Prospect tape

[matchesmalone]

Connor Bedard 2018 U13s

Bedard will finish the tournament with 24 goals and 32 points in 7 games.

Draftday Selects vs. Prokhorkin Selects

https://youtu.be/n0FAhS__yAY

Bedard is #98 in red

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0FAhS__yAY&t=13m50s

13:50-14:05 everything is at the net with him

17:30-18:30 some powerplay time

37:45-38:10 outwits his opponent to gain possession of a loose puck in the offensive zone

42:10-42:20 off the rush

58:00-58:10 pretty neat sequence here for Bedard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0FAhS__yAY&t=63m15s

1:03:15 Bedard killing a penalty, disrupts, joins rush, sets up goal

1:08:20-1:09:10 woah

1:12:50 he sees the opportunity and pounces, defensive stick

1:17:50-1:18:15 focus was on Bedard this game, but late birthday Ivan Demidov (#28 White) is pretty good

1:20:10-1:20:40 back to Bedard, a nice deceptive move here, when he gets the puck it really looks like he's going behind the net. And then just look at him go from there.

[matchesmalone]

2018 WSI U13s

Semifinal - Draftday Selects vs. Finland Selects

Kiviharju #11 blue, Bedard #98 red

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=25m30s

25:30-26:40 opening shift features a couple head to head moments
25:50 Bedard and Kiviharju race for the puck
26:15 Kiviharju not urgent enough against Bedard, leads to scoring chance against

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=28m30s

28:30 Kiviharju steps up to disrupt the transition, then plays the body behind the net

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=29m30s

29:30 Bedard steps off the bench and into a loose puck in the high slot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=30m55s

30:55 Bedard goes one on one against Kiviharju

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=34m30s

34:30-35:30 Bedard shift featuring everything but a goal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=36m15s

36:15 Kiviharju breaks up a 3 on 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=37m30s

37:30 Kiviharju powerplay, makes a high risk play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=54m50s

54:50-55:05 Bedard draws penalty with a nifty move

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=55m40s

55:40-56:25 Bedard goes HAM to tie it up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=73m40s

1:13:40-1:13:55 Kiviharju with some defensive stickwork

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=81m35s

1:21:35 Kiviharju intercepts at offensive blue line. Kid loves to shoot the puck, and he knows where to put it to create scoring chances

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=86m35s

1:26:35-1:27:45 this one is a really fun sequence. Bedard pushing for the tying goal
1:27:05 he dangles Kiviharju one on one,
1:27:10 Kiviharju with the poke on Bedard
1:27:35 Kiviharju with the dagger. Did I mention he loves to shoot the puck?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=90m0s

1:30:00-1:30:40 Kiviharju ramps up the pressure. Create chaos for a scrambling opponent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fT7vjqkEKo&t=95m45s

1:35:45 Kiviharju makes a good decision to come out and challenge the point

Kiviharju has some real struggles in this game against older competition, but comes away with a goal and I believe 5 points, and the win. Draftday had averaged 9 goals per game coming into this one, but Finland is stacked and does a pretty good job containing Bedard, who ends up with just a couple points (he average 5 a game coming in).

[matchesmalone]

2019 WSI U14s

Finland Selects vs. Czech Knights

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4

Kiviharju (#11 white) is underaged again here, but looks much more dominant than the previous year's U13s. The most noticeable difference is his speed and quickness.

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=620

10:20-11:10 Kiviharju shift vs. Samuel Sisik, a world class 2023
10:45 Kiviharju with a poke check
11:00 some evasive maneuvre

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=1394

23:15-24:00 Kiviharju shift
23:25-23:35 evasive maneuvre and then changes the angle on his stick to make a pass out of a tricky situation
24:30 Kiviharju powerplay

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=1771

29:30-30:50 Kiviharju shift starts with some nifty offensive zone work
30:05 poke check on Sisik
30:35 another poke check to break up a 3 on 1
30:45 another slick evasive maneuvre

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=2224

37:05 another one on one against Sisik. Good effort but Sisik gets the better of this exchange

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=3122

52:00-53:00 Kiviharju masterfully patrols the offensive blueline.

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=3616

1:00:15 nice defensive puckhandling

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=3815

1:03:35-1:03:45 Nice moves to transition puck from defensive to offensive zone

https://youtu.be/hvsWHbkgHu4?t=4002

1:06:40 - 1:06:55 powerplay
1:07:40 - 1:09:00 powerplay continued

[Josh]

These are amazing, thank you so much for sharing them and breaking them into sequences!!

[matchesmalone]

Glad you liked them. I'm gonna start doing some less far off future players too. Not 2020s, ProspectShifts already has that covered. But I figured for further off prospects, rather than full shift-by-shifts, it would be more appropriate to just compile highlight shifts and plays.

Currently up next on the docket is 2024 Alexei Dontsov, 2022s Danila Yurov and Ludwig Persson, and 2021 Carson Lambos.

[matchesmalone]

Some highlights of #10 in Red, Ivan Miroshnichenko - from the spring U17 Five Nations

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=3751

1:02:30 - 1:03:00

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=4605

1:16:45 - 1:17:45

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=5876

1:37:55 - 1:38:30

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=6849

1:54:10-1:54:40

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=7801

2:10:00-2:10:10

Playing a year above his age group against world class competition. Looks like a highly-skilled, dynamic, smart, tenacious power forward.

Looks like Russia could have a top five or even top three pick each year from 2022-'24. Miroshnichenko is '22, Matvei Michkov in '23, and Ivan Dontsov and Alexei Demidov for '24. Man, to watch this game and recall that Miroshnichenko is clearly not the consensus first overall pick, holy shit how good is that draft? He looks better than Lambert to me. Maybe better than Savoie.

[Josh]

Some highlights of #10 in Red, Ivan Miroshnichenko - from the spring U17 Five Nations

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=3751

1:02:30 - 1:03:00

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=4605

1:16:45 - 1:17:45

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=5876

1:37:55 - 1:38:30

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=6849

1:54:10-1:54:40

https://youtu.be/gzBCLmgBKao?t=7801

2:10:00-2:10:10

Playing a year above his age group against world class competition. Looks like a highly-skilled, dynamic, smart, tenacious power forward.

Looks like Russia could have a top five or even top three pick each year from 2022-'24. Miroshnichenko is '22, Matvei Michkov in '23, and Ivan Dontsov and Alexei Demidov for '24. Man, to watch this game and recall that Miroshnichenko is clearly not the consensus first overall pick, holy shit how good is that draft? He looks better than Lambert to me. Maybe better than Savoie.

How would you rank the 2020, 2021, and 2022 draft classes in terms of total high-end talent?

[matchesmalone]

Oh, interesting. I was thinking about this a bit the other day. To me the top 15 or so for 2021 looks similar to 5 through 20 for 2020. In other words, 2021 doesn't seem to have anyone quite on the level of Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Raymond. I think any of the first three of those for sure could be contenders for first over in certain drafts (like 2014 or 2017), but if you exclude those top players, the next ten or fifteen wouldn't be too far off from 2021's top ten or fifteen. Lambos, Clarke, Hughes, Edvinsson might all be as good or better than Drysdale, and then Sillinger, Raty, Guenther, Johnson, Lucius are likely not far apart from Holtz, Perfetti, Rossi, Lundell, Amirov.

It's still too early to say much about 2022, but it's not outside the realm of reason that two to four of those prospects are on Lafreniere's level or even better. Wright, Savoie, Lambert, Miroshnichenko all look to be at least on the same level as Byfield, Stutzle, if not Lafreniere. And it is possible that any of McGroarty, Devine, Yurov, Persson could be close to that level as well, or at least on the same level as 2020's second tier, with Drysdale, Perfetti and them.

[matchesmalone]

Just for fun, I wanted to try to use the tiers I came up with recently, to rank the top end of recent and future drafts, going back to 2015 in order to get a full scope

2013:
1 prodigy - Nathan MacKinnon
4 phenoms - Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, Elias Lidholm

2014:
3 phenoms - Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Leon Draisaitl

2015:
1 generational prodigy - Connor McDavid
1 prodigy - Jack Eichel
2 phenoms - Dylan Strome, Mitch Marner

2016:
1 prodigy - Auston Matthews
1 phenom - Patrick Laine

2017:
4 phenoms - Nico Hischier, Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, Elias Pettersson

2018:
1 prodigy - Rasmus Dahlin
1 phenom - Andrei Svechnikov

2019:
2 phenoms - Jack Hughes, Kaapo Kakko

2020:
5 phenoms - Alexis Lafreniere, Tim Stutzle, Lucas Raymond, Alex Holtz, Quniton Byfield

2021:
none established yet, some phenoms will turn up next year; possible candidates - Kent Johnson, Matthew Beniers, Aatu Raty, Simon Edvinsson, Luke Hughes, Carson Lambos, Brandt Clarke

2022:
1 potential generational prodigy - Shane Wright
3 potential prodigies - Matthew Savoie, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Brad Lambert
5 potential phenoms - Simon Nemec, Rutger McGroarty, Ludwig Persson, Danila Yurov, Jack Devine

2023:
1 potential generational prodigy - Connor Bedard
1 potential prodigy - Matvei Michkov

2024:
1 potential generational prodigy - Aron Kiviharju
2 potential prodigies - Alexei Dontsov, Berkly Catton

[matchesmalone]

My first time seeing #19 Matvei Michkov (2023). Also #10 Miroshnichenko (2022). Not sure which one I like better. Michkov looks smoother and maybe has better hands, but Miro looks like an NHL star. He's got shades of a Hossa, MacKinnon, Matthews, Tarasenko. Powerful, explosive, hunts down pucks, makes things happen all over the ice. Not quite sure yet what kind of player Michkov is. Very high skill. His edges are fucking unreal. Maybe something in the mould of a Crosby, Seguin, Duchene. He's silky in the corners. The commentators mentioned the right faceoff circle area is kinda his office, a la Tavares.

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=496

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=724

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=1204

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=1644

Miroshnichenko on the 3 on 5.

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=2722

Powerplay. Michkov on right boards, Miro on the left.

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=3494

Michkov with no Miro, who had just been PKing.

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=3600

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=3814

Michkov with a slick little deceptive skating technique to open a lane for himself

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=3939

Look at the way Michkov springs backward out of the corner. His skating is next level. It's in Stranges/Pettersson territory.

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=4122

Miroshnichenko is a rabid dog

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=5041

https://youtu.be/1WYsdFz-oOI?t=5528

Michkov making things happen.

[matchesmalone]

Gold medal game from the 2019 U13 WSI. My primary focus was Alexei Dontsov (9 White), secondary was Jordan Gavin (13 Red). Also watching out for Macklin Celebrini (17 Red), Berkly Catton (7 Red) and Tomas Mrsic (91 Red).

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=1332

22:10-22:25 Mrsic can burn. And then a huge hit by Celebrini.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=1406

23:25-23:30 Gavin with a move.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=1698

28:20-28:25 Gavin shows some vision and awareness.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=1799

30:00-30:35 Dontsov doing stuff.
30:20 Some smoth edges.
30:30 A hit.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=1934

32:15-32:20 Catton is not too bad either.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=2186

36:25-37:15 Dontsov on the powerplay.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=2514

41:55-42:10 I believe Dontsov gets a piece of the shot, and then shows a deft touch in front. A few seconds later he ties the game.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=2805

46:45-47:20 Good shift from Gavin.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=3005

50:05-50:10 Welcome to the Alexei Dontsov Show.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=4160

1:09:20-1:09:40 Nice deflection goal by Celebrini.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=5015

1:23:35-1:23:45 Dontsov with speed, agility, vision. Goal called off, kicked in.

https://youtu.be/wpCDfVBz2Y8?t=6109

1:41:50-1:42:00 Not sure if it went off the Canadian player but Dontsov scored or set up the overtime golden goal.

[Josh]

How did you find the player numbers CSKA?

[matchesmalone]

Decided to do the semi-final of the 2020 Youth Olympics. Canada - USA. Going to focus on Nazar (14 Blue), Casey (3 Blue) and Savoie (11 White), Luneau (8 White).

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=323

5:25-5:35 Seamus Casey facing some pressure

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=480

8:00-8:15 Luneau separates body from puck, relieves immediate pressure. Seconds later at the other end of the ice, Fantilli with a big hit that leads to a scoring chance.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=907

15:05-15:15 Seamus Casey with some excellent one on one defense against Pano Fimis, who will later be the second overall pick in the 2020 OHL draft. Man, this play-by-play guy, great voice but he doesn't seem to know where he is.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=1090

18:10-18:15 Nazar being nifty.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=1210

20:10-20:25 Luneau doing Luneau things. Wow.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=2595

43:15-43:45 More Luneau.
43:15 A quick play to hold the zone.
43:30 Backchecks to break up a rush.
43:45 Transition pass attempt.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=2689

44:50-44:55 After a quiet first period, Nazar comes to life, draws the penalty shot.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=2755

45:55-46:00 And Nazar opens the scoring.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=2827

47:05-47:20 Casey displays some skating. Doesn't get it out the first attempt, but gets it back and does on the second.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=2895

48:15-48:20 More of Nazar being nifty.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=3069

51:10-51:20 Nazar kills penalties too. Love the tenacity and then the awareness to find that hole.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=3216

53:35-53:50 Casey's skating on display again.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=3561

59:20-1:00:10 Good shift for the Savoie-Fantilli line.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=3721

1:02:00-1:02:10 Nazar breaks up the offensive play and springs onto the attack.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=5095

1:24:55-1:25:05 Wasn't particularly impressed with Savoie early in the game, but holy shit. Picks a pocket defensively and then what a move on the rush.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=5255

1:27:40-1:27:50 Savoie has come to life.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=5336

1:28:55-1:29:10 Two good defensive plays and a transition attempt by Casey.
1:29:00 Poke check on 14 Kocha Delic.
1:29:05 Again gets the best of Delic.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=5402

1:30:00 Casey with a stutter step to beat the first guy, Nate Danielson.
1:30:10 Defends well against Fantilli, arguably Canada's best player.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=5843

1:37:20 Nazar looking dynamic again. Defended well by Luneau.
1:37:35 Twice. Luneau has his number this shift.

https://youtu.be/JkmlBK6OwC8?t=5984

1:39:45-1:39:50 Casey defends well with his skating. He has Delic's number this game.

[matchesmalone]

How did you find the player numbers CSKA?

I didn't. I've been watching Dontsov since last summer I think. Have seen three games of his now. And the commentators help. Coming up soon on my list is CSKA vs. Pro Selects 2019 (mainly wanna see Henry Mews, but also James Hagens, Gavin Hodnett, Michael Hage).

On that note though, I tried scouting Sweden at the Five Nation U17s, and just couldn't do it. No numbers listed on EP or that I could find anywhere, the commentating was in Russian, and the icing on the cake: Sweden doesn't even put names on the backs of jerseys. Oftentimes you can wait until there are closeups after whistles and see names. The only player I knew for sure was Simon Edvinsson - can't mistake a big defenseman wearing number 8 with that much speed and skill, but beyond that I could assume that Rosen was 19 and Persson was 22, but couldn't say for sure so I didn't bother.

[matchesmalone]

Any thoughts or suggestions on the format would be welcome. Tracking four players in one game seems like too much. I should probably at least split them in separate segments if I'm going to do that. Though I do really enjoy those little moments where the players im tracking go head to head, like Luneau vs. Nazar. In fact Bedard vs. Kiviharju was almost certainly my favorite one I've done so far.

Also open to suggestions on players to watch.