LW Cole Eiserman - USNTDP U18 (2024 draft)

[Lafleurs Guy]

You keep saying this and I'm fully in agreement - he needs the right environment, coach, organization, early mentors...

Upside is someone who figures out a more complete game and can be a very poor man's Ovie or a better version of what Laine became. Which is to say a very effective player.

Downside/midrange is probably a lot of NHL games, but bouncing from franchise to franchise scoring goals and points but never really contributing to a winning environment and frustrating half the league because of the Delta between potential and reality. Maybe a Dany Heatley style player. Everyone gets excited when the deadline trade is made and is happy to see him moved on at the next deadline.

It’s going to be interesting watching him over the next few years. I’d love to see him under MSL in Montreal. I think he’d do really well there.

If (as some suggested) he winds up in New Jersey, he could be great with Hughes. But if he winds up somewhere where he’s the only offensive talent? I think he’ll drown.

In the right place, he could easily be a 50+ goal guy.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Maybe you missed “obviously there are risks” in the very paragraph you quoted.

But the tools - shot, size, skating, passing… that’s all average or better.

The question is the toolbox.

Once again… everyone acknowledges this. Hence the risk.

However, you’re drafting him for what you think he can be, not what he is now. The point is that even now, with a terribly flawed game, he’s STILL able to break the scoring record. The potential for an elite player is there for sure.

I think so much is going to depend on where he goes. He’s not the kind of player I’d want to start a rebuild with, but on the right team with the right coach, he could be amazing. The potential is there.

Again though, I don't agree that he has potential to be great in a lot of areas, and maybe you misunderstood my post. That might be my fault that I didn't explain it better.

I don't think the fact that he's a great goal-scorer gives him extremely high potential in other areas. Typically, being a great goal-scorer does, but sometimes there are players who are completely one-trick ponies. I don't actually see significant talent in most of those areas named. I explained how I viewed his skillset. I am not seeing where he turns into this Matthews or Pastrnak level goal scorer. I don't have a great comparison, but I think you're looking at like a better version of Brandon Pirri if the pick works out. I would not at all assume there's significant potential other than scoring goals.

Of course, he could improve in those areas, but so could the guy whose going to be drafted 7th round.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Again though, I don't agree that he has potential to be great in a lot of areas, and maybe you misunderstood my post. That might be my fault that I didn't explain it better.

I don't think the fact that he's a great goal-scorer gives him extremely high potential in other areas. Typically, being a great goal-scorer does, but sometimes there are players who are completely one-trick ponies. I don't actually see significant talent in most of those areas named. I explained how I viewed his skillset. I am not seeing where he turns into this Matthews or Pastrnak level goal scorer. I don't have a great comparison, but I think you're looking at like a better version of Brandon Pirri if the pick works out. I would not at all assume there's significant potential other than scoring goals.

Of course, he could improve in those areas, but so could the guy whose going to be drafted 7th round.

He will never be a Selke nominee. His potential lies in his offensive abilities, particularly goal scoring.

Totally agree with you that he’s never going to be a multi dimensional player but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have huge offensive upside. That shot is really something special. I’ve heard the name Hoffman invoked a few times… this guy has a much better shot than that.

He needs to improve in most other areas. The question is if he has the capacity to do so. Those other areas are teachable. The right coach can teach that stuff to a degree where a player isn’t a liability.

Can Eiserman learn? Is he coachable? He certainly has the physical tools to do it. The red flag is ego. Is he going to be willing to listen? End of the day, I think it greatly matters where he ends up. In the right environment, I think he can thrive.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Personally, I don't think Eiserman possesses the shot that Caufield did.

A lot of Eiserman's goals come from the same spot on the PP and as you go up levels you need to find other ways because that will get pre-scouted and shut down.

There's very few times I saw Eiserman really over power a goalie. The release is quick and precise, which counts for something but there's a risk that the guy, with nothing else to really fall back on right now, can't even translate his one tool to the NHL.

An defensively poor, lack of compete, perimeter winger who can only net 20-25 goals with heavy PP1 usage isn't a great player.

 

[Sasso09]

Caufield? I think so.

Caufield was just small. Eiserman might shoot it a little harder and skate a little better, but Caufield didn’t have such big deficits. He just had that one major deficit of being 5’7. He was nowhere near as frustrating of a player as Eiserman is.

Yeah, no. Eiserman is far and away a better prospect than Caufield was. Better shot, much better size, much better skater, very physical.

Defensively both were/are nonfacators

Caufield was the better playmaker/vision, that's it.

 

[Sasso09]

Personally, I don't think Eiserman possesses the shot that Caufield did.

A lot of Eiserman's goals come from the same spot on the PP and as you go up levels you need to find other ways because that will get pre-scouted and shut down.

There's very few times I saw Eiserman really over power a goalie. The release is quick and precise, which counts for something but there's a risk that the guy, with nothing else to really fall back on right now, can't even translate his one tool to the NHL.

An defensively poor, lack of compete, perimeter winger who can only net 20-25 goals with heavy PP1 usage isn't a great player.

personally, you're out of your mind

 

[jfhabs]

It’s going to be interesting watching him over the next few years. I’d love to see him under MSL in Montreal. I think he’d do really well there.

If (as some suggested) he winds up in New Jersey, he could be great with Hughes. But if he winds up somewhere where he’s the only offensive talent? I think he’ll drown.

In the right place, he could easily be a 50+ goal guy.

I get what you are saying, and I think he's overscouted. People forget he's a few weeks away from being eligible for 2025.

That being said no one easily scores 50 in the NHL. Outside of Bédard, McDavid and Matthews , I don't think any prospect on recent memory could be safely projected to do so.

 

[Sasso09]

I have seen this prediction now few times and I don't get it. They don't need another Holtz or any other soft players who don't play a 200-foot game.

I think Helenius, Iginla or MBN are more likely picks for the Devils. Or if they prefer skill and he is available, Catton is another option. All the best defenseman prospects are probably drafted before their pick, but Buium or some other defenseman would be interesting option too.

Soft? so you like don't watch Eiserman even a little bit do you? You're seeing Eiserman to the Devils because people who actually watch him and know hockey, know it's a good match.

Eiserman is the opposite of soft, very physical and strong on his skates.

THEN you go on to list Catton, who is all of those things lol.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Would be nice to see a reel of all the goals scored this year. I'd be interested in what % he was just purely the triggerman vs. ones he had an impact in creating himself.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Yeah, no. Eiserman is far and away a better prospect than Caufield was. Better shot, much better size, much better skater, very physical.

Defensively both were/are nonfacators

Caufield was the better playmaker/vision, that's it.

Where I disagree most is how you’ve exaggerated Eiserman’s advantages. He’s not some monster in most of those areas. He’s like bang average NHL size (even a little below), his skating is good not elite, and I would not call him very physical even if he’s not soft physically.

 

[landy92mack29]

Again though, I don't agree that he has potential to be great in a lot of areas, and maybe you misunderstood my post. That might be my fault that I didn't explain it better.

I don't think the fact that he's a great goal-scorer gives him extremely high potential in other areas. Typically, being a great goal-scorer does, but sometimes there are players who are completely one-trick ponies. I don't actually see significant talent in most of those areas named. I explained how I viewed his skillset. I am not seeing where he turns into this Matthews or Pastrnak level goal scorer. I don't have a great comparison, but I think you're looking at like a better version of Brandon Pirri if the pick works out. I would not at all assume there's significant potential other than scoring goals.

Of course, he could improve in those areas, but so could the guy whose going to be drafted 7th round.

Andre Burakovsky is a player I see as a similar type of player as Eiserman although not exactly same size but both frustrating players when they don't have the puck

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Personally, I don't think Eiserman possesses the shot that Caufield did.

A lot of Eiserman's goals come from the same spot on the PP and as you go up levels you need to find other ways because that will get pre-scouted and shut down.

There's very few times I saw Eiserman really over power a goalie. The release is quick and precise, which counts for something but there's a risk that the guy, with nothing else to really fall back on right now, can't even translate his one tool to the NHL.

An defensively poor, lack of compete, perimeter winger who can only net 20-25 goals with heavy PP1 usage isn't a great player.

The bolded parts in particular are the issues I have with him. I don't see a particularly slippery or sneaky goal scoring prowess with him. Doesn't really possess the ability to adapt how he scores goals and like you said, could be an easily scouted player. Limited upside if that's the case.

There's gotta be glaring reasons why he's not universally in the top 10 if he's talked about as that good of a goal scorer, and I think scouts struggle to see him translating his ability as the ranks go up.

 

[WeThreeKings]

The bolded parts in particular are the issues I have with him. I don't see a particularly slippery or sneaky goal scoring prowess with him. Doesn't really possess the ability to adapt how he scores goals and like you said, could be an easily scouted player. Limited upside if that's the case.

There's gotta be glaring reasons why he's not universally in the top 10 if he's talked about as that good of a goal scorer, and I think scouts struggle to see him translating his ability as the ranks go up.

Maybe I'm tired of being fooled by Wahlstrom and Holtz, but as much as I want to like Eiserman and give him props for being a goal scorer, there's that feeling of something missing with that toolkit that it may not be the easy 40+ goals his supporters peg for him.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Soft? so you like don't watch Eiserman even a little bit do you? You're seeing Eiserman to the Devils because people who actually watch him and know hockey, know it's a good match.

Eiserman is the opposite of soft, very physical and strong on his skates.

THEN you go on to list Catton, who is all of those things lol.

I've watched few of his games earlier. Not very closely, but as part of the rest of the game. I didn't see anything that made me think that he is a physical player, and there were parts in his game that reminded me of Holtz.

After your comment, I watched two shift-by-shift games by him. Okay, maybe he isn't soft, but I still didn't see anything to make me think he is physical. I mean in those two games he had one or maybe two hits and most of the time he was trying to avoid contact. It is pretty similar to Holtz.

Usually Eiserman tried to poke the puck with his stick, even if it would have been more effective to hit or take the body. And when he doesn't have the puck, he floats a lot or just stands still. In these games, his compete has been below average, and that may have been part of the reason why I thought he is soft.

I admit that Eiserman has tools to be a physical, and maybe he is more physical when games are more intense. But I just haven't seen those games.

I know that Catton is a small and soft player, definitely softer than Eiserman. But I also like his tools and style more than Eiserman's. When I wrote my previous post, my thinking was that if the Devils were to draft another skill player, Catton would be my choice.