2024 NHL Prospect Pool Rankings, 26-24: Ottawa Senators, LA Kings, and New Jersey Devils

on today's show we continue our Prospect pool rankings we look at teams 26 through 24 namely Ottawa LA and New Jersey on today's episode a locked on any chel prospects you are locked on NHL prospects part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day welome back to lock on sh prospects part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day on this podcast we break down everything prospects waited for you 5 days a week Monday to Friday I'm had CES with Sebastian High we both scouts at Elite prospects and on today's show we'll be breaking down teams 26 through 24 of our Prospect cool ranking so we continue our count up to number one which will be coming fairly soon uh but for today we'll look at Ottawa in the first segment we'll look at the LA Kings in the second segment and in the third segment we look at the New Jersey Devils um before we get into any of that though just a reminder of our great IIA 41 games played or less and 22 years old or under for for skaters um same criteria in terms of games played but 24 years and under for goenda before we get into the episode today's episode is brought you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase if you're watching on YouTube as usual make sure to like And subscribe leave us a comment letting us know what you want us to talk about next and what you thought of the episode and if you're listening on your favorite podcasting platform please leave us a rate in review and make sure to make us your first listen of of the day so let's get started right away here with the Ottawa Senators at 26 overall last season they were at 23rd this was with Ridley Greg and without Carter yakimchuk and a couple other ads and removals there but on that side I think we start at the top end and there's a clear top end prospect there for Ottawa and a prospect They just added at seventh overall in the 2024 NHL 2024 NHL draft and by the way they were 23d last year it's not a big drop in quality in terms of the prospect pool um but let's get right into it here with yamek at number one uh in our top five there for the Ottawa Senators prospects talk me through his game what makes him so interesting and why he such a good fit in Ottawa raw offense is is the name of the game with Carter yakimchuk the 6 fo3 203 pound a right shot defenseman I was one of the older players for the 2024 class as a late September 05 birthday and he scored a lot of points but more importantly almost more a bunch of goals in the WHL last season with the Calgary Hitman logging 30 goals as a defenseman and 71 points including 120 penalty minutes in 66 games and that sums up a lot of what you get with Carter yakimchuk he shoots the puck extremely hard he's very daring offensively he's a fantastic Puck Handler he likes to activate up in the offensive zone uh he gets like caught in defensive situations quite regularly the defensive side of the game is very much a work in progress he's a really heavy hitter but he can can chase hitss and pull himself out of position quite regularly sense of timing and anticipation in the defensive Zone definitely still needs some more a couple more years to refine to an NHL caliber and uh he takes a lot of penalties he's very very violent and physical uh he is the embodiment of aggression both with the puck on his stick and what he tries to do with his handling to solve defensive structures as well as how he like plays defense he goes for for physicality and violence and grit so this is a player that I think is going to bring a lot of offense for to the Ottawa Senators from the Blue Line uh from that right hand side and they obviously have a lot of depth on the left side of Defense uh but he's not going to be the player that Shores up the defensive side of things which they have been looking for as well I mean ottawa's defense has been rather poorest in the last couple seasons and uh Carter yakimchuk will not be the player that reinvigorates that defense in terms of uh like stopping High danger chances but he will be adding a lot of offense to the equation and definitely has some very clear top four upside uh in that offensive role he could be a first pairing a first power play quarterback uh if he's insulated on a top pairing I could see it happening and I think Jake Sanderson would be a fantastic stylistic uh um like compliment to Carter yakimchuk so a lot to like with with yakin as a player he's very exciting he's very fun he's gonna be a fan favorite gets the fans out of their seats uh but definitely still make some mistakes along the way too so he's our top prospect for the Senators and there is in terms of upside and skill a definite drop off after this number one slot but we're still very big fans of the play that we have ranked here at number two so howy talk me through a really big and extraordinarily toolsy forward who was picked in the middle in the middle rounds of the same 2024 draft class in uh Javon Moore absolutely so Javon Moore six he was clocked in at 64 and a half at the combine um well over 200 lb play the entire year pretty much with minetonka and the uh the uh Minnesotan High School uh circuit in the US and he's a very interesting player because yes he's big yes he's physical but he's got a bunch of sneaky soft skill he's a great passer he's a great stick Handler um uses his frame really well to protect pucks along the boards he doesn't over rely on his frame either he's able to use his mechanics to win battles get under opponent's sticks um kind of uses his his mechanics to to win battles on their own you know I think it'd be just as effective if he was six foot um which is which makes him really interesting because usually those types of guys you see them make the jump early you see them play USHL minutes fairly early in their career uh he's uh he's um tied to the SE fall Stampede in the USHL so he's probably going to be playing at that level next year um and then it's just up from there I think he's got a he's got a really raw toolkit he still got a lot of things to figure out in terms of hockey sense in terms of um kind of reading plays anticipating play a bit better um but these types of big skilled so you know raw forwards they have two direction either they stay the same or they just Skyrocket in terms of progression um I'd expect the ladder for Javon more I'm pretty pretty high on on his ability to develop into a good player so I'm excited to see where he goes and and what his Pro what his progression is going to be from here um but talk me through the one goalie we have on this list uh for um the Ottawa Senators and it's a pretty good one uh Matt sgard is still eligible um under 41 NHL games played he's 23 so he makes a cut in terms of of what we're looking for for goali Le there so talk me through his game where he's played what he's done since just the overall description yeah he's been a really steady presence in Belleville in the AHL for the last like three seasons already uh this is a 6'7 198 pound left catching goenda in the second round 37th overall in 2019 by the Ottawa Senators and uh this past season he played 32 games in Belleville put up a 916 save percentage also got into six NHL games where he put up an 859 which wasn't the strongest but Ottawa had a lot of struggles in net last season as a whole uh and yeah he's he already has three full AHL Seasons under his belt uh in terms of like SPL explain the crease throughout uh those years and uh obviously a very toolsy massive goenda going into the butterfly pretty athletic uh and uh definitely a goal tender that Ottawa has a lot of hope for and especially now with the acquisition of lenus alar there's a lot less haste in trying to rush him to the NHL and I think think that uh playing the patient waiting game with sogard could really really bear some interesting fruits with him down the road uh in terms of becoming a potential 1 a 1B type of goenda good track and while I don't think he's going to be like a perennial Allstar or anything from the crease I do think that a decent amount of quality with this player but next we have Zach stepchuk a really intense uh player who just played his first season in the AHL last year year loging 17 goals and 28 points for the Belleville senators in a middle six role he can play a center he can play on the wing uh he's a really good checking forward uh there's a lot of elements in his game that project very like easily to the NHL with how he approaches the game he's gritty he's intense he never takes his foot off the gas he's middle driven decent shot um scores mainly from Around the Net front a lot of like in uh in this player and his projection but uh talk me through the final player here in our top five before we jump into the honorable mentions because it's a player that you watched a decent amount and I think a lot of us watched him a decent amount last season on uh the stagos spirit run to the Memorial Cup so talk me through jorian Donovan yeah I'll keep it quick um very good skater um pretty decent skill across the board whether that's defensively or offensively he's very much a an anticipatory force on the ice he doesn't really react he's more of the proactive kind of place myself ahead of play and and and kind of shut down type of player so I really like his his game overall on that side um he's really good at just turning defense into offense you know just suppressing and and moving them up the ice which made him really effective when he was paired with uh with Zay per for a while uh I like that combination of tools I think he's a really interesting player he makes the top five For Me Above a couple of higher picks in the uh the 2024 NHL draft and we can start with our first honorable mention there in Gabriel Elias and who was picked a 39th overall just this past year I think it's no secret neither one of us is big fan of Gabriel Elias's game so far the things we've heard since he was drafted since he joined the rookie camp for Ottawa haven't been good either um there's some tough tough viewings uh and tough roads ahead for Elon who uh won't be joining the University of Michigan it's not clear if he was cut or if he refused to join them and wants to go somewhere else instead but he's not going to be playing in um in in the NCAA this next year so the routes for him are the USL like he was initially going to Cedar Rapids and then going to Michigan in a year's time but clearly uh diverged from that path and has probably headed to the OHL route now which is going to be close to home for the SS but we've seen that same development path uh with the next player in our all Ro mentions in Tyler bue who played half a struggle season in the NCAA as a D+ one and then uh switched over to the Ottawa 67s in the OHL and I got to watch him live quite a bit there um but he's been really struggling with with injury uh he got into like just 20s something AHL games last season I think he put up about a quarter point a game in that stretch as well um a lot of question marks both both with with bushe and Elison the physical tools are clear uh Tyler bushe is like these are two the most violent players that are affiliated with NHL organizations right now but have so many question marks in terms of decision-making processing the vision of the ice um being able to get ahead of the play are things that these play have always struggled significantly with and uh in in our opinion you really need to combine that with the physical Tools in order to have a solid NHL projection and both these players remain pretty big question marks as a result absolutely that wraps up our first segment we'll get into to our second segment here we look at the LA Kings uh and their progression through the um as we progress through the prospect pool rankings but just before a quick word from our sponsors at game time if you're looking to buy cheap tickets last minute to 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locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply but again super easy you just create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase so download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed Al righty so moving right on to our second segment we'll be looking at the LA Kings who are the 25th team in our Prospect pool rankings um last year they at 15th with a couple extra pieces there to work with um but they still had an interesting couple of years of of drafting there and I think they're worth talking about and nothing changes here at number one Brent Clark is still eligible um for these rankings he has under 41 games played and he's under 23 years of age so we're all set on that side Brent Clark really easy incredibly smart and that's really the the kind of Cornerstone of his game really good at anticipating play pro playing himself proactively kind of reading what's going to happen what's going to go on on the ice um great shot great passing skill great stick handling as well the main knock on him his entire career was has been skating so far but it's kind of come a couple steps uh ahead in the past year uh I've really liked his ability to develop his retrieval game uh and kind of use his feet in order to go back back retrieve a puck spin off a check and move forward that's what really makes um that that was a part that really made me question Brent Clark his upside because a lot of NHL defense is exactly that it's it's the ability to um kind of move up the ice quickly after retrievals that's why he needs skating and what why it's so important for defenseman the gr Clark's developed fairly well in that regard um let's move right on here to number two um and we got a decent Prospect here we had ranked higher and we predicted would fall in the draft and Liam greenre talk me his game why we're high on him what makes him special he's awesome uh this is a a high IQ player uh who plays mainly on the wing uh the skating is the clear big weakness but he's 6'2 21 pounds and combined with a well above average understanding of the game and processing speed he has a wicked shot he developed his playmaking massively in the last year to the point that it's matched his shooting ability uh which has been really impressive he's a fantastic Puck Handler uh one of the best highlight reels of any draft eligible uh in the 2024 class uh in terms of endtoend rushes despite subpar skating ability he's also very strong uh what really solid phys physical Foundation uh has basically everything that you want in a forward um and and in a Winger that could be a complimentary skill guy in a top six uh apart from the skating ability so the skating is going to be Central to his development plan but he has the IQ he has the tools he has the physicality uh the offensive creativity um the understanding of playing all three zones to to Really flourish so this is a player that we both really really liked so while there is an element of risk especially pertaining to the skating there's so much to like there's so much to kind of back in his development and he can be molded into a variety of different player archetypes as well by the LA Kings which makes him very adaptable as a prospect in this development too absolutely that brings us to number three we have Eric Portillo uh gender who was drafted in well he was acquired by trade um by the LA Kings um played fairly well by the Buffalo Sabers that's right um he played fairly well this past year in the AHL put up uh 918 save percentage and 39 games with the Ontario rign he's been developing fairly well down there um overall what really makes him interesting is a buck tracking ability intelligence his awareness um he's a fairly athletic goalie with uh decent skating decent footwork um so he's got a decent Foundation there and just the numbers overall they don't lie you know he's been developing fairly well so he's looking really interesting there's another there's another goalie we're going to talk about in a second who compliments him fairly well I feel like if you took the best of those two you'd have a really good goal tender uh but sandwich in between those two at number four we have Cohen zemer um zemer has been developing fairly well as well in the WHL definitely a subpar skater um but there there's a reason that we like him so much he's a great shooter um with a with a shooting mindset really he loves to catch and release he loves to release one timers from the half wall um he's really really really violent as well um so combining that offensive skill with the physicality is really good it's just the skating really needs to come a couple steps um so overall he's a very interesting Prospect let's talk about Carter George for a second he was our highest ranked Goldie by the end of the year at Dober prospects last year um has been developing fairly well was money for Canada at the uh at the u8 world championship talking through his game what makes him so interesting yeah he's a bit under sized for a goenda at 6'1 196 pounds but this is a highly intelligent player goenda to the net as well he's a fantastic Puck Handler he likes to get out of his crease and play the puck uh he's one of the best 18-year- old goenda in the last three years at handling the puck behind his own net uh and and not only avoiding risk in doing so but creating chances for his teammates getting the puck up the ice and really sparking the break out um in terms of his actual like shot stopping ability I think that he's quite technically strong he's intelligent good footwork he uh keeps a pretty good eye on the Pucket Puck tracking is decent there's a lot to like with him he's he's pretty polished I think as a whole with his habits and net uh but obviously the physical tools aren't the same as many other goenda in the top two or three rounds uh in every draft but still the the thunderbay native who played with Owen Sound last year putting up a 907 sa percentage in 50 6 games I still think is is one of the the brighter goal tending prospects that were drafted in the last two years and uh yeah a player that I've just grown to really appreciate due to how he thinks the game in net and how he approaches playing as a goenda mentions here including another goalie Hampton slinsky who's been developing fairly well as well um played for the Fargo Force in the USHL put up a 923 save percentage in 33 games and the USHL is not an easy League to put up a high save percentage in uh it's it's a very difficult it's a high-scoring league uh so that's fairly interesting on his side as well we have yakob Dvorak who's a big physical defensive defenseman uh who's been developing fairly well as well not a big Point producer but a player who you can rely upon in penalty kill minutes I think he's going to be probably number six defenseman something like that but if he develops into that I mean that's an NHL or he got out of a pick you know those don't happen often we also have Matthew Manos pretty much a complete opposite um I think his last name is very fitting he's incredibly manic uh very very chaotic defenseman who loves to move up the ice loves to use his hands loves to pick apart defenses with intense intense energy in in his in his um in his offensive Puck carries um but still needs to figure out the defensive side of things still needs to get a bit more consistent he missed like half a year last year as well which doesn't help um and lastly another player who I thought would develop better than he did Franchesco penelli I talk about him often because I think he was my first mistake as a scout um not understanding that you need more than just hockey SS because he is Pure Hockey sense he's one of the smartest prospects I've ever scouted the issue with penelli is he doesn't have the footwork or the physicality or the highend puck skills to compensate um and kind of and kind of complement that that high-end hockey sense that he has um so understanding that was a key thing for me and that's kind of the part of why penelli hasn't developed as well as he could I remember having him ranked in the top 10 in his draft year in 2020 um that hasn't worked out the way I thought it would but uh still crossing my fingers hoping that he proves me right someday um but that's our second segment done for the LA Kings we'll get into the uh third segment here where we talking about the New Jersey Devils at 24th overall but just before a quick word for our sponsors it indeed we're driven by the search for better here at locked on and but when it comes to hiring the best way to search for a candidate isn't really to search at all don't search match instead with indeed if you need to hire indeed is the best place to do that it is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million Global monthly visitors according to indd data and a matching a matching engine that find helps you find quality candidates fast and easily 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right now and support our show by saying that you heard about indeed on this podcast again that's indeed.com lockon terms and conditions apply but if you need to hire you need indeed Al righty so let's close things off here with our final segment on the New Jersey Devils they come in at 24 in our Prospect rankings uh mainly because they're topheavy they've got a decent top three there I'd say a no okay fourth Prospect and then unfortunately the the the pool kind of takes a nose dive from there um and uh and last year's rankings uh for us they showed up at 18th overall so a bit of a drop in quality there with a couple of graduates including uh Alex H who was traded Luke Hughes as well that changes things uh but they added a very interesting prospect there with their 10th overall pick and Anton Sal take it away on Sal you watched him a ton this past year right I did and I think 10th overall is more than reasonable as a range to select this player uh I think he's a guy that that gave me a lot of paw last season especially when he was being like projected as like the slam dunk second overall pick uh earlier on the draft cycle but this is an Elite Moving defenseman he's 6'7 yeah six foot Seven's right and uh probably a top two or best skater in the entire 2024 draft class barring size like without even accounting for it h so the combination of of his ability of moving around the ice with just absolutely devastating physicality he can smother play into the boards like it's nothing uh really powerful where body can cover a bunch of ice in just about a stride or two and he played the entirety of last season in the KHL with torpedo n novaro putting up 11 points through 63 games and while the offensive part of his game definitely is not his area of strength uh he's definitely a bit hesitant under pressure when he has the puck on his stick there's a bit of a limitation in creativity uh an offensive flare uh with a puck on a stick as well but uh it's in the defensive Zone and especially in defending the rush that he truly truly shines uh he's so rangy he's so big he takes up like half the ice when he's out there uh even on the European size of size rink but uh he's he's an octopus against the rush he can close his gaps incredibly Qui quickly and uh and was a really a pain to attack on his side of the ice even for KHL forwards for the entirety of last season so a super toolsy defenseman who I think could be a really really good like defense first piece in the top four long term whether that happens on a first pairing or a second pairing remains to be seen I I think second pairing is more likely overall but this is going to be the guy that that you put over the boards every time that you have an important penalty kill uh whenever you need to to just finish off a game you need defend a lead with a minute or two left in the game you're gonna send Anton Sal over the boards and I think that he's going to be really valuable for the devil's long term even if his overall point production in his career is not going to be the highest absolutely and that brings us to number two there it's Sheamus Casey joins the ranks here at number two uh a 5' 10 170 lb um right shot defenseman so undersized for sure um but one of the smartest and best skaters um in the naaa last year in terms of defenseman super super comfortable with the puck as well he's a great stick Handler great passer great shooter he's definitely an offensive defenseman by trade um scored 45 points in 40 games with the University of Michigan as their top power playay quarterback as they kind of General from the back end really good on breakout passes really smart in terms of looking off as passes and finding secondary tertiary passing options to move the puck up the ice and um make plays really quick in transition um overall I just I really like his game I've been a big fan for quite a while he has all the little details I look for from undersized offensive defenseman the lookoff the really good skating The Edge work the mobility um really great hip flection as well which makes it really easy for him from to go from a standstill at the Blue Line gets two quick Crossovers and he covers a lot of ice that way so he's really evasive as well from the blue line so a player I think is going to have some decent success in the NHL because of how hard he is to catch with the puck um he's very very evasive so I'm not I don't think he's going to have a lot of situations where he's going to get clobbered in the NHL so that makes this progression really really interesting for me um and overall and talk about a perfect compliment to Anton salv stylistically absolutely 100% full full complete contrast between the two of those just very very different players which uh that's why I think that salive adding salive was so key for them um let's move on to number three and Lenny HoHo who is for me one of the smartest players in Europe you know he's really really really intelligent um and that's what makes his game TI because he's a below average skater for sure um he's he's big he's fairly big a 61 195 pounds but he's not necessarily a physical player in the pure sense because he doesn't get a lot of opportunities to hit a lot of the a lot of The Hitting opportunities for Fords in the NHL are for checking opportunities where a defending a defenseman's cutting across you and you manage to just hit him after he gets a pass off that kind of thing H's footwork actually prevents him from being physical because he can't really catch Defenders on the four Che so that needs to improve but man is his anticipation as reads especially on the puck especially offensively off the puck are just off the charts he's a really really intelligent player with a plus shot decent handling skill as well um scored 31 points in 46 games in Liga which isn't bad for a ja plus one player uh so overall I like his progression I like the way he's he's developed his game as well it's just the skating needs to come a couple steps as smart as he is as good of of an off Puck thinker as he is either needs to ramp up the physicality and lean into that as a skill or he needs to develop a skating further either one will be key to making a pure NHL out of him um let's move on to number four Josh Filman is still a fairly interesting Prospect here um at Fourth overall in our rankings talk me through his game what makes him so interesting yeah he was a player who dropped in his draft year um he was developing with the Swift K br onos in the WHL and he just played his last season there uh last year uh he's a 6' 178b uh left shot left Winger and uh he's a player that I I've always quite liked in terms of the raw tools the shooting skills really quite impressive even if the scoring numbers haven't fully uh like translated uh just just yet in his career but also above average in terms of intelligence like he's a really Nifty clever player in the offensive zone I like his active off- Puck movement uh he's he's a pretty straight line attacker um when he's when he has a puck on a stick in transition but uh he's able to Lover's handling ability to get to the inside and to fake Defenders toward the towards the outside but the limited skating ability kind of um I guess limits his his transition impact because he is such a straight line player he depends on those clever little uh moves to get around defense his opponents because uh he just doesn't have the straight line speed or the lateral agility to do so um so I definitely think there's still some hurdles in his development to come but with his level of intelligence with the good shot the decent FL flashes of physicality in his game as well there's a lot to like in this player but uh I definitely think that that there's a significant drop off here uh from third to Fourth uh in the New Jersey Prospect pool for sure and I I think it drops off even further here at number five we have TOS Vin um 6 fo1 195 PBS he was drafted 129th overall in the 2021 NHL draft this is a plus skater with side he played the full uh pretty much a full season last year with Fuda and the AHL scored 29 Points in 54 games I think he very much improved his ability to pass pucks up the ice to be involved on the breakout um he's a surprisingly decent Handler as well he's able to move past one layer of pressure and kind of get behind uh defenses either when either when transitioning the puck you know for example if if a forward's four checking hard on him he's able to De through him or sometimes even at the Blue Line there are some situations where he'll make a Nifty move to the backand at the blue line to kind of activate down the boards and make a play happen that way so there are some interesting tools to work with here with ven but first and foremost he's mainly a defensive specialist you know he he played a lot of penalty kill minutes especially in his draft here especially in his draft plus one um I like I like the offensive progression though in the AHL so far uh they kind of unexpected progression in in scoring I never thought ven would ever crack 20 points even in the AHL so this is a great progression for him uh and a couple honorable mentions to close things off we have Ethan Edwards um and size left shot defenseman 22 years old scored u 10 points in 21 games with Michigan still needs to progress but the passing handling and uh and skating are really really good we also have Mel y gorov a six fo4 goenda go into too much detail on him because their goalies and goalies R Voodoo but um I really like his ability to manipulate his depth to either stay deep on uh closeup shots or to challenge players when it's one onone so he uses his depth really well and finally Herman tra who's a prospect who you're a big fan of um he's a he's a fairly muted offensive player but he's really responsible really smart a great skater there's a lot to work with absolutely that wraps up absolutely but that wraps up our episode thank you very much for tuning in if you're watching on YouTube remember to like And subscribe leave as a comment letting us know what you want us to talk about next and if you're listening on your favorite podcasting platform as usual please leave us a rate and review and make sure to make us your first listen of the day through a second listen of the day make sure to check out lock on sports today they've got all your news and updates about what's going on around Sports and make sure to tune in for our next shows as we continue our Prospect pool rankings and work our way up to the best Prospect pool in the NHL this has been Hatty kakach with Sebastian High we hope you tune in next time