Cole Cassels | C

[Hugor Hill]

Found it very interesting that right after they won a cup they actually made moves, and not just of peripheral players. Whereas most teams that experience success (including Vancouver after 2011) just kept going with what they have, milking it for all they can with a few minor tweaks, Chicago isn't shy about making more significant changes to move out older or damaged assets to make way for new and keeping the lineup fresh.

They got rid of key secondary guys for picks and prospects. That's the Stan Bowman model. No one ever talks about the Stan Bowman / Chicago model.

[Hugor Hill]

But we all know that you don't have a crystal ball and so you use draft position as a substitute for good judgement.

Pavel Bure was 113 o/a and coincidentally we had the 8th pick in the 1989 draft that year too. His name was JASON HERTER who we never even played and went on to play ONE NHL game in his 9 year career for the New York Islanders.

I could go on with many more examples but what would be the point, your fantasy predictions will top anything in real life. So glad you are not our or anyone else's GM.

Come on now. They didn't use early picks to draft Soviet players back then because they would have to defect to come here to play.

If that wasn't an issue, Bure, Moginy and Fedorov would've been early first round picks.

With all his results Cassels is still projected to be bottom six. An 8th overall has a far better chances of being an impact player than a 3rd rounder.

[Provost]

But we all know that you don't have a crystal ball and so you use draft position as a substitute for good judgement.

Pavel Bure was 113 o/a and coincidentally we had the 8th pick in the 1989 draft that year too. His name was JASON HERTER who we never even played and went on to play ONE NHL game in his 9 year career for the New York Islanders.

I could go on with many more examples but what would be the point, your fantasy predictions will top anything in real life. So glad you are not our or anyone else's GM.

For every exception you state where a late pick turned out better than a top 10 pick, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of cases of that not happening. The Soviet example was a poor one because of the political landscape of the time.

Cassels could quite possible make a fine player, the odds of him being an upper end player are still pretty remote. The odds of a top 10 pick being in the upper half of your lineup range from 30-80% depending on where it is. Much better odds.

If you add the Canucks prospect pool to the mix, we already have a guy who will likely be a tweener in Horvat (great 3C and maybe an OK 2C). At his upper end Cassels could reach that spot too. We do not have many top end skill players in the system and are very soon going to be in need of them.

[hockeydude474]

He may be a 3rd rounder and projected to by a bottom six but I honestly think Cassels is the best forward prospect in our system right now.

The way he competes and plays is huge. A lot of the other kids have a lot to learn from Cassels. At the same time this says pretty dark things to our talent situation. We don't have a lot of high end talent and we are not going to be a very dominant team unless we acquire some.

[LeanBeef]

Found it very interesting that right after they won a cup they actually made moves, and not just of peripheral players. Whereas most teams that experience success (including Vancouver after 2011) just kept going with what they have, milking it for all they can with a few minor tweaks, Chicago isn't shy about making more significant changes to move out older or damaged assets to make way for new and keeping the lineup fresh.

They had to make moves, Bowman had to, he couldn't fit Byfuglien, Versteeg, Ladd, Eager, Sopel, Niemi etc. in the next few years to come, so he had to give em away before he loses them for nothing.

[Jiggs50]

Cray? Try talking in English

produciing like crazy, really? He had 5-6 good games, and did squat for the rest , other than maybe the Anaheim game...yeah hes totally producing as you would say "cray"

Yet another excuse, doesn't get powerplay time, and now powerforwards take this long to produce. You fanboys are such whiners. Brandon Saad is quite the power forward, Tanner Pearson, Emerson Etem, etc. all these guys are power forwards, they are getting better every single year. Kassian has pretty much stayed stagnant or if anything regressed since hes rode the pine pony a few times this year

Try reading the previous posts and see where it starts about Kassian

Brandon Saad is hardly a powerforward. But fine I'll give you that. When did Pearson and Etem become pfwds?? Wtf...

Saad and Pearson play with all star linemates. They aren't expected to fight or hit or bring any sort of physical game.

[D-Money]

Come on now. They didn't use early picks to draft Soviet players back then because they would have to defect to come here to play.

If that wasn't an issue, Bure, Moginy and Fedorov would've been early first round picks.

With all his results Cassels is still projected to be bottom six. An 8th overall has a far better chances of being an impact player than a 3rd rounder.

On top of that, nobody knew for sure if Bure was eligible for the draft. Had he been, even with the questions of defection, he would have been a 1st round pick.

[Sean Monahan]

On top of that, nobody knew for sure if Bure was eligible for the draft. Had he been, even with the questions of defection, he would have been a 1st round pick.

This. IIRC, the Canucks basically took a flyer on him with the idea being that if they couldn't ultimately get him to come over, they weren't really worse off than drafting a North American player by that point in the draft as the chances of a typical 6th round, 113th overall pick making it were pretty slim anyway.

[Putgolzin]

I love Cole, but if you wouldnt trade him for the 8th overall straight up you wouldnt make a good GM

i just did a quick look at players who have actually been drafted in the #8 spot all the way back to magic draft 2003. Eighth overall sure sounds sexy, like there's no way that player won't be an automatic stud forever.

To be honest, with Cole doing what he's doing right now and over the past couple of seasons...there aren't TOO many of those 8th overallers I would trade him for straight up right now.

[Sean Monahan]

i just did a quick look at players who have actually been drafted in the #8 spot all the way back to magic draft 2003. Eighth overall sure sounds sexy, like there's no way that player won't be an automatic stud forever.

To be honest, with Cole doing what he's doing right now and over the past couple of seasons...there aren't TOO many of those 8th overallers I would trade him for straight up right now.

If Werenski or Provorov, for example, were available would you not do it? Rantanen would be a huge piece on RW for us, a place we're pretty thin.

[Provost]

But we all know that you don't have a crystal ball and so you use draft position as a substitute for good judgement.

Pavel Bure was 113 o/a and coincidentally we had the 8th pick in the 1989 draft that year too. His name was JASON HERTER who we never even played and went on to play ONE NHL game in his 9 year career for the New York Islanders.

I could go on with many more examples but what would be the point, your fantasy predictions will top anything in real life. So glad you are not our or anyone else's GM.

For every exception you state where a late pick turned out better than a top 10 pick, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of cases of that not happening. The Soviet example was a poor one because of the political landscape of the time.

Cassels could quite possible make a fine player, the odds of him being an upper end player are still pretty remote. The odds of a top 10 pick being in the upper half of your lineup range from 30-80% depending on where it is. Much better odds.

If you add the Canucks prospect pool to the mix, we already have a guy who will likely be a tweener in Horvat (great 3C and maybe an OK 2C). At his upper end Cassels could reach that spot too. We do not have many top end skill players in the system and are very soon going to be in need of them.

[Derp...]

Cassels is going to our version of D Stepan in my opinion. What is his value?

[alfstonker]

For every exception you state where a late pick turned out better than a top 10 pick, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of cases of that not happening. The Soviet example was a poor one because of the political landscape of the time.

Cassels could quite possible make a fine player, the odds of him being an upper end player are still pretty remote. The odds of a top 10 pick being in the upper half of your lineup range from 30-80% depending on where it is. Much better odds.

If you add the Canucks prospect pool to the mix, we already have a guy who will likely be a tweener in Horvat (great 3C and maybe an OK 2C). At his upper end Cassels could reach that spot too. We do not have many top end skill players in the system and are very soon going to be in need of them.

Ok I give you the Bure pick was a bit "shady" but I dispute your 1000's on an 8th pick (we are not talking about top 10 here) We are not even talking about a forward at 8th.

My point is that after you get out of the top 3 there is a hell of a lot of luck and judgement involved and I would rather have the seasoned eye of JB making a judgement than messier's elbow

[Oliewud]

bo horvat and cole cassels...the future heart and soul of this team.

[FireGillis]

My point is that after you get out of the top 3 there is a hell of a lot of luck and judgement involved and I would rather have the seasoned eye of JB making a judgement than messier's elbow

Seasoned eye Benning thinks sbisa is good and gave him an overpaid contract. I no longer trust Benning's eye for talent.

[Canuck Surfer]

Cassels is displaying why the average ''good'' prospect has to either be uber athletic or very big.

If they don't compete like he does, which is off the charts, Cole is just going to have an advantage unless they have a distinct physical mismatch he cannot handle...

In Coles case its just an issue of how he forges a career competing against a lot more guys who do have such physical gifts.

[Canuck Surfer]

Cassels is going to our version of D Stepan in my opinion. What is his value?

Good style comparison...

[JamesB]

For every exception you state where a late pick turned out better than a top 10 pick, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of cases of that not happening. The Soviet example was a poor one because of the political landscape of the time.

Cassels could quite possible make a fine player, the odds of him being an upper end player are still pretty remote. The odds of a top 10 pick being in the upper half of your lineup range from 30-80% depending on where it is. Much better odds.

If you add the Canucks prospect pool to the mix, we already have a guy who will likely be a tweener in Horvat (great 3C and maybe an OK 2C). At his upper end Cassels could reach that spot too. We do not have many top end skill players in the system and are very soon going to be in need of them.

This is pretty much how I see things except that I think Horvat is quite likely to be better than just an "OK" 2C. I think his top end is as a very good 2C.

He may be a 3rd rounder and projected to by a bottom six but I honestly think Cassels is the best forward prospect in our system right now.

The way he competes and plays is huge. A lot of the other kids have a lot to learn from Cassels. At the same time this says pretty dark things to our talent situation. We don't have a lot of high end talent and we are not going to be a very dominant team unless we acquire some.

HF has the top Canuck prospects as Virtanen, McCann, Demko and Cassels in that order, but you might be right that Cassels is actually the best prospect. It is great that Cassels has done so well, but no third rounder at this stage is likely to be projected as a potential star. And I think the truth is that the Canucks do not really high end prospects in the system.

Cassels, Virtanen, McCann, and Baertschi are all good but, based on their development so far, look like middle 6 forwards. Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Jensen and Grenier are all possibilities to help the team but there is no guarantee they will even become NHL regulars.

It would be nice to have a Reinhart or Ehlers or Bennett or Nylander in the system -- someone who looks like a genuine first liner to take over from the Sedins down the road.

That is one reason it would be nice a high pick this year. Anything in the top 10 should yield a very good prospect.

[Noseforthenet]

Cassels is displaying why the average ''good'' prospect has to either be uber athletic or very big.

If they don't compete like he does, which is off the charts, Cole is just going to have an advantage unless they have a distinct physical mismatch he cannot handle...

In Coles case its just an issue of how he forges a career competing against a lot more guys who do have such physical gifts.

Good post. Also the same reason why I really like Shinkaruk. His compete level is high. Higher than Jensen's. That's for damn sure!

[Fred65]

 

Seasoned eye Benning thinks sbisa is good and gave him an overpaid contract. I no longer trust Benning's eye for talent.

 

I'm with you there, I'm starting to have a little doubt about Benning "eye" for prospects. We've really been spoon fed a lot of imfo. Sbisa I can't understand Clendening IMO nothing to write home about ( In Utica he has 1+4 in 11 games ) and he's supposed to be an offensive D'man. And were Dorsett and Miller over pays. I wonder about Stewart, Sautner signings are we filling our 50 man roster with low end signings. Like every one else I hope Benning turns out to be a great GM with a great eye. But some of his decissions seem out of left field.