Peng Needs Advice: Cut 2 of 7 Prospects

[Pengwin7]

I have kind of made my own decision already... but need some other opinions to confirm my sanity.

In the 24 team WHL, I need to cut two, keep five, of these 7 players.
It is mostly "point-heavy" format.
I'd say a 20pt defenseman... and a 35pt forward... are both "waiver level".
For goalies, a future starter holds HUGE value, any goalie getting starts before age 26 holds GOOD value, any goalie that isn't playing 30gp per year by age 26 is a DROP.

So I'm looking to trim the guys that don't have upside.

F: Wade Allison (PHI), Matthieu Joseph (TB)
D: Dennis Cholowski (DET), Robert Hagg (PHI), Sami Niku (WPG), Christian Wolanin (OTT)
G: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (BUF)


Who are my two cuts here?

[Bstbullies]

I'd say Hagg is your first if it's majority points weighted. After that probably Allison. Boy I hate saying that. I like the boom/ bust Wolanin.

[PenguinHunter]

Robert Hagg

- you mentioned it was a point heavy format and he does not produce points. Only 7 points in 90 games last year. and his best AHL was 20 points in 69 games.
- look at the offensive D-man on the Flyers. Ghost, Provorov, Sanheim ~ Hagg is not going to get the opportunity to produce points.
- I think he is the only one of the group that lacks the upside that you are looking for so the decision for the second one to drop is a lot harder.

Wade Allison - over a point per game as a 20 year old in college, but there is a lot of prospects to compete with in Philly. The upside is there, but lots of competition that also has upside.
Mathieu Joseph - 53 points in his first season in the AHL as a 20-21 year old. If he can fit into the top 6 in Tampa in the near future there is lots of upside here.
Dennis Cholowski - point per game D-man in the WHL. only played one year in the WHL as a 20 year old. Didn't score at PPG page in BCHL the year before (maybe product of teams in WHL)
Samu Niku - 54 points in 7 games in the WHL as a D-man, the upside is there for a points league, gotta keep him.
Christian Wolanin - 35 points in 40 games as D-man in Colllege. but he is a bit older than the others on your list at 23 so this is a knock against him.
Ukko-Pekka Luukonen - 19 year old goalie... still young...which means there is still upside. Not enough work in Liiga to analyze, but still to young to drop.


Therefore it comes down to three that I would consider for the 2nd drop.

1) Allison - the main reason being all the competition he has in Philly right now.
2) Cholowski - only one year of scoring at point per game in the WHL when he couldn't score at that pace in the lesser BCHL
3) Wolanin - simply because he is a couple years older than everyone else on the list.

Forcing myself to choose one of these three I would choose to cut Wolanin. Maybe it is because he is the one I know the least about, and Ottawa added some D-man at the draft that could surpass him in the ranks within a year or two.

[ericdaoust]

Hagg - no offensive upside
Wolanin - I don't see much upside in most older dmen with limited history

[Dennis]

I'd drop Wolanin and Hagg as well.

[Axeman33]

Hagg is the easy choice if you don't want offensive Dmen. As far as your other choice, it's a bit tougher. I can see why you want to hold the young G but to be honest if you need space I'd consider dropping him. He's at least four to five years away at best and even then, who the hell knows. Any of the Dmen you have are probably droppable at this point although I do like Cholowski the most for upside from that group. I like both forwards going forward but hard to say what they will get for opportunities in the bigs. I'd hold both at this point with them just in case.

My drops - Hagg and one of Luukkonen or Wolanin

[lucafen4]

I agree with Axe, Hagg & UPL. Hagg for reasons sited as above. UPL due to the length of time it's going to take to get him to the NHL. At best you're looking at 23 - 4 years away.

If you're 'dead set' on keeping a G to diversify prospect positions, then I'd go Wolanin for the reasons ED stated.

[Pengwin7]

Thanks guys.
I basically announced a drop of Hagg & Wolanin yesterday.
I think I'm going to stay with that.

I hate waiting on goalies, but UPL was a 2nd round pick in Botterill's first draft with Buffalo.
GMs tie a lot of worth/wait to "their guys"... and Buffalo has been bad so long that they should be set to emerge in 2+ years.
UPL's season last year wasn't great... but he has the "BOOM" potential, if he & the Sabres both pan out in 2+.
With Risto & Dahlin & Eichel & Reinhart (& assets from maybe an ROR trade), I think they'll emerge as a playoff team.

Thanks to all - some rep for y'all.


[FWIW - I think Dennis Cholowski has great "sleeper value" for the Wings. For them to get Zadina, and pass on Hughes, was enormous for Cholowski's opportunity to someday man a PP1 or PP2 unit. I read really exciting things about his play from last season.]

[ericdaoust]

Think of the goalie as a potential nice trade chip too. In fact he's probably worth more in a trade if the hype machine kicks in than he would be to your team. As much as goalies are wacky and take forever to develop, I still see teams wanting to acquire them all the time. They usually go for more than equivalent prospect D.

[als_revenge]

For whatever it's worth, I watched Wolanin in a number of games last year and he passed the eye test for me. I think this kid has a chance to produce. I personally would hold on to him, especially with the gong show in Ottawa. Who knows what kind of opportunity he may get.

Ukko-Pekka - dobber expects he's seven years away, LOL. But yeah, I get goalies are hard to drop.

I'd drop Hagg + Joseph. (I'd only keep Joseph over Wolanin is you have a very strong positional need at forward).