2009 1st overall selection John Tavares played against Stefan Legein in juniors, but they teamed up with Claude Giroux to bring Canada the World Juniors Gold Medal in 2008.
Professional hockey has been an interesting ride for Stefan Legein. He was expected to go in the first round of 2007. That was the same year the Flyers picked James vanRiemsdyk 2nd overall. The team’s selection in the second round wasn’t until pick number 41 where Holmgren selected Kevin Marshall. At number 37, the Columbus Blue Jackets took Legein off the board.
While Steve Downie, a player with a skill-set much like Legein’s, was still a member of the Flyers organization at the time, there are plenty of reports claiming that the orange and black were interest in Legein’s services.
According to Legein’s agent, Doug Woods, after the trade:
“Probably a change of scenery is a good idea, but I have to tell you: Stefan was very happy with the way things were turning out with the Columbus organization. He was quite happy with everything.
“Prior to Stefan being drafted by Columbus (second round, 2007), Philadelphia had quite a write-up on him. They were very interested in him as a player heading into that draft. So that’s good for Stefan.
“His goal now is earning a spot on the Philadelphia team in the very near future. He’s going to have to earn it, but I think he has that ability. The Flyers probably have an idea how they want him to play, and they know how he can play.”
With both Downie and Scottie Upshall out of the picture, Legein offers the Flyers a speedy, gritty forward for the future.
Mike Ratchuk, the defenseman traded to Columbus for the new forward prospect, does not have much of a future with the Flyers due to the depth the organization has on the blueline including Kevin Marshall and Marc-Andre Bourdon. Ratchuk was originally selected in the second round of 2006 after the Flyers had already taken Claude Giroux in the first. Unfortunately the speedy defenseman was not developing well in his own zone. He always had offensive potential, speed, and some dangling abilities, but this all came at the price of his own zone. His offense wasn’t moving along fast enough, his shot from the point was weaker than many had originally suspected, his physicality was non-existent, and his positioning was terrible.
The loss of Ratchuk on the defensive unit for the Adirondack Phantoms is also helpful. Though he was a decent project of a prospect, the recent recipient of an entry-level contract, prospect Joonas Lehtivuori, now has a roster spot in the AHL. Before he was being used off and on. It will give him much more ice-time to develop as a prospect.
The Columbus Blue Jackets had a very deep group of forward prospects and needed a puck-moving defenseman. Former Flyers’ head coach Ken Hitchcock has gotten a mobile blueliner to mold into what he hopes will be a solid NHLer. The orange and black, on the other hand, get a high-end wing prospect to fill out the depth.
It may seem like the Flyers made out like bandits with this trade, but Legein comes with his own amount of baggage.
Coming out of the OHL Legein hit a block. His heart wasn’t in hockey anymore, and he announced his retirement. For half a season he worked out of a pizza shop but eventually regained his motivation. He joined the Blue Jacket’s AHL affiliate and went back to work on improving his game. He got off to a slow start in the AHL last season and his production suffered for it. This year though, he is performing much better.
Only time will tell how he handles Philadelphia and a change of scenery.
Videos on Stefan Legein:
Right now our prospect pool is only getting better. Our potential NHLer list is growing (vanRiemsdyk, Giroux, and Parent still qualify as prospects by HockeysFuture.com standards):
Forwards:
- Claude Giroux -- C -- 1st round (#22) 2006
- James vanRiemsdyk -- LW -- 1st round (#2) 2007
- Patrick Maroon -- LW -- 6th round (#161) 2007
- Andreas Nodl -- RW -- 2nd round (#39) 2006
- Stefan Legein -- RW -- 2nd round (#37) 2007
- Jonathan Matsumoto -- C -- 3rd round (#79) 2006
- David Laliberte -- RW -- 4th round (#124) 2004
- Jonathan Kalinski -- C -- 6th round (#152) 2006
- David Labrecque -- C -- 6th round (#153) 2009
- Zac Rinaldo -- LW -- 6th round (#178) 2008
Defensemen:
- Ryan Parent -- D -- 1st round (#18) 2005
- Marc-Andre Bourdon -- D -- 3rd round (#67) 2008
- Kevin Marshall -- D -- 2nd round (#41) 2007
- Simon Bertilsson -- D -- 3rd round (#87) 2009
- Denis Bodrov -- D -- 2nd round (#55) 2006
- Joonas Lehtivuori -- D -- 4th round (#101) 2006
- Okars Bartulis -- D -- 3rd round (#91) 2005
Goaltenders:
- Joacim Eriksson -- G -- 7th round (#196) 2008
- Adam Morrison -- G -- 3rd round (#81) 2009
- Nicola Riopel -- G -- 5th round (#142) 2009
FULL 2009 PROSPECT SYSTEM AUDIT (contains recent information about the entire prospect pool and the depth as well as how some of the players will fit into the Flyers’ future; up-to-date as of Wednesday, October 21st, 2009)
Basically I wrote the above article as part of HockeysFuture.com’s fall 2009 system audits for each prospect pool. If you want to learn anything about the future of the Philadelphia Flyers I recommend reading it.
