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Ryan Spooner makes three

Vote for our #4 under-25 prospect today!

By Cornelius Hardenbergh
Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images
  • Position: C
  • Height: 5'11"
  • Weight: 181 lbs
  • League last year: NHL, AHL
  • Age this year: 24

    • Honestly, I wouldn't mind our top 3 prospects as an OT trio. 3 fast guys who can all score, aren't total rain-wrecks defensively, and would at least threaten against most players. Sure, they'd be second (or third) OT group behind Bergeron, Marchand, and a Broom, but they'd be serviceable.

    Ryan Spooner isn't a superstar, and probably won't be one. However, he's shown himself to be a pretty decent player overall, contributing at ages 22 and 23 in a decently meaningful way. He's scored marginally more per game than Blake Wheeler had at the same age, though it was in a third of the amount of games. Spooner has been Yo-yoed a bit the last two years, blocked by literal block of cement Gregory Campbell, among others. With the little time he's been alotted, he hasn't been elite, or great. But, he should be decent enough. As with any 24-year-old, we'll see. Pavel Datsyuk had near-identical scoring rates in his first season, after all.

    The Projection Project, which sorts out players compared by NHL equivalencies, among other things, says that Ryan Spooner is more than likely to end up...somewhere in an NHL lineup. And for a 2nd round pick, that's not bad at all. Here are the graphs illustrating that:

    I think he's on his way into the black side of the chart, if you ask me. If he is, this is how those players end up:

    Could he be elite? Sure. Is he going to be? Boy, I hope so. But an NHL forward? Yes.

    Box Score:

    Year League GP G A PTS +/- PIM PPG SHG GWG Pt/G SA SOG SH% SA TOI ATOI
    2012-13 AHL 59 17 40 57 14 14 8 0 0.97 192 8.9%
    2012-13 NHL 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 8 4 0.0% 8 36 9:07
    2013-14 NHL 23 0 11 11 0 6 0 0 0 0.48 64 42 0.0% 64 295 12:49
    2014-15 AHL 34 8 18 26 -4 10 3 0 0.76 87 9.2%
    2014-15 NHL 29 8 10 18 2 2 3 0 1 0.62 113 73 11.0% 113 422 14:32
    Total AHL 93 25 58 83 10 24 11 0 0 0.89 279 9.0%
    Total NHL 56 8 21 29 2 8 3 0 1 0.52 185 119 6.7% 185 753 12:28
    Playoffs
    2012-13 AHL 12 2 3 5 -4 4 0 0 0 0.42 37 5.4%
    2014-15 AHL 5 0 4 4 -1 0 0 0 0 0.80 10 0.0%
    Total AHL 17 2 7 9 -5 4 0 0 0 0.53 47 4.3%

    Social Media Minute:

    D'ye like dags?

    My lad Carll

    A photo posted by Ryan Spooner (@spooner23) on

    And now we know about Ryan Spooner. The list, as voted by you, so far:

    1. David Pastrnak (63%)
    2. Torey Krug (47%)
    3. Ryan Spooner (60%)

    Alright, so the three easy ones are out of the way. Now, who's our fourth-best under-25 player or prospect?

    In This Stream

    Top 25 Under 25, 2015: You decide!

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