• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

Leaf Rumours

leafman101 said:
Defense can be taught and learned, and usually is with age and experience.

Fowler's skills can't be taught though.
Click to expand...

The only skill Fowler has that the other defensemen don't necessarily possess to the same degree and can't really be taught is skating. He doesn't edge Gormley by much in that regard. Fowler will never be as mean as Gudbranson and that can't be taught; he'll never be as smart as Gormley and you can't teach that.

There are a few scouts who even have Derek Forbort ahead of Cam Fowler simply because Fowler's too soft, too weak defensively and his shot sucks.
 
Fowler isn't a consensus top 5 pick just because of his skating. He also has elite level puck skills, vision and instincts that neither of the other guys do.
 
leafman101 said:
No I mean his impressive puck skills and instincts that surpass his contemporaries.

And if a 17 year old d-man, putting up a ppg is disapointing you must thing Gudbranson and Gormley suck.

Shot can also be learned by the way (see Luke Schenn).
Click to expand...

No, I don't consider putting up a PPG rate on the most dominant junior team since the mid-90s Kamloops Blazers impressive when he was expected to post around 70-75 points this season. It was a disappointing season given what people expected of Fowler offensively this year.
 
So basically Fowler should be even better than his top notch production?

Well that doesn't seem like a point against him.
 
TimHorton said:
Kaberle shouldn't be part of any deal for the #4, that would be a serious waste of assests.
Click to expand...
...and he won't. I'm surprised people are actually still floating that idea, when the source was an "idle thoughts" type article from Steve Simmons.
 
Fowler's production wasn't honestly that impressive considering the team around him, which was absurdly dominant and ended up scoring 4.8 goals per game and had six other players at over a PPG clip (not including Scott Timmins who had 54 points in 56 games). This is exactly why people who lack an understanding of how to evaluate junior totals properly make mistakes when looking at draft eligible players.
 
leafman101 said:
Fowler isn't a consensus top 5 pick just because of his skating. He also has elite level puck skills, vision and instincts that neither of the other guys do.
Click to expand...

On all three accounts, Gormley > Fowler. Seriously, Cam Fowler is 18, has an extra year of high level hockey under his belt compared to Gormley and in their head-to-head at the Memorial Cup, you noticed Gormley a lot more.

Cam Fowler is a very good offensive defenseman. Brandon Gormley is smarter, tougher, he shoots better, hits harder, plays better defence right now and is a year behind Fowler on the development curve. Compare Gormley's season next year and Fowler's this year.
 
Hell, if you adjust Gormley's statistics for team offence (Moncton scored 17 percent fewer goals than Windsor did this past season), he ends up scoring 50 points on the Spits and Fowler only puts up 46 points on the Wildcats. They're honestly not that far off from one another offensively and of course Gormley is significantly better in his own end and on the physical side of things. The only real advantage that Fowler has over Gormley at the moment is in the skating department (and Gormley himself is a strong skater).
 
Yeah just like Ellis only scores a lot because of Hall, and Kessel only scores because of Savard.

Fowler was a big part of that team, and its offensive success.
 
Mark Cundari was a bigger part of Windsor's success this season than Fowler. Mark Cundari. Now ask yourself, have you honestly heard that name beforehand?
 
IrishWolfman said:
\

Cam Fowler is a very good offensive defenseman. Brandon Gormley is smarter, tougher, he shoots better, hits harder, plays better defence right now and is a year behind Fowler on the development curve. Compare Gormley's season next year and Fowler's this year.
Click to expand...

Actually Gormley has the extra year in the CHL on Fowler. Unless you are going to tell me that the U-18 US program is as good as the OHL, and that a year of experience in the OHL prior to this year wouldn't have helped Fowler.
 
leafman101 said:
Yeah just like Ellis only scores a lot because of Hall, and Kessel only scores because of Savard.

Fowler was a big part of that team, and its offensive success.
Click to expand...

Ryan Ellis scores a lot of goals because Ryan Ellis is an offensive defenseman who plays on a hellishly dominant offensive team. Did you perchance see Ryan Ellis during the OHL Western Final or the World Juniors? Bigger forwards give the kid fits, he can't defend against them.

It's like Burkie said today, it's not about the pencil marks on the stats sheet in junior. It's about how a kid plays over a full 60 minutes.
 
Cundari just turned 20, Fowler just turned 18. I'm sure i don't have to tell such a junior export the importance of that.
 
IrishWolfman said:
Ryan Ellis scores a lot of goals because Ryan Ellis is an offensive defenseman who plays on a hellishly dominant offensive team. Did you perchance see Ryan Ellis during the OHL Western Final or the World Juniors? Bigger forwards give the kid fits, he can't defend against them.

It's like Burkie said today, it's not about the pencil marks on the stats sheet in junior. It's about how a kid plays over a full 60 minutes.
Click to expand...

Ellis is one of the two most important parts of that teams offense.
 
Ah, but we weren't discussing age at all, so it has no relevance to the discussion. You were discussing team impact. And the fact that a projected top three draft selection (at least before the year began -- Fowler might not even go top five at this point) wasn't able to have a greater impact on such an offensively potent team after rave reviews prior to this season could and should be discussed.
 
leafman101 said:
Actually Gormley has the extra year in the CHL on Fowler. Unless you are going to tell me that the U-18 US program is as good as the OHL, and that a year of experience in the OHL prior to this year wouldn't have helped Fowler.
Click to expand...

the U-18 USNTDP plays US College teams and plays in major international tournaments. I didn't say "CHL", I said "high level hockey" and yes, I would absolutely count the USNTDP's schedule as "high level hockey"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top