NFHL Future’s Team Rankings In this inaugural issue, NFHL Future will take a look at each organization’s prospects. Prospects are defined as players 23 and under, whether playing in the NFHL or NMFHL. Prospects are rated on our system of where we project them to finish in their development combined with the likelihood of them achieving that standard. The following two rating systems are used and then combined to give each prospect a rating: Potential Ability Team Rankings (Click the team to go directly to their article) 10 Hall of Fame material player 9 Elite player, Perennial All Star 1 Edmonton Oilers 8 Top 3 Forward/Top 2 Defenseman/#1 Goalie 2 California Golden Seals 7 Top 6 Forward/Top 4 Defenseman/Borderline #1 Goalie 3 Washington Capitals 6 Third Line Forward/3rd Pair Defenseman/Back up Goalie 4 St. Louis Blues 5 Fourth Line Forward/7th Defenseman/Depth Goalie 5 Toronto Maple Leafs 6 Pittsburgh Penguins 4 Elite Minor League Forward/Defenseman/Goalie 7 Vancouver Canucks 3 Average Minor League Forward/Defenseman/Goalie 8 New York Rangers 2 Below Average Minor League Forward/Defenseman/Goalie 9 Boston Bruins 1 Beer League or Retirement Looms 10 Hartford Whalers 11 New Jersey Devils 12 Detroit Red Wings Probability of Reaching Development 13 Buffalo Sabres 14 Quebec Nordiques A Guaranteed to reach projected development or even further. 15 Calgary Flames B Likely to reach projected development, though may drop one level. 16 Minnesota North Stars C Could reach projected development, though may drop up to 2 levels. 17 Winnipeg Jets D Unlikely to reach projected development and could drop up to 3 levels. 18 Montreal Canadiens 19 Chicago Blackhawks E Little potential for reaching projected development. 20 Philadelphia Flyers 21 Colorado Rockies 22 Los Angeles Kings dmonton Oilers Top Prospects ETeam Rank: 1st 1 Doug Wilson D 2 Steve Larmer LW NMFHL Affiliate: Red Deer, 1st Place Campbell Conference 3 Don Beaupre G 4 Jari Kurri RW 5 Laurie Boschman C Team Strengths 6 Peter Andersson D • Depth at every position 7 Anton Stastny LW • High end talent at forward 8 Rick Wamsley G 9 Dave Christian C • Defensive defensemen 10 Robert Holland G 11 Tim Kerr RW Team Weaknesses 12 Mark Johnson C • Offensive defensemen 13 Carey Wilson C 14 Brad McCrimmon D • Too many prospects to develop properly 15 Lucien DeBlois LW 16 Dale Hunter C Edmonton’s year and a half project of ripping apart their team in favour of 17 Kevin McClelland RW 18 Richie Dunn D picks and prospects appears, for the most part, to be over. And now we have 19 Craig Muni D the results. And these results are pretty staggering. They have, by far, the 20 Joel Quenneville D most prospects in our rankings, including almost their entire NMFHL team in 21 Barry Beck D Red Deer. It is a squad that is leading the entire league. With another 5 22 Steve Konroyd D Randy players playing for the parent club in Edmonton, a club in last place in their 23 LW Cunneyworth conference, Oiler management is going to be faced with some tough 24 Jim Korn D questions in the coming years. In fact, difficulties are going to arise right 25 John Hynes G away. Quite simply, with this many prospects, many of which could become 26 Kevin McCarthy D NFHLers, how do they develop them all? GM Jones must clearly think that 27 Greg Tebutt D having this many prospect will result in some stars just by the odds. We’re 28 Steve Stoyanovich C 29 Paul Messier C not so certain that is the best course of action, but there is no denying that the Oilers cupboard is pretty well stocked in all positions. Laurie Boschman looks like he could become the strong pivot teams cherish and has superior passing skills. He is a poor man’s Mark Messier, though a year older. Recently drafted Carey Wilson and 3rd year centre Dale Hunter could also develop, though both look more like very good 3rd liners, though Hunter could become a 2nd liner. That isn’t mentioning Mark Johnson, who is already getting 3rd line minutes with Edmonton. The left wing is even more crowded. Recently acquired Lucien DeBlois has already established himself as one of the top defensive forwards in the game and has cemented himself as a 2nd/3rd line player. Steve Larmer was just drafted and could make the Oilers as early as next year. He is a well rounded forward, good at all aspects of the offensive game and well above average defensively. He is the type of player you can put on the ice at any time and feel confident something positive will happen. Anton Stastny has already had successful stints with Edmonton as an injury replacement and Dave Christian has taken off in the NMFHL and now leads the team in scoring and is 4th overall. The right wing is a bit more open, but #1 overall pick Jari Kurri and Tim Kerr provide two snipers. The blue line does lack in offensive producers with the exception of Doug Wilson, who is in his 2nd full season with the Oilers. However, there is a glut of defensive defensemen, several of which do have some adequate offensive capabilities. At 23 and locked into a no-movement contract, Richie Dunn is developing his offensive game, while the likes of Brad McCrimmon, Craig Muni, Steve Konroyd, and Barry Beck could have futures as well. Peter Andersson, though, is arguably the top prospect outside of Wilson. The 18 year old is already a top shut down man on the farm and has underrated offensive capabilities. In net, there is nothing different; it is a glut of potential. Don Beaupre and Rick Wamsley are the future with Beaupre looking like he could have #1 potential. Robert Holland, once thought to be the future starter, has seemingly been overtaken in the long-term outlook of the team, but at 23, still has the potential to be a #1. 21-year old John Hynes looks to be a solid back up, but is obviously lost in the shuffle of this team. And to think that there will be another 5 first round picks added to this list after this season. Left Wing Centre Right Wing Defense Goaltender Steve Larmer 8B Laurie 8C Jari Kurri 8C Doug Wilson 9B Don Beaupre 8B Boschman Anton Stastny 7B Mark 7C Tim Kerr 7C Peter Andersson 8C Robert 7B Johnson Holland Dave Christian 7B Carey Wilson 7C Kevin 6B Brad McCrimmon 7C Rick 7B McClelland Wamsley Lucien DeBlois 6A Dale Hunter 6B Richie Dunn 6B John Hynes 6C Randy 6C Steve 5C Barry Beck 6B Cunneyworth Stoyanovich Paul Messier 4D Craig Muni 6B Joel Quenneville 6B Jim Korn 6C Steve Konroyd 6C Kevin McCarthy 5B Greg Tebbutt 5B alifornia Golden Seals Top Prospects 1 Michel Goulet RW 2 Denis Savard C C nd Team Rank: 2 3 Craig Hartsburg D 4 Michael Thelven D NMFHL Affiliate: Portland, 3rd Place Campbell Conference 5 Brian Mullen RW 6 Doug Sulliman C 7 Brent Ashton RW Team Strengths 8 Dean Turner D • Top prospect in the game 9 John Chabot C 10 Dino Ciccarellie RW • Depth on the blue line 11 Paul Reinhart D • Scoring on both wings 12 Rollie Boutin G 13 Dan Frawley C Team Weaknesses 14 Vladimir Krutov RW 15 Randy Pierce LW • Goaltending 16 Jim Weimer D • Lack of depth on the left wing 17 Reijo Ruotsalainen D OK, let’s address the weakness in goaltending as this may cause some misunderstanding. Doug Soetaert is a star and past Calder Trophy winner. He is playing in Portland and is the odds on favourite to win Goalie of the Year honours. He is a star in the making and should not be playing in the NMFHL. However, as the Seals try to win the NMFHL and with Gilles Meloche taking the #1 position on the big squad, here is Soetaert. However, he is 25 year years old, therefore, he doesn’t qualify in the rankings. Instead, they have Rollie Boutin and that is all that needs to be said about him. The Golden Seals, however, do boast the top prospect in the game. Michel Goulet has already established himself as one of the top players in the NFHL and will almost certainly bring the Calder Trophy home. He already has 25 goals and is 10th in league scoring. He is just 20 and how the Flyers let him get away is beyond us. However, here he is and he will be decimating opponents for the next decade. And as soon as perhaps next season, he will have a running partner in Denis Savard. Another one of the top prospects, Savard makes up for a lack of size and strength with speed and uncanny ability with the puck. While neither he nor Goulet are particularly careful in their own end, the fact is that when they get together, it is probable that the other team would never even get the puck anyways. Doug Sulliman is a couple years older, but looks to have a bit more defensive presence down the middle, though John Chabot or Dan Frawley could be even better and fit in on the second line. The right wing has 3 potential snipers in Brian Mullen, Vladimir Krutov, and Dino Ciccarelli. Mullen is the youngest and also the most developed. He isn’t as good with the puck as the others, but has a better shot, is faster, and plays a little bit of defense.