Seattle's 2014-15 Prospects Breakdown
Yesterday, Alan Caldwell over at Small Thoughts At Large released his annual listing of the players that Seattle has on their list that did not appear (in very many games) with the team last season.
I have no idea how Alan gets these lists compiled but they are pure gold and he's greatly appreciated for his work.
I put all the players into an excel database (because that's the kind of nerd you know and love me to be) and have a few breakdown thoughts for you.
Seattle still has two 20 year old players listed.
One is Alexander Kerfoot, who at one point was rumored to be interested in coming to Seattle but ultimately did not. If my memory serves, I believe he even camp to camp or rookie camp as a 15 or 16. He is playing for Harvard and had 14 points in 25 games last year. My understanding is that there is a college list that is not part of the 50 man list and that is probably why we still have him listed.
Seattle also listed Gavin Stoick back in the fall of 2010 and he has remained on the list here as a 20 year old. Stoick played one year at Cornell and then left and played last season in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers. I'm not sure whether he would also fall on the college list since he is technically no longer at college. He's a classic Farwell player at 6'4" and 216. Stoick is also listed as being from Portland, OR in HockeyDB.
There are five 19 year old players.
Andrew Taverner is committed to Quinnipiac.
Avery Peterson is committed to Nebraska-Omaha.
Evan Cowley is the Goaltender (Florida Panthers draftee) who went to Denver last year who I thought we might have an outside shot at but he played very well in 5 games for the Pioneers and I would imagine that ship has sailed.
Michael Brodzinski is a recently listed played who played at Minnesota last year. He could be a name to watch for as he played in 26 games and tallied 13 points for the Gophers last year. He is a draft pick of the Sharks.
Latrell Charleson is a big defenceman who was just listed this spring. Listed at 6'4" and 230 and played Junior A in Battleford last year. Probably a long shot but looks like a fighter type. It will be interesting to see if he comes to camp.
There are four 18 year old players.
Dylan Gambrell is one of them and boy it sure would be nice to see Gambrell come to Seattle. He is slated to attend Denver in the fall.
Ashton Clark, Michael Sauer and Shane Gersich aren't newly listed players. Gersich is committed to North Dakota and Sauer has already signed a WHL contract. Someone made a comment that he had previously signed with the Americans but has yet to play a WHL game. I would think you would probably see him in camp.
The 17s are of course led by 4 players Seattle has drafted, Logan Flodell, Lane Pederson, Donovan Nuels and Luke Osterman. The first 3 have all signed agreements and would make them strong candidates for the roster this year (goaltender situation acknowledged). Osterman is the wildcard here as he looked great in camp last year but with a lot of D players already in the fold and without a signed contract yet he may want to be assured of playing time before he comes to Seattle officially.
The two recently drafted imports, Alexander True and Florian Baltram are also on the list here as well as 3 listed players.
The newest is Goaltender Vaughan Ahrens out of Minnesota. His numbers were excellent for Wayzata High School last year and he is slated to play for the Minnesota Magicians of the NAHL. He'd be a long shot to make the team. Brock Boeser was listed last fall and is a commit to Wisconsin.
Nick Holowko was in camp last year and we'll have to see if he is in camp again this year. I would have to imagine he'd be a long shot to make the club as well.
The 16's are filled with draft picks, as you would imagine. 8 of them in total. Elder, Volcan and Khaira are on board and the big one Fabbro is not.
Listed players include the recently listed Tyler Graber who is from Red Deer. Players listed last fall include Jason Mailhiot and Ryan Gilchrist who we saw in camp as well as Matt Kiersted (committed to North Dakota) and another goaltender in Ryan Edquist. Edquist has already committed to Minnesota for the 2016-17 season and played at Stattuck-St. Mary's last year.
The 15's have all of the most recently drafted players along with 3 newly listed players as well.
Colin Baird is another Minnesota kid and is listed at 6'3 and 168. Whoa.
Luke LaMaster is also a Minnesota kid.
Nick Matai is another really tall kid at 6'3" and 160 and is out of Camrose.
All total, 7 Goaltenders, 6 Left Wings, 7 Right Wings, 4 players listed as "Forwards", 13 Centers and 11 Defenceman. The forward positions don't really mean much at this point.
4 players are listed at 6'4" including two Goaltenders while Baker Shore and Nolan Volcan check in at 5'7".
Latrell Charleson is 230 lbs and could probably make a large meal out of Ian Briscoe who is listed at 141 lbs. Hunter Bancroft narrowly misses being Charleson's meal by being listed at 142 lbs. (Where am I going with this?)
That is a good list of upcoming prospects for the team for this year. It will be an interesting camp. I see that one 17 year old, Holowko, is listed as a forward. He did play Jr. B in Delta BC last year as a 16 year, so he has toughened up against the older competition. The team had him playing defense as well as forward, unfortunately the team lacked a lot of good support players, so his numbers on the Caldwell blog perhaps a little misleading. Now, this guy can HIT, and I mean HIT and a good skater, like a Gordie Howe skater, long smooth strides and he gets there. His defensive work, as forward and defense is fantastic. Don't count this guy out.
Tyler touched on a player that really caught my eye.
Michael Brodzinski
He is a 19 year old player, that was listed by Seattle in the Spring of 2014. This means he was listed just a short time ago. He plays in the NCAA, and is scheduled to play there this upcoming season.
What intrigued me was, why list a player like this unless you think you have a chance to land him. Just doesn't seem like the type of risk that Farwell and company usually take.
Brodzinski is a Sharks draft pick. Maybe they have suggested to him that the WHL would be a better place to develop than the more limited NCAA schedule???
Well, unless the Sharks have signed him, I highly doubt he's leaving college because they suggest it. What if he did that and they never sign him? He just gave up his college eligibility for nothing then. Now, if he believes that leaving college will help him get that contract, that's a different story, but until the Sharks offer a contract there is no incentive for him to leave school.
Osterman played forward last year, which if he can convert, may give him a better shot at making the roster.
If we could bring in a good 19 yr old forward without giving anything up for him, that would be huge.
Blue/White/Camp Thoughts
Thoughts on Schuldhaus and Wolf
Training Camp Report
My thoughts on the 1st two days of scrimmages and ...
Veterans and older players practice
Why I don't care about 15 year olds
Rosterbation
Why we should have seen this trade coming
Players report in one week (Happy happy, joy joy)
Follow up to Tyler's Prospects Breakdown
Training Camp info