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Who We Be, Winnipeg HC? — Non-ELC Prospects

Tidying up a category not quite addressed yet in our previous Who We Be's (CentresCentres IILeft WingsRight WingsGoaltenders), we have the category of prospects drafted but not signed to entry-level contracts (ELCs).  I'll keep it brief here as there's a nice little crop of 'em.

 

It's important to note that since none of these guys have ELCs, they shouldn't be expected to impact the big club this year, and in many cases not in any of the coming years.  To make sure we're not looking at a bunch of 29-year olds, I cut the list down to 24 or younger, and provided you with the last three years' data.

Centres

Player Pos Age Ht Wt Season Lg(s) Tm GP G A Pts PIM
John Albert C 22 180cm (5’11”) 82kg (180lbs) 08-09 NCAA Ohio St. 42 11 28 39 20





09-10 NCAA Ohio St. 39 6 24 30 20





10-11 NCAA Ohio St. 37 12 22 34 18
Tanner Lane C 19 188cm (6’2″) 78kg (172lbs) 08-09 HS-MN Detroit Lakes 25 49 41 90 62





09-10 HS-UMEL Great Plains 21 8 7 15





10-11 USHL Fargo 57 4 9 13 48
Daultan Leveille C 21 180cm (5’11”) 73kg (160lbs) 08-09 NCAA Michigan St. 38 9 8 17 12





09-10 NCAA Michigan St. 38 6 19 25 16





10-11 NCAA Michigan St. 34 8 10 18 18
Jesse Martin C 23 183cm (6’0″) 77kg (170lbs) 08-09 NCAA Denver 37 10 13 23 34





09-10 NCAA Denver 34 14 8 22 26





10-11 NCAA Denver 8 1 3 4 6
Ivan Telegin C 19 191cm (6’3″) 84kg (185lbs) 08-09 WHC-U17 Russia 5 2 2 4 4





09-10 OHL Saginaw 51 26 18 44 20





10-11 OHL Saginaw 59 20 41 61 35

Ivan Telegin and John Albert jump out at me the most, Albert less so.  Albert will have a chance to prove himself at the AHL level; the word on him is that he plays good, two-way hockey, but won't be too impressive offensively.  Never hurts to have a guy like that on the 4th line, assuming he plays well in the minors and continues to keep those PIM numbers down.  Telegin, a former Atlanta 4th rounder, is big and uses it in front of the net.  You have to like a guy who can utilize the big without taking a ton of penalties.  Though not a flashy player or "hot" prospect, if he continues to put up numbers like those in the AHL, we could see him in the NHL in a couple of years.

Wings

Player Pos Age Ht Wt Season Lg(s) Tm GP G A Pts PIM
Jordan LW 21 188cm (6’2″) 86kg (190lbs) 08-09 USHL Waterloo 59 32 22 54 59
Samuels-Thomas



09-10 NCAA Bowling Grn 35 11 14 25 30





10-11 NCAA Bowling Grn 36 9 12 21 46
Yasin Cisse RW 19 191cm (6’3″) 95kg (210lbs) 08-09 USHL Des Moines 31 2 6 8 46





09-10 USHL Des Moines 18 13 6 19 16





10-11 NCAA Boston U. 1 0 0 0 0
Vinny Saponari RW 21 185cm (6’1″) 88kg (195lbs) 08-09 NCAA Boston U. 44 8 9 17 39





09-10 NCAA Boston U. 38 12 18 30 32





10-11 USHL Dubuque 56 18 46 64 35

Quite a bit of the nothing-to-see here variety; Cisse has had a couple of serious injuries that have derailed his career to this point.  He plays tough hockey, but his body hasn't taken it well.  Might end up having a sort of Angelo-Esposito-like career curve.  Saponari decided to affirm that he wasn't mature last year; he left BU after refusing to attend his punishment for getting caught with too few years and too much dancing juice.  His ensuing transfer to Boston College required him to sit out a year, which he spent looking really good against skinny teenagers in the USHL.  Okay, maybe they aren't all skinny teenagers.  Does that count as promising?

Defencemen

Player Pos Age Ht Wt Season Lg(s) Tm GP G A Pts PIM
Kendall McFaull D 19 191cm (6’3″) 86kg (190lbs) 08-09 Midget Saskatoon 60 7 23 30 115





09-10 WHL Moose Jaw 62 4 6 10 70





10-11 WHL Moose Jaw 69 1 6 7 78
Julian Melchiori D 19 191cm (6’3″) 91kg (200lbs) 08-09 Cdn Jr A Newmarket 48 2 20 22 34





09-10 Cdn Jr A Newmarket 39 7 16 23 16





10-11 OHL Kitchener 63 1 18 19 55
Will O’Neill D 23 185cm (6’1″) 93kg (205lbs) 08-09 NCAA Maine 34 4 12 16 82





09-10 NCAA Maine 39 8 23 31 69





10-11 NCAA Maine 28 4 17 21 44
Sebastian Owuya D 20 193cm (6’4″) 89kg (196lbs) 08-09 Swe-U18 Timra 31 0 9 9 54





08-09 Swe-Jr Timra 4 0 1 1 4





09-10 Swe-Jr Timra 42 4 15 19 120





09-10 SEL Timra 11 0 0 0 0





10-11 WHL Med. Hat 66 0 10 10 69
Peter Stoykewych D 19 191cm (6’3″) 88kg (195lbs) 08-09 Cdn Jr A Winnipeg 53 4 12 16 33





09-10 Cdn Jr A Winnipeg 56 6 25 31 63





10-11 USHL Des Moines 58 5 10 15 77

Stoykewych is one of the few interesting ones of the bunch, but I use the term generously.  He's a local boy who held his own in his first year in the USHL, and has only a slim possibility of being a third-pairing, defensive defenceman.  O'Neill looks good on the surface, but there's not much upside there.  I've heard whispers that Melchiori could develop into a two-way NHLer, but we'll need to see him take a step forward as he moves from the OHL to the NCAA Hockey East's UMass-Lowell.

Goaltenders

Player Pos Age Ht Wt Season Lg(s) Tm GP W L T SV%
Alex Kangas G 24 185cm (6’1″) 79kg (175lbs) 08-09 NCAA Minnesota 36 17 11 6 0.901





09-10 NCAA Minnesota 33 16 15 1 0.911





10-11 NCAA Minnesota 9 2 5 0 0.894
Fredrik G 20 185cm (6’1″) 77kg(169lbs) 08-09 Swe-U18 Almtuna 25 0.923
Pettersson-Wentzel



09-10 Swe-Jr Almtuna 37 0.924





10-11 Swe-Jr Almtuna 16 0.895





10-11 SEL Timra 14 0.894

Pettersson-Wentzel is a long-term project, at best. If he makes it, it’ll be three or more years into the future. Kangas, one of the better goaltenders in Minnesota collegiate history (don’t worry, Robb Stauber, you’re still #1), suffered the dreaded torn labrum in his hip last year (you know, the injury that has endangered the careers of Rick DiPietro, Ray Emery, and countless other goalies). If he can recover, he could be a solid backup at the NHL level, which is more than what Stauber could say. But it should be considered a long shot.

Summary

So how does this change the outlook presented by our Who We Be's?  Well, there's a little bit of promise at centre, but not much else.  It'd be safe to assume we still need to retain our previous conception of draft priorities, with centre being at the top, right wing in second, and defence in third.

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