NHL Midterm Rankings

[MrBoDangles]

As a Gophers fan...My mom's cousin who gets her hair done at a place in uptown knows the taxi driver that once drove the schroeder's aunt to the airport. Schroeder apparently is a worthless, selfish, spoiled, and disrespectful little brat.
I bet those two are the only first round to picks to NEVER play in the NHL. Should we look at how many first round picks made it. I am going to guess Gillies was a major junior player. Wow, he has been spectacular as a pick. Gillies in 89 games has 3 goals and 7 assists. And oh he is on waivers.
Its funny that the gophers are a better hockey team without those two players. Sounds to me like Vancouver needs to do their homework a little better.
Someone please post all of the Minnesotans that went the major junior route the past 10-15 years that are playing in the NHL. And than put the list of Minnesotans that went the college route that are playing in the NHL in those same years.
I could CARELESS about the canadians that went that route, or other americans. I am only curious as to the Minnesotans. Because than I will start saying kids should go over seas at the age of 10 so they can play in finland, sweeden, and russia.

Recent Wild drafts:
2011 - 1 from Finland, 2 from major junior, and 3 future college players.
2010 - 1 from Finland, 2 from Sweeden, 2 from major junior, and 1 from college
2009 - 1 from Finland, 4 from college, 3 from major junior
Total - 3 from finalnd, 7 from major junior, 8 from college, 2 from Sweeden.

The only ones I know off hand are Pat Finnegan from Duluth East, and I think the kid that couldnt cut it at the gophers - Lofquist. So, please share others.

I think the main point people are saying is it isnt a bad idea to go get an education from a premier college while playing hockey, because very few actually make it in the NHL. If they do make it, it wont last forever.

+1

[BBB]

I am guessing that hundreds and hundreds of MN choose the college route as a first choice compared to the CHL so your #'s are going to be lopsided. I would say someone like Lofquist chose to play college and juniors was a move he made after looking at his other options.
Just to clarify as far as "getting an education at a premier college," where do you place someone like Erik Johnson who probably got 24 freshmen level credits, if he finished his 2nd semester finals? I really don't think someone like that was ever there to get and education and I am not knocking college hockey as a development league for certain players.
Anyway, I can only think of a few MN's who chose to leave MN high school hockey and pursue the major junior route. The first one that comes to mind is Jamie Lagenbrunner. Not a Brian Bonin by any means but not a bad career either:
* 1995–96 IHL Michigan K-Wings MVP
* 1996–97 NHL Calder Trophy Finalist for Rookie of the Year (Dallas Stars)
* 1998 Member of the United States Olympic Hockey team
* 1998–99 NHL Stanley Cup Champion (Dallas Stars)
* 2002–03 NHL Stanley Cup Champion (New Jersey Devils)
* 2002–03 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Scoring Champion (New Jersey Devils) His 12 playoff game-winning goals top notable Hall of Famers such as Mario Lemieux, Cam Neely, and Paul Coffey and tie him with Legends such as Phil Esposito and Mark Messier.
* 2004 Member of the United States team at the World Cup of Hockey
* 2007–2011 New Jersey Devils Team Captain
* January 2009 NHL Player of the Month
* Named to 2010 United States Olympic Hockey team
* Named Captain of 2010 United States Olympic Hockey team
* 2010 Winter Olympic Silver Medalist ~Mens Ice Hockey

[Gopher Blog]

I can understand the logic of saying some kids who isn't going to be there 4 years aren't there for the education. There is probably some merit to that with some guys (especially those that are very high draft picks). But knocking off a year or two of education with your same age peers is a lot more palatable in the long run than having to go back and start completely from scratch after your playing days are over.

Langenbrunner is a fine player. But what about guys like Jon Hedberg? Or Patrick Finnegan? I'm sure there are a few others in that vein whose name slipped into oblivion. At least Hedberg got an education in some Canadian school afterward but he could have done that years sooner had he played college hockey.

The reality is a number of good players are coming out of NCAA hockey and playing healthy roles in the NHL. If you have the ability, you can make it either way. It just seems like a good choice to play hockey and get a quality education at the same time (if you have the aptitude. Some guys don't).

[StreetStix]

I wouldn't use Finnegan as an example. He could've made it whatever league/route he chose, had all the talent needed. His career was thrown off by the absolute hell he endured in his personal life, not his choice of where to play.

I personally like the NCAA route but have a few friends who chose the CHL and love it, mostly because they'd rather do hockey without the school. Not the smartest reason IMO, but there it is.

[gopherpuck516]

Jamie Langenbrunner is an exception, and not the rule. He'll probably someday be inducted into the US Hockey HOF and it would be very well deserved. But for every Jamie Langenbrunner there are 100 kids who flame out somehwere before NHL stardom. Most Canadian kids grow up following the CHL teams, while Minnesotan kids usually grow up following their favorite college team, and there aren't many HS kids each year who have what it takes to have long NHL careers like Langenbrunner has, so to give up the opportunity to develop their hockey abilities while attending college with other 18-24 year olds would be a tough one to give up.

[Sats81]

I wouldn't use Finnegan as an example. He could've made it whatever league/route he chose, had all the talent needed. His career was thrown off by the absolute hell he endured in his personal life, not his choice of where to play.

I personally like the NCAA route but have a few friends who chose the CHL and love it, mostly because they'd rather do hockey without the school. Not the smartest reason IMO, but there it is.

What happened to Finnegan in his personal life? He was hands down one of the best HS hockey players in the last 15 years in MN. He played like a rugged, physical version of Mike Crowley. They even skated the same. He would have easily won Mr. Hockey in 1999 had he stuck around (and given East a shot at winning, had they been able to get by Paul Martin and a strong Elk River group that year). He played as a freshman on the 96 team with Spehar and Locker. Fun player to watch. Can any of the East fans on here tell what happened to him?

Another kid was Jon Hedberg. He was actually an Edina kid. He played as a freshman on the 98 team that won it with the Carlsons, Finnegan and Nick Angell. Whatever happened to him? Did he leave after his freshman year? Why did he move from Edina to DE in the first place. Also believe Finnegan grew up playing youth in the Virginia program....

[DubCHAGuy]

There is no formula to get a kid to the NHL. Canadians usually do it via Major Junior, Americans usually through NCAA, there are exceptions to both rules but that is the norm. Look at some of the top Americans and Canadians in the NHL today and you will find guys who played all over.

Americans

NCAA
Zack Parise (Shattuck)
Tim Thomas (East Coast Jrs?)
Ryan Kesler (NTDP)
David Backes (HS)
Ryan Miller (NAHL)
TJ Oshie (HS)
Mike Komisarek (NTDP)
Phil Kessel (NTDP)
Paul Stastny (USHL)
Matt Cullen (HS)
Thomas Vanek (USHL) (Not American but played here since he was an early teen)
Joe Pavelski (USHL)
Ryan Suter (NTDP)

Maj. Juniors
Patrick Kane (NTDP)
Dustin Brown (NTDP)
Dustin Byfuglien (AAA)

Canadians

Maj. Juniors
Sidney Crosby
Jerome Iginla
Chris Pronger
Steven Stamkos
Taylor Hall
(many, many more)

NCAA
Dany Heatley
Jonathan Toews

The route doesn't really matter. Go search your favorite NHL player's career stats and find the roster of whatever team he played on at 18-19 years old. Odds are you have never heard of 95% of the guys on that team, and many of them were probably drafted.

I will say however, this does seem to be a down year for MN prospects.

[rainier]

I wouldn't use Finnegan as an example. He could've made it whatever league/route he chose, had all the talent needed. His career was thrown off by the absolute hell he endured in his personal life, not his choice of where to play.

I personally like the NCAA route but have a few friends who chose the CHL and love it, mostly because they'd rather do hockey without the school. Not the smartest reason IMO, but there it is.

What happened to Finnegan in his personal life? He was hands down one of the best HS hockey players in the last 15 years in MN. He played like a rugged, physical version of Mike Crowley. They even skated the same. He would have easily won Mr. Hockey in 1999 had he stuck around (and given East a shot at winning, had they been able to get by Paul Martin and a strong Elk River group that year). He played as a freshman on the 96 team with Spehar and Locker. Fun player to watch. Can any of the East fans on here tell what happened to him?

Another kid was Jon Hedberg. He was actually an Edina kid. He played as a freshman on the 98 team that won it with the Carlsons, Finnegan and Nick Angell. Whatever happened to him? Did he leave after his freshman year? Why did he move from Edina to DE in the first place. Also believe Finnegan grew up playing youth in the Virginia program....

I know his younger sister died in a car accident, and I think there was also a divorce mixed in there. Tough for any HS kid to do much of anything with stuff like that going on. He played in Europe for a few years though.

[karl(east)]

I wouldn't use Finnegan as an example. He could've made it whatever league/route he chose, had all the talent needed. His career was thrown off by the absolute hell he endured in his personal life, not his choice of where to play.

I personally like the NCAA route but have a few friends who chose the CHL and love it, mostly because they'd rather do hockey without the school. Not the smartest reason IMO, but there it is.

What happened to Finnegan in his personal life? He was hands down one of the best HS hockey players in the last 15 years in MN. He played like a rugged, physical version of Mike Crowley. They even skated the same. He would have easily won Mr. Hockey in 1999 had he stuck around (and given East a shot at winning, had they been able to get by Paul Martin and a strong Elk River group that year). He played as a freshman on the 96 team with Spehar and Locker. Fun player to watch. Can any of the East fans on here tell what happened to him?

Another kid was Jon Hedberg. He was actually an Edina kid. He played as a freshman on the 98 team that won it with the Carlsons, Finnegan and Nick Angell. Whatever happened to him? Did he leave after his freshman year? Why did he move from Edina to DE in the first place. Also believe Finnegan grew up playing youth in the Virginia program....

Hedberg left after his sophomore year. It isn't always reliable, but hockeydb.com lists him as being born in Duluth--did he go from Duluth to Edina, then back? I don't know the details of the story all that well.
Hedberg's stats: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdis ... ?pid=50128
Finnegan (who is also listed as being born in Duluth): http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdis ... ?pid=42494
Both great high school players; I believe they were usually paired together on the 98 championship team.

[MoreCowBell]

I feel things have changed as far as the best route to develop. NCAA vs major juniors. In the past most of the top MN's players could go directly and play in college, but now most kids play USHL before entering college so they are 19 or 20 instead of 18 and are already past their draft age, whereas major jr kids start at about age 16 and can play up to 5 yrs in this league which is a step above the USHL and a step below NCAA arguably. What I'm trying to say is if you feel you need to take the college route because it includes an education, well if you go to major juniors you are basically done in the league before most kids are just starting college in the USA, and if playing major jr's and don't get a pro contract of some kind a kid could start college at that point at roughly the same age as the college route. Most of the kids in Canadian jr's get a year of schooling dollars for each year played. And really how good of an education does college athletes really get when they training and competing and trying to attend classes and study. Most tend to take easy degrees, whereas if they waited to attend college they would get so much more out of it and have more success. Just my opinion.

[BBB]

Jamie Langenbrunner is an exception, and not the rule.

Someone previously didn't want Canadian examples but just Minnesotans. He was the first guy I remember hearing of who said college isn't for me.
Who is this Hedberg guy? How 'Great' was he in high school? Did the OHL derail his career path to superstardom. It looks to me like a he played a few yrs of Jr and then got a 4 year degree at York Univ by the age of 24 (Not sure how good of a school it is).
Basically all the players WCHAguy listed left after a year or two or had dropped out of school by their 20 year old season. If you think guys like Toews and Parise went to UND for the education I would have to disagree. Another good school that happens to have a good record of producing pros is UW and that's why you see guys like Suter and Heatley spend a year there. I wonder how many transferable credits they still have on their transcripts. Do you think these guys even think about a major going into these situations?

[BBB]

Peter Mueller. CHL product from MN who was unreal as a 19 yr old in the NHL but has had health/concussion problems. I would say he was headed for an all-star career but maybe it's not in the cards. Definitely not a Johnny Pohl caliber player but maybe he is still young enough to get back on track.
Dustin Byfuglien. Another CHLer from MN. He was an all-star and played a huge part in Chicago winning the stanley cup, all by age 25. Not in the same league as David Fischer but he has become a good defenseman.

[DubCHAGuy]

Jamie Langenbrunner is an exception, and not the rule.

Someone previously didn't want Canadian examples but just Minnesotans. He was the first guy I remember hearing of who said college isn't for me.
Who is this Hedberg guy? How 'Great' was he in high school? Did the OHL derail his career path to superstardom. It looks to me like a he played a few yrs of Jr and then got a 4 year degree at York Univ by the age of 24 (Not sure how good of a school it is).
Basically all the players WCHAguy listed left after a year or two or had dropped out of school by their 20 year old season. If you think guys like Toews and Parise went to UND for the education I would have to disagree. Another good school that happens to have a good record of producing pros is UW and that's why you see guys like Suter and Heatley spend a year there. I wonder how many transferable credits they still have on their transcripts. Do you think these guys even think about a major going into these situations?

I was mostly just pointing out how hard it is to even make it to the NHL. I think you are right on about the education point for these high end guys, unfortunately. I just meant from a hockey stand point, the route players take isnt going to make or break their NHL chances, most guys are NOT going to make it.

Take Langenbrunner for example. After graduating HS in 1993 he played for Peterborough of the OHL before moving on to the NHL. His team had a couple other guys including former Wild fighter Matt Johnson, who combined for a career total of around 500 NHL games. No one else made it. Had he gone to say the U of M he would have still been a great NHL player and would played with a couple guys like Jeff Nielson and Chris McAlpine, who also combined for around 500 NHL career games, and a whole bunch of guys who didnt make it to the NHL.

From a hockey standpoint, no kids odds are any better playing in the CHL vs. NCAA. Personally, I would always encourage kids to get the education if they have the choice, but thats up to each kid and their family. Maybe some just want to play hockey and put off school until later, or college just isn't their thing.

And Jon Hedberg was an absolute stud for Duluth East in the late 90s, as was Finnegan. Same with the other Byfugliens from Roseau that did the Maj. Junior route, they just didn't make it as far as people thought they would, for whatever reason.

[StreetStix]

I wouldn't use Finnegan as an example. He could've made it whatever league/route he chose, had all the talent needed. His career was thrown off by the absolute hell he endured in his personal life, not his choice of where to play.

I personally like the NCAA route but have a few friends who chose the CHL and love it, mostly because they'd rather do hockey without the school. Not the smartest reason IMO, but there it is.

What happened to Finnegan in his personal life? He was hands down one of the best HS hockey players in the last 15 years in MN. He played like a rugged, physical version of Mike Crowley. They even skated the same. He would have easily won Mr. Hockey in 1999 had he stuck around (and given East a shot at winning, had they been able to get by Paul Martin and a strong Elk River group that year). He played as a freshman on the 96 team with Spehar and Locker. Fun player to watch. Can any of the East fans on here tell what happened to him?

Another kid was Jon Hedberg. He was actually an Edina kid. He played as a freshman on the 98 team that won it with the Carlsons, Finnegan and Nick Angell. Whatever happened to him? Did he leave after his freshman year? Why did he move from Edina to DE in the first place. Also believe Finnegan grew up playing youth in the Virginia program....

I know his younger sister died in a car accident, and I think there was also a divorce mixed in there. Tough for any HS kid to do much of anything with stuff like that going on. He played in Europe for a few years though.

Yea there were a few other deaths in the family as well and some other crap too. A buddy of mine played with him at East and said he's not surprised that he struggled after all that happened. Sad stuff, he was such a great talent.

[mulefarm]

Hedberg was at best the 3rd D on the 98 East team. Finnegan and Angell were the studs on D.

[DubCHAGuy]

Hedberg was at best the 3rd D on the 98 East team. Finnegan and Angell were the studs on D.

As a 9th or 10th grader(?) behind a Mr. Hockey finalist/future national champion with the U, and one of the most skilled high school defensemen to play in MN over the last 15 years. Yes, he was #3 on that team

[karl(east)]

Hedberg was at best the 3rd D on the 98 East team. Finnegan and Angell were the studs on D.

As a 9th or 10th grader(?) behind a Mr. Hockey finalist/future national champion with the U, and one of the most skilled high school defensemen to play in MN over the last 15 years. Yes, he was #3 on that team

Yes, he was a freshman. All I've seen of him are a couple of DVDs of the 98 state tourney, but the talent level is obvious. That team had one of the best sets of defensemen I've ever seen.

[BBB]

So I guess we just have the stats listed above and some people who claim he was talented? I guess I don't know where major jr derailed his career.
Not one out of 30 NHL teams took a chance on him in the 7th rd? His jr #'s were ok but the OHL puts up HUGE #'s that are not possible in the USHL so his offensive #'s were ok at best. Horrible +/- rating, not many PIM's. It looks like he had some decent #'s at a Canadian Univ and didn't do much in the echl and central hockey league. I can't think of anyone to play in the NHL in the last 20 year out of DE...was he the only hope?

[karl(east)]

So I guess we just have the stats listed above and some people who claim he was talented? I guess I don't know where major jr derailed his career.
Not one out of 30 NHL teams took a chance on him in the 7th rd? His jr #'s were ok but the OHL puts up HUGE #'s that are not possible in the USHL so his offensive #'s were ok at best. Horrible +/- rating, not many PIM's. It looks like he had some decent #'s at a Canadian Univ and didn't do much in the echl and central hockey league. I can't think of anyone to play in the NHL in the last 20 year out of DE...was he the only hope?

Cade Fairchild made his NHL debut this year. One or two more have a decent shot of making it in the next few years.

But yes, beyond that you have to go back to Rusty Fitzgerald and Sean Hill. A number of players have had long minor league careers, but the program hasn't produced a whole lot of draft picks. Finnegan probably was the most likely, but that didn't work out. It's impossible to say whether Hedberg would have had a better fate if he'd chosen a different route, but I'd hazard to say going to Canada as a junior in high school led him to be overexposed at a young age.

[warriors41]

I wouldn't use Dustin Byfuglien as a prime example. The reason he went the major junior route was because he wasn't able to stay eligible in his high school classes. He didn't have very much hope of being able to compete in college so major juniors was his only option.

[Nostalgic Nerd]

You can give me the argument that the Don didn't recruit him bc of his offensive skills and the team needs more 'role' players and 'character' guys who are gonna stick around 4 years and grind on the 3rd and 4th line, but even the guys who play on the 3rd and 4th line for the Don were skilled offensive players at the prior level and all put up very respectable numbers.

A number of those guys that are scoring types in HS hockey have a difficult time transitioning to a 3rd or 4th line role in college. Big HS scorers often don't make a smooth transition to a 3rd/4th line role.

Maybe it is a bit smarter to bring in a kid who you know has the characteristics and the capability to fill it well without a problem. Nanne is a kid that skates fast, gets his nose dirty, chips in a little offense, and is a team guy. That is exactly what you want out of a 3rd or 4th line college player.

What impressed me about Nanne was his presence, not as a scorer, but as a hardworking skater.

[starmvp]

You can give me the argument that the Don didn't recruit him bc of his offensive skills and the team needs more 'role' players and 'character' guys who are gonna stick around 4 years and grind on the 3rd and 4th line, but even the guys who play on the 3rd and 4th line for the Don were skilled offensive players at the prior level and all put up very respectable numbers.

A number of those guys that are scoring types in HS hockey have a difficult time transitioning to a 3rd or 4th line role in college. Big HS scorers often don't make a smooth transition to a 3rd/4th line role.

Maybe it is a bit smarter to bring in a kid who you know has the characteristics and the capability to fill it well without a problem. Nanne is a kid that skates fast, gets his nose dirty, chips in a little offense, and is a team guy. That is exactly what you want out of a 3rd or 4th line college player.

What impressed me about Nanne was his presence, not as a scorer, but as a hardworking skater.

There are a lot of hard-workers that are draft eligible that can also score

[Nostalgic Nerd]

A number of those guys that are scoring types in HS hockey have a difficult time transitioning to a 3rd or 4th line role in college. Big HS scorers often don't make a smooth transition to a 3rd/4th line role.

Maybe it is a bit smarter to bring in a kid who you know has the characteristics and the capability to fill it well without a problem. Nanne is a kid that skates fast, gets his nose dirty, chips in a little offense, and is a team guy. That is exactly what you want out of a 3rd or 4th line college player.

What impressed me about Nanne was his presence, not as a scorer, but as a hardworking skater.

There are a lot of hard-workers that are draft eligible that can also score

You cannot buy your way into the NHL. Nanne's a role player and the market will dictate where his talent lies.

[starmvp]

What impressed me about Nanne was his presence, not as a scorer, but as a hardworking skater.

There are a lot of hard-workers that are draft eligible that can also score

You cannot buy your way into the NHL. Nanne's a role player and the market will dictate where his talent lies.

You CAN buy your why in the draft, however you CAN'T buy your way to playing time in the NHL

[Nostalgic Nerd]

There are a lot of hard-workers that are draft eligible that can also score

You cannot buy your way into the NHL. Nanne's a role player and the market will dictate where his talent lies.

You CAN buy your why in the draft, however you CAN'T buy your way to playing time in the NHL

Any proof?