Guest Dasein Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Nothing on the youngest member of the gold medal-winning CAN WJC squad on this board, so I shall start. When Crouse was invited ahead of some high profile 2015 draft-eligibles (ex. Marner) and made the team over MDC, I was scratching my head because I had not seen Crouse play before. Fast forward to today - here I am watching the game and there is Lawson Crouse out there on the ice protecting a 5-4 lead in the last minutes of the 3rd period. Wow. In a 19-year-olds' tournament, the youngest player on the team was trusted with playing crucial minutes in the last minutes of the game when some 18 and 19-year-olds were glued to the bench to protect the lead. My question is, how high does this kid go? I had no idea his game was this complete. If he had a bit more scoring touch (or develop it leading up to the draft), I think he would go top 5 easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossi Vaananen Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Surprised me too, though it was the defensibly aware players that sure stood out in this game. He seems to have a great two way game, no real hitches in his skating or compete level. Production seems to be his hang up, though he's playing a men's game at 17. Reminds me of a forward version of Tanev. Should almost have a thread dedicated to defensive junior prospects, as I feel this WJC showcased guys like Crouse, Gavrikov, Sharov, Reway and Paul. If Horvat is any indication, the defensively aware guy makes it first, and sticks. Anyways, food for thought. Easily the best world juniors I've seen; the small ice seems to up the compete level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rey Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Well Crouse has always been ranked in the top 10. Who knows, where he will end up but the 2015 draft has always been considered deep. This is suppose to be the 03 draft again, where all the first round guys could be potential stars. Top 10-15 guys are potential franchise guys here. Crouse has huge upside, a 6'4 guy that works really hard but i just don't see a lot of GM's picking him over guys with more natural offensive abilities and talent. I think we will see at the combine how he does, but it reminds me of Ryan O'Reilly situation where people decided to pass on him for the same reasons. Except Crouse doesn't seem to have the same skating issues. He's probably going to be drafted around 8-15. It all depends who the scouts like more. I think there are a lot of guys right now, who see Crouse as a guy, kind of like Kesler that will start off as a grinder right away but find his offensive touch later in his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I don't think he'll drop further than 8th IMO. From what I saw I think he has potential to be a really good shut down forward that can wear out the opposing players and be used in crucial situations of a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toews Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I think any talk of going in the top 5 is absolutely ridiculous. I find even the top 10 to be a stretch. I will admit I am not much of a fan of Crouse's game and how it will translate. There are some real high upside prospects available in this draft that I would much rather go far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Top-5? Wow, no. Seems insane to rank him that high in this draft. But as far as us taking him? Another LW seems redundant. We desperately need a quick, strong and offensively capable defenseman. If Crouse goes too early, then that's good news for us then, as one of the top d-men may be available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 He's in the top 6, Hanifin, Strome, Marner, Crouse are all battling for 3-6. I think Strome, Marner and Hanifin are in the top 5 but Crouse is just outside. Alot more skill and speed than Ritchie but Ritchie is probably the more meaner player, Crouse finishes hits and doesn't backdown just like Ritchie but Ritchie is the type of guy to punch someone in the face after the play while Crouse can push and shove but won't punch probably because he's a smarter player and a better hockey player rather than a fighter type of guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canucks1219 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 As if quality power forwards weren't rare enough, this one is smart, responsible, and very mature. The question for me is whether or not he has the offensive upside to be a top line winger in the NHL. I feel confident that he will be a top-6 player but you're going to want to make damn sure that a player, especially a winger, you pick that high (top-10) becomes a top-line player. Top-5? Wow, no. Seems insane to rank him that high in this draft. But as far as us taking him? Another LW seems redundant. We desperately need a quick, strong and offensively capable defenseman. If Crouse goes too early, then that's good news for us then, as one of the top d-men may be available. We literally have no top-6 calibre player in that position behind Shinkaruk. If the answer is Virtanen, well, he's no longer a LW as he plays RW full-time with the Hitmen. Not to mention he looked a lot more comfortable playing the right-side during the WJC. I agree we need an offensive defenseman. Assuming we finish in the teens, there should be one of Ivan Provorov, Matthew Spencer, Jeremy Roy, Ryan Pilon, or Nicolas Meloche available for us. That being said, if we can pry an early 2nd round pick off someone (somehow...), I might prefer gambling on the possibility that one of them will be still available there and take a forward with our first round pick. We also can't count out guys like Rasmus Andersson, Thomas Chabot, Jakub Zboril, Thomas Schemitsch, Mitchell Vande Sompel, and Gustav Bouramman, who are all offensively-capable defenseman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd. Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I like Jakub Zboril and Thomas Chabot. Especially Chabot. I'd take either one of them in the second round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Crouse is not going to fall to us. If he did, he would be a steal. Still, if we found ourselves in good drafting territory, I'd take an elite offensive center (All our centre prospects project to be capable second/third liners at best) to take over for Hank when he's gone, or a high calibre defenseman over Crouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dasein Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I acknowledged his offensive shortcomings - Crouse going top 5 is contingent on him figuring things out offensively and putting up some good numbers in the OHL because he has literally everything else. This tournament should have given him lots of confidence and experience - if he breaks out offensively, it's not too far fetched that a team prefers a 6'4" 200+lbs power forward with a strong two-way game over some of the others contending in the top 5 not named McDavid or Eichel. Top 15 for sure - in all likelihood, top 10 - if Crouse takes it to the next level offensively, top 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeanBeef Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Reminds me of a more physical Matthias. Drove the net hard and was a beast on the boards with Ritchie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seven pounds soft Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Big kid. Kinda reminds me is Sean couturier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowYaDrouin Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 ISS Top 30 has him ranked #3 in their January rankings. http://www.isshockey.com/iss-top-30/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithers joe Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 he was ranked 18th on button's december ranking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canucks1219 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 he was ranked 18th on button's december ranking. Button is the same guy that ranked Virtanen #43 (or thereabouts) in his final rankings before the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dasein Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 ISS Top 30 has him ranked #3 in their January rankings. http://www.isshockey.com/iss-top-30/ That's pretty crazy. I wouldn't say top 3 but it does go to show that he's in the conversation among the top picks of this year's draft after McEichel. Need to see a little more offense from him to place him in the top 5, but top 10 may not be out of question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.