SBNation.com User Blog: North Dakota Red Eagle

Top NHL prospects Incoming 2012-13

North Dakota Red Eagle — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:52:28 -0000

Top NHL prospects Incoming 2012-13

Bleacher Report has a pretty good slideshow of each NHL team's top prospect. Four of the most promising (from Bleacher Report and other sources) appear to be Yakupov (EDM), Granlund (MIN), Tarasenko (STL), and Huberdeau (FLA).

But, judging by this list and other information (Hockey's Future has its own list, Hockey Prospectus, etc) there appear to be quite a few promising rookies for 2012-13, such as: Hamilton (BOS), Bartschi (CGY), R Murphy (CAR), Saad (CHI), R Murray (CLB), B Smith (DET), Toffoli (LAK), R Ellis (NSH), Strome (NYI), Kreider (NYR), Gormley (PHO), F Hamilton (SJS), Colborne (TOR), Scheifele (WPG).

Of course some of these players (such as Strome, F Hamilton, Colborne) may not stick with the NHL team this season. And some others (Schwartz STL; Kabanov NYI) are perhaps not their team's top prospect, but they have a chance of being impact players this season.

For discussion:

1) Are Yakupov, Granlund, Tarasenko, and Huberdeau ahead of the pack, as far as having an impact next season in the NHL? Who will have the best season?

2) Who else will have an impact? (This is a little different than "who will win the Calder", because, for instance, a good two-way defenseman like Gormley most likely won't be nominated for Calder, but he may have an impact.)

3) Are there any rookie goalies worth keeping an eye on? Or will they have to wait their turn as Bernier, Rask, and Schneider have?

4) Who is the best goal-scorer? Set-up man? Offensive defenseman? All-around defenseman? (Amongst rookies)

Wishlist for NHL draft tomorrow

North Dakota Red Eagle — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 01:29:45 -0000

Who do you want Islanders to select tomorrow with their 1st round pick? What is your top-5, or your top-10?

(This differs from JP's recent post, predicting who each team will select tomorrow.)

Feel free to highlight players you think Isles should target, if you think they should trade down.

Here is my top-5, for example:

1. Yakupov

2. Galchenyuk

3. Murray

4. Grigorenko

5. Forsberg

(I needed five more words.)

Who do you want Islanders to select tomorrow with their 1st round pick? What is your top-5, or your top-10?

(This differs from JP's recent post, predicting who each team will select tomorrow.)

Feel free to highlight players you think Isles should target, if you think they should trade down.

Here is my top-5, for example:

1. Yakupov

2. Galchenyuk

3. Murray

4. Grigorenko

5. Forsberg

(I needed five more words.)

Thanksgiving Prayers for Islanders This is simply a place where we can share our Thanksgiving...

North Dakota Red Eagle — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:31:40 -0000

Thanksgiving Prayers for Islanders

This is simply a place where we can share our Thanksgiving prayers for our beloved team. What do we have to be thankful for? What prayer requests do we have for the remainder of the season? (Let's please refrain from praying for anything too awful to happen to any of the struggling Islanders.)

Notes from Oct. 28 Sound Tigers-Sharks Game

North Dakota Red Eagle — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:00:47 -0000

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers lost 3-2 in the last minute of OT last night, but they looked just as dangerous in OT as the baby Sharks.

Sharks were awful in the 1st period, allowing 3 or 4 breakaways and giving the puck up in their defensive zone multiple times. (Also have to give Tigers some credit for creating those chances.) Play evened out over the rest of the game, but the Tigers were definitely better at advancing the puck from their own zone.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers lost 3-2 in the last minute of OT last night, but they looked just as dangerous in OT as the baby Sharks.

Mikko Koskinen didn't look especially good, but he got the 3rd star, so he wasn't bad either. The other Sharkling goalie was very good. Made 3 or 4 big saves.

The best pairing for Tigers was Ty Wishart and Calvin de Haan last night. They looked very comfortable playing beside each other. They weren't pressured all that much, but perhaps a lot of that was due to their confident play early. Wishart scored on a nice wrist shot on a long rebound. Both looked very good.

Aaron Ness and Matt Donovan were paired together and they looked good too. Moreso Donovan, but Ness looked better as the game went on, so perhaps he had more left in the tank than many other players. Definitely not as solid as the 1st pairing, but still good.

(Wishart/deHaan played a very controlled and deliberate style while Donovan/Ness was more run-and-gun, as you might suspect.)

Dylan Reese was paired with Olesky. Reese made multiple mistakes and Olesky covered well for him. Towards the end of the game, I don't think Olesky was playing, so perhaps he was injured or maybe Tigers just went with 5 D-men.

No forwards stood out all that much. Captain Colliton had a solid game. Micheal Haley was okay. Tony Romano scored off of a PP rush (2-on-1?) with a hard wrist shot just under the cross bar. Dibo was good: drew a penalty after the whistle and later took a big hit that enabled a Tiger 2-on-1 and nearly a goal.

Haley and Casey Cizikas okay; David Ullstrom good, but not great. Trevor Frischmon speedy and good. Tim Wallace may have been the best forward tonight. Made some very nice plays. Does little things well.

The PK was good overall. The PP went like this: pass the puck around the perimeter until someone has a lane, then fake a shot, and repeat. And entries were awful.

Random notes: Wishart and Haley were the only players to warm up without helmets. Special offer over the loudspeaker at the start of the 3rd period: buy a beverage and get a free donut. Sharks had 2 or 3 very big defensemen. Their tallest is 6'7" Doherty. Overall Sharks were quite a bit bigger (older?) than Tigers.