When Martin Pospisil was drafted, the overall reaction was that the Flames drafted a goon.
With a statline that boasted 253 penalty minutes, it wasn’t an outlandish label, but not necessarily an accurate one either. Yes, Pospisil plays with an edge. He was also quietly one of the United States Hockey League’s most effective offensive weapons, albeit one that mostly got in his own way by getting himself tossed out of games.
This year, the quiet part became loud. Pospisil became one of the most exciting and energetic centremen in the USHL this season, and worked his way into the top 10 prospect conversation for the Flames.
When we last checked in
Pospisil didn’t look great at the surface level, but a deeper dive into his numbers offered some promise for the Flames’ fourth rounder.
It took a while for Pospisil to get used to North American hockey, as he only picked up five points in his first sixteen games. Having come straight out of the Austrian leagues, growing pains were expected, but once he turned it on, it was impossible to stop him. Midway through the season, he was scoring at least once a game, and even had a 13 game stretch where he picked up 21 points.
Relative to the rest of Sioux City, he was their most impactful player, leading the charge when he was on the ice. The issue was, as you may have guessed, that he was frequently off the ice. Taken literally, he spent over four whole games in the penalty box, and also racked up nine games worth of suspensions. Pospisil’s intensity and hotheadedness hurt his team, taking their best player out of the game frequently.
2018-19 story
It’s a bit rocky.
On ice, Pospisil was an absolute monster, storming out of the gate with 26 points in his first 14 games, briefly leading the USHL. He couldn’t keep up with himself, but found himself a consistent place in the highlight reel.
His season had it’s first tumultuous moment when he was deemed academically ineligible for St. Lawrence University, throwing his NCAA plans in jeopardy (Brad Treliving said other schools were interested in him, however). The second moment was his 12 game suspension for attempting to fight a fan for throwing garbage at him in the penalty box. Having kept his temper under control for the majority of the season, this was a pretty low point.
Pospisil’s year did end on a high note, as he was signed to an entry level contract by the Flames after Sioux City was eliminated from the playoffs.
Martin Pospisil ➡️ Bobby Brink is a dangerous combination.
Down 3-0, @Musketeerhockey completes the incredible comeback and wins 4-3 in overtime! #WhosNext pic.twitter.com/JjPvBrBHgk
— USHL (@USHL) March 18, 2019
Numbers & Growth
GP | G | A | P | Primary Points | 5v5 Points | 5v5 Primary points | NHLe | |
2018-19 | 44 | 16 | 47 | 63 | 46 | 31 | 22 | 32.87 |
2017-18 | 49 | 8 | 29 | 37 | 24 | 24 | 18 | 17.34 |
Pospisil found his offensive motor this year, scoring at least one point in 34 of his 44 games this season. He picked up 19 multi-point games, and hit at least three points in a game nine times.
He was used in pretty much every situation possible, seeing heavy special teams time. He was deadly effective on the power play, finishing second on his team in PP points and 15th league wide, and even found some points shorthanded too. If there’s one criticism, it’s that he didn’t take as major a step forward in 5v5 scoring as he did in other departments, which is underwhelming because he led Sioux City in estimated 5v5 ice time at 16 minutes. He still finished second in estimated points per 60, but you figure he would be able to do more damage given how often he was used.
All of these numbers are great, but we have to consider the context of Pospisil being a 19 year old in the USHL. The NCAA culls a lot of the top talent and a decent number of middling players too from the USHL, so it’s not too hard to standout when a lot of the competition has moved on. Think of it like being an overager in the CHL, but to a greater extent.
In case you’re wondering, his PIMs total dropped from 253 to 118. He still managed to get suspended for more games (12 this season to nine the year before), but he cut down on the overall number of suspensions from six to one.
Oh my Martin Pospisil😱 pic.twitter.com/aKmPS1z4D6
— Sioux City Musketeers (@Musketeerhockey) October 31, 2018
What’s next?
Pospisil is Stockton bound. With the NCAA out of the question, the USHL already conquered, and an ELC in hand, there’s really no other place to go.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. The only recent player to make the jump directly from the USHL to the AHL was Zemgus Girgensons, who was okay in a bottom six role for the Rochester Americans and then rushed to the NHL for some reason (Buffalo isn’t exactly a model franchise). If that’s the standard, then we can probably expect Pospisil to have a quiet season, or at least as quiet a season as Pospisil can have.
Maybe he surprises us all and excels in the pros. He has the exciting playmaking ability to succeed and the in-your-face playing style that gets players noticed.
Previously
Emilio Pettersen | Demetrios Koumontzis | Dmitry Zavgorodniy | Adam Ruzicka | Milos Roman | D’Artagnan Joly | Eetu Tuulola | Linus Lindstrom | Filip Sveningsson | Pavel Karnukhov, Rushan Rafikov, Mitchell Mattson
This guy is the ultimate 4th liner and hopefully becomes much much more.
Jobu sees him potentially making the big club as a callup next year.
Highly doubt he’ll be ready for call up next year. Here’s to wishful thinking though !!! My guess is he might even spend year one in ECHL. Not a knock on him, just that he should really be in NCAA. Total guess but my thoughts are a year of ECHL to learn to be a pro (this possibly might be an understatement given his history of suspensions and academic issues (of which we don’t really know why), or it might not be an issue at all) and still get top minutes in all situations. Then a year in AHL before he starts really knocking down the door.
I truly think this guy is a future NHL player though. He’s got so much going for him, but like many prospects, there’s an element of putting it all together, and that’s on him and the flames development team.
I find this prospect very intriguing. Could be real asset if he can mature his game.
Do the Flames draft his RW Bobby Brink?
Jobu would.
He looks like pretty good value to me at 26.
He could quickly become a fan favorite in Stockton,
There is more than a little issue with his skating… his wheels are square!
The Flames drafted 3 big, talented guys last year. I hope they continue to follow that mantra. Bobby Brink is not the guy you want. We need big, fast ,almost NHL ready and that guy is Raphael Lavoise. Team leader.
Phenomenal accurate shot. Great wheels. 6’3, 208 pounds. Hits hard and he even has a take no prisoners attitude. I am hoping he becomes our guy.
I would talk to Montreal about their # 10 pick and use that on Raphael.
There is another guy who is like and has the same body size. Get these two
And we start busting balls all over the ice. Brink is a me me me guy. Let s9meone else have him.
“The Flames drafted 3 big, talented guys last year.”
No they didn’t. Besides Pospisil the rest are under 6′
Koumontzis 5’10”
Roman 5’11”
Pettersen 5’11”
Zavgorodniy 5’9″
He’s probably thinking of 2017 (Valimaki, Ruzicka, Joly)
AOM head back to Sweden on a two-year deal. Sucks for Stockton and the whole organization, but when you sit on your hands for 5 years and don’t offer a guy an ELC, that is what happens. Good luck AOM, you deserved better.
But if the team does not believe he will ever be good enough for the nhl why burn a contract on him?
we r soooo back up on the D that why we lost him to the wind… we toss Fox away cause we know he was not going to sign here, still don’t know why BT didn’t call the Rangers and got 2 Draft picks for Fox like the Canes just did…
Causet hat trade Ham/Fer for Lin/Han was a fair trade don’t see why Fox was toss in for free,
Hamilton + Ferland for Lindholm and Hanifin was not a fair value trade. Lindholm and Hanifin are younger than both Hamilton and Ferland, Lindholm is better than Ferland even before this season and Hamilton’s career offensive year wasnt enough to offset. Fox was someone thrown in to sweeten the pot for Carolina that made the trade fair
Looking forward to updates on this guy from SF. I think he’s going to love this guy.
SF is going to love this guy…… until Posp punches SF in the face for asking him for a signed jersey…..
WW
As long as I get the jersey 😜
Just don’t throw a contract his way he might get crazy.
Jobu thinks we’re going to need a nickname for this guy.
Jobu likes “Pops” (i.e. Popsicle)?
P.O.S.
Obviously…
WW
well played.
Pops is what I’ve been calling him, so I’m on board.
Big Popsa
The rest of the league is going to be calling him P.O.S. so we may as well follow suit…..
WW
With those PIMs, I’m just hoping he is not addicted to rhoids, coke, or booze