One Polarizing Giant

Spencer Machacek
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Country: Canada
Position: Right Wing
League: WHL
Team: Vancouver Giants
Height: 6'1'''
Weight: 182
Shoots: Right
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Scouting Report: The Alberta native is a big body on the right wing who had a tremendous playoff and Memorial Cup run scoring 9 goals and 20 points .. Machacek’s most admirable attribute is his unmatched determination and ability to stick with a play and ultimately prevail in getting to a loose puck, open shot, or defensive breakup .. he has this uncanny positioning and sense of where to be when his linemates press and find openings .. racks up points from finishing nice plays McArdle and Bliznak start .. at times is able to bull his way to the net and sticks there .. knows how to get to the net and just gets there however he needs to .. owns ordinary hands and has decent shooting skills .. scores a lot of ugly goals from in close .. has signature move of taking the puck from behind the net, skating to the bottom of the circle away from the net, while at the same time spinning around and throwing the puck at the goalie .. a strong body along the boards and takes care of his own end well ..is an awesome passer as he will always find his linemates and put the puck on their tape using willpower, hustle, and some vision .. for the majority of the game is just a decent skater who you wish had that extra jump, quicker acceleration, dynamic agility .. but will have a couple of shifts during the game where he displays an exceptional burst, and top end speed, leaving you to wonder where it was and where it went .. could be a result of subpar conditioning or lower body strength .. nonetheless, is not terribly affected by this and is usually always in the mix .. can impress once in a while in gearing up and carrying the puck up ice with speed and size .. is a devastating hitter at times, and other times he bounces off his checks as if he is 140 pounds and has weird disbursement of strength and power .. when he puts his mind to it can absolutely steam roll his way through defenders .. certainly limited offensively as far as measuring an individual skillset and does not stick out offensively .. Vancouver’s power forward is a great what if prospect as he certainly flashes signs of being a third line power forward but could just as well be an ECHL’er.

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2006-2007 Regular Season Stats

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63 games 21 goals 24 assists 45 points +26 32 PIM
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2007 Playoff Stats

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22 games 9 goals 11 assists 20 points +12 14 PIM
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Draft Day Status/Projection: In our estimation, Spencer Machacek is a harder working, less offensive version of Luca Caputi. Because of this, DraftBuzz rates him 45-60 and can see him being selected anywhere from early second round to late third round on draft day. The census is split on Machacek: some believe his skills are too limited to make it and some believe there is something more to him that we have not seen just yet. He is definately a prospect who needs to show some improved regular season offensive production, and developed skating skills, but his work ethic and tenacity make us believe he has a future as an NHL'er.

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(photo courtesy of www.whl.ca)

Stickhandling Maineiac

David Perron
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Country: Canada
Position: Left Wing
League: QMJHL
Team: Lewiston Maineiacs
Height: 6'0''
Weight: 180
Shoots: Right
*****
Scouting Report: This second year draft eligible, first year QMJHL'er came out of Quebec's woodwork after playing Junior AAA with the St. Jerome Panthers of the QJAHL last year .. patterns his game after favorite player, Alex Kovalev, and it shows as his controlled skating stride and talented stickhandling strike a resemblance .. has amazing hand eye coordination and reaction that allows him to deflect pucks that most could not .. a stickhandling wizard who is just a notch below Kane .. disregard all the cliché’s there are about offensive Q forwards, as Perron is not a soft player .. a strong hitter who does not go out of his way to be a checker, but will always finish his checks surprisingly hard and loud if its his responsibility/player to follow through on .. does not shy away from board work, albeit he routinely gets knocked off the puck easily .. not a perimeter player at all .. parks himself near the front of the net, and is a bit of a pain as he jams and hacks at the goalie for loose rebounds .. plays with Faubert and Courcelles .. comes back and helps his defenseman almost acting like a centerman at times .. plays the boards and slot in his own zone with confidence .. made a great diving play to stop a glorious offensive chance against that most players with his talent would not bother trying .. a judicious skater who does not skate hard the entire shift .. is not an explosive skater, and does not have great top end speed, but incorporates a lot of stops and starts to throw off defenders .. still, a good skater who doesn’t lose speed when the puck is on his stick, which is important for starting rushes .. a patiently smart player who employs many tricks to control the play in the offensive zone .. his most imminent flaws are his older age and inconsistency .. some games he dominates and some games he is content with blending in .. Perron is a guy who needs to learn how to be an offensive leader every night, but his offensive gifts are interesting to say the least.

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2006-2007 Regular Season Stats

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70 games 39 goals 44 assists 83 points +37 75 PIM
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2007 Playoff Stats

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21 games 13 goals 18 assists 31 points +6 22 PIM
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Draft Day Status/Projection: For all the concerns about Perron's older age, he is one of the most raw, and unproven prospects in the draft with this year being his first year in the QMJHL. He took a huge step up from playing Junior AAA to playing in a premier CHL league, and performed magnificently. Because he is still relatively unseasoned and lacking experience at the junior level, there is a great amount of intrigue as to how much better he really can get. DraftBuzz ranks him 18th and projects him to be selected 16th to 30th. He is a great one-on-one player and team's may like the fact that he is a "year" or so more physically developed than his peers.

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(photo courtesy of www.lewistonhockey.com)

PHI Interested in Turris?

The Flyer's have shown great interest in centerman Kyle Turris according to Tim Panaccio of the Philly Inquirer.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - If multiple scouting interviews mean anything, the Flyers seem to have narrowed their focus for the draft to 6-foot-1, 170-pound center Kyle Turris, who has catapulted to the head of the list in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings.
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The Flyers hold the second overall pick in the June 23 draft. They have had more discussions with the 17-year-old Turris than any other player."The Flyers have talked to me quite a bit," Turris said yesterday before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. "I don't know if I'm their pick, but hopefully they pick me. There are tons of great hockey players in the draft, but I'd definitely love to be their pick."
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Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren described Turris as "very competitive and smart."
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Commentary: Smokescreen or genuine interest? Philadelphia could be the first team to show us how diversified lists and preferences will be this draft. Turris is a fine option at number two, but there is no doubt that James Van Riemsdyk or Jakub Voracek fit everything they could want and need from a top prospect with size, skating, and hands. There are a few red flags when it comes to dissecting the Flyer's prospect pool and young forwards and finding out if Kyle Turris is a good fit for them. (1) They have great, young NHL depth down the middle with Carter, Richards, and Umberger. (2) Philadelphia's forward pool is populated with smallish forwards like Giroux and Downie. Their only real forward with size and quality skill is Nodl. Turris would be a natural selection, but proceed with caution regarding anything they say.

Hawks Top Three?

The Chicago BlackHawks recently managed to name three of the draft's widely considered top 10 prospects when asked who they will target this coming June 22nd in Patrick Kane, Kyle Turris, and James Van Riemsdyk.

"It appears either Kyle Turris, Patrick Kane or James vanRiemsdyk, the top three ranked North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, will slip on a Blackhawks sweater June 22 in Columbus, Ohio.

'Those are the three guys we're looking at,' Hawks GM Dale Tallon told The Canadian Press in a phone interview Wednesday."

Commentary: Be very careful of reading into these reports too deeply. Take away a little journalistic smarts, remove "the" from Dave Tallon's quote, and you have a very generic statement. This does not mean they may not be considering guys they have not mentioned in Sam Gagner, Alex Cherepanov, or Jakub Voracek. However, Kane still seems like the logical choice.

From Russia With Uncertainty

Maxim Mayorov
*****
Country: Russia
Position: Left Wing
League: Vysshaya Liga
Team: Neftyanik Leninogorsk
Height: 6'2''
Weight: 187
Shoots: Left
*****
Strengths: Mayorov is a tall player who has some natural filling out to do over time. One of his strongest assests, is being able to adapt to a specific type of style the game is being played at. He has the versatility and talent to play both a power winger or a finesse game. He has very good speed and is a threat on the rush. Although he is not the most instinctive goal scorer, he drives to the net admirably and works hard, depending on which Mayorov you see.

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Weaknesses: Where do we start? Something that should normally not matter when evaluating prospects are their country. But, he is Russian and along come all the non-equipment hockey baggage with him. Up in the air is the status of the transfer agreement, and his Russian club's general negotiability in the future when a team holds his rights. Playing wise, Mayorov fights incredible bouts with consistency. On some nights, he is the heartbeat of his team and on other's he can be seen as lazy. Also, those wanting a secure look at Mayorov have had to deal with limited exposure as he did not even participate in the U18 this past April.

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2006-2007 Regular Season Stats

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28 games 6 goals 4 assists 10 points -5 6 PIM
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Draft Day Status/Projection: Mayorov is one of those unknown prospects. Will he fall on draft day like Evseev did or even worse Anikeenko? Will he develop like Radulov or end up like Glazachev? Which team will opt for Mayorov if they believe there is a similar talent on the board from a safer, more reliable league IE. Esposito/Moller? That said, DraftBuzz likes him as a top 30 talent, and projects him to be drafted in the range of 20-40. He will be the perfect pick for a team with multiple picks in the draft (PHI) or a team with a steady, character prospect pool lacking some flair and risk.

NHL Combine Report per TSN

Not surprisingly, Dana Tyrell and Stefan Legein were two of the day's unexpected brightest stars in physique/testing. Kyle Turris and James Van Riemsdyk were two top forwards who tested well. Read the rest of the report at TSN.
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Dana Tyrell

"The sleeper of the day might have been Prince George's Dana Tyrell. The 5-foot-11 and 180-pound fireplug looked very lean and fit and had a very impressive 12 reps on the bench, which was easily one of the top perfomances of the day. He showed strength beyond his size. He also ripped it up on the sprint-bike and did well in agility testing."

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Stefan Legein

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"Another player who made a good impression was relatively unheralded winger Stefan Legein of the Mississauga IceDogs. He was one of 40 draft-eligible prospects selected to participate in the 2007 CHL Top Prospects Game and won the fastest skater competition with a lap time of 14.109 seconds. He has a smaller frame at 5-foot-10, plenty of lean muscle mass, but looks like a brickhouse who you wouldn't want to meet on open ice. He appeared to be testing well, impressing scouts with his work ethic and impressive physical fitness, appearing almost bored at some points during the tests."