Having noticed Erie and Dayton doing a prospects report, the Ronin decided it was high time to join in the marketing campaign. The hope is that at least a few of these kids turn into NHL players.
Kevin Stenlund who from recent accounts looks to have found his game. Good size skill and he skate well too, however, he could be facing some stiff competition from the Blue Jackets who have more than a few very good prospects in the pipeline ahead of him. As a center, Stenlund could perhaps find some NHL ice time with another club at some point down the road, but Victoria is very happy with his development at this point.
Jordan Schmaltz was a first-round pick for the Saint Louis Blues. He is a mostly offensive-minded blueliner which is the main reason he hasn't really found steady ice time with the club at the NHL level. The jury is still out on him as the Blues had an opening on the roster yet went with Vince Dunn/Robert Bortuzzo/Nate Prosser although in this reviewers eye none of those players has Jordan's upside. He finds himself in the AHL without the NHL parent team having an affiliate.
Julius Bergman was a 2nd round pick for the Sharks and has been playing in the AHL for a few seasons now. He has NHL size and speed but is in a position battle for ice time with a team that often trades for defensive position players or signs them as free agents rather than developing younger players. With Paul Martin, Brent Burns and Brenden Dillon all acquired from outside the franchise the odds are against Julius making the team at least this year. He was in a battle with Dylan Demelo, another Ronin prospect for ice time and was sent to the Barracudas.
The 3 goalies in the system is perhaps where the star shines brightest.
Tristan Jarry, Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin are all top candidates to make the NHL. The two Russian kids are starring in the KHL and are under contract for at least a season or two. Yet both NY city teams could use a talented youngster in nets both as a cost certainty contract and for eventual upside as the franchise netminder. Jarry, on the other hand, is waiting for the main man in nets for Pittsburgh to get hurt again as he seems to do every season. For the Penguins sake, let's hope Murray can put together a full healthy season without injury. Selfishly, however, Victoria is hoping to see Jarry get a shot at the starting job and to take it away from the Stanley Cup winner, an unlikely event but stranger things have happened.
Two other prospects rise to the top of the pile in former Minnesota farmhand Keiffer Bellows who came over as part of the Wennberg Rask deal. Bellows deciding to forego college and go back to the Western Hockey League to play in Portland apparently alongside Cody Glass. Victoria has high hopes for him as we saw his dad play some amazing hockey back in the day.
The other is Kirill Maksimov who was interviewed by the GM of our very own Fort Erie franchise. This kid is humble and can score. Hopefully, he continues in his overall development as like Stenlund he is facing some extreme competition in Edmonton.
There are a few others who qualify as prospects but are already on the Ronin roster so we will cover them in a future article.
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment