Darren Archibald | RW/LW

[Intoewsables]

Future star, guaranteed!

I can already compare him to Ryan Kesler and Jarome Iginla - leadership and talent!

He averages a point a game, a penalty every other game, seems like a all around great player, steps in for his teammates, brings the crowd into the game, has a wicked shot, has great offensive and defensive abilities, very talented, big threat for opposer's, great passer, size advantage and uses it..............just the complete package!

Also, heres his career stats: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=115481

MG TO THE RESCUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you Darren's agent?

[Ilya Mikheyev]

Finnally a prospect with some size and some skill. We need a big power forward for Hodgson and Shroeder to play with so that they have more space on the ice.

I've been pretty disappointed with Volpatti and Oreskovich so far, so hopefully this guy can bring something more next season.

Well, Volpatti was never brought in to get points. He's played pretty well for what his role is. He's a fighter who isn't completely useless. His absolute ceiling would be a Chris Neil type player (needs to put on a bit more muscle though).

As for Oreo, the guy took a couple years off hockey and then re-joined it playing in a pretty bad organization. He started this year off looking alright, and then got injured. He's just starting to come back around now. Give him at least until the 40 game mark before you are 'pretty disappointed'.

[Bourdon_28]

I saw Archibald play the Belleville Bulls back when he was on the Colts earlier this year, and I gotta say, he dominated. Mabye it was because the Bulls are a young and terrible team this year, or maybe it's because he's an overager. But either way, he was all over the ice pickin up 3 points and was a big physical presence

[bossram]

Seems like a pretty good signing. I can't believe he was never signed or drafted?!? He's big and has power forward potential. I guess Gillis is still searching for that elusive power forward we've never had.

He'll get some good time playing with Friesen in Niagara this year. Maybe they'll both be able to become offensive players. Failing that I could see both as checking forwards with scoring potential.

I wanna see what he can do with Hodgson.

[Señor Hoff]

Byfuglien-Toews-Kane

Archibald-Hodgson-Schroeder

Just sayin

precisely what came to my mind.

[Tearloch7]

Terrific hit on that goalie .. hates to lose .. it is about time we have someone who is willing to dish it out .. sick of us always taking crap .. we need a couple of guys who have a screw half loose .. keeps the other team wondering ..

[Señor Hoff]

Archibald-Malhotra-Hodgson ?

[Gnickers87]

Archibald's statistics and physical attributes remind me of Akim Aliu, except Aliu was a 2nd Round Pick. (that hasn't quite panned out) Although, Archibald looks to be faster then Aliu was.

Archibald played in the OPJHL in his first year of draft eligibility. I wonder that if he was in the OHL in 07/08 and puts up 40 points, he gets drafted. Using the CSB as reference for his ranking

2008 - Not ranked

2009 - Ranked 157th (134th Mid-Term) which is about 6th Round Pick factoring in Europeans/Goalies

2010 - Ranked 190th which is about a 7th Round Pick

Although in 2009, teammate Kyle Clifford was ranked 182nd and only had 28 points in 60 games, but ended up being drafted in the 2nd Round.

So draw your own conclusions

[b3.]

Holding my judgement until he actually plays some pro hockey. Which is still some ways away. Already some brave proposals and ideas out there.

[War-Rat]

I like how gillis constantly pursues undrafted good players.If any of these kids match half of what burrows has accomplished, ima be a very happy person :D

[Dr. Hockey]

Seems like a pretty good signing. I can't believe he was never signed or drafted?!? He's big and has power forward potential. I guess Gillis is still searching for that elusive power forward we've never had.

He'll get some good time playing with Friesen in Niagara this year. Maybe they'll both be able to become offensive players. Failing that I could see both as checking forwards with scoring potential.

I wanna see what he can do with Hodgson.

We had the BEST power forward in the NHL, twice. (actually Neely didn't develop until his time in Boston lol.)

Some time with CoHo would be good for him.

[dr.naughtypants]

Seems like a good signing. I love the CDC enthusiasm about him and the potential power forward superstar MG grabbed from nowhere.Not to be a downer, but...Why wasn't he drafted? Decent points and good size.What's the problem, because there has to be one.

[DeNiro]

Seems like a good signing. I love the CDC enthusiasm about him and the potential power forward superstar MG grabbed from nowhere.Not to be a downer, but...Why wasn't he drafted? Decent points and good size.What's the problem, because there has to be one.

List of players who were never drafted:

Niklas Backstrom (goalie)

Rene Bourque

Dan Boyle

Alex Burrows

Jeff Halpern

Jonas Hiller

John Madden

Zybanek Michalek

Antti Niemi

Dustin Penner

Brian Rafalski

Dwayne Roloson

Peter Stastny

Martin St.Louis

The list goes on, but you get the point. Sometimes players just fall completely off the radar because of size issues, attitude problems, slow development, or just not getting recognized because they're on poor teams.

Steven Anthony is a good example of a guy who at 16 was touted to be a future first round pick, and was even drafted number 1 by the Sea Dogs. But for whatever reason, his development took a turn in the wrong direction, and he just fell off of scout's radar. It took us trading for a 7th round pick to finally draft this guy.

I think it's just a matter of there being so much talent in the OHL, that sometimes guys get lost in the mix and just fade away. Basically if you're not on a good team, the chances of you being able to show your skills to scouts is not going to be as good.

There's also the chance that this guys got an attitude problem, and scouts just don't think he's mature enough to be an NHL player. However at 20 years old, I wouldn't expect him to be that mature. I would actually prefer if he had an attitude to be honest. Seems like we're missing some of that swagger in our prospect pool...

[canucks4cup2008]

Byfuglien-Toews-Kane

Archibald-Hodgson-Schroeder

Just sayin

That would be sweet...just saying

[avelanch]

That would be sweet...just saying

I'd be REALLY surprised if that's NOT a line in the preseason.

[GinoOdjick29]

He just hammered that goalie, get this guy in the line up ASAP!

[DeltaSwede]

Nothing wrong with adding some attitude to the prospects pool. I really like this signing as it fills a void in the system and we finally have a power forward in the system.

I thought hitting a goalie who is playing the puck is considered a legal hit but never the less that is something you need for the playoffs to hype up your players and the fans.

He is a project though..

[bossram]

We had the BEST power forward in the NHL, twice. (actually Neely didn't develop until his time in Boston lol.)

Some time with CoHo would be good for him.

Yes, so we have never had that real power forward who contributed to us.

Except Bertuzzi

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

From the St. Catherine's Standard:

IceDog warms up to new home

ST. CATHARINES — In the past 10 months, Darren Archibald has gone from the penthouse to the outhouse before finally arriving in the doghouse last week.

The 20-year-old Newmarket native was a member of last season's powerful Barrie Colts that fell short in their quest for a Memorial Cup.

He returned to the Colts this season to see the rebuilding team fall to dead last in the Ontario Hockey League standings before he was rescued by a trade to the Niagara IceDogs last week.

"It kind of caught me off-guard, but we were expecting something with (goalie Peter) Di Salvo getting traded the day before. It's a good experience to be in Niagara on a winning team, I'm having fun and the boys have been really welcoming to me," the 6-foot-3, 210-pound left winger said.Archibald admitted it felt a little strange to be suiting up as a visiting player in Barrie Saturday night after wearing the Colts uniform for 149 games.

"It was a little weird being out there, especially in warm-up, but I tried to refrain from going over to their bench for changes and everything. It was fun and definitely a new experience being on a new team."

Fans of the IceDogs should warm quickly to Archibald's style of play.

"I think I'm a big, strong power forward with offensive abilities and I'm going to do my best day in and day out to help the team win and add a physical presence."

Archibald, who has attended NHL camps with Columbus and Detroit, saw last week become even more memorable when he signed a three-year entry level contract Saturday afternoon with the Vancouver Canucks.

"It has been in the process for the last couple of weeks and they've been coming to see me play. I found out Thursday afternoon that they had offered me a contract and I was waiting for the paperwork to come in."

It put an exclamation point on a big week.

"It has been quite the experience the past few games, getting traded and signing the contract. It's been exciting and I'm going to try and go with it from here. Hoping I can finish strong here in my final season in the OHL and work my way up to the big club."

The contract came with an undisclosed signing bonus that Archibald has no plans for.

"The boys were hassling me a little bit asking what I'm going to buy with the signing bonus, but I'm not too sure yet. I'm going to talk it over with my mom a little bit and see how I can save some money."

Even though he doesn't own a vehicle, Archibald has no immediate plans to purchase a new car.

"It's tempting to go out and spend a few dollars on a new car, but I'll see how it goes."

Many times in the OHL, over-agers are playing to land a pro contract, but Archibald doesn't have that motivation.

"It would be easy to pack it in now with the contract already, but my goal is to win and I want us to take a run at a Memorial Cup.

"That's enough motivation right there. Last year we made that big run, but we fell short and it was disappointing. I definitely want to have a second opportunity to make a run for it."

He doesn't see a lot of parallels between last year's Memorial Cup hopefuls and this year's version of the IceDogs.

"We had an older, highly-skilled team last year. Some people said we had the team to do it last year, but we obviously fell short. I think we have a great team here as well with some good young guys. Everybody is on the same page, we're really solid and we all have one goal in mind."

In three games with the IceDogs, Archibald has an assist to push his season's total to 18 goals and 31 points in 27 games. He scored 25 and 26 goals in his two previous seasons with Barrie.

The IceDogs host Barrie Friday night at 7 p.m.

http://www.stcathari...aspx?e=2888231#

Note: for those interested, the link has a photo slideshow of Archibald pics

[avelanch]

his contract is $631,666 per year starting this season... which I find odd, unless the contract can be pushed back a year because he's playing in the CHL. I know it doesn't normally burn a year for 20 year olds, but since he's in the CHL it may be different. i'm fuzzy on this area. (that's what she said)