Not to be a buzzkill, but . . .
What a player does in a prospect tourney, quite frankly, indicates only how well he plays against the better prospects of other teams—i.e., 18-21 year old kids—most of whom will never play in the NHL.
Year after year—and I apologize for the rant—not just fans, but the media, get way out over their skis over this player or that racking up points or making nice plays against teams comprised of good junior players.
Not NHL players. Not even AHL players.
The latest recipient of Prospect Tourney Gretzky Of The Year appears to be Hawk defense prospect Gustav Forsling, who is apparently being anointed ready for the NHL today—based entirely on how he plays against the aforementioned level of competition.
To put it into perspective, the level of play in these tourneys is just slightly better than it is in Hawk prospect camp games—where all kinds of would-be heroes have emerged over the years: Alex Kojevnikov, Ryan Garlock, Igor Makarov, Aki Aliu to name a few.
In 2011, Brandon Saad, presently a very good NHL player and Philip Danault, another NHL player today, took star turns in that year's prospects tourney in London, ON. But it was another full year plus (with a half-season in the AHL) before Saad found his legs in the NHL. And another 4 years for Danault.
Prospects Tourneys do help begin to separate the wheat from the chaff a bit as far as how your team's prospects stack up against those of other clubs—for a week or so in September one year. It's a snapshot.
You have to keep it in perspective.
As for Forsling, he, along with Nick Schmaltz and Alexandre Fortin and a couple of others have shown well thus far in this year's Traverse City Tourney—as have the Hawks prospects as a whole. That's great news.
But let's bear in mind, as a writer who said Forsling was "NHL ready" also pointed out, he has been playing recently against professionals in Sweden.
A better test of his readiness will come in Hawk training camp and preseason games against mostly pro caliber competition. Hold on to your horses. Wait and see.
Hope everyone's enjoying the early start to competitive hockey this year with the World Cup (especially).
I'll have more this week.
JJ