Wild Prospect Update - Foucault and Hitmen win Ed Chynoweth Cup and advance to...

Foucault - Memorial Cup

Wild prospect update - Foucault and the Hitmen win Ed Chynoweth Cup and earn a bearth in the Memorial Cup

Written by Derek Felska
Saturday, 08 May 2010 07:22

For the fourth straight season, the Minnesota Wild will have a representative at the Memorial Cup Tournament which serves to determine a champion of Canadian major junior hockey. Kris Foucault, Minnesota's 4th round pick (103rd Overall) in 2009 is the most recent member of this exclusive club as he helped Calgary win a WHL championship after defeating the Tri-City Americans in 5 games earning the Hitmen a bearth at the tournament held in Brandon, Manitoba. Calgary has to feel fairly good about its chances as it is already very familiar with one of the qualifiers for the tournament, the Wheat Kings who earn an automatic bid as the hosts and the Hitmen quickly disposed of Brandon in 5 games to get their chance in the WHL Finals. Foucault has played an important role, chipping in offensively with 9 goals, 7 assists in 23 playoff games thus far. The Calgary-native joins fellow Wild prospects Justin Falk (Spokane, WHL) and Cody Almond (Kelowna, WHL) and A.J. Thelen (Vancouver, WHL) who have played in the Memorial Cup the last three seasons. If history is any indication then Foucault can expect his team to do well, as Falk and Thelen both won a Memorial Cup with the Spokane Chiefs and Vancouver Giants' respectively while Almond's Kelowna Rockets were a runner up to 2009 champion Windsor Spitfires (OHL). In a strange coincidence all of Minnesota's Memorial Cup attendees the last four years have been out of the Western Hockey League. In a less official capasity the Wild do have one other connection in Hitmen defenseman Giffen Nyren whom the team gave a tryout to last summer at the team's prospect camp and used the offensively gifted blueliner in its annual prospect tournament in Traverse City, Michigan.

Last year, it was a strong playoff performance by Foucault that likely drew Minnesota's attention prompting them to draft him later that summer after he scored 11 goals and 16 points in just 18 post-season games. In that same year, Cody Almond parlayed a strong post-season performance to help lead the Rockets to the finals. Almond used that effort to have a solid first pro season even earning some time with the Wild in the process. No doubt the Wild hope another solid playoffs could do the same for Foucault as the organization is in need of skilled forwards. Perhaps the most overlooked portion of Foucault's playoff performances is the fact he has ostensibly gained over an additional half season of development in the process; playing an additional 49 games throughout his junior career. With that comes additional practices and playing in additional pressure-filled situations. The 6'1", 202lbs left winger has been notoriously streaky throughout his years in the WHL, but has found a way to play big when the games mean the most. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

I would consider Focault as one of our top 5 prospects, Golton Gillies gets to be in the top 5 but he's not projected to be in the top 6, while Focault has the skills to be a top 6 winger, however he needs to have the drive to work his ass off and work during the regular season.

Foucault might have top-5 upside among our forward prospect(like Haula) but guys like Almond and Gillies have the mindset of NHL players. Foucault takes way too many nights off at the junior level. He should be back next year as an overage to see if he can play consistently well. He's a 4th round pick, so if he turns out to be anything in the NHL it would be great, but I was not all that impressed with him this year, and there were lack of effort issues before he was dealt to the Hitmen, which were keeping him out of the WHL altogether. Can't blame GMCF for trying regardless of how he works out, as a risky pick was needed.