Once again Alan Caldwell (link on left) is making lists of every team’s prospects during the offseason, and Everett’s are up first. Every Tips prospect on the 50-player protected list is listed along with his age, size and stats, so it’s a wonderful reference tool.
Alan has a way of getting a hold of updated protected lists, which I do not, so there’s always a handful of changes that are news to me. Therefore, I like to do a quick once over of the players who were added and dropped.
First off, here’s the prospects who were apparently dropped since training camp last fall, along with their position and birth year:
Brett Chartier, LW, 91
Paul Grenier, LW, 91
Brad Robbins, RW, 91
Kyle Janzen, D, 92
Devin Dambrauskas, D, 92
Matthew Lumsden, RW, 93
Keifer Johnston, D, 93
Austin Wuthrich, RW, 93
Janzen we already knew about, I figured Grenier and Dambrauskas had been dropped as they were well down the depth charts in their age groups, and Robbins was a no-show at training camp last fall. None of the 93s were surprising as they were all late-round draft picks who either didn’t distinguish themselves at training camp or didn’t show up at all. I guess the one that caught my eye was Chartier, as at one point he was considered the best all-around 1991-born forward in the system (ahead of Byron Froese, Kellan Tochkin and Cameron Abney, if you can believe that). But last summer Chartier informed the Tips he was headed the NCAA route, he had an up-and-down season as a rookie in the USHL, and I guess both sides have now cut ties.
Now here’s the names who have been added to the list since last training camp, minus the recently-drafted 15-year-olds:
Joshua Birkholz, RW, 91
Dylan Smith, RW, 92
Nick Bjugstad, RW, 92
Derek Forbort, D, 92
Manraj Hayer, C, 93
Brett Mulcahy, C, 93
Mitchell Loose, LW, 93
Keenan Martens, D, 93
James Barr, G, 93
Smith, Hayer and Mulcahy were known to have been added to Everett’s list and have already been tracked on the blog. Hayer in particular is considered a part of Everett’s future after his strong showing as a training camp invitee and subsequent strong season at midget AAA. Martens attended training camp and played well enough to make me take notice, and it looks like it was well enough to grab the Tips’ attention, too. He, Loose and Barr all played a step down from midget AAA — Barr played midget AA, while Martens and Loose both played in a 15-year-old league — so it’s hard to say how legitimate they are as prospects. Loose at least fills the role of a good-sized 93-born forward that Everett has in short supply. Birkholz, Bjugstad and Forbort are Americans with good reputations — Birkholz is ranked 43rd among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s final rankings for this year’s draft (42 spots ahead of Froese), Forbort was selected for the U.S. NTDP U-18 team next season, and Bjugstad is considered one of the top high school sophomores in Minnesota. However, they’ve all already committed to NCAA universities, so in all likelihood they’re just talented players the Tips are hoping to get lucky with.
It’s also interesting to see that both center Jordan Schroeder and defenseman Max Nicastro, who are elite 1990-born players, are still on Everett’s list. I guess the Tips are still holding out hope of hitting a home run there.
So all-in-all, while there’s been some shuffling on Everett’s list, I’m not sure it’s the type that will impact Everett’s future much. I don’t anticipate a Paul Van de Velde or Drew McDermott: players who were listed during the season and made the roster the following season (Hayer has a shot, but he doesn’t really count as it was obvious he’d end up on the list after one day of training camp, thus putting him essentially in the same boat as the draft picks). For the most part these players are either projects or flyers, so if one (besides Hayer) ends up playing for Everett at some point it will be a bonus.
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