Gudlevskis had been one of the top goalies in the MHL for 3 years yet never managed to find his name called on draft day. I would speculate he was drafted in 2013 because a team likely wished to sign him after his breakout performance at the World Championships and miss on perhaps the next “Sergei Bobrovsky,” who had just won the Vezina. Again Tampa managed to bring him over quickly to North America where he played his first season in the AHL, a solid year considering that the Crunch defense is on the low end. Goalies are weird and often hard to predict, but he has the size and athleticism that you need to be a goalie in today’s NHL. With Vasilevski coming over to the AHL, it will be interesting to see how they split their starts. Could be an interesting story to follow next season, especially since he might very well be the back up to Bishop next season if he can out play the aging Nabokov.


Potential : Split Starter? (Goalies...man)


10. Brayden Point : Centre/Right Wing, 5’9 161lbs, 79th Overall, 2014, 18 Years Old, Moosejaw Warriors in the WHL


72 games 36 goals 55 assists 91 points


Despite being the third highest draft eligible scorer from the WHL (Higher than Scherbak at 26, Virtanen at 6, Bleackley at 23), size was always going to hurt Point when it came to draft day, that and an injury sustained at the U18 tournament. He was performing admirably in said tourney as well, playing a strong role as a bottom-size energy player and penalty killer. Tenacious on the forecheck and a hard worker that tries to play above his size, Point has an interesting mix of grit and skill. A lot of these scrappy small players that have entered the league really need it to define them, such is likely with Point. Guys like Gallagher (Montreal), Marchand (Bruins), Shaw (Chicago) and Johnson (Lightning) all have some of that and helps round out their usefulness. I really liked this pick at the time and during my draft series I was really pushing him for a potential steal. I think he could open some people’s eyes. Next season he will play again in the WHL.


Potential :Second/Third Line All Purpose Forward


Honourable Mentions : Henri Ikonen and Dylan Blujus


Thanks for reading.
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