Jack Rathbone | #3 | D

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

1 minute ago, Derp... said:

Judd knows him well apparently. Same with Gaudette. You have to give Benning credit for promoting Judd into his role and trusting him though. Thats good GM work

Yup. Great hire by Gillis and an even better promotion by Benning to identify Brackett’s talent within the ranks and install him as our director of scouting.

[dpn1]

2 hours ago, TGokou said:

If Rathbone ever gets to his 3rd-4th year of NCAA status and will be an NHL player I can't see him shunning the Canucks. He has the qualities that suggest he is loyal to his family and team. Plus the Canucks will make sure him and his family feel right at home.

 

Jack is good friends with Demko.  I would think that they would love to play together.

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

5 minutes ago, dpn1 said:

 

Jack is good friends with Demko.  I would think that they would love to play together.

 

[TheHitman]

3 hours ago, RetroCanuck said:

When his high school season is over, can he play in a different league, like the NCAA, for the remainder of the season?

No, chances are both leagues finish around the same time. 
 

3 hours ago, Vanuckles said:

The scouting report on him is amazing... Smooth skater, canon of a shot, has some bite. So what's the knock on him? How come he fell to the 4th round? Is it his size?

He's relatively unknown like many high school players and as a defensemen isn't generally the topic of discussion for scouts watching high school games. He wasn't part of the USNTDP system either, but I'd guess a lot of teams were probably looking to draft him in the later rounds hoping for a steal. Smart move by management to take a risk and get the player they want with this pick. 
 

11 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Unchanged as far as I know. Committed to Harvard for 2018-19.

 

EDIT: 

 

Thanks, didn't see this tweet before. Looking forward to watching him next year. 

[alfstonker]

4 hours ago, Alflives said:

I've only seen short snippets of this guy's play, but he's something special.  We've never had a dman with his talents.  He will be our first true star dman.

Alf have you watched the youtube video of his school playing Cushing where Rathbone No5 is destroying the opposition, the lady commentator who was obviously a "homer" so didn't know the names of the Dexter team said "The No 5 has had a lot of looks, I don't think we want to give him any more" 

[Keenan's Moustache]

5 hours ago, TGokou said:

If Rathbone ever gets to his 3rd-4th year of NCAA status and will be an NHL player I can't see him shunning the Canucks. He has the qualities that suggest he is loyal to his family and team. Plus the Canucks will make sure him and his family feel right at home.

Yet, here on CDC, anytime we have a decent NCAA prospect that reaches their 3rd year (ie, Schneider, Demko, Gaudette, etc), the sky is falling mentality immediately overtakes these forums. 

 

Personally, so long as he doesn't turn into one of our ex-4th round D prospect who also attended high school and then a colorful career at Harvard (ie, academic scandal, injuries, subsequent decision to test free agency after completion of senior season which prompted Benning to trade him for a 7th (Tate Olson)), I would consider it a win, since the likelihood of 4th round picks making the NHL from this organization are so rare.  Right now, as it stands, it looks like Benning, Brackett and co. may have found a gem; hopefully, over time, this gem may be recognized as a diamond, as opposed to a cubic zirconia. 

[spook007]

1 hour ago, Keenan's Moustache said:

Yet, here on CDC, anytime we have a decent NCAA prospect that reaches their 3rd year (ie, Schneider, Demko, Gaudette, etc), the sky is falling mentality immediately overtakes these forums. 

 

Personally, so long as he doesn't turn into one of our ex-4th round D prospect who also attended high school and then a colorful career at Harvard (ie, academic scandal, injuries, subsequent decision to test free agency after completion of senior season which prompted Benning to trade him for a 7th (Tate Olson)), I would consider it a win, since the likelihood of 4th round picks making the NHL from this organization are so rare.  Right now, as it stands, it looks like Benning, Brackett and co. may have found a gem; hopefully, over time, this gem may be recognized as a diamond, as opposed to a cubic zirconia. 

Yes, and you can change that to another gem

 

[TheHitman]

3 hours ago, Keenan's Moustache said:

Yet, here on CDC, anytime we have a decent NCAA prospect that reaches their 3rd year (ie, Schneider, Demko, Gaudette, etc), the sky is falling mentality immediately overtakes these forums. 

 

Personally, so long as he doesn't turn into one of our ex-4th round D prospect who also attended high school and then a colorful career at Harvard (ie, academic scandal, injuries, subsequent decision to test free agency after completion of senior season which prompted Benning to trade him for a 7th (Tate Olson)), I would consider it a win, since the likelihood of 4th round picks making the NHL from this organization are so rare.  Right now, as it stands, it looks like Benning, Brackett and co. may have found a gem; hopefully, over time, this gem may be recognized as a diamond, as opposed to a cubic zirconia. 

McNally certainly did not live up to his potential.

[Bissurnette]

18 hours ago, TheHitman said:

No, chances are both leagues finish around the same time. 
 

He's relatively unknown like many high school players and as a defensemen isn't generally the topic of discussion for scouts watching high school games. He wasn't part of the USNTDP system either, but I'd guess a lot of teams were probably looking to draft him in the later rounds hoping for a steal. Smart move by management to take a risk and get the player they want with this pick. 
 

Thanks, didn't see this tweet before. Looking forward to watching him next year. 

Ahh I see. To be fair though, the league a player plays in does have a lot to say about the kids performance. I'm glad he's doing well, hopefully he can keep up his development and progress.

[SingleThorn]

As an eternally optimistic ( aka.....unrealistic ) Canuck fan, all our shiny new toys are future Calder Cup winners ( the rookie NHL version ). Whether it's  Kristoffer Gunnarsson, Adam Gaudette or Jack Rathbone, I expect them all to enter the NHL HOF. Expectations have let us down a tad too often, sadly. Will pay special attention to all Harvard games next year. Jack Rathbone has Erik Karlsson written all over him (.....or not ).

 

12 hours ago, TheHitman said:

McNally certainly did not live up to his potential.

The McNally draft was hard to get excited about. Our first pick in the 4th round didn't get anyone trembling with hope and expectations. McNally did look like a great pick for a while ( I believe he was fairly high on the 'nuck wish list......late 1st round ? 2nd round ? ) but then everything went wobbly and fell off the tracks.

[dpn1]

And I have to echo that he has to make it with that name alone. 

[Odd.]

16 hours ago, TheHitman said:

McNally certainly did not live up to his potential.

I remember wanting to sign McNally over Hutton. Glad we didn't.

[Qwags]

Rathbone is a badass name.

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

Looks like Rathbone picked up another 2 assists earlier in tonight’s game (or yesterday’s now).

 

He was also named 2nd star.

 

 

So I believe that brings him to 21 points (6G 15A) in his 12 games played this season.

 

EDIT: If you read the article, the “elite 8” they talk about is the postseason tournament (I believe held in early March) between the top-8 ranked New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) schools. The article says Dexter is ranked 6th and the USHR has them 5th in this week’s rankings.

Edited February 17, 2018 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

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

Also worth noting that the USHR website has the following:

 

“In his 8 games since returning from injury, senior D Jack Rathbone has a 4-12-16 line.” 

 

That was before the Feb 16th game.

 

They also have him in first place in New England Prep defensemen stats with 1.83 points per game this season:

 

https://www.ushr.com/neprep/stats/2017/div-1/scoring?defense=1

 

Which would mean he actually has 22 points in 12 games.

 

EDIT: Rathbone is also 8th in points per game among all players (including forwards) in his league (per USHR.com).

 

 

Edited February 17, 2018 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

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

Interesting little tidbit:

 

Rathbone’s current points per game (1.83) is actually higher than what Ryan Donato put-up (1.71) when he also returned to play for Dexter in his D+1.

 

Yup, at the same age and at the same school, Rathbone is outscoring a current Team USA Olympian, Hobey Baker Candidate, and likely future NHL forward.

 

Donato did score at a higher points per game in some of his previous years at Dexter but I believe at that point in time they still played in the “small school” group against a much lower level of competition. Dexter now plays in the highest level group of New England Prep.

[Noble 6]

All of this along with his playstyle is very encouraging. However, I think we should reserve judgments/predictions on how he'll progress until he plays in the NCAA. Not that anyone's doing it now, but I think we will get a much more accurate presentation of what we have in Rathbone there. 

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

2 hours ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

All of this along with his playstyle is very encouraging. However, I think we should reserve judgments/predictions on how he'll progress until he plays in the NCAA. Not that anyone's doing it now, but I think we will get a much more accurate presentation of what we have in Rathbone there. 

Yeah, I agree on nearly every point. I think as far as predictions go, they’re fine to make at this point in the development cycle, but they just don’t have a tonne of actual predictive value. I can look at hundreds of teenagers and see possible future NHLers in them. But I know that only a small percentage of them will ever come close. That doesn’t stop me from saying they might skate or shoot like (insert name of NHL star). But I assume most people who frequent this forum understand that point (although recently it’s been brought to my attention that some people might not).

[Noble 6]

30 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Yeah, I agree on nearly every point. I think as far as predictions go, they’re fine to make at this point in the development cycle, but they just don’t have a tonne of actual predictive value. I can look at hundreds of teenagers and see possible future NHLers in them. But I know that only a small percentage of them will ever come close. That doesn’t stop me from saying they might skate or shoot like (insert name of NHL star). But I assume most people who frequent this forum understand that point (although recently it’s been brought to my attention that some people might not).

 

Yup, agree over here. 

 

It feels like a much smaller version of the Mittlestadt debate last year when he was playing high school hockey in his draft year. There were a lot of people who were wary of the highlight reel plays against that level of competition and felt that it would be risky to pick him until he proved himself in a more competitive environment, which wouldn't be possible until after he was drafted. I was one of the ones who felt that way. People were talking about the fact that he has "Patrick Kane hands," but it was tough to get an accurate read on what he could become. Now that we can consider his NCAA and WJC performance to date, predictions look a lot more accurate. 

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

8 minutes ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

 

Yup, agree over here. 

 

It feels like a much smaller version of the Mittlestadt debate last year when he was playing high school hockey in his draft year. There were a lot of people who were wary of the highlight reel plays against that level of competition and felt that it would be risky to pick him until he proved himself in a more competitive environment, which wouldn't be possible until after he was drafted. I was one of the ones who felt that way. People were talking about the fact that he has "Patrick Kane hands," but it was tough to get an accurate read on what he could become. Now that we can consider his NCAA and WJC performance to date, predictions look a lot more accurate. 

For me, the only thing that I feel pretty sure about is the quality of Rathbone’s skating. Whether it’s in his current Prep league or the taste we got at Vancouver’s camp, he looks a cut above and very special. It remains to be seen how well the rest of his toolbox will translate to higher levels, but he’ll be an NHL grade skater at very least. And that alone can get a guy a long way. If the rest of his skills follow suit—look out because we’ll have quite a player then.