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2017-18 Canes Prospect and Cherkers Thread

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
New season, new thread.

The CHL and NCAA seasons have already started. From following the Canes Prospects twitter account, it seems like our WHL guys are off to a good start, as are Jack Lafontaine and Matt Filipe in college.

The Cherkers played 2 pre-season games against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms over the weekend and won both, by a combined 13-3 score. In the first game, an 8-1 blowout, Nick Schilkey had a hat trick and an assist. Smallman, Lorentz, Foegele, Brown and Miller had the other goals, Tolchinsky had 3 assists. In the second game, Foegele had 2 goals and an assist, Schilkey had a goal and 2 assists. Schilkey is on an AHL contract, so he'd have to be signed to an NHL contract to be eligible to play for the Canes. There were not notes on who played in goal.

Cherkers open the season in Hartford on Friday, then travel to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. The home opener is 10/13 against Bridgeport.
 
Booth played net in the win on Saturday...not sure about who was the Cherkers' goalie in the first game.
 
Canes draft picks and prospect stats through 10/2/2017

Setting this up for this season, some of our prospects already have some games played as noted above.....

=======================================

Eetu Luostarinen (Liiga KalPa): 10 Games 0 Goals 1 Assist -4

Luke Martin (Big-10 Michigan): No games

Morgan Geekie (WHL Tri-City): 3 Games 1 Goal 3 Assists Even

Stelio Mattheos (WHL Brandon): 4 Games 5 Goals 2 Assists +1

Brendan De Jong (WHL Portland): 3 Games 0 Goals 1 Assist +3

Ville Rasanen (Liiga Jukurit): No games

Jake Bean (WHL Calgary): No games

Matt Filipe (Hockey East Northeastern): No games

Hudson Elynuik (WHL Spokane): 4 games 2 Goals 4 Assists +5

Max Zimmer (Big 10 Wisconsin): No games

Noah Carroll (OHL Sault Ste. Marie): 5 Games 0 Goals 3 Assists -1

Luke Stevens (ECAC Yale): No Games

David Cotton (Hockey East Boston College): No games


Jack Lafontaine (Big-10 Michigan): No games

Eetu Makiniemi Team? League?

Jeremy Helvig (OHL Kingston): 3-1-0 2.93 GAA .910 Sv%

With Gauthier having a late BDay, Kuokkanen being jumped to the AHL/NHL as a 19 year old and Necas still with the Canes (for now)....the list as it sits right now is not quite as exciting it has been the past couple of years. Bean by far is the top prospect on this list, there are a lot of 'remains to be seen' guys on this list. The real excitement will be in Charlotte this year as we completely stock that team with some legit prospects.
 
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...Schilkey had a hat trick and an assist....Schilkey had a goal and 2 assists. Schilkey is on an AHL contract, so he'd have to be signed to an NHL contract to be eligible to play for the Canes.

As far as the NHL goes Schilkey is a UFA. I don't know what the rules are about guys who have AHL contracts in terms of whether or not they can sign an NHL contract. I assume they would have to ask to be released from their AHL contract before they could sign an NHL contract. I don't think any NHL team would bother with that until Schilkey he has a full season in the AHL complete with some big numbers. Schilkey couldn't have picked a better AHL team to sign with, the Checkers will provide him a fantastic situation for his own career with all of the offensive talent he will be surrounded by. I don't think the Canes would sign Schilkey during the season, we are pretty tapped out contract wise already.

Schilkey graduated from Ohio State, he is undersized (5'10" 175) and his final 2 seasons for the Buckeyes looked like:

36 Games 19 Goals 22 Assists
35 Games 27 Goals 14 Assists

The kid obviously has some skills. He looks like a good guy to have playing with our prospects it would appear. Good for Charlotte, good for Schilkey. I hope he scores 30 goals for the Checkers and earns himself an NHL deal after this season is over.
 
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Eetu Makiniemi is listed with Jokerit in the KHL. They have 4 goalies listed, including Karri Ramo, who played 159 NHL games with Tampa and Calgary. Former Canes draft picks Rasums Rissanen and Tommi Kvisto are also with Jokerit. Rissanen played 5 seasons in Charlotte and 6 games with the Canes in 14-15 and Kvisto played 65 games for the Everblades and Cherkers in 12-13
 
Thanks andyt. Jokerit Helsinki is already 13 games into their season. I'm wondering if Eetu Makiniemi is actually going to play any games there. He might be hurt?

Going to be hard for Jokerit to take Ryan Zapolski out of the nets.... 10-1-1 1.32 GAA .946 Sv% ?
 
Thanks andyt. Jokerit Helsinki is already 13 games into their season. I'm wondering if Eetu Makiniemi is actually going to play any games there. He might be hurt?

Going to be hard for Jokerit to take Ryan Zapolski out of the nets.... 10-1-1 1.32 GAA .946 Sv% ?

i thought he could be with Jokerit's junior team but according to the site below, he's not. He played a few games in the Junior Club World Cup and with bad results.

http://www.eurohockey.com/player/560640-eetu-mkiniemi.html
 
Ok because of injury to Stemper somebody, likely Necas gets a free 10 game audition, although he has surpassed expectations by all accounts and therefore has, kinda earned it.

What happens if he's dynamite?

Good problems to have, but still! He gets signed and that's it? Who was the last player to achieve this in the NHL? Sign a contract after a 10 game audition to start the season?
 
Ok because of injury to Stemper somebody, likely Necas gets a free 10 game audition, although he has surpassed expectations by all accounts and therefore has, kinda earned it.

What happens if he's dynamite?

Good problems to have, but still! He gets signed and that's it? Who was the last player to achieve this in the NHL? Sign a contract after a 10 game audition to start the season?

Your timeline is off. He already has a contract. The 9 game limit is in relation to using a year of his entry level contract. A standard entry level contract for an 18 year old is 3 years. If he only plays 9 games in the NHL, it doesn't "use" a year of that contract, so he'd still have 3 years left on it. It's the same with any of the other players we've signed who are still playing in juniors. Jake Bean has a contract with the Canes. But as long as he plays in Calgary, the 3 year clock doesn't start. Gauthier and Roy (among others) were in the same situation, both had contracts with the Canes but played in the Q last year. This is their first year of their contracts.
 
Ah ok so let me 'redress' my question. If he's dynamite, do we want to risk burning the entire first year or pull him at 9 games to avoid that, no matter what?
 
Ah ok so let me 'redress' my question. If he's dynamite, do we want to risk burning the entire first year or pull him at 9 games to avoid that, no matter what?

IMO, it's only worth burning that year if he's going to be a constant presence in the top 9 and one of the PP units. He's a center but has been "shielded" at wing the last few games to lessen his defensive responsibilities. Could he be the 3C right now? Probably. I love Derek Ryan, but he's overslotted. Any line with Skinner isn't going to be your defensive stopper line anyway. But for now, we have enough wings to fill the top 3 lines. So I'd rather send him back to the Czech League for another year and then pencil him in to next year's lineup.
 
I agree and find we are at an interesiting point where those veteran guys really need to make sense or suddenly ubber talented prospects like Necas, Gauthier, Roy, Kuakkanen, to varying degrees start to look like better options.

Derek Ryan or Lee Stempniak could easily be replaced this year in terms of talent with the depth we have. Maybe not Lee's experience nor the level of maturity both bring. But with a locker already boasting J. Staal, J. Williams and Cam Ward, its not like we have no veteran experience. Faulk is our 'grizzlied' vet on the D corps. Try not to laugh.

Last year it seemed like we needed the vet presence on D (with the season long joke of a 3rd pairing we kept trucking out) and up front it was good seeing as we had Aho breaking in and other guys not exactly super experienced. Its + 1 season now and it makes a big difference. I really think we could variable cut ties with one or both of Stemp and Ryan, but I would prefer if we hung on to one of them. Of course, Necas is going to have to take the league by storm to warrant such a push.. so in the end, my fantasty goes to hell and we continue with the safe approach, no use rushing things along. Its a good position to be in, still.
 
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And unless we get luck in the injury department, there WILL be opportunities for all these guys, short Necas if he's returned to the Czeck republic - to be called up as replacements - if that makes sense. No we don't want Kuaks thrown in on the 4th line replacing any of those guys who may go down..
 
I don't think they had any intention at the start of camp of keeping Necas and Kuokkanen with the Canes. But they forced their way into the conversation. As Peters said yesterday, there were a lot of guys who made the final roster decision very difficult.

Ryan, Stempniak and Jooris are all UFAs after this season. Jooris will probably spend most of the year as the 13th forward, barring injury. I can't see them re-signing Ryan and Stempy, with Necas and Roy in the wings at center and Kuokkanen and Gauthier at wing. But a lot can change, they could be overwhelmed in Charlotte in their first pro season.
 
IMO, it's only worth burning that year if he's going to be a constant presence in the top 9 and one of the PP units. He's a center but has been "shielded" at wing the last few games to lessen his defensive responsibilities. Could he be the 3C right now? Probably. I love Derek Ryan, but he's overslotted. Any line with Skinner isn't going to be your defensive stopper line anyway. But for now, we have enough wings to fill the top 3 lines. So I'd rather send him back to the Czech League for another year and then pencil him in to next year's lineup.

Great post, Ryan overslotted is 100% my feeling...great guy yes, but Necas and that skill if he was ready and shows he can play is a huge upgrade over anything Ryan could provide. What we all should recognize is the NHL is fast becoming a very young man's league...the 18 year old kids today are freaks of nature at times with their skill and training and preparedness. The game is so fast and so young now that it should not shock anyone to see 18 and 19 year old kids come in and be noticed. I personally am looking forward to seeing what Necas can do playing in a top 9 role...if only for 8 or 9 games!
 
I worried that there was no room for Smallman in Charlotte in a previous post. That's all goodness for Charlotte and Florida and the Canes (maybe not so much for Lorentz and Smallman). Too much talent and too much depth in Charlotte, how exciting is that?

Here is a link to the Checkers current roster AND players under contract to the Canes or Checkers who are assigned to Florida:

http://gocheckers.com/team/roster

Add PDG to the forward pile. We will see if Kuokkanen is joining him in Charlotte or not shortly.
 
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One thing to watch for as the Canes and Checkers enter their seasons.....the Canes are currently at the Standard Player Contract limit of 50. I expect that Ronnie would like to have the number less than 50 just for some flexibility as the season progresses. To me this puts targets on the back of some of our minor leaguers who have shown almost no signs of being much of any sort of real prospect. I would say any of these guys might find themselves traded with no player coming back (either future considerations that amount to nothing or a draft pick).

* Sergey Tolchinsky - All of that flash and dash doesn't result in goals in the AHL and he is on the last season of his entry level deal

* Tyler Ganly - Might not be fair considering he was hurt in pre-season last year and barely played, but he's about 12th on our depth chart and is on his final entry level deal season

* Clark Bishop - He is really a grinder and has only 1 pro season under his belt (split between Florida and Charlotte), but he's very doubtful to be a real prospect (2 years left on his entry level deal)

* PDG - He would actually fetch something in return if the Canes choose to trade him (ie we possibly could get something like a 4th round pick for him...maybe?)

Anyhow, the Canes don't HAVE to do anything at the moment....but thinking ahead, they are going to clear some deadwood out at some point. They are the only team in the NHL with all 50 SPC slots filled....Edmonton has 49, NJ has 48, and 4 teams have 47.
 
Correct. You don’t want to sit right at the contract limit for very long. It takes away all flexibility should you need to add someone or even if you get an unusual opportunity you want to take advantage of. IMO we should be thinking about moving a couple of guys for picks.
 
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