Blackhawks Post-Thanksgiving Prospect Updates
In the wake of the Nick Schmaltz trade, many Blackhawks fans are already turning their attention to the next wave of prospects. Who will make an impact in the future? Is help on the way at any point?
The biggest name climbing the Hawks’ prospect board is Evan Barratt at Penn State. A 3rd round pick (#90 overall) in 2017, Barratt enters Monday night leading the nation in scoring with 21 points in 13 games. Fredrik Olofsson is tied for 19th in the nation, also averaging more than one point per game at Omaha.
College
Evan Barratt, F, Penn State
13 games, 10 goals, 11 assists, 21 points
Ian Mitchell, D, Denver
12 games, 2 goals, 9 assists, 11 points
Jake Wise, C, Boston University
10 Games, 0 goals, 2 assists
Fredrik Olofsson, F, Omaha
12 games, 6 goals, 9 assists, 15 points
Chad Krys, D, Boston University
8 games, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points
Joshua Ess, D, Wisconsin
14 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points
Parker Foo, F, Union College
10 games, 2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points
CHL
Adam Boqvist, D, London (OHL)
19 games, 6 goals, 13 assists, 19 points
Nicolas Beaudin, D, Drummondville (QMJHL)
16 games, 3 goals, 15 assists, 18 points
Brandon Hagel, F, Red Deer (WHL)
22 games, 15 goals, 24 assists, 39 points
MacKenzie Entwistle, F, Hamilton (OHL)
23 games, 11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points
Jake Ryczek, D, Halifax (QMJHL)
24 games, 2 goals, 9 assists, 11 points
International
Maxim Shalunov, F, CSKA Moskva (KHL)
27 games, 8 goals, 3 assists, 11 points
Andrei Altybarmakyan, F, HK Sochi (KHL)
13 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, 1 point
Artur Kayumov, F, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)
30 games, 3 goals, 6 assists, 9 points
Tim Söderlund, F, Frölunda (SHL)
20 games, 3 goals, 1 assist, 4 points
Niklas Nordgren, F, HIFK (Liiga)
12 games, 4 goals, 3 assists, 7 points
Mathias From, F, AIK (Allsvenskan)
17 games, 4 goals, 2 assists, 6 points
Jakub Galvas, D, HC Olomouc (Czech)
21 games, 1 goal, 6 assists, 7 points
Boy, Jake Wise shooting blanks at BU. Lots of folks thought he was one of the draft-day steals. Hope he can turn it around. Is this Hagel kid for real?
Hagel is for real. In fact, when my wife gave birth, the doctor told her to do lots of Hagel’s. So, it’s for real.
Is Kurashev missing from the CHL prospects
Yea Kurashev is the one who’s got my attention too.
There’s quite a few players (prospects) missing from the updates.
College wise- Jack Ramsay, Beau Starrett, Liam Coughlin, Ryan Shea and Jake Massie
Chl- Phillip Kurasev, Alexis Gravel
Khl- Nalimov (signed a tryout deal today with bob hartley’s team)
USHL- Wouter Peters, Mikael Hakkarainan, Josiah Slavin
Shl- John Dahlstrom
Liga- Roope Laavainen
Philipp Kurashev has been scoring a lot lately – in 27 games he has 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points, good for 7th in QMJHL scoring.
Love the way our salesman GM Bowman raves of his young forward prospects coming up. Wise no goals? Parker Foo 2 goals? Tim Soderlund 3 goals in 20 games? From 4 goals in 17 games? Kayumov 3 goals in 30 games? Oh yes, Hagel and Entwistle two players doing ok that he did not draft anyway.
My favourite pick is the Belguim soccer goalie Wouter Peters? A classic!!!
I am excited to see these young men start to put it together and in the near distant future cut their teeth with the boys on Madhouse.
There seemingly is no plan the Hawks have in terms of building their roster. They see the need for speed, draft fast guys like Schmaltz, then trade him for a slow guy like Strome. They have a ton of small little shifty guys, draft mobile dmen, now try to trade for some size. All the while there is really zero depth on this team, the 3rd and 4th lines are all guys that you could argue shouldn’t even be in the NHL at this point, along with half of the defensive roster.
The repeated failure to bring in or develop any quality depth is going to make guys like Kane reach a point some day of saying I’ve had enough. And if Kane reaches that point…..well, you think they suck some days now, I saw the team before they drafted Kane and Toews and also in the dark era of the 90’s after they got rid of anyone who was good, and I’m telling you it wasn’t pretty. And that’s what you can expect again if these 3 time Cup Champion guys get exasperated by the revolving door of mediocrity around them.
I don’t think we can build around the core and expect to win a championship anymore. They aren’t good enough as players anymore. They can still be a huge part of a winning team, but we need some players that can carry some weight against tough competition and make some plays to win big games. You still see that in Kane and Crow, and maybe every once in a while Toews and Seabrook and Keith. But those guys are past the point of just filling in around them. We need to give them some guys that will help move the needle a bit, like Dcat. Like Panarin was. Like Schmaltz might become some day.
Our top 4 defensive prospects carry a lot of hope and promise. But this management staff has already failed Kane and Crow and the boys as far as building up legit forward depth to make this team competitive. Any forward prospects that might make a difference some day are too far away from the NHL to really help these guys any time soon. That’s if we even have anyone fitting that bill.
Tab
How can you forget the Best looking Prospect- from camp this summer…
Kurashev! Kid can fly- and good mitts/IQ
Sure Thing
Another kid- who Jumped out at me in Camp- Hakkarainen- Yes- he is a long shot
and Over ager- who left College after one game… so there’s the negative…
but- kid is a + skater… and shows some great vision… Yes- it’s ONLY USHL…
but looks better than most guys in Rockford now (which isn’t saying much)
LONGSHOT
Good post Mike. We won three cups, so a fall off is expected. The problem, as you point out, is the direction we’ve taken. The team is soft, the bottom 6 is a mess, and the pipeline is heavy on small PMDs and very, very light on everything else. Either you believe in Stan or you don’t. I had hoped he would have been gone before last year’s draft. Instead another year is lost and now a good young coaching prospect has been thrown into the deep water in order to save Stan’s job. I guess the good news is every day is a day closer to the end of Stan’s rule, but as always that’s on Rocky.
Hakkarainen is playing well. I am a STH in Muskegon and he’s a decent prospect but was out again with another concussion this year. He has had several of those now unfortunatley.
Hagel was originally a 6th round pick of Buffalo that signed a contract with the Hawks in October. He is 20 years old and playing really well in the WHL which is not a great indicator of future success at the NHL level from what I’ve seen. Also, I may be mistaken in this but isn’t the WHL the weakest of the CHL junior leagues. I’m not certain.
Duncan not traditionally, the Quebec league but that has changed lately-good balance between the three. See below
The Western Hockey League has won the title 19 times since the adoption of the three league tournament format in 1972. The Ontario Hockey League has 17 titles, and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has 11.
What if the Hawks approached Kane to waive his no trade clause, I assume he has one, since everybody else does. and go home to Buffalo to help his home town team win a cup . I wonder if he would consider the scenario if the Sabres had the wherewithall to proceed
The Blackhawks shouldn’t move 19 or 88.
I agree 100%. Moving either would usher in a new dark ages in Blackhawk hockey of the likes we have not seen since the mid 2000’s.
Tab, I think you had that same no trade opinion a few years ago concerning Seabrook.
As I have said a few times on this site, I would rather watch Toews and Kane have fun on a competitive team than sink in despair on a bottom 10 team.
Of course ownership needs seats filled so trading Toews or Kane is not going to happen. Poor very rich guys.
I will say that it sure was great watching them have fun at the start of the season. Too bad it only comes in spurts.
Thanks for the clarification Noonan. The reason I assumed that about the WHL is that I’ve noticed a pattern of more top 20 busts coming out of the WHL than the OHL or QMJHL but that opinion was compiled at a glance and is anything but scientific. It just seems like more NHL ready players enter the league from the OHL but maybe I’m missing something.
BLS2
true dat! Seabrook deal- straw that broke the camel’s back
Just a Bad deal
Losing Hoss… didn’t help either- Teamwise
Glad you’re not the GM BLS2. 19 & 88 will have their chances for more post season glory. Patience is needed. The blue line is the biggest issue at this point. It will look significantly better/different a year from today. A year after that and it will be scary good. Boqvist, Beaudin, Mitchell and Jokiharju will all be a force.
I personally loved the move to ship out Schmaltz. I think Strome will develop. I’m not that concerned with his skating. Same concerns were around Tavares too. He’s done alright. In Chicago, Strome doesn’t need to be a star right away. He can develop. Perlini is also a nice piece that I think will turn into a forward with a presence this team has lacked for a while.
Knee jerk reactions to trade 19 & 88 are shortsighted and emotional. They will both win another cup together, in Chicago.
I guess all the coaches in Chicago have the same disease, everyone plays their opposite wing. JC just has lost as Q was getting. Saad doing well as a left winger suddenly tonight a right winger.
Wow 3 year contract for JC meaning BOWMAN stays on for 3 years. Kane will ask to be traded to Buffalo very, very soon. JC was coaching 2nd Div. hockey in Sweden?
Feel for the vets who did everything for this team but Bowman did nothing to keep a roster competitive. Slow skating AA needed to be traded not Schmaltz. Any GM that only does business with a losing teams like Arizona and Carolina needs to be questioned.
Strome can really fly! Joke!
Oh wait, Connor Murphy will bring some speed on the backend along with Manning should make an awesome pairing Bowman.
SB is a genius
Now Hawks almost guaranteed top 3 pick 2019
Playoff team… lol
Vegas too fast up front.
Wow, and Kane playing left wing, JC is making an enemy out of number 88 quickly. Bad news!
Headlines:
All-Star? Reaves dominates Hawks
Vegas No Stars embarrass future Hall of Famers
Hawk players wave white flags, paying customers Out of Luck!
and now on to Winnipeg-Gulp
Hull conveniently leaves out the highest scoring forward in college hockey.
Wal, that’s the thing. Did Bowman and crew plan this.
Signing those ‘kind’ of guys (and not using the entire cap space) last summer and this summer, so we would not have 6 NHL defensemen and have the quality of Knutz and martinensnen in the lineup in order to tank. No one throws games so what’s the best ay when your reloading. Have those kinds of players in there while young guys develope/or get established based on where their at.
Genius.