Under-23 ranking: Ivan Demidov behind Juraj Slafkovsky

[content-ads] Yes, yes, you read that right, Pronman puts Slaf ahead of Demidov.

Even though they’re in the same category, that of future NHL all-stars, it’s pretty surprising to see Demidov so far down this list, and especially behind Slafkovsky. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more I really don’t understand it.

And it’s not as if the fact that Demidov had hardly played in the NHL worked against him, given that guys like Zeev Buium (8th) and Matthew Schaefer (9th) are ahead of the Russian.

And for those wondering, yes, Matvei Michkov (6th) is also ahead of Ivan Demidov. Pronman explains that he sees a slight problem with Demidov’s skating stroke, which he finds rather odd, even if he doesn’t consider him slow.

The fact remains that, in my opinion, Demidov would have deserved to be at least in the top-5 of this ranking, and ESPECIALLY ahead of Juraj Slafkovsky, who, despite his unique style of play, clearly won’t be better than Demidov in the long term [content-ads] Now that that’s been said and analyzed, there’s another element that shocked me in this list.

It’s to see Lane Hutson (34th) so far down the list, after winning the Calder Trophy ahead of Macklin Celebrini, who’s at the top of the list. What’s more, not only is Hutson pretty far down the list, he’s behind NINE other defensemen, making the Habs’ #48 the 10th-ranked defenseman. You read that right, Pronman sees nine defensemen under the age of 23 having better careers than Lane Hutson. Those defensemen are: Luke Hughes (5th), Zeev Buium (8th), Matthew Schaefer (9th), San Dickinson (15th), Artyom Levshunov (22nd), Owen Power (27th), Zayne Parekh (30th), Carter yakemchuk (31st) and Anton Silayev (33rd). Seriously, once again, I just don’t get it. Pronman justifies Hutson’s ranking by criticizing his defensive play, his size and his physical game.

In short, The Athletic’s renowned analyst doesn’t seem to have watched Hutson play last season [content-ads] As for the rest of the list, here are the Habs players and other interesting names to be found among the 173 players ranked by Pronman

• David Reinbacher (44th)
• Zachary Bolduc (100th)
• Michael Hage (131st)
• Logan Mailloux (133rd)
• Oliver Kapanen (139th)

You’ll have gathered that Jacob Fowler, who was eligible for this list, doesn’t make the cut, even though there are seven goalies on it. Pronman confirms that he really doesn’t like the potential of Jacob Fowler, whom he sees as an auxiliary goalie.

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– À lire.

– Ouf.