[Toxic]

I met Spencer Machacek's family today, if he turns into anything like his father, he's going to wind up being a great player, and an even greater guy. Totally calm and collected, hard-working and takes nothing for granted.

Someone should start a Draft Spencer Machacek thread

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Article on MacMillan


MacMillan inherited dad's vision
By Ryan Van Horne, ISS Editor

Logan MacMillan has his dad’s eyes. It’s not that they look the same, it’s that Logan is able to use his to see the ice and his teammates the way his dad did during his NHL career.

Bob MacMillan notched 71 assists in 1978-79 for the Atlanta Flames, still a franchise record for right-wingers. Bob had 108 points that year and won the Lady Byng trophy for most sportsmanlike player.

Logan hasn’t put up those kinds of numbers yet, but is still an intriguing prospect for the 2007 NHL entry draft and has shown flashes of that playmaking talent.

MacMillan shows an uncanny knack of knowing where his teammates are on the ice and being able to thread a pass through a crowd to get them the puck.

“I think I have good vision,” the Charlottetown, P.E.I., native said. So far, though, it hasn’t translated into as many points as he’d hoped. MacMillan and most of Halifax Mooseheads teammates -- with the exception of top prospect Jakub Voracek -- have struggled to put points on the board. Earlier in the season, MacMillan was on a line with Voracek, but since both had similar styles of carrying the puck and making plays, they were split up by coach Cam Russell. The move has actually helped MacMillan’s production.

“One of his biggest problems when we played him with Voracek, was other teams played their top defencemen against him. They play him like he is a top-line centre and he faces 19 and 20-year defencemen. He’s got to work that much harder to beat those guys. He’s had a lot of good players thrown at him this year, but he’s done well considering all that.”

Earlier in the season, ISS had him pegged as a first-rounder. He slowly dropped because of a lack of offensive production. Although his output wasn’t poor, his 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points in 53 games as of February was less than ISS and MacMillan expected. He picked up his play in the final month of the season and had a great playoff. MacMillan finished with 20 goals and 35 assists for 55 points in 68 games. He added 20 points in 12 playoff games teaming with Voracek to help Halifax earn a first-round upset win over the Moncton Wildcats. He has climbed to No. 26 in our April rankings.

“I definitely had higher expectations of myself,” MacMillan said. “I can’t really put a finger on it., whether it’s bad luck or not having that knack around the net. It just hasn’t been coming for me.” But when the points don’t come, MacMillan says you have to contribute in other ways. “I think I’m a two-way player. I like to think of myself as a responsible guy, a guy you can have out in any kind of situation,” he said.

Even when he wasn’t producing, MacMillan played very good hockey, Russell said.

“He hasn’t put up great numbers, but he’s still the kind of guy that we see as an all-around player. We play him in defensive situations, offensive situations. I think he will eventually find that scoring touch. He’s still 17 -- some guys mature earlier than others. What you’re going to get with him is a complete package.”

Russell says MacMillan has tremendous hockey sense and a good work ethic, both qualities he inherited from his dad.

“He went through everything that I’ve been through and everyone that I will go through,” MacMillan said. “He’s been there, he knows what it takes, His advice every step along the way has helped me huge amounts.”

Russell thinks MacMillan might suffer a bit because he’s being drafted before he’s finished developing. The six-foot-two, 187-pound forward forward is still filling out and finding his skating stride.

“They’re drafting players that are too young,” Russell said. “It’s a bit of a crapshoot because you don’t know what you’re going to get. Players change so much from 17 to 20 years old. I think they should be 19 or 20 when they’re drafted. Then, you know what you’re going to get from the player.”

But there are some skills MacMillan tops out in – hockey sense and poise.

“He’s a composed guy,” Russell said. “There’s no panic in him when he has the puck you see great composure and skill. That you don’t see with a lot of other players. That comes from good genes.”

MacMillan wants to improve his upper-body strength in the off-season and continue to work on his skating.

“His quickness has got to improve,” Russell said. “He’s a pretty good skater, but everybody needs to work on quickness. His puck protection needs to improve and he has to get a little bit stronger, but that will come with maturity.”

[Millerdraft]

I'd pick him in a second. 6'2" 187lbs two-way centre with vision at age 17. Still tons of time for him to add 25-30lbs and get used to playing with it. Perfect.

[Dortmund]

I'm leaning towards MacMillan in the 1st, Veillieux with 2nd and if we have 2 2nd rounders(LA's decision) then the Mighty Spencer from the Giants.

[Toxic]

If Veilleux drops to the 2nd round, i absolutely would want him, i think these days, there's going to be prolly 5 or so off-the-board picks in the 1st round, which could mean Veilleux could drop even farther if we don't take him

I sure like his size

[Millerdraft]

Hey toxic,

You see that "Raymond should play with the Sedins" thread? That's a prime example of what I was talking about. This thread is a breath of fresh air.

[Toxic]

How long before the infected break through our defense

[itzabreeze]

Millerdraft, on May 19 2007, 08:21 PM, said:

Hey toxic,

You see that "Raymond should play with the Sedins" thread? That's a prime example of what I was talking about. This thread is a breath of fresh air.

Hell, I saw it coming with Idiotic after Idiotic post from people who have know idea what they are talking about:

See:

Quote

**Prepares to Copy and Paste personal rants for threads about ...

1) Kopitar/Bourdon OMGZ2122 should have draft soft Euro.

2) Trade Schneider for XXXXXXX

3) Grabner sucks. Euro. Euro Euro. Trade him.

4) Call up Brandon Reid. Like hello, next Crosby.

5) Mason Raymond.........who?. what?. OMGZ212 Call up him.

6) Kiril Koltsov is the next Jovo.

7) Koltsov Koltsov Koltsov Koltsov

8) Jannik Hansen OMGz11 Sedin future linemates.

9) OMGZ111 Draft XXXXX next Crosby

10) Day after draft, OMGZ11 why the **** did ******* Nonis draft soft Euro ******* XXXXX Should have drafted XXXX


Its going to be a long 4 months.

I am all for having a seperate prospect section..... I think.... but I don't think I am going to be able to handle all of the Grade 7's bitching and moaning about how much better Kopitar is, OMGZ put Grabner with the Sedins!!1111 FTW.

It's a losing battle.

This post has been edited by itzabreeze: 19 May 2007 - 09:17 PM

[Toxic]

It's not Koltsov, it's Kostlov

[Millerdraft]

toxic rd, on May 19 2007, 09:06 PM, said:

How long before the infected break through our defense

It's like "28 Days Later" but with raging imbeciles trying to infect us with mental retardation instead of flesh eating syndrome.

[Grabner]

toxic rd, on May 19 2007, 09:18 PM, said:

It's not Koltsov, it's Kostlov

It doesn't matter anymore.

[timw33]

I'm cutting back on CDC.

[Dortmund]

Yeah I know what you mean guys, the number of people that keep stating DRAFT GILLIES obviously didn't see that he only had 30 pts this past season. Who cares if he's 6'4 and hits hard, you draft players like that in the 3rd and later rounds.

[Toxic]

Bliznak got his 2nd assist of this Memorial Cup

He's getting 1st/2nd unit PP time (difficult to say which line is the #1 line)

Playing with McArdle and Machacek

Was the starting Centreman for the Giants in both games so far

They grow up so fast

[VaNuCkZ]

Super Mario!!!

And the Canucks have his rights!!!!!!

[itzabreeze]

http://www.hockeysfu...m/articles/9669

Canucks AHL and ECHL season review

Written by Matt MacInnis on 05/20/2007

The Vancouver Canucks minor league affiliates, both the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and the ECHL’s Victoria Salmon Kings, had relatively successful seasons. The Moose won the North division with 45 wins, 23 losses, seven OT losses and five shootout losses for a total of 102 points before being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. The Salmon Kings made the ECHL playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s brief history – this as the team’s first season serving as the Canucks secondary affiliate.

The Canucks had 12 players spend the majority of the 2006-07 season in the minor professional ranks, but despite having a large pool of prospects, few of them project to be career NHL-caliber players.

Goaltending
Leading in to the start of the hockey season, it appeared that the Canucks would have Hart-candidate Roberto Luongo and veteran Wade Flaherty and Julien Ellis would be battling with an undetermined adversary for minutes with the Moose. But then the Canucks acquired Drew MacIntyre from the Detroit Red Wings early in training camp and picked up underachiever Dany Sabourin to back up Luongo. Suddenly MacIntyre was going to share minutes with Flaherty and Ellis was on his way to Victoria.

MacIntyre ended up playing the majority of the games for the Moose during the regular season, seeing action in 41 contests compiling a stellar 24-14 record with three shutouts and very strong individual stats including a 2.17 goals against average and .922 save percentage. He continued his strong play in the post-season, where he once again played the lion’s share of the minutes. MacIntyre has proven to be a solid pick-up for the Canucks organization, adding depth to the Canucks goaltender prospect pool after the disappointing development of Ellis and Alexandre Vincent in the recent years. MacIntyre, who will be 24 at the end of June, has shown signs of having the potential to be a capable NHL backup. In fact, if the Canucks choose not to bring Sabourin back, MacIntyre is the logical choice to fill that role next season.

Ellis played a total of eight games in the AHL this season, winning just one of them. With the Salmon Kings, Ellis played well in his 37 games of action putting up a 21-14 record plus one OT and shootout loss. His .912 save percentage and 3.21 goals against average were big reasons that the S-Kings were able to land a playoff berth. Overall, Ellis appears to have stagnated since his tremendous 2004-05 QMJHL season when he won the top goaltender award. Ellis is just 21 years old, but he must find a way to get back to his old form if he hopes to have a long professional career.

Defense
With four young blue liners playing for the Moose this season, the Canucks had plenty of options for first-time call-ups in case of injuries – and they used nearly all of them. Alexander Edler, Patrick Coulombe and Nathan McIver all saw their first NHL action this season. Edler was the prospect with the highest ceiling playing with the Moose this year and he certainly proved his value. In 49 AHL games he racked up 26 points but it was during his 22 NHL regular season and eight NHL playoff games that he showed that he is, without a doubt, NHL-ready and capable of developing into a No. 2 defender.

Coulombe broke into the NHL scene by impressing in training camp and being one of the final cuts. He did get into seven games with the Canucks early in the season when half the club’s defensemen were injured but failed to impress and had very obvious problems trying to physically compete with bigger forwards. At just 5’9, 165 lbs it appears that Coulombe’s best shot at becoming a full-time NHL player is to carve himself a niche with a team has a power-play specialist.

McIver played 63 games accumulating just three points, but provided steady defensive play throughout the season while delivering physical play as demonstrated with his 139 penalty minutes (including 15 fights). He only played a single game for the Canucks, but left an impression of what he’s willing to do getting into a fight with Anaheim’s Travis Moen. Offseason signee Shaun Heshka was the other Canucks prospect to spend the duration of the season with the Moose. The Merville, Saskatchewan native had a stellar rookie season (WTF, ) putting up six points in 54 games seeing fairly limited action most games.

Forwards
Of the six forwards playing with either the Moose or the Salmon Kings, only Jannik Hansen has the chance to develop into any sort of impact player at the NHL level. With 34 points in 72 regular season games, Hansen showed that he does have the ability to put points on the board at the professional level. This is particularly encouraging when you consider the rapid increase in the level of competition Hansen has faced over the past several years. Two years ago he was playing in the Danish league, last season major junior and this year he finished seventh in scoring on his AHL team.

The only one of two prospect to put more points on the board than Hansen was mid-season acquisition Colby Genoway. The 6’1, 200 lbs 23-year-old right winger only scored nine goals but had 32 helpers on the year. Genoway is going to need to continue to round out his all-around game if he hopes to find himself in a Canucks uniform at any point of his NHL career because it does not appear that his offensive game is sound enough to earn him a spot on a scoring line. On the other side of the coin is undersized agitator Rick Rypien whose NHL potential appears to rely more on his ability to stay healthy than his goal-scoring talents. Rypien played in just 16 regular season games this year as a result of injuries, something that has plagued him the past two seasons. Rypien is a ferocious forechecker who plays with a seemingly endless supply of energy. He is a natural fit for the fourth line for Alain Vigneault’s team. Another grinder on the Moose roster is Mike Brown. At 6’0, 210 lbs, Brown has NHL size and speed, but hasn’t demonstrated any significant offensive skills since turning two pro years ago and his complete lack of offensive contribution is making him an increasingly longer shot at becoming an NHL player.

Jesse Schultz scored 18 goals and added 21 assists, a significant drop from his impressive stats last season that had many pundits penciling him in alongside the Sedin twins on the Canucks so-called second-line to start the season. But then Schultz performed poorly in camp and never seemed to get things going on a consistent basis for the Moose. At this point it seems unlikely Schultz will ever become an NHL player and appears on his way to becoming the “next Jason King”, that is, the prospect that was once touted as the third wheel for the Sedins who never made it and dropped off the radar.

The other two forward prospects in the minor pro ranks this season were former junior teammates and QMJHL graduates Marc-Andre Bernier and FP Guenette. Bernier scored a goal and an assist in 23 AHL games and 33 points in 40 ECHL games. Guenette put up 13 goals and 42 assists for a total of 55 points in 67 games with the S-Kings. Neither player appears likely at this point to be a viable NHL prospect.

Conclusion
This year’s AHL crop possessed only a few true NHL prospects, but the Moose are expected to receive a significant injection of quality young talent with the anticipated arrival of players like Mason Raymond, Cory Schneider, Michael Grabner, Juraj Simek and Luc Bourdon.

[Toxic]

Yes, Heshka did have an impressive season, it was once of those season a rookie has where he didnt do alot great, but didnt do much wrong either. As a 1st year player that's what you want

[itzabreeze]

toxic rd, on May 20 2007, 07:47 PM, said:

Yes, Heshka did have an impressive season, it was once of those season a rookie has where he didnt do alot great, but didnt do much wrong either. As a 1st year player that's what you want

Gotta disagree with that. Their is no way he had an "impressive season". Edler had an "impressive season". Heshka, not so much. He played ok, but HF said he had a Stellar season?. Give me a break. He was a healthy scratch most of the playoffs, usually playing as a 5th or 6th D-man in the regular season. He's a very young and does have offensive upside which he should be given a bigger role on the Moose next season.

This post has been edited by itzabreeze: 20 May 2007 - 09:23 PM

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itzabreeze, on May 20 2007, 09:16 PM, said:

Gotta disagree with that. Their is no way he had an "impressive season". Edler had an "impressive season". Heshka, not so much. He played ok, but HF said he had a Stellar season?. Give me a break. He was a healthy scratch most of the playoffs, usually playing as a 5th or 6th D-man in the regular season. He's a very young and does have offensive upside which he should be given a bigger role on the Moose next season.

It's not really fair to compare the two though. IMO it is impressive for an undrafted player to get solid ice time as a 5th or 6th D in the AHL. Unlike guys like Edler, Rahimi and Bourdon, Heshka had to earn his ice time. And that meant playing some games for Victoria in the ECHL.

[Toxic]

Will Eagle dare to turn pro?

Boston College goalie Cory Schneider, a member of the US squad that reached the World Championship quarterfinals in Russia, will take the next 2-3 weeks to decide where he'll play next season.

His agent, ex-Bruin Brian Lawton, laughed when a reporter last week suggested there was zero chance of Schneider turning pro with Vancouver, where he would be faced with a protracted apprenticeship behind the growing legend that is Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo. Think of the graveyard full of backup goalies in New Jersey, where Martin Brodeur has rarely taken a night off since the end of the 1994-95 season.

"No decision has been made," said Lawton, the former Mount St. Charles star. "I understand the thought, you know: What's the hurry with Roberto there? At the same time, Vancouver's not pressuring him on it at all. He's going to come home, think it through, and decide some time in early June."

Schneider, 21, could opt to remain at The Heights, or turn pro, which undoubtedly would place him with the Manitoba Moose (AHL) for at least a year or two. If he were to go back to college, he could turn pro with the Canucks after the 2007-08 NCAA season, or opt not to sign and become an unrestricted free agent as of Aug. 15, 2008.

This post has been edited by toxic rd: 21 May 2007 - 01:00 PM