By Tony Abbott -
It's not telling tales out of school to say that you'll have to wait a little while to see Danila Yurov's name on Hockey Wilderness' just-launched 2024 Top-10 Minnesota Wild Prospects series. It's also not a surprise that Marco Rossi won't appear on that list -- because he's no longer a prospect.
But that doesn't prevent these two youngsters from going head-to-head on someone else's list. Yurov and Rossi squared off on Corey Pronman's NHL Pipeline Rankings. In it, he ranked Minnesota's Under-23 crop as the 10th-best in the NHL, then ranked the organization's players.
The great thing about Pronman is that he's a bit of an iconoclast. Prospect rankings can sometimes be subject to groupthink, but Pronman isn't afraid to think for himself. It produces fascinating results. He ranked Caedan Bankier sixth over Liam Öhgren (seventh), while Riley Heidt is outside his top 13 and is mentioned in his "Has a chance to play" tier.
You can't say he's not willing to be bold.
However, the biggest flashpoint among the Hockey Wilderness brain trust is where Rossi and Yurov land on his list. Rossi is third, and Yurov is fifth. It's not a crazy ranking for Yurov, at least among prospects. He's still in the top-3 behind 2024 first-rounder Zeev Buium and 2021 first-round goalie Jesper Wallstedt. That's more-or-less in line with the consensus.
Rossi over Yurov, though? That's out there, at least to some. Rossi did fine as a rookie last year, scoring 21 goals and 40 points in a full season. But haven't you seen what Yurov has done in Russia? He scored 21 goals and 49 points in 62 games, besting Vladimir Tarasenko's KHL record for most points by an under-21 player. The same Vladimir Tarasenko who will score his 300th career goal sometime next season.
If you're also finding this ranking absurd, that's reasonable. Remember that the further away a prospect is from the NHL, the easier it is to believe they can be anything. Fans and media don't start toning down the expectations until they arrive, and we start to get checked with reality a bit.
That process has arguably already happened with Rossi. In 2020, Pronman stated, "I see a player who will put up a lot of NHL points... I could see him become a first-line center, but maybe toward the lower end of the spectrum in the league in that role."
However, those hopes dropped precipitously as Rossi's slow trek to the NHL progressed. The 40-point season rebounded them somewhat, but there are still doubts -- reportedly even within the organization -- of whether the young Austrian is truly a top-six-caliber center.
Meanwhile, Yurov's star is still on the rise. He hasn't given us reason to doubt him yet. So, how do you value one versus the other? It's a tricky proposition.
As for me? I'm throwing in with Pronman on his rankings. Why? There will be exceptions, such as Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, who instantly prove to be the real deal. But for most prospects? That shoe is going to drop, at least a little. Because of that, I tend to give the edge to a player producing in the NHL.
Whatever you want to say about Rossi's flaws, I know the guy can score 20 goals without playing top power play minutes. I've seen it. Maybe Yurov is Tarasenko and provides 30 goals in the bank throughout his prime. Or maybe he's Denis Gurianov. Sure, I think Yurov will be good... but do I know?
There are exceptions to every rule, and I have circumstances where I'll break my own guidelines. If you've got a superpower? A tool in your skill set that isn't just going to play in the NHL but stand out? That's when you get to jump the line as a prospect.
Yurov's a top prospect. Elite Prospects just ranked him 46th on their Top-100 Affiliated Prospects list. The Athletic's Scott Wheeler is even higher on him, putting him at No. 30, ahead of top prospects like Utah's Dylan Guenther and the recently traded Rutger McGroarty. He's got a high floor and a high ceiling.
But what's his superpower? Here's how Wheeler describes Yurov: "If you were to fill up two buckets with his tools -- one for his strengths, and one with his weaknesses -- the bucket with his strengths in it would be overflowing, and the one with his weaknesses would be nearly empty."
Hell yeah, we'd love to see that. But again, where's the superpower? Elite Prospects grades tools on a 2-to-9 scale, with 5 being average and a score of 7 or higher being a high-end NHL-caliber skill. Yurov's physicality is a 5, and that's his lowest score. His skating and puckhandling merit a 6.5 grade, which falls just short of that high-end grade.
Pronman also agrees with that assessment of Yurov, grading his puck skills and shot as "Above NHL average" and his skating, hockey sense, and compete level as "NHL average." Again, that's awesome. There are no superpowers to be found, though.
However, that prompts the question: What is Rossi's superpower? Let's take a look at what prospect heads were saying about Rossi before last season -- when he had zero goals and one point to his name over 19 NHL games.
Elite Prospects' grades broke down thusly:
Skating: 5
Shooting: 7
Passing: 7.5
Puckhandling: 7
Hockey Sense: 7.5
Physical: 5
That's four high-end tools there, and two that are especially high-end. For comparison, Rossi's passing ability was graded as equivalent to Utah's Logan Cooley and the San Jose Sharks' Will Smith. His hockey sense was graded as being on par with Smith and Leo Carlsson of the Anaheim Ducks. After the 20-goal season, Pronman graded Rossi's hockey sense as "High-end."
It's a superpower more subtle than Kaprizov's edge work and shot and Matt Boldy's puckhandling through traffic. But it is a superpower, nonetheless. If you've got 14 minutes, you can see the superpower at work when watching his 21 goals.
Rossi shows a lot of traits here. The hand-eye coordination and hard work around the net are consistently great. But watch these goals back-to-back-to-back-to-back, and you'll appreciate how often he's in the right place. How he can sneak into those pockets of space to get a shot off without even being touched.
That's a superpower.
I'm not saying the scouts can't be wrong about Yurov's lack of a superpower. Maybe his hands are that superpower. Perhaps his skating keeps improving with age and strength. But if he has one, he'll have to prove it in the NHL. Rossi has it, so he gets the edge in this debate for now.
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