Which rookie will make the biggest impact with his team this season?

[Forever_Habs10]

....

[ColRouleBleu]

I voted for the Sens guy due entirely to the cool name factor

[Forever_Habs10]

I voted for the Sens guy due entirely to the cool name factor

Go Diaz (bias)......................am curious to see how Ryan Nugent for Edmonton makes out though.

[Nine1One]

1. Hopkins

2. Schieffle (he's been a beast for the jets in preseason.

3 Gardiner (really ticked ducks traded him. oh well

[EHIW]

1. Zibinijad

2. Gardiner

3. Schieflle

[BigTed3]

The answer is Scheifele. When you look at rookie impact, you need to determine three things:

1. Is the player talented enough to succeed in the NHL?

2. Does he have a supporting cast to elevate his game?

3. Is he going to get playing time?

Asking who is going to have the biggest impact is not at all the same as asking who will have the better career or be the better player. Last season, I chose Hall to have a bigger impact than Seguin, because as talented as Seguin is, he was stuck behind good depth in Boston, and we saw that he spent a lot of time in the press box. This season, Zibanejad is on a bad team but I also don't know that he's going to end up getting good minutes. The Sens still have guys like Alfie, Spezza, Foligno, Neil, etc who are going to be favored over him, and in any case, Z is more of a complete player rather than a pure scorer, so I don't know that we'll appreciate all those things right away. Hodgson is also stuck behind depth in Vancouver. Diaz and Gardiner are third-pairing D men on teams that are going to carry 7-8 NHL-ready D men, so they won't get a lot of playing time over the season. Nugent-Hopkins is a legit prospect but he's under-weight and he's sitting behind a lot of other good young prospects. Winnipeg has some forwards too, but they don't have a bona fide fist line and I think many of the guys ahead of Scheifele are displaceable, so I think he gets the best chance to move up the line-up and make good on his talent.

[Nine1One]

The answer is Scheifele. When you look at rookie impact, you need to determine three things:

1. Is the player talented enough to succeed in the NHL?

2. Does he have a supporting cast to elevate his game?

3. Is he going to get playing time?

Asking who is going to have the biggest impact is not at all the same as asking who will have the better career or be the better player. Last season, I chose Hall to have a bigger impact than Seguin, because as talented as Seguin is, he was stuck behind good depth in Boston, and we saw that he spent a lot of time in the press box. This season, Zibanejad is on a bad team but I also don't know that he's going to end up getting good minutes. The Sens still have guys like Alfie, Spezza, Foligno, Neil, etc who are going to be favored over him, and in any case, Z is more of a complete player rather than a pure scorer, so I don't know that we'll appreciate all those things right away. Hodgson is also stuck behind depth in Vancouver. Diaz and Gardiner are third-pairing D men on teams that are going to carry 7-8 NHL-ready D men, so they won't get a lot of playing time over the season. Nugent-Hopkins is a legit prospect but he's under-weight and he's sitting behind a lot of other good young prospects. Winnipeg has some forwards too, but they don't have a bona fide fist line and I think many of the guys ahead of Scheifele are displaceable, so I think he gets the best chance to move up the line-up and make good on his talent.

agree

[RSD]

The answer is Scheifele. When you look at rookie impact, you need to determine three things:

1. Is the player talented enough to succeed in the NHL?

2. Does he have a supporting cast to elevate his game?

3. Is he going to get playing time?

Asking who is going to have the biggest impact is not at all the same as asking who will have the better career or be the better player. Last season, I chose Hall to have a bigger impact than Seguin, because as talented as Seguin is, he was stuck behind good depth in Boston, and we saw that he spent a lot of time in the press box. This season, Zibanejad is on a bad team but I also don't know that he's going to end up getting good minutes. The Sens still have guys like Alfie, Spezza, Foligno, Neil, etc who are going to be favored over him, and in any case, Z is more of a complete player rather than a pure scorer, so I don't know that we'll appreciate all those things right away. Hodgson is also stuck behind depth in Vancouver. Diaz and Gardiner are third-pairing D men on teams that are going to carry 7-8 NHL-ready D men, so they won't get a lot of playing time over the season. Nugent-Hopkins is a legit prospect but he's under-weight and he's sitting behind a lot of other good young prospects. Winnipeg has some forwards too, but they don't have a bona fide fist line and I think many of the guys ahead of Scheifele are displaceable, so I think he gets the best chance to move up the line-up and make good on his talent.

Agreed. This kid will make a bigger impact on his team than any of the other rookies, the Ottawa kid is a close second.

[Noob616]

Schleife and Diaz. With Diaz it largely depends on how much playing time he gets, and where he gets slotted when Spacek, Campoli, or Markov gets back.

[powerplay2009]

Apparently Diaz has been partnered with Gill the past few days. Mentor? That would really help Diaz and I think that would mean that he shows every sign of being around all season to make an impact.

And while I'm not sure he will make the BIGGEST impact, another guy to keep an eye on is Landeskog. Especially with forwards like Stastny, Duchene, O'Reily, and Jones around him.

[musicalhab]

RNH , easily. To much skill.

[THEBIGGESTHABSFAN123]

Diaz has the most points among rookie D men, Subban was 3rd for that last year. But there were better rookie D men last year, so I'm not comparing the 2, besides Diaz is older and already has some professional experience unlike Subban last year.

[Bud2790]

Easy for me to say now, once the season has already started, but I'll go for Luke Adam and Matt Read. When I heard Bob McKenzie pick Read for the Calder, I was actually wondering who he was. I think he and Adam can put up Skinner type numbers this year.

[Forever_Habs10]

The answer is Scheifele. When you look at rookie impact, you need to determine three things:

1. Is the player talented enough to succeed in the NHL?

2. Does he have a supporting cast to elevate his game?

3. Is he going to get playing time?

Winnipeg returns Scheifele to juniors

[FirstStar]

Winnipeg returns Scheifele to juniors

It's not always about, "is he ready for the NHL...". Sometimes teams don't have a choice, like us with all the injuries last season and this one.

Look at seguin last season... He stay up with the b's but was limited due to the depth of the b's. On another team such as the leafs, seguin might've been a 1st liner or at very least a 2nd liner.

It all depends, it's not always about being ready.

Is Enqvist really ready for the NHL?

He's barely ready for the AHL, but with all the injuries, letting Pouliot and halpern go this summer, we didn't have much of a choice. Had Betts been healthy enough to join the team, I doubt Enqvist would be in Montreal right now. He's only here cos we really don't have a choice.

[BigTed3]

Winnipeg returns Scheifele to juniors

Honestly (and obviously) surprised by this move. Winnipeg has a terrible set of forwards, and there was definitely space for him on the roster.

[WinnipegJet]

Honestly (and obviously) surprised by this move. Winnipeg has a terrible set of forwards, and there was definitely space for him on the roster.

The thing is, he doesn't fit in at this point. He's a center and I believe that's how they want to use him. The top two spots are Little's and Antropov's. The checking line does not have room for Scheifele on it. That leaves one line, and with both Ben Maxwell and Patrice Cormier essentially ready for a bottom-line NHL role, they don't need to burn a year of Scheifele's eligibility. With Fehr coming back soon-ish, he'd be relegated to a pretty marginal role by the looks of it. Plus, he's only 18.

Honestly, had he not come on so strong in the preseason, not many people would have been talking about it. He'll be well served by giving some time to build his size and build his confidence by dominating the OHL.

Once regular season started, he definitely didn't have the same success. He got slightly better as the games went on, but I think it makes more sense to send him down and let him continue to develop. He hasn't filled out his frame yet either which is probably the main reason I would have sent him down.

The risks of keeping him up aren't worth the rewards. The organization had their last several 1st-round picks join the team at 18; it's about time they show some patience with one.

I guess perhaps I don't find it quite as surprising as I've been right in the heat of things here in Winnipeg and have heard and seen everything.