June 14, 2025 • 39 mins
SteelFlyers All Sports Network
Brought to you by www.steelflyers.com
Warning! Prospect Watch is not your average hockey podcast and that's OK with us.
Our goal is to introduce you to stars in the making from all over the world.They may not be household names yet but we assure you they will be soon enough.
Welcome to Prospect Watch a Pod Cast that focuses solely on the discovery and promotion of some of the best young talent in the game today from all reaches of the world.
On this special 2025 NHL Draft Edition Prospect Watch is proud to welcome RUSS COHEN to the show!!!
On the show we will break down our "Sure Hit" picks, "Fast Risers" picks and some "Sleeper & Hidden Gen" picks in this upcoming NHL Draft.
Check out Russ Cohen HERE:
www.sportsology.com
nhldraftbuzz.com
NHL Network Radio (Sirius XM 91)
Hockey Prospect Radio
X: @sportsology
FB: facebook.com/russ.cohen
Instagram: @Sportsology
ALSO Check out Russ's latest book:
Game Winners: Greatest Game Winning Goals in Hockey History!
https://www.amazon.com/Game-Winners-Greatest-Game-Winning-History/dp/B0DQKR6V3D
Get all the latest on the Prospect Watch Show right here
https://steelflyers.com/links/prospectwatchshow/
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/prospect-watch--5587768
Email - prospectwatch@steelflyers.com
Follow the show on X @ProspectWatch23
Ron, follow on X @SteelFlyers52
Please Hit the like and subscribe!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/prospect-watch--5587768/support.
Brought to you by www.steelflyers.com
Warning! Prospect Watch is not your average hockey podcast and that's OK with us.
Our goal is to introduce you to stars in the making from all over the world.They may not be household names yet but we assure you they will be soon enough.
Welcome to Prospect Watch a Pod Cast that focuses solely on the discovery and promotion of some of the best young talent in the game today from all reaches of the world.
On this special 2025 NHL Draft Edition Prospect Watch is proud to welcome RUSS COHEN to the show!!!
On the show we will break down our "Sure Hit" picks, "Fast Risers" picks and some "Sleeper & Hidden Gen" picks in this upcoming NHL Draft.
Check out Russ Cohen HERE:
www.sportsology.com
nhldraftbuzz.com
NHL Network Radio (Sirius XM 91)
Hockey Prospect Radio
X: @sportsology
FB: facebook.com/russ.cohen
Instagram: @Sportsology
ALSO Check out Russ's latest book:
Game Winners: Greatest Game Winning Goals in Hockey History!
https://www.amazon.com/Game-Winners-Greatest-Game-Winning-History/dp/B0DQKR6V3D
Get all the latest on the Prospect Watch Show right here
https://steelflyers.com/links/prospectwatchshow/
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/prospect-watch--5587768
Email - prospectwatch@steelflyers.com
Follow the show on X @ProspectWatch23
Ron, follow on X @SteelFlyers52
Please Hit the like and subscribe!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/prospect-watch--5587768/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Warning, prospect Watch is not your average hockey podcast, and
that's okay with us. Our goal is to introduce you
to stars in the making from all over the world.
They may not be household names yet, but we assure
you they will be soon enough. Welcome to prospect Watch.
(00:45):
Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the next episode of prospect
Watch with your host Plan.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's Green all right, guys, So a very special edition
of prospect Watch here. As you usually know, we usually
have some young prospects joining us to get us to
get their minds. But Russ Russ Cohen is here, a amazing,
(01:11):
amazing talent in the realm that we would like to
be in and uh, you know look up to. So
I mean, we're gonna pick his brain here on some
of this twenty twenty five draft picks that both of
us are all three of us rather maybe have interviewed
(01:31):
guys from this realm, have have seen guys at different
games that we've covered. You know, Russ recently went to
the Combine, so we're going we're pretty knowledgeable about this
draft class and I just want to pick everybody's brain
here because there's some very intriguing prospects in this draft.
(01:51):
So Ron, you know, why don't you kind of start
it off and and and give us, you know, the
rundown of how how we're gonna run.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
All right, Well, first of all, Russ, thanks for joining us, man,
And we didn't mean to call you old, No, you
didn't in a roundabout way.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Amy, I got I got a lot of gray up
there too, so we all got in the gray, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
All right, so we're all the gray beards. Okay, Well,
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Here, Russ.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
We the first thing we would like to do is
just kind of get your take on what you got
to experience at the Combine. We saw a lot of
great tweets from you, We saw a lot of great
information coming out from you about the Combine. We probably
had quite a few guys that we even interviewed were
(02:41):
there at the Combine. I mean there was ninety players there, right.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
What was the one player you would name that would
probably just hit you right off the top of your head,
was like, this guy's gonna this guy's gonna be the one.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Aside from the obvious, I.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Think they separate themselves a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Who do you think would be starting to get into
like the Flyers range or you know what I mean,
like six in below. Who do you think is going
to be that one guy you think is going to
be that sure thing?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Well, I mean, you know this, this might surprise you,
but I know the Flyers like Victor Echeling.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
A lot, and yeah, he's impressive to talk to.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And since I can't use Anton Frondell, I'm going to
use Victor Ecklin because he's a really charming guy, like
besides being a great player, great skater, a terrific passer.
You know, I did get into the nitty gritty with
him a little bit about the World Juniors because I
felt like he was misused, and without him saying he
was misused, he he said, yeah, he was cast in
(03:47):
a particular role where he just did the best he
could and he wasn't the best role for his offense. Offense,
but you know, he was one of the younger guys,
if not the youngest, So like I get it. I
think with that knowledge and everything else, I think other
teams are going to be very interested in that, and
(04:09):
I think that makes him a short fire top ten
for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, Lance, who do you I mean we've we didn't
get to go to the Combine unfortunately, you know what
I mean. But we've spoken to quite a few of
the of the of the top players here at least
that are going to go in the first couple of rounds.
Who do you think is your surefire guy?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
A guy that we interviewed and one of my favorite
players in this draft I think has got to be
Ksha on Agentsen. He for me is a guy that
is a bit of a fast riser I think right
now too, but just a can't miss guy that I
(04:54):
would want on a team. If I was starting a
team right now, I would want me being an old goaltender,
I would want a shutdown defenceman. And you know he
did that for Barry the Colts up in the OHL
this season, and not only did he shut out guys
(05:14):
on a nightly basis like Michael Mishcha and Porter Mortone,
he was able to actually lead the team in points
as well as a defenceman. Guys, He's a left hand
shooting defenseman, big big kid six, Maybe not got the hype,
(05:35):
but he plays a lot bigger than he is already
and twenty six goals, thirty three assists, fifty nine points
from a defenseman, Yes please, I'll take that. And you know,
very physical player, just my kind of guy on the
back end, can throw the gloves down when he has
to to defend players. Just an overall amazing kid. When
(05:59):
we spoke to him, he just gets it. He knows
what his role is, he plays it well, and man,
he'd be one of my can't miss guys for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
He The one thing I can add about Kashawan and
he's a really great kid, is you know he's from
an athletic family. He is a guy that is like
a cerebral assassin. He will want to get you to
not want to go into the corner for the puck.
After a while, he wants to shut you down. I
don't know if his offense will be as big as
it is in juniors. It won't be, but everything else
(06:31):
will be really good. And he might be casting a
role where you know, offense is just going to be secondary,
but he can do that other heavy lifting.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
As a defenseman. Yeah, we really liked his game as
a defenseman and oh yeah and yeah, and either way
the offense will come, but he has that mindset of
defense first. His coach would come to him and be like, hey,
you know, we need you to take out Porter Martone
for the game, and Porter Marton would not show up
on the statue for the game, right, Yeah, I mean
(07:02):
I'm with Lance. I'm for that all day long. Right,
So I guess my guy, I guess would say, and
I know you had some reservations about this Lance, and
but we even interviewed him as Roger McQueen. Everything about
him just speaks of the NHL as far as I'm concerned.
(07:23):
As far as I'm concerned, he has all the tools.
He's in the combine fully healthy, okay. And when he
is fully healthy, I mean we saw what happened with
Schaeffer broken collar bone, missed a good portion of the year.
Roger McQueen missed, you know, because of a spine or
(07:45):
back injury or whatever. But he's fully healthy, good to go.
I would definitely have a Roger McQueen on my team
all day long.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I like him and I think he's a great kid.
I did speak to him. I have a video up
on my Instagram for him. The thing is, he did
say that bigger guys take longer to warm up, and
that's not really true, but it's true for him, and
it's true for him because he has this back issue
that he's now over for the moment, but it can
(08:18):
flare up when you get a.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Crack like he had in the vertebrae. That's what the
word is on that. If you look up the.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Term for it, it's something that can definitely have him
miss games every season and he's warming up is going
to be a lot more than other players, and he's
going to take a lot of physical abuse because that's
the way he plays, besides having the offense. So he
is a can't miss but he's going to miss games,
and that's what you have to wonder is how many
And is it going to turn into a situation like hey,
(08:53):
if you're a team like the Flyers and you draft him,
you can't draft them six because if he has a
Nolan Patrick kind of injury like that and all of
a sudden three years he's out, Yeah, it's gonna be terrible.
And I don't hold it against Olan Patrick. He was
a really good player, but those migraines took him out.
If he has something like that take him out, that's
too much risk. So I can't I can't do it
(09:15):
with a sixth pick.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
So it depends where you picked McQueen.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
If you're picking him from somewhere like thirteen fourteen down, fine, okay, I.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I couldn't any more that. That was my only kind
of reservations about him. Great player was a point per
game player, a goal per game player, if I if
my memory serves me, right before he got injured this
season at six foot five, one hundred and ninety two pounds,
just a force on the fore check and.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Anything in the playoffs, and he did okay.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
And yeah, yeah, you know, he came back for playoffs
and everything, and he participated at the combine.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Talked about getting misdiagnosed and that's frustrating that happens to players.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Right, So, yeah, he was misdiagnosed for a short time
and instead of going out and being able to get
the surgery that he needed to be able to come
back earlier, he was kind of misdiagnosed. So he kind
of you know, it stinks that this really happened to
him in his draft season. But yeah, man, I really
like this kid. But like like Russ said, man, if
(10:18):
I'm a team like the Flyers or somebody in that
realm of uh, you know, that six through ten, I
might I might pass on him and take another guy
just because I wouldn't want that Nolan Patrick and I
wrote about that in one of my Flyers mock drafts, yeah,
and saying that I would pass on him. There's tons
of players like that. And and Anton Frondell was kind
(10:41):
of injured. He had a little bit of a wrist injury.
A lot of players that.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Are in that actually really okay.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Actually he's he's one hundred percent now.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
If you watch the way he worked out, he excelled.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And that's I have a video that him just doing
a vertical leap on Instagram and it's really good. And
he was and wingate. So I don't worry about from dall,
He's fine.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Okay, Right, So I wanted to I wanted to just
kind of say that name because we do like him,
but the reservations that we had, and I wanted to
get your take on it. Russ On Queen, You're yeah,
on the Queen because of kind of where we thought
we were. Lance was spot on. You pretty much confirmed
(11:25):
where Lance was coming from. You know what I mean,
he is pretty much a can't miss guy. But you,
like you said, no, potentially miss games. Okay, all right,
all right, Lance, what do you think the next player
you've got on your list their boss.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
As far as can't miss or what are we talking about?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well, let's go let's go with uh, well we already
kind of did can't miss guys, so let's go with
say fast risers.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, Yeah, So I would say a guy that for
me is a fast riser. And I'm hearing a lot
about his name now, and it's a guy again who
we interviewed earlier in the year when kind of nobody
really knew about him, and this is before World Juniors
(12:11):
and everything like that. Is Aleian new Newland Swander goaltender
from Switzerland, really really showed up this year at you know,
World Juniors. You know, eighteen year old, six foot four
one and ninety eight pounds. He's a guy who is
(12:33):
a bit of a tranditional goaltender, stand up guy, and
a lot of teams are kind of buzzing on him
right now because of that. You know, he really didn't
get a chance to get up to the top level
of pro hockey over there in the National League because
of the team that he was on. But definitely definitely
(12:57):
a guy that I'm going to say is a fast
riser right now and that people should be really looking
out for.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Okay, Yeah, I spoke to him and you know, and
he told me he met with the Flyers. I didn't
have many viewings of him, and I'm not a goalie expert,
but I looked and I looked at him just the
other night and mostly liked what I saw.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
I felt like the glove was needs to be improved.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
I felt like I asked him a question lance about
him going into the RVH too early like this, he
do that because some goalies do that and they kind
of give it away. And he did admit that he's
very committed to RV eight. So you hope that somebody
talks to him and maybe can get him to be
hybrid at times, because just being six foot four doesn't
(13:45):
always do it, as you know, because you see how
guys are very coy about that as you move up
the ladder.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
But everything else look good. Like that's my only criticism.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yeah, I find it with goaltenders, and I mean I
coach young goaltenders and everything like that too. It's a
lot easier to take a kid who's in a stand
up style goaltender and get him to go down a
little bit more to cover plays up and you know,
stop plays, you know, so you can change lines and
everything like that, rather than reverse and get a guy
(14:15):
that's butterfly butterfly butterfly, you know, as soon as they
cross the blue line and then you know, get him
to kind of try to stand up more. It's it's
easier the other way around, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, So, Russ, who who do you think would be
a fast rider? Who do you have in the draft?
There'll be a fast riser, I guess you would say, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I think Jacob brownback six foot five or six defenseman.
As I kept speaking more to guys in the us JL,
they were like, he was one of the hardest guys
to deal with, harder guys to play against.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I think, I don't know if I know.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I didn't put up a video on him yet because
I'm gonna be writing a feature on him for Elite Prospects,
so that'll come out soon. And I did kind of
put it to him, like asking him about are you
a good skater or you're a good skater for a
big guy, Like which is it?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
He said no, if you say I'm a good skater
for a big guy. I take that as a compliment.
So I feel like he passed that test.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
He's a very humble kid, but he can be physical.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, he can actually get the pluck to the net,
which is a thing where you kind of wonder once
in a while defenseman can do that.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah, he's not a.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Big offensive guy, but if he can do that, and
I still think he's skating can get a little better.
I know he's going to get stronger, Like he's nowhere
near where his man strike is going to be. So
I feel like, now he's definitely in the first round,
how much further up in the first round can he go?
Like he's probably you know, twenty two, twenty three and on,
(15:44):
he's probably start thinking about him.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Okay, And he was one of the kids we interview too.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, we definitely interviewed him this season. And he's a
big kid man, six foot six over two hundred pounds.
Now he just seem to keep growing. He doesn't skate
like a six foot six player.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Yeah, he's a lot more get better as he's when
he's done growing.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, I've seen it even this season as far as
his stride and you know, It's something he's still working
on for sure, and I think every big defender or
even forward is going to be working on that at
at eighteen years old for sure. Yeah, he scored what
three goals this year fifteen assists for eighteen points, was
(16:33):
a plus twenty nine. That's what I really liked about him.
Plus player in the USHL. USHL is getting to be
a lot better league in that aspect. A lot more
guys are coming over from overseas to play in the
USHL and it's getting a lot better quality. You know,
(16:54):
I really like him. He played for the Lincoln Stars
and like like Steel said, we interviewed him as well,
and uh, you know, couldn't have enough nice things to
say about this guy. And I think he's going to be, uh,
definitely one of those kids that is going to be
bumping up after after you know, the combine and teams
(17:14):
getting the chance to actually speak at this guy and
and you know, hearing him and and how well he
is put together already, He'll be bumping up people's draft
for sure. Yep.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I agree, that's a that's a great name, Russ. We
really like that name.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Uh, I'm I'm kind of tossing around Lyndon Lakovic. Really
like this kid's game, really like what he was able
to do in the w HL for the Moose Jaws.
Uh was able to put up some good points. Has
has good body, has I I see, I see a
(17:53):
higher ceiling for him, Like I don't think he's met
his ceiling yet, you know what I mean? No, no, no,
no way right right a right so and he's young too,
So that's kind of the guy that I think would
be a fast riser because I think if you look
at him, maybe early second round, maybe even I would
even say late first round.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Maybe even though I have him higher, I mean, I'm
over bullish on him the most. I have him at
eleven because I and I and I'm going to back
it up because when I saw him there, I saw
like a guy who's like thighs and such aren't fully
developed at all. And I wonder when he puts on
that extra twenty five pounds of muscle and then that
(18:36):
that core gets big yep, man, I mean, and usually
when you come up with a list, there's a variance
of five or more, so that would put him around
sixteen or so. Do I think someone might might go
for him sixteen to twenty. Yeah, I think that somebody
might because he's a package.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
He did say he is never going back to playing
center because I asked him about it, because he played
when he was around fifteen, comfortable being that.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
That power winger. So I like him for that.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
There's not that many of those guys that are effective
scoring like he is in this draft like it was Marton,
and I think he's one of the next best guys
in that.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So that's why I picked him as my fast riser
because of that exact reason there. I think he follows
in that same Martone kind of mold where he's he's
able to, you know, do the things he's able to
do offensively.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
So so okay, yeah, yeah, I think you know, we
interviewed him early early on in the season, and you know,
big power forward six foot four hundred and ninety pounds.
His numbers went up obviously, as they should in a
draft year where he had eighteen goals this season before
now he had twenty seven. That's getting into a lot
(19:47):
better rum. And he had thirty nine points his draft
minus one season. Now he had fifty eight. And the
only only stat that I think a lot of people
before the combine really had him slotting down from where
he originally was. I'm very high on him too, Russ,
as far as I think that maybe twelve to fifteen
(20:08):
range he might pop out nicely, or if he does drop,
I think a lot of teams will be shooting up
and making some calls to kind of get him because
it may be one of the guys they have on
their board. But that minus twenty five stat I don't
think moose Jaw was as dominant as they have been
in years past, and I think that really hurt his
(20:30):
stock having that minus because he was minus player of
the Year before. But I think that kind of hurt him.
But getting back into that combine and just seeing how
powerful he is and everything like that, and how you know,
well he too can skate, is something that is is
gonna get that stock back up maybe to where it
(20:51):
should be.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I mean, just to put things into perspective, I mean,
let's say he's one hundred and ninety two pounds, right,
James Hagen's is now one hundred and eighty five pounds, right,
So he takes wrong right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Oh yeah, going to take another year or two to
kind of fill out yeah, and and learn to play
with that body mass and everything. And I think it's
only going to do him well because the physical game
that he plays already.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, okay, all right, so now we'll go with what
do you think Lance's sleeper pick?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, a hidden gem or a.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Sleeper, hidden jam or a sleeper. And we'll go with
our guests on this one here, Russ, what do you
think about like a hidden gem or a sleeper?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with David Lewandowski, h German kid.
I might have played for Saskatoon. I forget which which team.
Interesting guy, really good shot, liked him in international play,
had a really good season, spoke to him, nine teams
spoke And I think that says something because I don't
(22:02):
think he was on anybody's radar early in the year.
He got on my radar midyear and yeah, so I
think there's something there. And and I like the kid.
I thought he was an interesting guy. I may end
up writing about him. So yeah, I think there's something
there with him. And we'll see, like, we'll see what happens.
But you know, he's probably gonna be like a third
(22:25):
fourth rounder, I think. But there's some offensive ability there.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. I was trying to get
in touch with him and his people all year long.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
I say that, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Gosh, I like him as well. Russ, I've been on
him about that same time. Yeah, then where he kind
of really before he came over, you know he. I
think he came over to the Blades late or a
little bit into the season, a little bit into it.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
He I thought he showed well in the World Juniors.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yes, yeah, there's a couple of there's a couple of
German guys that really showed out well this year. And
we interviewed some of the other ones, but couldn't get
David on the show.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
But I did and I'll probably write about him so ill.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
We're looking for that one good deal, good deal.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
So Las, who do you got is your sleeper hidden gym?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
And I got about like a list as long as here.
I'm gonna make me make me pick one man. If
I if I had to pick anybody, I'm gonna go
h goder Amaco. I think that's how you said, Russ,
correct me if I've heard I've heard different announcers say it,
(23:49):
like all different a Mico. I love this kid. US
National team six foot six defenseman, two and thirty four
pounds mo bile mobile defenseman. At that his reach, I mean,
is that of a seven foot center in the w
n B or w Uh. I'm sorry, NBA, I'm sorry.
(24:12):
I'm just so excited about Carter here. He is a
player that also got hurt this year, so I think
his stock a couple of times a lot and man, uh,
just a physical presence when I'm when I'm talking physical guys,
I think he's one of the most physical players in
the draft. He hits you. When he hits you, You're
(24:34):
you're laid out on the ice. It's not just taking
it's taking you out of reality, Like you're rolling back
to the bench trying to ask what's the plate number
of that truck that hits you? That is how physical
this guy is. I'm thinking a dustin buffering in the sense,
(24:55):
but without maybe the offensive.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, he does so much.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
No, he doesn't have that offense.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
He's gonna be more of a shutdown guy.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
He's gonna be more of that shutdown defenceman. You know,
just just amazing, amazing young player that I think a
lot of people. He only played in thirteen games this year,
a lot of guys didn't get the time to see
him play, but he's committed to Boston University, and you know,
I'm really really excited to get to see him there
(25:26):
in a program because he's not a guy we're we're
talking about that's gonna be a year away or something
like that. He's gonna he's gonna probably play a couple
of years in the NCAA. Especially bigger defenseman, they take
a little bit longer. But he's gonna be as somebody
special that I'm going to keep an eye on for
right now.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Yeah, I did speak to Carter, and of course teams
want to know about his injuries, and he was pretty
open about it. Now, he didn't get a similar injury
twice this year, so.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
That was a little concern about that. You know, he
looks to be in good shape.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
I did have him as a first rounder after the
Fall Classic, but then I had to take him out
when he just kept getting injured. So I think he'll
he'll be one of those first ten to twelve picks
in the second round.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's where I kind of had him to a lot
of teams, or it depends who falls obviously, as every
year you have some players that you think are definite
first round picks that are going to fall, and you know,
once those kind of guys go, I think some teams
are going to take a chance with a second round pick,
especially if they have multiple second round picks. There's a
couple of teams out there that have multiple second round picks,
(26:33):
so I see as one of them possibly taking a
chance on him, sending it, you know, allow him to
go to college for a year or two. Yeah, and
just and just watching you know that this player unfold there.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Okay, I'm gonna throw the whole monkey into rench here,
and I'm going to go with a name that I
don't think he was at the combine, but I'm going
to go with Aiden Park.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Oh Aiden Park. Yeah, I interviewed him last year.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Okay, this kid. Now, I know he's plus one on
his draft year because his draft year was last year
and he's plus one. But he admitted to us that
he was not ready to be drafted last year. Admitted
that to us, right, Okay, And when you come out
(27:22):
and admit that to me and then say this year
was a much better year. I did things much differently,
way better, and and everything that I've seen from him
his numbers are there, he's got good size. He's six' to,
one like one hundred and eighty seven pounds something like.
That he's got all the. Tools he you, know he's
definitely not going to go in the first, round you
(27:43):
know WHAT i. Mean BUT i THINK i definitely think
he's a. SLEEPER i think.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
His uncle was a good, player.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Right, Right, okay he even mentioned about him as well,
Too SO i, MEAN i really think he was going
to be a. Sleeper some team is going to pick
him up and get a good. PLAYER i Think i'll.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Give you one more sleeper, too because.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
This, guy, yeah he's a plus.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
One Charlie serrado who played At Penn. State oh, yeah
he was really good in the in the. Regionals he's.
FAST i think back in the day he was with
the program for a little. While he, is he can
make plays at. Speed he really was like a lightning
bolt at times For Penn. STATE i want to say
(28:29):
he was playing second line for them and was really really.
Good and so, YEAH i, think you, know third, round
late SECOND i think you might Hear Charlie serrado's.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Name, yeah that that's oh, man that that's a good name.
Too we got to see him first hand at the.
Regionals you know WHAT i? Mean, yeah that, man he's
a good. One well, well, okay so bonus.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Sleeper definitely do we do a bonus?
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Sleeper we, Could.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
We could stay on for a couple of. HOURS i
was doing these. Stas, yeah but of right hand shooting
defenseman from The London knights who obviously just made a
heck of a run, Here, henry what is it For chevits.
(29:21):
Awesome i'm horrible, name, Guys i'm, sorry but, Yeah ohl
player six foot, one one hundred and ninety four, pounds
right hand, shot really really great huck moving. Defenseman, man
he can, skate he can take it from behind the
net and and carry it all the way down there
(29:42):
and cut right in front of the goaltender and put
a shot on that. Himself he can make an excellent
outlet pass from you, know behind his own goal, line,
yeah to the opposing team's blue line to break one
of his. Wingers you, know obviously he was on a
great eighteen this. Season but he's a guy that was
(30:04):
maybe overshadowed by so many names that were In, london you,
know just so, many so many. Guys the guy that
drafted and everything as.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Well his Mem cup run wasn't probably what he wanted to,
be but everything ELSE i.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
LIKED i had him ranked twenty. EIGHTH i really like.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Him, yeah, okay all, right so who's your who's your?
Bonus uh a sleeper pick there rus bonus.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Sleeper let's Go Philip eckberg because he's a smaller. Guy
absolutely ripped it up IN i think it was THE
u eighteens for.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Him he, yeah he played for the sixty.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Sevens, okay funny because defensive zone starts he gets twenty seven.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Percent so even though he was a smaller.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Guy really good he oh, yeah he had four goals
in the FIRST u eighteen, game so that was what
kind of like got him. Going but he's feisty and
also very, discipline not many penalties against. Him really good,
skater really good. Scorer but he is a smaller. Guy
and just to tell, you at this, combine they were
(31:12):
only like ten to twelve smaller guys like less than six.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Feet it's not a.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Lot.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
NO i don't know where he might go in this,
draft but at some point somebody's gonna look at the
offense and, say, hmmm can this? Project and you do
have to you, know project him a bit and he's
a five to ten or you, know like the other.
Guys but he had a nice year AND i think
he could go, like you, know, fifth, sixth seventh.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Round but you know, what, Though, RUSS i think a
guy that's five to ten is a little bit, more
has a little bit more kind of meat on the
bone to work within a guy that's five to. NINE
i know it's only one, inch do you know WHAT i?
Mean but it's that, perception it's that double. Digit then
you put skates on the, guy you, KNOW i, mean.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Coolest five to, ten call Him potter's five to.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
TEN i get, it Like Adam bannack's five to, seven,
Right so that's.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
It's a little bit. Different. Yeah but another guy in
that realm who's kind of a sleeper Is Jordan. GAVIN
i really Like Jordan. Gavin he was a guest of
ours as, well and you saying limited penalty minutes made
me think of him because he's had none in the
past couple. Seasons three.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Seasons in three, seasons he's had one. Penalty, right he
has two penalty minutes in three.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Seasons, Right so a guy who scored twenty one goals
this year and fifty seven points and sixty eight games.
Played was was traded halfway through the season to the
Beat kings as, well so it kind of had to
pick up and and you, know make do. There but
a guy that is is versatile, Offensively, YEAH i, mean,
(32:52):
still why don't you give us? Somebody you got ANY i?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
HAVE i have potentially one or two, here And i'm
kind of bouncing between, him But i'm going to throw
Out Malcolm. Spence, yeah like this kid as a center slash.
Winger he seems like a quiet enough, joe but there's
fire in that young. Man, Okay and AND i THINK
(33:19):
i think maybe a fifth or sixth round pick for
him would be.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Right in where he's going first stop right, There, ron
he's going first.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Round he's going first.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
ROUND i had to throw that out.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
THERE i was just.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
KIDDING i was JUST i was just, kidding.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
All, Right, no, no, no definitely not sleep out. There teams
are definitely not that. Much but he is a but
he is a guy WHO i think has come down
later in the first round because so many teams are
searching for as always, centers, right there's so many. Centers
(33:59):
teams are looking for center center. Centers this is a
kid predominant plays left. Wing he's due to go To,
michigan so you, know If michigan wants, him he's gonna be.
Good and he quietly if that's, possible had thirty two
goals this year and seventy three. POINTS i, mean.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
He plays a heavy. Game he's real.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Good he's a good kid out Of erie and there's pounds. Already,
YEAH i, mean everybody's looking At eerie and Thinking, Schaefer, Schaffer.
Schaeffer but this kid had a pretty fine season of his.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Own he's a high floor for. Me SO i ranked
him thirteenth because of his high.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Floor that's. Awesome that's. AWESOME i, MEAN i mean quality,
kid like likes just, said we, interviewed.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
He's a quality. Guy we spoke to. HIM i really like.
HIM i really liked.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Him so, YEAH i mean that's that's that's a lot of.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
People that's kind of in the realm of WHERE i
was Thinking, russ like between thirteen maybe and and and
or between thirteen and maybe. Seventeen within that that little
gap right, THERE i what. Done, YEAH i was just
kidding with fifty sixth. Round, man you, KNOW i just
had to.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Make sure you, know if we if we want to
dive in you know later we. Can but, NO i
think that is pretty pretty good. Man it gives us
some some great guys to kind of keep an eye
out for in this. Draft so many people that cover
the draft or anything like that or say they do
(35:28):
don't really have the knowledge past the first. Round and
you know that is, why you, know we look to
You russ as a guy that you, know is is
all knowing in that. Aspect, yes we we'd like to
dive deep into the. Draft and and you, KNOW i
(35:48):
think you, know you're one of the only guys out
there that that really can dig as deep and does
throughout the season as much as we. Do and uh,
MAN i, mean we're just thankful to have you on the.
Show we you, know definitely look up to you as
far as me as the writer and you Know steele
(36:09):
as you, know just a person doing this trend here
with these. Prospects and we appreciate your.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
TIME i appreciate.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
It, Yeah i've been covering the draft SINCE o, one
AND i try and up my game every.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Year it's hard to, do BUT i. Do this, YEAR
i did.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Only do a first ROUND i didn't even go forty
five BECAUSE i think once you get past forty five,
fifty there's a lot of guessing in this. Draft doesn't
mean there's not going to be some good, players but
there's gonna be a lot of. GUESSING i did want
to plug my. Books Father's day is coming, up and
that's it's out. Recently so that's called Game winners and
it's the greatest game winning goals IN nhl And olympic.
(36:46):
History so there's some real good ones in. There flyers
fans would certainly like.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
It there's There's Winter. Classic there's a lot of good
stuff in.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
There so and also my draft side IS Nhl draft
buzz dot, com but WHEN i cover the big, events
it's always at sportsology dot. Com, so like Like ron,
said like the and THE ncaa articles on. There my
interview With ravensbergen is on Draft, buzz and some of
these other interviews be on Draft, buzz and my instagram's At.
Sportsology i've been putting up like basically a post, today
(37:17):
maybe two posts to day for video interviews.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Too so, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Sure we'll loop all that. In you guys can look
in the comments section of this and the description of the,
show and you, know all those going to be there
for you to go, to just as we always, do
uh to get the latest that, It russ.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
IS i love your guys. Passion WHEN i met, YOU
i knew. You you, know you really enjoy doing this,
Too so it's.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Great, yeah, wow thank you so. Much you have no
idea what that means to us to hear that from
somebody like, You, russ that you know we're we're not
just a you, know a flash in the pan kind of.
Thing we've been doing this for quite a. While we've
gotten quite a few young guys that we've spoken to
and we're looking at just continue to grow and grow
and grow and continue to do. This would love to
(38:03):
be up there with you In. Buffalo would love to
know L. A so now to be L. A, okay well,
wherever all, right you, Know AND i Know.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
I'm just saying that's where the draft, Is that's Where i'll.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Be, yeah, yeah that's the next, step, Right.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Like the next step is a, draft, right BUT i
mean the combine In, buffalo and, yes and so things
of that. Nature all, Right, Well, lance what do you think?
THERE i think we got a really good one, here,
man we we we tuned everybody into probably one of
the best prospect folks that we could possibly get on the.
Planet uh to hear to talk about some of his
(38:38):
sleeper picks and some of his picks as. Well so
what do you, Think, Lance.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Oh always fun Picking russ's, brain you, know whether we
see him at a game or you, know just shooting
them a message about a kid here and, there you,
know seeing what he's you, know seeing in this, kid
or or if he spoke to him before we you.
Do always, good always good to Have russ as a,
(39:04):
friend and hopefully he'll come on with, us you.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Know, oh thank, You oh my, gosh thank you so, much.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Thank, you thank you very.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Much, well, Folks i'm your co Host ron Steel flyers
and this has been a really special episode Of Prospect,
watch and we'll catch you all on the next. One
Warning, prospect Watch is not your average hockey podcast, and
that's okay with us. Our goal is to introduce you
to stars in the making from all over the world.
They may not be household names yet, but we assure
you they will be soon enough. Welcome to prospect Watch.
(00:45):
Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the next episode of prospect
Watch with your host Plan.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's Green all right, guys, So a very special edition
of prospect Watch here. As you usually know, we usually
have some young prospects joining us to get us to
get their minds. But Russ Russ Cohen is here, a amazing,
(01:11):
amazing talent in the realm that we would like to
be in and uh, you know look up to. So
I mean, we're gonna pick his brain here on some
of this twenty twenty five draft picks that both of
us are all three of us rather maybe have interviewed
(01:31):
guys from this realm, have have seen guys at different
games that we've covered. You know, Russ recently went to
the Combine, so we're going we're pretty knowledgeable about this
draft class and I just want to pick everybody's brain
here because there's some very intriguing prospects in this draft.
(01:51):
So Ron, you know, why don't you kind of start
it off and and and give us, you know, the
rundown of how how we're gonna run.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
All right, Well, first of all, Russ, thanks for joining us, man,
And we didn't mean to call you old, No, you
didn't in a roundabout way.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Amy, I got I got a lot of gray up
there too, so we all got in the gray, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
All right, so we're all the gray beards. Okay, Well,
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Here, Russ.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
We the first thing we would like to do is
just kind of get your take on what you got
to experience at the Combine. We saw a lot of
great tweets from you, We saw a lot of great
information coming out from you about the Combine. We probably
had quite a few guys that we even interviewed were
(02:41):
there at the Combine. I mean there was ninety players there, right.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
What was the one player you would name that would
probably just hit you right off the top of your head,
was like, this guy's gonna this guy's gonna be the one.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Aside from the obvious, I.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Think they separate themselves a little bit.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Who do you think would be starting to get into
like the Flyers range or you know what I mean,
like six in below. Who do you think is going
to be that one guy you think is going to
be that sure thing?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Well, I mean, you know this, this might surprise you,
but I know the Flyers like Victor Echeling.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
A lot, and yeah, he's impressive to talk to.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And since I can't use Anton Frondell, I'm going to
use Victor Ecklin because he's a really charming guy, like
besides being a great player, great skater, a terrific passer.
You know, I did get into the nitty gritty with
him a little bit about the World Juniors because I
felt like he was misused, and without him saying he
was misused, he he said, yeah, he was cast in
(03:47):
a particular role where he just did the best he
could and he wasn't the best role for his offense. Offense,
but you know, he was one of the younger guys,
if not the youngest, So like I get it. I
think with that knowledge and everything else, I think other
teams are going to be very interested in that, and
(04:09):
I think that makes him a short fire top ten
for sure.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Okay, Lance, who do you I mean we've we didn't
get to go to the Combine unfortunately, you know what
I mean. But we've spoken to quite a few of
the of the of the top players here at least
that are going to go in the first couple of rounds.
Who do you think is your surefire guy?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
A guy that we interviewed and one of my favorite
players in this draft I think has got to be
Ksha on Agentsen. He for me is a guy that
is a bit of a fast riser I think right
now too, but just a can't miss guy that I
(04:54):
would want on a team. If I was starting a
team right now, I would want me being an old goaltender,
I would want a shutdown defenceman. And you know he
did that for Barry the Colts up in the OHL
this season, and not only did he shut out guys
(05:14):
on a nightly basis like Michael Mishcha and Porter Mortone,
he was able to actually lead the team in points
as well as a defenceman. Guys, He's a left hand
shooting defenseman, big big kid six, Maybe not got the hype,
(05:35):
but he plays a lot bigger than he is already
and twenty six goals, thirty three assists, fifty nine points
from a defenseman, Yes please, I'll take that. And you know,
very physical player, just my kind of guy on the
back end, can throw the gloves down when he has
to to defend players. Just an overall amazing kid. When
(05:59):
we spoke to him, he just gets it. He knows
what his role is, he plays it well, and man,
he'd be one of my can't miss guys for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
He The one thing I can add about Kashawan and
he's a really great kid, is you know he's from
an athletic family. He is a guy that is like
a cerebral assassin. He will want to get you to
not want to go into the corner for the puck.
After a while, he wants to shut you down. I
don't know if his offense will be as big as
it is in juniors. It won't be, but everything else
(06:31):
will be really good. And he might be casting a
role where you know, offense is just going to be secondary,
but he can do that other heavy lifting.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
As a defenseman. Yeah, we really liked his game as
a defenseman and oh yeah and yeah, and either way
the offense will come, but he has that mindset of
defense first. His coach would come to him and be like, hey,
you know, we need you to take out Porter Martone
for the game, and Porter Marton would not show up
on the statue for the game, right, Yeah, I mean
(07:02):
I'm with Lance. I'm for that all day long. Right,
So I guess my guy, I guess would say, and
I know you had some reservations about this Lance, and
but we even interviewed him as Roger McQueen. Everything about
him just speaks of the NHL as far as I'm concerned.
(07:23):
As far as I'm concerned, he has all the tools.
He's in the combine fully healthy, okay. And when he
is fully healthy, I mean we saw what happened with
Schaeffer broken collar bone, missed a good portion of the year.
Roger McQueen missed, you know, because of a spine or
(07:45):
back injury or whatever. But he's fully healthy, good to go.
I would definitely have a Roger McQueen on my team
all day long.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I like him and I think he's a great kid.
I did speak to him. I have a video up
on my Instagram for him. The thing is, he did
say that bigger guys take longer to warm up, and
that's not really true, but it's true for him, and
it's true for him because he has this back issue
that he's now over for the moment, but it can
(08:18):
flare up when you get a.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Crack like he had in the vertebrae. That's what the
word is on that. If you look up the.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Term for it, it's something that can definitely have him
miss games every season and he's warming up is going
to be a lot more than other players, and he's
going to take a lot of physical abuse because that's
the way he plays, besides having the offense. So he
is a can't miss but he's going to miss games,
and that's what you have to wonder is how many
And is it going to turn into a situation like hey,
(08:53):
if you're a team like the Flyers and you draft him,
you can't draft them six because if he has a
Nolan Patrick kind of injury like that and all of
a sudden three years he's out, Yeah, it's gonna be terrible.
And I don't hold it against Olan Patrick. He was
a really good player, but those migraines took him out.
If he has something like that take him out, that's
too much risk. So I can't I can't do it
(09:15):
with a sixth pick.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
So it depends where you picked McQueen.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
If you're picking him from somewhere like thirteen fourteen down, fine, okay, I.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I couldn't any more that. That was my only kind
of reservations about him. Great player was a point per
game player, a goal per game player, if I if
my memory serves me, right before he got injured this
season at six foot five, one hundred and ninety two pounds,
just a force on the fore check and.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Anything in the playoffs, and he did okay.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
And yeah, yeah, you know, he came back for playoffs
and everything, and he participated at the combine.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Talked about getting misdiagnosed and that's frustrating that happens to players.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Right, So, yeah, he was misdiagnosed for a short time
and instead of going out and being able to get
the surgery that he needed to be able to come
back earlier, he was kind of misdiagnosed. So he kind
of you know, it stinks that this really happened to
him in his draft season. But yeah, man, I really
like this kid. But like like Russ said, man, if
(10:18):
I'm a team like the Flyers or somebody in that
realm of uh, you know, that six through ten, I
might I might pass on him and take another guy
just because I wouldn't want that Nolan Patrick and I
wrote about that in one of my Flyers mock drafts, yeah,
and saying that I would pass on him. There's tons
of players like that. And and Anton Frondell was kind
(10:41):
of injured. He had a little bit of a wrist injury.
A lot of players that.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Are in that actually really okay.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Actually he's he's one hundred percent now.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
If you watch the way he worked out, he excelled.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
And that's I have a video that him just doing
a vertical leap on Instagram and it's really good. And
he was and wingate. So I don't worry about from dall,
He's fine.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Okay, Right, So I wanted to I wanted to just
kind of say that name because we do like him,
but the reservations that we had, and I wanted to
get your take on it. Russ On Queen, You're yeah,
on the Queen because of kind of where we thought
we were. Lance was spot on. You pretty much confirmed
(11:25):
where Lance was coming from. You know what I mean,
he is pretty much a can't miss guy. But you,
like you said, no, potentially miss games. Okay, all right,
all right, Lance, what do you think the next player
you've got on your list their boss.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
As far as can't miss or what are we talking about?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Well, let's go let's go with uh, well we already
kind of did can't miss guys, so let's go with
say fast risers.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, Yeah, So I would say a guy that for
me is a fast riser. And I'm hearing a lot
about his name now, and it's a guy again who
we interviewed earlier in the year when kind of nobody
really knew about him, and this is before World Juniors
(12:11):
and everything like that. Is Aleian new Newland Swander goaltender
from Switzerland, really really showed up this year at you know,
World Juniors. You know, eighteen year old, six foot four
one and ninety eight pounds. He's a guy who is
(12:33):
a bit of a tranditional goaltender, stand up guy, and
a lot of teams are kind of buzzing on him
right now because of that. You know, he really didn't
get a chance to get up to the top level
of pro hockey over there in the National League because
of the team that he was on. But definitely definitely
(12:57):
a guy that I'm going to say is a fast
riser right now and that people should be really looking
out for.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Okay, Yeah, I spoke to him and you know, and
he told me he met with the Flyers. I didn't
have many viewings of him, and I'm not a goalie expert,
but I looked and I looked at him just the
other night and mostly liked what I saw.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
I felt like the glove was needs to be improved.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
I felt like I asked him a question lance about
him going into the RVH too early like this, he
do that because some goalies do that and they kind
of give it away. And he did admit that he's
very committed to RV eight. So you hope that somebody
talks to him and maybe can get him to be
hybrid at times, because just being six foot four doesn't
(13:45):
always do it, as you know, because you see how
guys are very coy about that as you move up
the ladder.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
But everything else look good. Like that's my only criticism.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yeah, I find it with goaltenders, and I mean I
coach young goaltenders and everything like that too. It's a
lot easier to take a kid who's in a stand
up style goaltender and get him to go down a
little bit more to cover plays up and you know,
stop plays, you know, so you can change lines and
everything like that, rather than reverse and get a guy
(14:15):
that's butterfly butterfly butterfly, you know, as soon as they
cross the blue line and then you know, get him
to kind of try to stand up more. It's it's
easier the other way around, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, So, Russ, who who do you think would be
a fast rider? Who do you have in the draft?
There'll be a fast riser, I guess you would say, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I think Jacob brownback six foot five or six defenseman.
As I kept speaking more to guys in the us JL,
they were like, he was one of the hardest guys
to deal with, harder guys to play against.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I think, I don't know if I know.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I didn't put up a video on him yet because
I'm gonna be writing a feature on him for Elite Prospects,
so that'll come out soon. And I did kind of
put it to him, like asking him about are you
a good skater or you're a good skater for a
big guy, Like which is it?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
He said no, if you say I'm a good skater
for a big guy. I take that as a compliment.
So I feel like he passed that test.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
He's a very humble kid, but he can be physical.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, he can actually get the pluck to the net,
which is a thing where you kind of wonder once
in a while defenseman can do that.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah, he's not a.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Big offensive guy, but if he can do that, and
I still think he's skating can get a little better.
I know he's going to get stronger, Like he's nowhere
near where his man strike is going to be. So
I feel like, now he's definitely in the first round,
how much further up in the first round can he go?
Like he's probably you know, twenty two, twenty three and on,
(15:44):
he's probably start thinking about him.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Okay, And he was one of the kids we interview too.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, we definitely interviewed him this season. And he's a
big kid man, six foot six over two hundred pounds.
Now he just seem to keep growing. He doesn't skate
like a six foot six player.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Yeah, he's a lot more get better as he's when
he's done growing.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, I've seen it even this season as far as
his stride and you know, It's something he's still working
on for sure, and I think every big defender or
even forward is going to be working on that at
at eighteen years old for sure. Yeah, he scored what
three goals this year fifteen assists for eighteen points, was
(16:33):
a plus twenty nine. That's what I really liked about him.
Plus player in the USHL. USHL is getting to be
a lot better league in that aspect. A lot more
guys are coming over from overseas to play in the
USHL and it's getting a lot better quality. You know,
(16:54):
I really like him. He played for the Lincoln Stars
and like like Steel said, we interviewed him as well,
and uh, you know, couldn't have enough nice things to
say about this guy. And I think he's going to be, uh,
definitely one of those kids that is going to be
bumping up after after you know, the combine and teams
(17:14):
getting the chance to actually speak at this guy and
and you know, hearing him and and how well he
is put together already, He'll be bumping up people's draft
for sure. Yep.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
I agree, that's a that's a great name, Russ. We
really like that name.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Uh, I'm I'm kind of tossing around Lyndon Lakovic. Really
like this kid's game, really like what he was able
to do in the w HL for the Moose Jaws.
Uh was able to put up some good points. Has
has good body, has I I see, I see a
(17:53):
higher ceiling for him, Like I don't think he's met
his ceiling yet, you know what I mean? No, no, no,
no way right right a right so and he's young too,
So that's kind of the guy that I think would
be a fast riser because I think if you look
at him, maybe early second round, maybe even I would
even say late first round.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Maybe even though I have him higher, I mean, I'm
over bullish on him the most. I have him at
eleven because I and I and I'm going to back
it up because when I saw him there, I saw
like a guy who's like thighs and such aren't fully
developed at all. And I wonder when he puts on
that extra twenty five pounds of muscle and then that
(18:36):
that core gets big yep, man, I mean, and usually
when you come up with a list, there's a variance
of five or more, so that would put him around
sixteen or so. Do I think someone might might go
for him sixteen to twenty. Yeah, I think that somebody
might because he's a package.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
He did say he is never going back to playing
center because I asked him about it, because he played
when he was around fifteen, comfortable being that.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
That power winger. So I like him for that.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
There's not that many of those guys that are effective
scoring like he is in this draft like it was Marton,
and I think he's one of the next best guys
in that.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So that's why I picked him as my fast riser
because of that exact reason there. I think he follows
in that same Martone kind of mold where he's he's
able to, you know, do the things he's able to
do offensively.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
So so okay, yeah, yeah, I think you know, we
interviewed him early early on in the season, and you know,
big power forward six foot four hundred and ninety pounds.
His numbers went up obviously, as they should in a
draft year where he had eighteen goals this season before
now he had twenty seven. That's getting into a lot
(19:47):
better rum. And he had thirty nine points his draft
minus one season. Now he had fifty eight. And the
only only stat that I think a lot of people
before the combine really had him slotting down from where
he originally was. I'm very high on him too, Russ,
as far as I think that maybe twelve to fifteen
(20:08):
range he might pop out nicely, or if he does drop,
I think a lot of teams will be shooting up
and making some calls to kind of get him because
it may be one of the guys they have on
their board. But that minus twenty five stat I don't
think moose Jaw was as dominant as they have been
in years past, and I think that really hurt his
(20:30):
stock having that minus because he was minus player of
the Year before. But I think that kind of hurt him.
But getting back into that combine and just seeing how
powerful he is and everything like that, and how you know,
well he too can skate, is something that is is
gonna get that stock back up maybe to where it
(20:51):
should be.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I mean, just to put things into perspective, I mean,
let's say he's one hundred and ninety two pounds, right,
James Hagen's is now one hundred and eighty five pounds, right,
So he takes wrong right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Oh yeah, going to take another year or two to
kind of fill out yeah, and and learn to play
with that body mass and everything. And I think it's
only going to do him well because the physical game
that he plays already.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, okay, all right, so now we'll go with what
do you think Lance's sleeper pick?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, a hidden gem or a.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Sleeper, hidden jam or a sleeper. And we'll go with
our guests on this one here, Russ, what do you
think about like a hidden gem or a sleeper?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with David Lewandowski, h German kid.
I might have played for Saskatoon. I forget which which team.
Interesting guy, really good shot, liked him in international play,
had a really good season, spoke to him, nine teams
spoke And I think that says something because I don't
(22:02):
think he was on anybody's radar early in the year.
He got on my radar midyear and yeah, so I
think there's something there. And and I like the kid.
I thought he was an interesting guy. I may end
up writing about him. So yeah, I think there's something
there with him. And we'll see, like, we'll see what happens.
But you know, he's probably gonna be like a third
(22:25):
fourth rounder, I think. But there's some offensive ability there.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. I was trying to get
in touch with him and his people all year long.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
I say that, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Gosh, I like him as well. Russ, I've been on
him about that same time. Yeah, then where he kind
of really before he came over, you know he. I
think he came over to the Blades late or a
little bit into the season, a little bit into it.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
He I thought he showed well in the World Juniors.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yes, yeah, there's a couple of there's a couple of
German guys that really showed out well this year. And
we interviewed some of the other ones, but couldn't get
David on the show.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
But I did and I'll probably write about him so ill.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
We're looking for that one good deal, good deal.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
So Las, who do you got is your sleeper hidden gym?
Speaker 2 (23:25):
And I got about like a list as long as here.
I'm gonna make me make me pick one man. If
I if I had to pick anybody, I'm gonna go
h goder Amaco. I think that's how you said, Russ,
correct me if I've heard I've heard different announcers say it,
(23:49):
like all different a Mico. I love this kid. US
National team six foot six defenseman, two and thirty four
pounds mo bile mobile defenseman. At that his reach, I mean,
is that of a seven foot center in the w
n B or w Uh. I'm sorry, NBA, I'm sorry.
(24:12):
I'm just so excited about Carter here. He is a
player that also got hurt this year, so I think
his stock a couple of times a lot and man, uh,
just a physical presence when I'm when I'm talking physical guys,
I think he's one of the most physical players in
the draft. He hits you. When he hits you, You're
(24:34):
you're laid out on the ice. It's not just taking
it's taking you out of reality, Like you're rolling back
to the bench trying to ask what's the plate number
of that truck that hits you? That is how physical
this guy is. I'm thinking a dustin buffering in the sense,
(24:55):
but without maybe the offensive.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Yeah, he does so much.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
No, he doesn't have that offense.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
He's gonna be more of a shutdown guy.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
He's gonna be more of that shutdown defenceman. You know,
just just amazing, amazing young player that I think a
lot of people. He only played in thirteen games this year,
a lot of guys didn't get the time to see
him play, but he's committed to Boston University, and you know,
I'm really really excited to get to see him there
(25:26):
in a program because he's not a guy we're we're
talking about that's gonna be a year away or something
like that. He's gonna he's gonna probably play a couple
of years in the NCAA. Especially bigger defenseman, they take
a little bit longer. But he's gonna be as somebody
special that I'm going to keep an eye on for
right now.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Yeah, I did speak to Carter, and of course teams
want to know about his injuries, and he was pretty
open about it. Now, he didn't get a similar injury
twice this year, so.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
That was a little concern about that. You know, he
looks to be in good shape.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
I did have him as a first rounder after the
Fall Classic, but then I had to take him out
when he just kept getting injured. So I think he'll
he'll be one of those first ten to twelve picks
in the second round.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's where I kind of had him to a lot
of teams, or it depends who falls obviously, as every
year you have some players that you think are definite
first round picks that are going to fall, and you know,
once those kind of guys go, I think some teams
are going to take a chance with a second round pick,
especially if they have multiple second round picks. There's a
couple of teams out there that have multiple second round picks,
(26:33):
so I see as one of them possibly taking a
chance on him, sending it, you know, allow him to
go to college for a year or two. Yeah, and
just and just watching you know that this player unfold there.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Okay, I'm gonna throw the whole monkey into rench here,
and I'm going to go with a name that I
don't think he was at the combine, but I'm going
to go with Aiden Park.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Oh Aiden Park. Yeah, I interviewed him last year.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Okay, this kid. Now, I know he's plus one on
his draft year because his draft year was last year
and he's plus one. But he admitted to us that
he was not ready to be drafted last year. Admitted
that to us, right, Okay, And when you come out
(27:22):
and admit that to me and then say this year
was a much better year. I did things much differently,
way better, and and everything that I've seen from him
his numbers are there, he's got good size. He's six' to,
one like one hundred and eighty seven pounds something like.
That he's got all the. Tools he you, know he's
definitely not going to go in the first, round you
(27:43):
know WHAT i. Mean BUT i THINK i definitely think
he's a. SLEEPER i think.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
His uncle was a good, player.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Right, Right, okay he even mentioned about him as well,
Too SO i, MEAN i really think he was going
to be a. Sleeper some team is going to pick
him up and get a good. PLAYER i Think i'll.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Give you one more sleeper, too because.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
This, guy, yeah he's a plus.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
One Charlie serrado who played At Penn. State oh, yeah
he was really good in the in the. Regionals he's.
FAST i think back in the day he was with
the program for a little. While he, is he can
make plays at. Speed he really was like a lightning
bolt at times For Penn. STATE i want to say
(28:29):
he was playing second line for them and was really really.
Good and so, YEAH i, think you, know third, round
late SECOND i think you might Hear Charlie serrado's.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Name, yeah that that's oh, man that that's a good name.
Too we got to see him first hand at the.
Regionals you know WHAT i? Mean, yeah that, man he's
a good. One well, well, okay so bonus.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Sleeper definitely do we do a bonus?
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Sleeper we, Could.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
We could stay on for a couple of. HOURS i
was doing these. Stas, yeah but of right hand shooting
defenseman from The London knights who obviously just made a
heck of a run, Here, henry what is it For chevits.
(29:21):
Awesome i'm horrible, name, Guys i'm, sorry but, Yeah ohl
player six foot, one one hundred and ninety four, pounds
right hand, shot really really great huck moving. Defenseman, man
he can, skate he can take it from behind the
net and and carry it all the way down there
(29:42):
and cut right in front of the goaltender and put
a shot on that. Himself he can make an excellent
outlet pass from you, know behind his own goal, line,
yeah to the opposing team's blue line to break one
of his. Wingers you, know obviously he was on a
great eighteen this. Season but he's a guy that was
(30:04):
maybe overshadowed by so many names that were In, london you,
know just so, many so many. Guys the guy that
drafted and everything as.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Well his Mem cup run wasn't probably what he wanted to,
be but everything ELSE i.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
LIKED i had him ranked twenty. EIGHTH i really like.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Him, yeah, okay all, right so who's your who's your?
Bonus uh a sleeper pick there rus bonus.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Sleeper let's Go Philip eckberg because he's a smaller. Guy
absolutely ripped it up IN i think it was THE
u eighteens for.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Him he, yeah he played for the sixty.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Sevens, okay funny because defensive zone starts he gets twenty seven.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Percent so even though he was a smaller.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Guy really good he oh, yeah he had four goals
in the FIRST u eighteen, game so that was what
kind of like got him. Going but he's feisty and
also very, discipline not many penalties against. Him really good,
skater really good. Scorer but he is a smaller. Guy
and just to tell, you at this, combine they were
(31:12):
only like ten to twelve smaller guys like less than six.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Feet it's not a.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Lot.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
NO i don't know where he might go in this,
draft but at some point somebody's gonna look at the
offense and, say, hmmm can this? Project and you do
have to you, know project him a bit and he's
a five to ten or you, know like the other.
Guys but he had a nice year AND i think
he could go, like you, know, fifth, sixth seventh.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Round but you know, what, Though, RUSS i think a
guy that's five to ten is a little bit, more
has a little bit more kind of meat on the
bone to work within a guy that's five to. NINE
i know it's only one, inch do you know WHAT i?
Mean but it's that, perception it's that double. Digit then
you put skates on the, guy you, KNOW i, mean.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Coolest five to, ten call Him potter's five to.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
TEN i get, it Like Adam bannack's five to, seven,
Right so that's.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
It's a little bit. Different. Yeah but another guy in
that realm who's kind of a sleeper Is Jordan. GAVIN
i really Like Jordan. Gavin he was a guest of
ours as, well and you saying limited penalty minutes made
me think of him because he's had none in the
past couple. Seasons three.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Seasons in three, seasons he's had one. Penalty, right he
has two penalty minutes in three.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Seasons, Right so a guy who scored twenty one goals
this year and fifty seven points and sixty eight games.
Played was was traded halfway through the season to the
Beat kings as, well so it kind of had to
pick up and and you, know make do. There but
a guy that is is versatile, Offensively, YEAH i, mean,
(32:52):
still why don't you give us? Somebody you got ANY i?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
HAVE i have potentially one or two, here And i'm
kind of bouncing between, him But i'm going to throw
Out Malcolm. Spence, yeah like this kid as a center slash.
Winger he seems like a quiet enough, joe but there's
fire in that young. Man, Okay and AND i THINK
(33:19):
i think maybe a fifth or sixth round pick for
him would be.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Right in where he's going first stop right, There, ron
he's going first.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Round he's going first.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
ROUND i had to throw that out.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
THERE i was just.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
KIDDING i was JUST i was just, kidding.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
All, Right, no, no, no definitely not sleep out. There teams
are definitely not that. Much but he is a but
he is a guy WHO i think has come down
later in the first round because so many teams are
searching for as always, centers, right there's so many. Centers
(33:59):
teams are looking for center center. Centers this is a
kid predominant plays left. Wing he's due to go To,
michigan so you, know If michigan wants, him he's gonna be.
Good and he quietly if that's, possible had thirty two
goals this year and seventy three. POINTS i, mean.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
He plays a heavy. Game he's real.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Good he's a good kid out Of erie and there's pounds. Already,
YEAH i, mean everybody's looking At eerie and Thinking, Schaefer, Schaffer.
Schaeffer but this kid had a pretty fine season of his.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Own he's a high floor for. Me SO i ranked
him thirteenth because of his high.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Floor that's. Awesome that's. AWESOME i, MEAN i mean quality,
kid like likes just, said we, interviewed.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
He's a quality. Guy we spoke to. HIM i really like.
HIM i really liked.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Him so, YEAH i mean that's that's that's a lot of.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
People that's kind of in the realm of WHERE i
was Thinking, russ like between thirteen maybe and and and
or between thirteen and maybe. Seventeen within that that little
gap right, THERE i what. Done, YEAH i was just
kidding with fifty sixth. Round, man you, KNOW i just
had to.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Make sure you, know if we if we want to
dive in you know later we. Can but, NO i
think that is pretty pretty good. Man it gives us
some some great guys to kind of keep an eye
out for in this. Draft so many people that cover
the draft or anything like that or say they do
(35:28):
don't really have the knowledge past the first. Round and
you know that is, why you, know we look to
You russ as a guy that you, know is is
all knowing in that. Aspect, yes we we'd like to
dive deep into the. Draft and and you, KNOW i
(35:48):
think you, know you're one of the only guys out
there that that really can dig as deep and does
throughout the season as much as we. Do and uh,
MAN i, mean we're just thankful to have you on the.
Show we you, know definitely look up to you as
far as me as the writer and you Know steele
(36:09):
as you, know just a person doing this trend here
with these. Prospects and we appreciate your.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
TIME i appreciate.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
It, Yeah i've been covering the draft SINCE o, one
AND i try and up my game every.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Year it's hard to, do BUT i. Do this, YEAR
i did.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Only do a first ROUND i didn't even go forty
five BECAUSE i think once you get past forty five,
fifty there's a lot of guessing in this. Draft doesn't
mean there's not going to be some good, players but
there's gonna be a lot of. GUESSING i did want
to plug my. Books Father's day is coming, up and
that's it's out. Recently so that's called Game winners and
it's the greatest game winning goals IN nhl And olympic.
(36:46):
History so there's some real good ones in. There flyers
fans would certainly like.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
It there's There's Winter. Classic there's a lot of good
stuff in.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
There so and also my draft side IS Nhl draft
buzz dot, com but WHEN i cover the big, events
it's always at sportsology dot. Com, so like Like ron,
said like the and THE ncaa articles on. There my
interview With ravensbergen is on Draft, buzz and some of
these other interviews be on Draft, buzz and my instagram's At.
Sportsology i've been putting up like basically a post, today
(37:17):
maybe two posts to day for video interviews.
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Too so, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Sure we'll loop all that. In you guys can look
in the comments section of this and the description of the,
show and you, know all those going to be there
for you to go, to just as we always, do
uh to get the latest that, It russ.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
IS i love your guys. Passion WHEN i met, YOU
i knew. You you, know you really enjoy doing this,
Too so it's.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Great, yeah, wow thank you so. Much you have no
idea what that means to us to hear that from
somebody like, You, russ that you know we're we're not
just a you, know a flash in the pan kind of.
Thing we've been doing this for quite a. While we've
gotten quite a few young guys that we've spoken to
and we're looking at just continue to grow and grow
and grow and continue to do. This would love to
(38:03):
be up there with you In. Buffalo would love to
know L. A so now to be L. A, okay well,
wherever all, right you, Know AND i Know.
Speaker 4 (38:12):
I'm just saying that's where the draft, Is that's Where i'll.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Be, yeah, yeah that's the next, step, Right.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Like the next step is a, draft, right BUT i
mean the combine In, buffalo and, yes and so things
of that. Nature all, Right, Well, lance what do you think?
THERE i think we got a really good one, here,
man we we we tuned everybody into probably one of
the best prospect folks that we could possibly get on the.
Planet uh to hear to talk about some of his
(38:38):
sleeper picks and some of his picks as. Well so
what do you, Think, Lance.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Oh always fun Picking russ's, brain you, know whether we
see him at a game or you, know just shooting
them a message about a kid here and, there you,
know seeing what he's you, know seeing in this, kid
or or if he spoke to him before we you.
Do always, good always good to Have russ as a,
(39:04):
friend and hopefully he'll come on with, us you.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Know, oh thank, You oh my, gosh thank you so, much.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Thank, you thank you very.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Much, well, Folks i'm your co Host ron Steel flyers
and this has been a really special episode Of Prospect,
watch and we'll catch you all on the next. One
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