AHL Farm Rankings: #5 Screamin' Eagles

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Cheapthief
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AHL Farm Rankings: #5 Screamin' Eagles

Post by Cheapthief » Thu May 06, 2021 12:00 pm

#5 Screamin' Eagles

There were a lot of factors that went into evaluating a players value in the AHL, including age of the prospect, salary, and progression. A younger prospect is given more leeway in terms of production than an older player who has yet to produce at the pro level. The level of competition was also factored.

We broke down the teams into 5 tiers:

Tier 1: PPG potential for a $3.00 forward, 50 point potential for a dman. This group will also have some players with lower base salaries that have high upside, but they aren’t held to quite that standard. For a $1.00 3rd rd pick he needs to have 60+ point upside to be in this elite tier. Most every top prospect drafted in 2020 is given serious consideration of being in this tier.

Tier 2: This is where you will find the very good prospects, some $3.00 players who have regressed a little, and some cheaper players on the uptick production wise.

Tier 3: With the players in this group, their trajectory could go either way and the jury is still out. Typically there is potential at reaching tier 2, but just as likely to fall to the bottom.

Tier 4: They are still considered prospects, but their days are numbers and they don’t have a lot of time left to break out.

Tier 5: These are the duds. The only reason any of them should be on a farm is because there is extra space. There is no upside.

In ranking the farms, the entire farm depth was looked at, with extra weight given to high end talents, especially those already producing at the NHL level.

For each report we will cover the average age of the group, number of players drafted by round, and finally, the number of players on in the NHL now. Within the summary write up for every team, we will also include what their draft pick status for the next 3 seasons.

Summary:

The Eagles have had some down years of late but appear to be turning the corner. After qualifying for the post season, the expectations will be even higher next year. The team has gone through the process of stockpiling picks, taking lots of shots, and several of those picks are paying off both on the current roster and waiting in the wings. The farm is a steady balance at each tier with only two duds that will be replaced at the upcoming draft. The best farm prospect that will get at least another year on the farm is Oliver Wahlstrom, but there is plenty of developing talent that were taken with high picks.

The reason this team made the playoffs wasn’t due to its farm, but a combination of a decent core, and if we are being completely honest, a weak division. The issue with this team is the balance of talent in its core. It ranked 4th in the league in defensive production, but 18th at forward. The core at forward is a problem as we will see below:

Colton Parayko 27 $3.00
Darnell Nurse 26 $2.50 FA

Filip Hronek 23 $2.50 FA
Jusso Valimaki 22 $2.00- Can be Aho’d but production wasn’t great and he has a better Flames dman

Ryan Murray 27 $1.25
Thomas Chabot 24 $1.25 FA
Rasmus Andersson 24 $1.00 FA

That’s an eye popping, fantastic core of young men, but perhaps its TOO deep! After all, you can only use 4 dmen a night, and on deep nights that’s leaving a lot of talent on the bench. The forward core is in need of a boost:

Kyle Connor 24 $5.25 $6.00

Jesse Puljujarvi 22 $3.50 FA- may not be kept
Dylan Cozens 20 $3.00- will be Aho’d

Owen Tippett 22 $3.00 can be Aho’d
Adam Gaudette 24 $2.00 $2.00- cheap deal but not looking like he is good enough to warrant it
Sammy Blais 24 $1.25 $1.25

Andreas Johnsson 26 $1.00 FA

A ton of question marks in that core in terms of how much of it is worth keeping. A couple Aho extensions will buy some time, but a guy like Owen Tippett really needs to develop into the scorer he was projected to be soon.

So, we know the D is deep and doesn’t need much of any help to be competitive. We know the forward group needs a lot of help, so how can they fill the void? $90 in cap space will do the trick. With the absolute ceiling available at the free agent draft the Eagles can build a robust, all-star cast of forwards to complement an already stellar D core. Will he? That remains to be seen if the team decides it needs yet another transitional year before entering the conversation as a contender. If it’s not this season, they have $80 next year and $65 the year after, so it will happen soon.

In terms of picks for assets, nothing too exciting here as they own all but their own 23-24 2nd rd pick and add a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th along the way for 14 picks over 3 years that can be used as currency to trade, or continue building out the impressive farm.

The Screamin’ Eagles franchise is an Original 6 team that is reemerging after some cold, dark, winters. The fan base has seen one title, but that happened in 1996-97, well before Serge Bogosyan had lost his sanity completely. The Eagles will be contenders again.


Average Age: 20.7

Currently in the NHL: 4

1st rd picks: 8

2nd rd picks: 7

3rd rd picks: 3

4th rd picks: 0




Tier 1:

Oliver Wahlstrom 20 F NYI $3.00 NHL 35 9-7=16
-A high price tag, but showing really good signs of progression in a full time NHL role, goal scoring pedigree and upside is there
Lucas Raymond 19 F DET $3.00 SweHL 34 6-12=18
-Almost doubled his production since his draft year, a small player with high offensive upside
Seth Jarvis 19 F CAR $2.50 AHL 9 7-4=11
-Incredible AHL debut with 7 goals in 9 games for the 13th overall pick in 2020
Jack Quinn 19 F BUF $3.00 AHL 14 2-7=9
-Once again, a $3 player comes with lofty expectations, and he is performing adequately as an AHL rookie


Tier 2:

Thomas Bordeleau 19 F SJ $1.50 Big-10 24 8-22=30
-Very impressive first season in college, his stock has risen significantly since being drafted by the Sharks
Jake Neighbors 19 F STL $2.00 WHL 13 5-18=23
-Dominating in the W, stock is rising for the 26th pick in 2020
Cam York 20 D PHI $2.50 Big-10 24 4-16=20
-Future PP QB saw a bump since draft year in his second Big-10 season
Samuel Poulin 20 F PIT $2.00 QMJHL 19 8-17=25
-Prolific scorer in the Q, will have every opportunity to crack the Pens lineup since the prospect cupboard is bare


Tier 3:

Boris Katchouk 22 F TB $1.00 AHL 18 8-11=19
-After a down year in the AHL, he is back to being a PPG player, but the depth in TB is keeping him from getting an NHL shot
Victor Soderstrom 20 D ARI $1.00 AHL 23 1-4=5
-A sure fire NHLer, but questions remain about offensive production at the pro level
Michael McLeod 23 F NJ $3.00 NHL 39 7-3=10
-A $3 player chosen 12th overall underachieving thus far in his 3rd NHL season, looking like a bottom 6 bust at that price
Egor Afanasyev 20 F NSH $2.00 KHL 16 2-4=6
-A youngster in the KHL due to Covid, we will know more when he crosses the pond to the AHL
Serron Noel 20 F FLA $1.50 AHL 8 1-3=4
-Just an OK OHL season last year, and modest production in his first AHL season


Tier 4:

Evgeny Svechnikov 24 F DET $2.50 NHL 14 3-2=5
-There have been flashes, but he is unlikely to reach the potential required of a $2.50 player
Kaiden Guhle 19 D MTL $2.00 WHL 2 1-1=2
-Not expected to be an offensive producer at the NHL level
Cal Foote 22 D TB $1.00 NHL 34 1-2=3
-Not a PP guy, steady stay at home defenseman very unlikely to have any offensive upside


Tier 5:

Riley Tufte 23 F DAL $2.00 AHL 26 3-5=8
-Two AHL seasons in the books without much in the way of offensive output, time running out on the 23 year old
Joshua Ho-Sang 25 F NYI $2.50 SweHL 4 2-0=2
-25 and likely out of the league for good, there is skill here but apparently he is a bit of a headcase with an attitude problem

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