Panthers sign John McFarland to ELC
by Donny Rivette on Apr 21, 2011 2:34 PM EDT
in Florida Panthers Prospects
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Can't accuse the Cats of inactivity following the end of their season, at least over the past three days, as 19 year-old Saginaw Spirit forward John McFarland is now under contract with the Florida Panthers, who drafted the 6'-192 lb center with the 33rd overall pick in June of 2010.
Anyone who saw McFarland participate in last summer's rookie camp left marveled by his deft stickhandling and remarkable speed easily on par or better than that of his NHL stablemates.
He is currently ranked 7th overall in Florida's prospect system by Hockey's Future.
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Ryan, any hindsight you can share on McFarland?
by Pilchino on Apr 21, 2011 3:09 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I’ll try…
McFarland is a pretty talented yet raw player. He’ll need another season in the minors IMO. He has top-10 draft pick kind of talent, but his work ethic has been questioned in the last two seasons. He has also had some injury problems in the last couple of years. Due to those reasons, he dropped to the second round, but he unquestionably has first-round talent. He has a very wicked shot and sees the ice pretty well. He’d likely be a second line winger for the Cats if he were to make the team out of camp, but knowing Tallon and Santos’ desire to properly develop these prospects, I would be surprised if he makes the team next year.
He looked very good during last summer’s rookie camp, as Donny stated, but still needs to work on his defensive play. Still, if he can stay healthy and build on his stats and rookie camp performances, he will eventually crack the lineup.
I think the work ethic issues that are sometimes brought up are a bit outdated, he relied a lot on his skill out of Junior A so I’ll agree in his first year with Subury he coasted by, but since that offseason he’s been one of the hardest working OHL’ers I’ve seen and read about.
He’s not an offensive talent, and I don’t think his offensive skillset is very good, I see him more as a Greg Campbell type player— I saw a number of Spirt games this year (I was mostly watching Josh Shalla and Saad) and when McFarland came over he played a fantastic defensive game, much better than I remember him playing in his first season, and I think it’s a testament to his work ethic.
I agree with Ryan in that I don’t think he can break camp, but I do think he’ll be an NHL player. What I’m most interested in seeing is how he performs at the next level, whether that be as a 20 year old in the OHL with a heavier role, or in the AHL or ECHL.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 21, 2011 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions
“He’s not an offensive talent, and I don’t think his offensive skillset is very good, I see him more as a Greg Campbell type player”
are you high?
Yeah, I don’t know where this “not an offensive player” thing is coming from. I haven’t watched much of McFarland’s play but any scout I’ve ever heard talk about him touts him as a solid scoring threat…
I said offensive talent. At the NHL level, I don’t see his skillset translating.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 22, 2011 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know if it’s a bold statement to say that, just more of a prediction.
It’s generally very hard to gauge prospect potential in the NHL environment based on junior or AHL success. McFarland had some real big hype coming out of juniors and into the OHL, and he posted pretty great numbers for a player of his age, but scouts were worried as his progression offensively didn’t really increase. As Craig pointed out, he seemed to realize that he had to become a good two-way player as well, hence his PK time the last two seasons.
I think he has great hands, but great hands are great in open space, and we all know how little of that there is in the NHL. McFarland needs another season or two to grow and mature as a player, and then we’ll all have a much better idea of whether or not he’s going to crack the Cats lineup. I think he will eventually, but he’s not going to be a 40-goal scorer. He’s certainly capable of being a 20-goal scorer though, provided he puts in the effort every game.
I agree with that assessment, Ryan—he has a lot of the things you want in a player, just not the full package, but like you said its more of a prediction, it’s all up to John (and I guess a bit in the coaching staff/hockey operations as there are specific systems that I could see being more beneficial for him, so you never know. I just don’t see it, but I’d love to be proven wrong— as long as he stays a Panther haha).
by Craig Fischer on Apr 22, 2011 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions
No. He’s not an elite scoring talent (Even Gregory Campbell has amassed a 20 goal season in the O)— and many of his goals are attributed his ability to dominate down low because of his size. Against bigger and stronger competition, his skillset will not translate and the offense you’re seeing won’t be there.
Over the course of his tenure in the OHL, he’s made surprising and obvious strides in improving his defensive play— calling out his defensive play just shows that you have no idea what you’re talking about. Talk to anyone that follows the Spirit— McFarland was a big part of their Penalty kill down the stretch alongside Saad.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 22, 2011 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions
and many of his goals are attributed his ability to dominate down low because of his size
there are MANY, MANY, MANY players the NHL that do the very same thing and find success.
“Against bigger and stronger competition, his skillset will not translate and the offense you’re seeing won’t be there.”
Calling out his defensive skills says i have no idea what im saying? im pretty sure most of us think you have no idea what your saying. And hes good sized himself anyways.
“he’s good suzed himself”
He’s actually be a bit undersized as a power forward in the NHL and it’s one of the reasons I think he’s tried hard to redefine himself— even if he bulks up to 210-215 (I think he can go higher but not at the risk of limiting his speed, so it’ll be interesting to see if he does that), he’ll have his work cut out for him. I have no doubt he’ll be able to fight for some loose pucks in the hard to score areas because he’s a scrapper (the thing I like about him the most is, he embodies that blue collar mentality but has some skills especially with his skating which I think will lend itself perfectly with more coaching for him to further progress his defensive side.)
I just feel like a lot of people put way to much stock into the first/second round picks— not all of them turn out to be superstars— a lot of them just turn out to be servicable players who play vital roles on their teams, and I see that for John.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 22, 2011 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Here’s a great video of his shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oknJFkeuh20
Fast forward to the :20 mark. McFarland is #6.
He fluttered it in, glove side. I think that’s more of a case of Di Salvo not seeing the puck than MacFarland having a good shot.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 21, 2011 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I think this is more of what you should expect haha.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 21, 2011 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
i wonder where the Panthers are going to put all these prospects now that Rochester is out of the picture?
Stupid Rochester. They could have had a completely new and improved roster if they hadn’t gotten all pissy. Their loss
The unaimed arrow never misses
Trying out this whole Twitter thang...@RhyminChrisR
by Chris S Roberts on Apr 21, 2011 3:52 PM EDT up reply actions
If he doesn’t break camp, he can always go back to the OHL so his future isn’t all that fogged. The obvious answer to your question in general though is— somewhere in the AHL, and don’t forget about the Cats other affiliate, the Cyclones. ECHL hockey is a great developmental tool, and a lot of good NHL’ers have come from it’s ranks.
by Craig Fischer on Apr 21, 2011 4:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Scored a wicked SO goal in one of the rookie games vs Nashville
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 21, 2011 6:25 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Shootout goal video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31VJsrCPM1Q
I was at the prospect game and recorded the goal. Just thought you guys would want to see it.
He impressed me the most out of all the guys at the camp. He was quick and had great hands, not sure how it will translate at the NHL level, but I guess only time will tell
HUGE thanks for the vid, GC.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 22, 2011 12:38 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
That shot brought us all out of our seats. A memorable moment from an otherwise forgettable game.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 22, 2011 7:27 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
If you look at the NSH bench I believe #40 says Santorelli, Mike’s brother Mark I presume
The unaimed arrow never misses
Trying out this whole Twitter thang...@RhyminChrisR
by Chris S Roberts on Apr 23, 2011 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions
Correct.
Litter Box Cats - Your tarp-free Florida Panthers Colossus
by Donny Rivette on Apr 24, 2011 9:03 AM EDT up reply actions
Really think this guy has a young Radek Dvorak written all over him. He can really fly and some of the moves I saw from him offensively in last year’s rookie camp were quite impressive.
take these broken wings and learn to fly again, learn to live so free...
by jacke1ope on Apr 21, 2011 6:32 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I just think he’s got far better hands than Radek. I think with some seasons to work on his game some more he can really leverage that into something tremendous.
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