NuxFan09 Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 If he works hard, I think best case scenario for Friesen is becoming a Mike Keane type player. He'll never be a core center piece, but a necessary complementing piece for a championship team. He's all heart-and-soul and skates really well and is smart with amazing work ethic. Cant' wait to see him in the AHL. I honestly think he could be more than that. If he's an agitator like people suggest, I think he could develop into a slightly lesser version of Dave Bolland. Our own Dave Bolland type player would be a key part of the core. That's of course a very hopeful prognostication, though. We can only hope Friesen becomes that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dasein Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 I honestly think he could be more than that. If he's an agitator like people suggest, I think he could develop into a slightly lesser version of Dave Bolland. Our own Dave Bolland type player would be a key part of the core. That's of course a very hopeful prognostication, though. We can only hope Friesen becomes that good. More than a NHL career of 1161 regular season games and 220 playoff games, 3-time Stanley Cup champion, and a brief stint as the captain of the storied Montreal Canadiens franchise? Leader and a winner in every regard. I think Dave Bolland is realistic too, but I doubt Friesen could have as good a career as Mike Keane. Keane is the definition of depth piece necessary for a team to win it all - as he did it for 3 different franchises. I think Friesen can be that type of a player. Maybe he can become a core player, but I just don't think he'll be as touted as a core player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeywoot Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Agree with some of the previous posters. Having a good bottom 6 is quite important. Look at Detroit... Draper-Maltby.......now Helm-Abdelkader Success in drafting is having picks contributing, in whatever role it ends up being. If Freisen ever makes this team. I'd be over the moon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 We've got alot of potential bottom 6 role players that don't get talked about much. Players like Friesen, Labate, Sweatt, Rodin, Grenier, Anthony, Archibald, Froshaug, Schneider, Matson, and Blomstrand. It's unlikely most of these guys become NHL regulars, but there's potential for a few of them to become really solid role players for us in a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canvoucer Vanuck Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 We've got alot of potential bottom 6 role players that don't get talked about much. Players like Friesen, Labate, Sweatt, Rodin, Grenier, Anthony, Archibald, Froshaug, Schneider, Matson, and Blomstrand. It's unlikely most of these guys become NHL regulars, but there's potential for a few of them to become really solid role players for us in a few years. If even just 3 of these ended up becoming regulars for us, I'd be ecstatic. Friesen looks like he could be a very good 4C one day if all goes well. Excited to see him with the Wolves next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Droj Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Any who watched the wolves pre-season game care to comment on how Alex played? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Jeeze, well I guess just because he was an overager, winning Best Defensive Forward, Best On Faceoffs, and 3rd in Hardest Worker in the Eastern Conference over all the other "Typical Overagers" as well as "Future Stars", or is he the only overager in the OHL? He may be an overager but this doesn't diminish his accomplishments. Of course, this has to mean something, but... Like Marchand, Alex Friesen's small, but feisty. He plays that role game where he kills penalties and shadows other teams stars. He'll be given an opportunity to play with the Wolves. Don't look at stats and immediately judge him. For god sakes, Nathan Gerbe is 5'5 and he's been a regular on the Buffalo Sabres for the last two years. That's a stretch to compare him with Gerbe or Marchand; Nathan was nearly a point per game guy in the AHL and was a Hobey Baker finalist (Top Collegiate Men's Hockey player). He's also known to have a very strong build and great speed which allows him to excel despite small size. Brad also dominated the Q while he was there and has been a clutch playoff guy throughout his career. Hopefully Alex can become lite version of Mike Richards or Brian Gionta, or even Darren Helm. Would love to tout a p.p.g. guy (not saying that he's not hardworking) but in junior stars DO tend to explode offensively. Who knows though, maybe he'll be our next Alex Burrows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I'd just like to point out that Friesen had better stats than Burrows as an overager in Junior. With Friesen being much smaller and Burrows still ended up undrafted. The guy is a tank. He's intelligent, and a ferociously hard-worker. If he gets some seasoning I'm confident that if he were given an opportunity he'd take it and run. I can definitely see him cracking the NHL, maybe not immediately, but he'd be a perfect third liner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Cam Charron has started Canucks Army's annual prospects rankings and profiles. #20 is none other than Alex Friesen: http://canucksarmy.c...20-alex-friesen Pretty good read. #19 will be posted tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 I think Friesen could make a big step in his development this season as a third line center on the Comets. The Comets added David Pecan to the team who was a regular linemate of Friesen's in junior. Plus he'll likely be playing with Archibald again who was also a teammate in junior. I think that familiarity could go a long ways in helping him develop. The thing about Friesen is that a big part of his game in junior was playing physical. It's alot harder to do that in the AHL as opposed to the OHL where there are alot of smaller players. That's why he's going to have to continue to bulk up and get faster to be successful. But from everything I've seen and heard, he's an extremely hard worker, so it's just a matter of time. Like the article says, if he plays one game in the NHL it will be considered a success. This season will give us a glimpse of what that possibility will be though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dasein Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Very hard to be excited about him when we have re-stocked at the center position with grade A prospects like Horvat and Shinkaruk (and Gaunce). He's been pushed down the depth chart over the last two years, and that isn't good. I haven't lost hope for him though. I think he could be an NHLer - I just don't know if he has a future with the Canucks. We already have an undersized center in Schroeder, and he's much better offensively at least than Friesen. Slow and steady. It may take him a couple years, but I think he will make the NHL one day - most likely with another team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wshdrvvn Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Very hard to be excited about him when we have re-stocked at the center position with grade A prospects like Horvat and Shinkaruk (and Gaunce). He's been pushed down the depth chart over the last two years, and that isn't good. I haven't lost hope for him though. I think he could be an NHLer - I just don't know if he has a future with the Canucks. We already have an undersized center in Schroeder, and he's much better offensively at least than Friesen. Slow and steady. It may take him a couple years, but I think he will make the NHL one day - most likely with another team. this is pretty much it. I think he can fill a role for the comets, and in due time, maybe he's an nhler. but he has guys developing ahead of him on a faster up-tick. his skill set suits the bottom six better than schroeder, though he's years behind him developmentally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeanBeef Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 That's a stretch to compare him with Gerbe or Marchand; Nathan was nearly a point per game guy in the AHL and was a Hobey Baker finalist (Top Collegiate Men's Hockey player). He's also known to have a very strong build and great speed which allows him to excel despite small size. Brad also dominated the Q while he was there and has been a clutch playoff guy throughout his career. Hopefully Alex can become lite version of Mike Richards or Brian Gionta, or even Darren Helm. Would love to tout a p.p.g. guy (not saying that he's not hardworking) but in junior stars DO tend to explode offensively. Who knows though, maybe he'll be our next Alex Burrows? You call it a stretch to compare him with Gerbe and Marchand yet you hope that he becomes a lite version of Mike Richards or Brian Gionta? Am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeanBeef Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 The interesting thing about Friesen is that he is a similar player to Shaw, played on the same team as Shaw, was a better player than Shaw, yet Shaw made the NHL before him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zduck14 Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 I still think Friesen will end up a lot like Scott Nichol. He's a fast, energetic defensive specialist that is great in the faceoff circle and plays bigger than his size suggests. The only thing that will hold him back in this type of role will be size. In reality, if a 6th round pick (172nd overall) can play 600+ games, that would be a huge success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brocklovich Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 I think Shinkaruk was a winger and not a centre?? I know he is still behind Guance & Horvat though thats for sure. Would be nice to see this guy turn out to be a solid 3rd / 4th line centre but he is more of a long shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangosteens Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Had high hopes for Friesen after his last year in junior. How has he looked in Utica? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossi Vaananen Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Looks like a solid echl call up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Had high hopes for Friesen after his last year in junior. How has he looked in Utica? I think Friesen will be one of those guys that doesn't make the NHL till 25 if he does make it. He seems to be struggling to find his game the last few seasons. I think it's because he could play his aggressive style game more effectively in junior when the size difference wasn't so great. Now that he's going up against bigger stronger players, he can't have the same impact. For him to make the NHL he's going to have to make it as a 4th line agitator/defensive specialist IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UticaHockey Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Had high hopes for Friesen after his last year in junior. How has he looked in Utica? Was hurt in preseason and came back last week, played in a couple of games and got hurt again last game. He looks small but plays with energy but needs to stay healthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.