Our Prospect Pool Is Overrated
Maybe I'm reaching this conclusion because Ontario is 0-8-2 in its last 10 games and its a case of recency bias. And I suppose I could rationalize and just blame it on Sturm, but aside from young players already playing in the NHL (such as Byfield and Kaliyev) and our depth at RD (Clarke, Spence and Grans), there isn't much else to brag about. Our top players in Ontario (Tynan, Andersson and Madden) don't project to end up on the NHL roster. It's unfortunate what has happened to Turcotte and Akil Thomas injury-wise. You look at the rest of the Ontario roster and Fagemo and Bjornfot will get their shot at a depth role and there's hope for Chromiak fitting in somewhere down the road. Samuel Helenius is a project apparently, but 3 goals in 72 games in the AHL isn't exactly impressive.
Outside of Ontario, Pinelli and Portillo (if signed) show promise. Don't know if Kirill Kirsanov will ever come over.
Point is, while we've had a decent amount of success in incorporating some of our past prospects into the NHL roster, there isn't much else on the horizon, and definitely not much in terms of impact players beyond Clarke. Fortunately, we don't have many holes to fill and our eventual replacements for Doughty and Kopitar are accounted for already. Good thing Blake filled holes with trades and free agency, as otherwise we would not have anywhere near the outlook we have now.
Outside of Ontario, Pinelli and Portillo (if signed) show promise. Don't know if Kirill Kirsanov will ever come over.
Point is, while we've had a decent amount of success in incorporating some of our past prospects into the NHL roster, there isn't much else on the horizon, and definitely not much in terms of impact players beyond Clarke. Fortunately, we don't have many holes to fill and our eventual replacements for Doughty and Kopitar are accounted for already. Good thing Blake filled holes with trades and free agency, as otherwise we would not have anywhere near the outlook we have now.