Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Vancouver Giants 2010 Eligibles

Craig Cunningham / LW ('90): Has become shifty and dangerous enough that he's turned into a real pro prospect. Seems to me like he's grown a little bit (maybe an inch or so) in the last two years, so that also helps. And he was one of the youngest players in the 2008 draft, so he's closer to being a part of last year's group. I'll be shocked if someone doesn't grab him at least late in the draft - could even go in the middle rounds. If somehow he doesn't go, he'll have a lot of calls from teams for a camp invite.

Brendan Gallagher / RW: This guy's a legitimate talent, but he's so, so small. Very good skater, but doesn't have the elite speed he really needs to be a real good pro prospect. But he does it all at this level - fearless and plays with a ton of energy. If he doesn't go in the late rounds, he'll also probably have several camp invites to choose from.

J.T. Barnett / LW: Decent hockey sense and can shoot the puck from the slot pretty well. But was invisible for long stretches of games whenever I saw him. Could go late.

Neil Manning / D ('91): Thought he was worth at least some consideration last year, and that's still probably true. Good offensive instincts, but is smallish and soft. I know he boosted his numbers by quite a bit, by my eyes tell me he's not much better this year than he was last.

Connor Redmond / LW: Looked like nothing in Red Deer, but did catch my eye a bit after the trade. Plays with an edge and has size. Always on the lookout for guys who were big Bantam scorers but then had a big late growth spurt - often that hand-eye coordination takes a while to come back. Very, very raw, but this might be one of those guys. I'd at least make a case for a camp invite.

Derek Tendler / G: Looked great in the one game I saw him, but I don't know if anyone else got much of a read on this guy. But there are a lot of Vancouver area based NHL scouts, so it wouldn't surprise me if some team saw quite a bit of him and think it's worth spending a late pick on him.

Other 2010s: Greg Lamoureux

2011 Outlook: David Musil, Luke Fenske, Nathan Burns, Brandon Scholten, Zach Hodder, Brendan Jensen. Musil is a pretty exciting talent and is a possible top ten guy next year in my book. Fenske and Hodder also have a lot of talent, and I'll be interested to see what they look like over a full season.

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