Bridgeport and Prospect Roundup 2/6

from what I’ve read he plays a physical agressive game

He decided on hockey, his ‘first love’. His talent was certainly above his drafting position.

is at a point where they can pin-point specific roles, and areas where they lack depth…that is at least a positive

really appreciate these prospect updates

thanks for the prospect updates….awesome

If I remember correctly: DiBo was still in juniors the year after Stamkos and his numbers were even better, so it wasn’t just a stamkos effect.

David … I don’t know what scout(s) said it (“That he had the tools”). It was back in 2009. However, I still owe you a reason for how I formed that opinion.

I remember I read about DiBo online sometime around the start of the 2009 OHL playoffs and as the Isles season wound down. It was a CHL West Conference playoff guide that focused on catalyst players… and reviewed each team. At the time Martin for Sarnia and Tavares for London were also part of the review.

Paraphrasing here of course … but what the writer was eluding to was that DiBo’s skills are underated and allowed him to fly under the radar because as a former linemate of Steven Stamkos, and being an over age draftee it’s easy to attribute his production success to those factors. The writer mentioned that overage or not, playing with a huge talent such as Stamkos or not … it takes tremendous skills and ability to put up those numbers along side some of the best talents in the OHL.

The writer basically dismissed the naysayers, citing OHL scouts, who called DiBo dangerous with his skill set, and that with his tools (there is that word again) he can be a great 3rd line winger for the Islanders if he can adjust to the more physical and speedy NHL since he can attribute a lot of his success to being effective in close quarters (think Moulson). It mentioned just as he was a late bloomer in the OHL, he’ll need a few years to show his stuff in the pro ranks … in the mean time as he continued his review of Sarnia it said that DiBo and Martin together could be a huge threat to Windsor’s and London’s quest to attend the Memorial Cup tournament.

The writer felt that since Sarnia was one of I think 4 teams in the middle of the WC pack seperated by a few points that with DiBo and Martin they along with another team (forgot which one) were capable of derailing an inevitable London / Windsor Conference Final …

At the time I was following the OHL playoffs I do remember both Sarnia and the other team spoken of were eliminated in the 1st round pretty quickly. So there went that dream.

My personal feeling is that DiBo is (was) overwhelmed by the more physical AHL, and has even less room to do his thing, which is operate well in the dirty areas of the ice. It will only be a matter of time that he’ll have to sink or swim, and be tested at the NHL level. I’m rooting for DiBo, because like myself as a late blooming player I see some potential. Most of what I know of DiBo comes from following Stamkos in 2007-08 and following Sarnia after he, Martin and Katic who was drafted a year earlier. Also reviewing prospect reports on him helped form my opinion.

I have seen him on TV, and at prospect camps. I hope this also helps answer JP’s question (sorry I didn’t reply to that directly JP) … I saw him in 2 OHL All-Star games via satellite. I saw a few playoff games in the OHL… I’ve gotten to see him for a few AHL games when the BST played in a market that televised (broadcast or cable) games. I’ve been disappointed in his AHL stint thus far based on the expectation, even as a late pick, that he was a diamond in the rough late round gem.

The only thing that has me thinking positively of what he may project to become is that it’s been my experience that you can’t teach the nose sniffing instinct for the net that he has. Everyone knows about it, but not everyone can do it. The same thing can be said about Matt Moulson… except he’s 5 years older than DiBo … MM who also plays LW was still playing in the NCAA at the same age. So it’s hard to project one over the other. Infact it isn’t even fair to make that comparisson, because they’re still two different players.

Perhaps DiBo’s time to emerge isn’t now … maybe it’s in a few more seasons. Effectively last season was his 1st year of pro. We really haven’t been patient with players in the past. Some players like Tamby didn’t even deserve our patience … but look at him now. Maybe he did need a change of scenery… Maybe it was the coaching?

Still. I think we can wait for a historically late blooming prospect like DiBo to emerge just as the Isles should reach a level of respectable competitiveness.