Snuggerud, bro.

And Knies is nowhere near the top 25 prospects.

Benson getting too much love in here for sure. You had him pegged as 7th overall this year?

not too many complaints about the names present... i think the benson hype isa bit too strong personally, he definitely fell but not by enough to be considered that high over some other guys like kasper and edvinsson and others drafted above him like reinbacher. I also think Hughes is a little too high. Wolf probably a bit too low.

Knies was up for the Hobey Baker, along with Cooley. Snuggerud was on their line and was not. All 3 should be on this list though.

Knies also showed in the playoffs that his potential is very high.

I'd go Bedard, Michkov, Carlsson, Fantilli, Cooley, Hughes, Jiricek, Nemec, Wright, Smith for top 10 personally.

Forgot bout him, my bad. Prob goes 18-23

Where's Nate Danielson?

Yup, I'd say around 21. Maaaybe squeaks into the top 20.

Perpetually underrated.

+
Nikishin
Reichel
Holtz
Rossi

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Simashev
Benson
Hutson

Watch…
Kulich
Snuggerud
Stankoven
Blake
Gritsyuk
Merkulov
Bystedt
Cormier
Willander
Mukhamadullin

Cool. Do you understand the difference between being a great NCAA player and being a great prospect? It's not the same thing, as any peek at the list of Hobey Baker winners will tell you. Prior to the 2023 draft, one could argue that Knies could squeak in near the end of a top 50 drafted prospects list, let's say... 42, just to be generous. I doubt anyone would argue much. After the 2023 draft? Bruh. Like I said, he is nowhere near the top 25. Just because he's the Leafs best prospect, that does not necessarily mean he's a top prospect around the league. Knies is not rated close to the level of NHL prospect that Cooley and Snuggs are. By anyone.

I'm biased but I think Nemec is better than Jiricek. Jiricek had more points but Nemec had more 5v5 points (iirc) and imo has a more complete game and a style more suited to the modern game

Not better than Dvorsky imo, at least, as of now

Leave Knies alone... It's not very Knies of you to say that... He's a Honey Baker finalist and showed up for the playoffs... Outside of the core 5 and Sammy, He was the best player on the Leafs

I'd say you're underrating Knies... After these playoffs, the majority of people agreed that their assumption of Leafs fans overrating Knies was wrong and he is THAT guy

It's not even me, it's all the prospect pundits and whatnot. And in fact, Knies has never been ranked among the top 25 drafted prospects. I'm not saying he's a bad prospect or player, but you guys get really wound up over prospects all the time.

Oh, and putting up four points in seven playoff games isn't exactly stunning production when you get to play with Matthews and Marner. Yes, I know points are not everything, but hey, when you play with the top liners... it comes with the job.

Knies didn't play with Matthews and Marner (the latter, I'm not the biggest fan of)... He played on the 3rd line with Acciari and ROR...

My point is that people were generally underrating Knis bc most people thought he was the next big bust that Leafs fans were hyping him up to be. For example, would you say, when Jason Robertson just broke into the league, was he a top 50 prospect? No... But when he started producing in small sample sizes... people all of a sudden started to praise him... You can use this example and switch names with most of these rising stars... I feel that people on starting to round the corner on Knies

1 - The players Knies spent the most 5v5 time with were Marner (30 minutes) and Matthews (29 min.), and three of his four points came while he was on with Marner. He spent about 27-28 minutes with ROR and Cookie, and about 20 minutes with Tavares and Willy.

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/playerreport.php?fromseason=20222023&thruseason=20222023&stype=3&sit=5v5&stdoi=std&rate=n&v=t&playerid=8482720

2 - Exactly nobody was talking about Knies like he was going to be a bust. And again, I'm not saying he's not a fine prospect. There's lots of fine prospects who are well outside the top 25.

3 - Yes, Jason Robertson was a top 50 prospect in 2019-2020. And, ya know, he was taken like 20 slots higher than Knies in his draft year.

All three of those points though had nothing to do w Marner... Marner either just got on the ice or was behind the play.

Some people were (comparing him to Jeremy Bracco). IMO, rank 15-35 are all interchangeable and Knies is in that top 25. Knies is better than fine though... Niemela is a fine prospect, doesn't mean that if I offered you Knies or Niemela, that you'll be taking Niemela

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/nhl-prospect-rankings-top-50-players-nhl-pipelines-2019-20/f5rpke886k4d1a2st6s5ym20x as an example (I can't pull up ESPN's rankings but they'll have him in the 45-100 range)

Ehh... Knies isn't in that top 50 you linked. But no, 15 to 35 are not interchangeable, and no, Knies is not in the top 25 rated prospects. That's not me talking, I'm just relaying what the pundits have said.

It wasn't man article on Knies, it was Robertson (It was for the 2019-20 season, Knies was drafted in '21). Clearly, the Hobey Baker voters and the Leafs organization disagrees with your take and so do a lot more fans after this year's playoffs... Knies IS in that group of elite prospects (not Bedard/Carlson/Fantilli tier but the one below that tier).

(sigh)

You're imagining things, dude. Find me one place that lists Knies in that tier. ONE. Hell, find me one that lists him in the tier below that tier. I dare you.

And again, FCOL, NCAA hockey is not any sort of indicator of future success. History is littered with Hobey Baker winners you have probably never heard of in your life, because playing well in college and being capable of succeeding in the NHL are two very different animals. Hell, until 10 years ago, winning the Hobey Baker was almost an assurance you'd go absolutely nowhere in the NHL.

Issue is, most news outlets have considered Knies too old for their rankings... only midseason rankings which didn't consider his playoff stats and Hobey Baker nom.

That's bc NCAA isn't as talented yers ago as it is now... People didn't view the NCAA in as high regard as they do now (unlike the OHL, QMJHL, WHL etc.), meaning that the more talent gets put in the NCAA, more likely a Hobey Baker winner does well in the NHL. Even then, it's a lottery, just like the OHL... but that doesn't mean that the OHL MVP award gets disregarded bc guys like Marco Rossi and Micheal Houser won it.

When guys like Makar, Gaudreau, Eichel and Caufield have won it, and guys like Beniers, Pinto, Boldy, Swagman etc. being finalists in the past few years, the award does mean something

1 - What are you talking about? No they did not. You're really reaching now.

2 - I didn't say it means nothing. I said shining in college hockey does not necessarily make one a top or even good NHL prospect. These are two entirely different games.

The beef is crazy 😂