Anders Lee: Worth the Wait

You may have missed the Anders Lee forums here at LHH last year, but it’s clear the fan base is aware of this 6th round bargain. If he wants to be an Islander by 2013-14 he’ll need to leave the comfort of ND after this season.
He’s old enough to be in the AHL (not that age is a concern, as he is an NCAA prospect). His size and maturity needs to be challenged more. There are no guarentees, but he should fit in well with the crop of young forwards that are in Bridgeport, and that will be arriving next year.
If he wants to be a part of this organization he won’t want to be behind the kids that will be at Bridgeport next year. If they sign Nielsen and Parentau to three year deals their top six will be tough to crack without a year in the A. (Moulson, Tavares, Okposo, Grabner, Nielsen, Nino, Parenteau, Bailey, Ullstrom). We won’t shouldn’t be seeing any fresh faces getting top 6 minutes in 2012-13.
- Mr. Selfish

Nice to see readers commenting. Very insightful. This is why I love this website. Help’s keep readers and fans informed.

Posted this earlier, but fits better in here with Anders Lee conversation.

Well it wasn’t the Anders Lee show
but he was on the ice for all 3 goals, even the empty netter for the Irish. He certainly had his chances though, I did not count how many shots on net, but there were certainly at least 4 or 5 shots with 2 quality scoring opportunities. He is a big body that uses it and there were was one memorable instance where he drove to the net with good power.

He is not the fastest skater on the ice, but not clumsy either. He could benefit from one of those power skating camps. He has a hard shot and some good hands. He back checks and plays the PK. Definitely effective, but just did not finish his chances.

Robbie Russo basically runs the team power play as a freshman on the team. Very fluid skater and passer. Smart hockey plays and did not really give up the puck on bad plays. He likes to shoot or pass from the point, or combo them, sound familiar. Basically watching him play reminded me of Mark Streit. He does not mind to mix it up even though he is a not the biggest guy on the ice. Very good stick on the ice as well.

I can’t wait to see him go Full Gregoire on us.

I don’t know too many scouts that wouldn’t be salivating over Lee at this point in his college career. I remember when Ryan Jankowski was under the Bell Centre stands explaining why he picked him and you could just see it in his face that he was excited that Lee had dropped to such a bargain spot. This kid has 1st line talent and the physicality to back it up. The only issue that most teams had was at the time he was drafted he hadn’t made up his mind on whether he was going to go with football or hockey. Boy, am I glad he chose hockey. Skating and defense you can teach, instincts and hockey smarts you can’t and they’re truly great intagibles for Anders.

As for Robbie Russo, he’s going to be another steal if and when he picks up his physical play. When he was with the USNTDP, he dominated. It made no sense why he dropped as far as he did. A lot of scouts had him at mid-2nd to early-3rd and the Islanders eventually chose him in the 4th round. If he can translate that pure stride and the ability to quarterback a powerplay with say someone like CDH, Donovan, Ness, Kichton or Mayfield watch out. The Islanders ‘D’ while not the most deep in terms of actual number of prospects has some exciting kids coming through the pipeline. If even 2 pan out then we’ll be pretty happy fans.

Lee is a nice combination of size and skill and has produced at every level he has played at so far. What I like about him is that although he has a pretty high ceiling, I think he is a relatively safe prospect as well in that even if he doesn’t reach his offensive potential he can other things well and has the size. I could just as easily see him as a fourth line grinder as I could see him as a first line power-forward, so he has versatility a lot of high end prospects lack. That works in his favor and opens up a lot more roster spots for him to compete for when he does go pro.

If he choses to sign his ELC and go to Bridgeport, I think we will eventually see Lee in the NHL at some time in 2013(2014 the latest).

On Lee’s game, I read it and see it and think a bigger matt martin with more or similar(depending on how good Lee’s shot is) upside to Matt Martin. He’s got phenomenal size, he’d be excellent along the boards, he brings the physicality, he’s got a good shot. The only thing that is gonna hold Lee back from being a future nhl player, if anything is, is gonna be his skating. Just what Lee has now is enough for him to become a future 4th line player(Size, physicality, defensive awareness, little O, PK abilities). But he could very well be a future 3rd liner or even top 6er. My guess right now would be:

If Lee chooses to finish college and go back 2 more years(what it would take to finish college), we could possibly never see Lee in the NHL. He would eventually become a 24yr old BP prospect for us or even possibly leave us and sign elsewhere. Rakh came into BP as a 22yr old prospect, and even though he’s putting up his stats, he hasn’t had a real nhl look yet (concussion and size issues somewhat relevant, but still). Anybody that isn’t an elite or 1st line talent “really” needs BP time to adjust to the faster pace of the game and bigger bodies before they are “thrown to the NHL dogs”. If Lee really finishes college, a fair projection of seeing him just touch the NHL ice(not have a regular roster spot) till 2015/when-he’s-25ish, unless it’s on the 4th line(where he’d take his lumps and have his brainfarts). A 25yr old prospect might be overlooked, might be passed upon, unless he 100% has that middle 6 talent look and is lighting up the AHL. And then there’s the influx of talent coming to BP in the next year or 2: Kabanov/Nelson/Petrov, with or without him, and all capable of taking a roster spot or 2 ahead of him if it happens. I don’t wanna be a part pooper, but Lee might turn into an ahl player till he’s 29/30yrs~ old if he doesn’t go to BP next year.

There are only ~30forwards in the NHL with his type of size(or bigger), and only 13 of them are top 9 forwards. I’m not saying Anders Lee could be the next Tim Jackman, Lee could be the next Matt Martin, Lee could be the next Bertuzzi/Chris Stewart. There is big gap of what he can become, but he should definitely be a useful NHL player no matter what the future holds, 4th liner or top 6er. Gamechanging size/strength and some skills could go a long way. Lucic went from projected bottom 6er at the draft to top 6 goalscoring 2-way powerforward after he worked hard on his game/skating and found out how to use his size and grit to dominate as best he could. Anything can happen, especially if Lee takes his skating to another level, and I think that will be the big thing. If I had to bet money, I’d say Lee could definitely be a future 3rd liner if he progressed and worked on his game(skating especially) from now till the NHL. If he doesn’t work hard(which would mean college>hockey), then he could turn out to be the next tim jackman or if the chips fall right, an ok 3rd liner. But that’s just my guess.

In essence, this offseason is gonna be the biggest offseason of Lee’s future life. This is the make or break offseason for Lee to see if he’s gonna be on his way to a battling, but eventual NHL career, or if he’s going to finish college and turn himself into a 25yr old nhl prospect after college. I hope Lee chooses us, not only because obviously he should know that “finishing college” can be done if the NHL thing doesn’t work out, an ELC contract gets him paid where as he’d make nothing in college over the next 2yrs, and an eventual NHL salary, where he’d make 7-10X’s in 1 ELC year in the NHL over another high paying “regular” job he’d get from a degree(I couldn’t find his major listed anywhere). And if that works out, he’s on his way to accumulating a few million dollars in his life, as Witt put it, “playing a kid’s sport” instead of making a lot less money in a more boring job(I’d certainly think so). That’s pretty much what I think on the subject.

Someone should apprise Mr. Lee that a certain team in the NHL’s Atlantic Division just happens to have a college right across the street from its home arena. And no, I’m not talking about the Barbizon Modeling school near Penn Station…

Hofstra student by day, Islander by night! Anders Lee!

Great post. Keep the Lee updates coming.

One thing to remember about Anders is that he is VERY smart. How smart? How about a 3.97 GPA and being accepted at Harvard? He could become a Rhodes scholar if he wanted. Rhodes scholars are generally pretty successful later in life. Many become great business leaders and successful politicians. Bill Clinton was a Rhodes scholar. He may well want to stay the four years and get his degree. If he does, I am sure Garth will do what Bill Torrey did with Ken Morrow: patiently wait.

The Russo comparison to Paul Martin tickled me as a scout once compared Lee’s talent level to Martin’s. Great to see Russo doing so well. Like what I’m seeing and hearing about John Persson as well. Isles scouts are earning their pay.

One small caveat: someone said they didnt see any fresh faces cracking the top six next year. I think Ryan Strome may prove them wrong. Am also anxious to see what happens with the two Kirills.

that would have been ideal. The one thing I think he would not have gained going back to the WHL is learning how to play two way role on the ice. I think he would have gone back and just scored a bunch of goals again. Ideally in the AHL he could have scored a bunch of goals but under the gun from the coaches that defense is just as important.

We are crawling out, its not perfect but it sure beats 20 years of piled shit.

he’s staying with ND. oops

…but I do. Great job. Thanks.