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Prospect update
I didn´t get to talk to Trevor Timmins until this morning, and it was only for 15 minutes as he was waiting on a flight to Boston.
I asked him if there was a concern about a lack of top two centers, and he said he was pretty happy with Maxwell and Grabovsky.
He´s really happy with Maxwell, sees him as a future first or second-line center. "The coaches loved him in our camps. Carbo within half a scrimmage had Maxwell playing on the power play and the penalty kill."
Grabovsky is considered a future first or second line center by Timmins, but he didn´t get a chance to talk about Grabo or Milroy.
Korpikari - "He can play in the AHL"
Cote - "He would have played this fall if he hadn´t got injured."
Lapierre - "Third or fourth line center"
White - Timmins is very happy with his progress, especially offensively. "He´s gonna be a surprise," said Timmins, who sees him as a third-line center who might possibly move to the wing if there´s no spot there.
Andrei Kostitsyn - "He´s NHL ready right now, but we´ve gotta have a spot for him." As for what he needs to work on....."He´s got to learn to move more with the puck. In Russia they like to try to control the pace, and he has to shake that."
Of the Russian bunch, Timmins sees Emelin and Valentenko as the most likely to make the Habs someday. From what he was intimating, I´d be thinking Sidyakin and Kruchinin won´t ever play in North America, at least not in the Habs organization.
As for Korneev - "I wouldn´t write him (totally) off, but it´s slim (signing him and bringing him over).
Emelin - "Waiting on that Russian deal. We would have liked to see him in Hamilton this season. He´s got one year left on his deal in Russia. We´d like him over next season."
Valentenko - Timmins told me the Habs had him ranked close to the first round, and that he wasn´t overly scouted by other teams as he was playing in a remote region. "Our Euro (scouts) went way up north to see him, almost froze their noses off."
At this point his flight was departing. He said he´d call me back.
BTW - He said the top four picks were in the team´s top 30 draft list, and that Valentenko was close behind.