Ottawa Prospect Number 5

I went with Pageau. personally we've seen what he's capable of at the NHL level and i can't say the same about Claesson.
Guptill is also a sexy pick IMO but since he's still new so it's hard to really know what we've got.

I keep looking for the stats on Wikistrand and not finding anything. What league does he play in? You'd think with a name like that he'd have a Wikipedia entry.

I'm not sure what to think of Pageau, any more. Is he a one-series wonder? He certainly did not follow up his payoff success with much of anything. I just don't see him cracking the lineup we have now, and I think he will be moved. Same with Prince, even if for different reasons.

I've said it before about Claesson -- I see him as an eventual replacement for Phillips, although maybe more of a Volchenkov, and I don't see that as very exciting. It's in the realm of possibilities that Claesson will emerge as a replacement for Cowen, allowing us to move Jared for a top wing prospect. With all the size we have up-front we no-longer need everyone on the back-end to be huge (besides, Cowen does not play to his size and I'm not sure he ever will).

Guptill and Paul -- I can't say much about them as I've seen them in one scrimmage at the DC, that's it. I know even less about the others, except for Driedger and Dzingel.

So I flipped a coin and it came up Dzingel. Well, not really, Driedger (if he's in the lineup in the next 3 years) is going to be a backup, so, again, not much to get excited about. I've read some very interesting things about Dzingel so that's my vote. I know it will really screw up the results, but, seriously, by the time we get to #5 we should expect a much wider distribution of votes.

wprager wrote:I'm not sure what to think of Pageau, any more.  Is he a one-series wonder?  He certainly did not follow up his payoff success with much of anything.  I just don't see him cracking the lineup we have now, and I think he will be moved.  Same with Prince, even if for different reasons.

I'm in the same boat regarding Pageau. More and more, I'm thinking he projects like Regin into a fringe NHLer. We'll see, but I'm not super optimistic about him becoming a regular contributer at the NHL level.

In the same boat regarding Pageau as well. He looked amazing that one series, but hasn't done much else at the NHL level. He'll need to step up next call up.

Boat's getting crowded.

still the level of enthusiasm that the org has shown in pageau is much higher then what was shown towards Regin. I think he'll need to duplicate the efforts he's shown in the past if he really wants to crack the team but now way should he be given up on IMO. still has the potential to be an effective top 9. maybe they should start looking at him as a winger though, it's gonna be crowded down the middle.
although hasn't there been talk from the org that they might see Lazar as a winger also?

Flo The Action wrote:still the level of enthusiasm that the org has shown in pageau is much higher then what was shown towards Regin. I think he'll need to duplicate the efforts he's shown in the past if he really wants to crack the team but now way should he be given up on IMO. still has the potential to be an effective top 9. maybe they should start looking at him as a winger though, it's gonna be crowded down the middle.
although hasn't there been talk from the org that they might see Lazar as a winger also?

Who goes out of the lineup for Pageau? Assume Legwand centers Stone and Chiasson as the 2nd line. For the third line we have Zibanejad, Lazar, Hoffman, Pageau, Puempel. On the farm we have Guptill and Paul, then Prince, Grant, Robinson, Lindberg, Dzingel.

At the very least he'll have to outplay Hoffman, with a lot of others pushing for recognition.

wprager wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:still the level of enthusiasm that the org has shown in pageau is much higher then what was shown towards Regin. I think he'll need to duplicate the efforts he's shown in the past if he really wants to crack the team but now way should he be given up on IMO. still has the potential to be an effective top 9. maybe they should start looking at him as a winger though, it's gonna be crowded down the middle.
although hasn't there been talk from the org that they might see Lazar as a winger also?

Who goes out of the lineup for Pageau?  Assume Legwand centers Stone and Chiasson as the 2nd line.  For the third line we have Zibanejad, Lazar, Hoffman, Pageau, Puempel.  On the farm we have Guptill and Paul, then Prince, Grant, Robinson, Lindberg, Dzingel.  

At the very least he'll have to outplay Hoffman, with a lot of others pushing for recognition.

That's what it comes down to. If Pageau wants a regular spot, he'll have to earn it at camp and through the beginning of the season. Otherwise, he has to wait for a chance to supplant someone else.

Pageau is gonna be a good one. The guy is the same age as Zibanejad and you guys think he's a fringe NHLer already?   

LeKing wrote:Pageau is gonna be a good one. The guy is the same age as Zibanejad and you guys think he's a fringe NHLer already?   

FWIW, a lot of guys Zib's age are fringe NHLers.

There's nothing wrong with suggesting that a prospect may not pan out. We do that all the time.

spader wrote:

LeKing wrote:Pageau is gonna be a good one. The guy is the same age as Zibanejad and you guys think he's a fringe NHLer already?   

FWIW, a lot of guys Zib's age are fringe NHLers.

There's nothing wrong with suggesting that a prospect may not pan out. We do that all the time.

I'm not even saying he won't pan out, but he's got a couple of full-time NHLers ahead of him at center for the next couple of years, and when Legwand's contract is up he'll have Zibanejad and Lazar, both of whom are natural centers. Pageau is not big enough to play on an energy/4th line.

And if he switches to wing -- assuming right wing, since he shoots right -- then he's got Ryan, Michalek, Stone, Chiasson already on the roster. Pageau had 2 goals (no assists) in 28 games last season -- that's not going to push any of those guys out of the way. I'd say Buddy Robinson will have an easier time of breaking into the Ottawa lineup (as a big body on the 4th line) than Pageau, unless last year was a complete aberration and he kills it in camp.

Unfortunately, I think Robinson is going to have to get goonier if he wants a 4th line NHL role. Doesn't fight enough.

tim1_2 wrote:Unfortunately, I think Robinson is going to have to get goonier if he wants a 4th line NHL role.  Doesn't fight enough.

There's less and less fighting in the NHL. The concussion suit is going to make a big impact pretty soon (to say nothing of the hypocrisy of making hits targeting the head illegal, while allowing two guys to stand toe-to-toe and target each other's head).

Buddy is huge and pretty good on his skates for such a big guy. As all big players he may take some time to develop, but I loved that move he had in the scrimmage at the DC where he was going wide then cut to the net -- the defenseman couldn't stop him and he got a great chance from close-in.

There are some interesting quotes and other info here:
http://www.pointstreaksites.com/view/centraljuniorhockeyleague/news-755/news_86597

For example, it was Tim Murray who drove down to Lake Superior State U to watch him play, and that convinced him they had to sign him (he was undrafted).

Clarke MacArthur wrote:He had a great shot again tonight. When he gets his feet going, he's a big horse going down the wall. It's great to see a guy like that come in and get a couple of goals.

Paul MacLane wrote:
If you're 6-foot-5, it's a little easier to go there than if you're 5-foot-5, but I thought he did a real good job of actually running their D-man into the linesman to give himself a play. That's pretty crafty, whether or not he did that on purpose or it just happened. We're excited, first of all, about his size and his speed, his abilities with the puck. He's been a very consistent player since the first time I saw him, which was in development camp. Probably one of the most consistent players through the rookie camp games and now coming to our training camp. We like what we see and we're excited about the player.

Plus he loves Ottawa.