No offense Kyle, but I would be very careful about who I trust for their opinion of a prospect, especially on HF...Now I have admittedly only seen Colborne on a handful of occasions, and am FAR from an expert on him, but I have done a considerable amount of research the last day and a half and have come to the following opinion of Joe Colborne, and please keep in mind that I exhausted every resource I could find to do so, such as: 2008 draft magazines (THN, Mckeens, Canadian Sports, and Prospects Hockey), as well as some old scouting reports pre and post draft via several different scouting databases, I have also taken into consideration the odd opinion from respected posters on HF, and supposed scouts or former scouts. I also ran by an extensive amount of post game reports (AHL) on Colborne, I tried to read as much as possible, and determine the most common arguments so as to achieve the highest degree of accuracy. Based on all of this, the sense I get is:
Pros:
Great size
Good straight line skater
Above average shot with a good release point
Exceptional IQ
Strong puck protection skills
Long reach
Strong faceoff man
Soft hands
Cons:
Soft for a big man
Maddeningly inconsisent
Appears to lack passion and drive
Concerns about his work ethic, even despite the claims of coaches and family to the contrary
Plays on the perimeter, seldom driving the net
Goes invisible for long stretches
Mediocre in his first pro season (-8)
Legitimate bust potential
The pros seem to outweigh the cons, but the cons are more than just minimal concerns, they are potentially the difference between Joe becoming an impact center, and career AHL'er, and it is very important that everyone realize the bust potential is just as great as the potential for breakout, if not greater. The mentality of a big man who doesn't use his size and play an impassioned game cannot just be improved, it is something that has to come from within, and there is no telling if that ever happens for Joe. That said, the ceiling is obviously very high, and that is why the Leafs have to make a strong pitch to acquire him.
For more detailed information about Joe pre 2008, please defer to the following,
Went back through my issues of RLR to see what they were saying about him at the beginning of the season, and the progression is intriguing to say the least.
Bottom line: Will the real Joe Colborne please stand up? Reading his November Jr. A Challenge write-ups that saw him land into the 1st round paints the picture of a well-rounded player with limitless upside and some snarl to his game. He fell off some the rest of the way, with scouts questioning his toughness. But, look at the comments from November 07. If he can get that back, then there is no reason to think that Colborne won't be a successful NHLer down the road for Boston.
Interesting to say the least. Thanks to my friends at Red Line for allowing me to share their outstanding work from this past hockey season...
September 07
Rank: 88
October 07
Rank: 89
In October, Colborne erupted onto the scene as far as Red Line was concerned- distinguishing himself in Trail, B.C. at the World Junior A Challenge. Colborne dominated coverage in Red Line's November issue, blasting up 69 spots to no. 20 overall.
November 07:
Rank:20
November issue
Headline: Tier II standouts tweak big boys
Oddly enough, we're going to spend this space talking about a couple of Tier II players. Out in Trail at the World Junior A Challenge the Russians certainly brought a strong club with plenty of individual talent. But the scouting community already knew most of those players.
Instead, it was big Joe Colborne, a strapping pivot from Camrose in the AJHL, and Brandon Burlon who grabbed our attention.
Colborne offers one of the most intriguing all-around packages of physical tools in this draft. At 6-foot-5 and with a huge frame to fill out, he'll be monster-sized by the time he hits the NHL. And he's got super soft hands, some sandpaper to his game, a great work ethic, and a surprisingly fluid straight line skating stride.
All he needs is a little polish to round out his offensive game. He already plays a mature two-way game and is one of the best faceoff men we've seen come out of the junior ranks in the past five years."
November issue rising (#1 on list):
Joe Colborne, Camrose: The combination of tremendous size, soft hands, long reach and great work ethic has everyone's attention. Strong week in Trail at the Jr. A Challenge where he worked his bag off every shift.
Junior A Challenge scouting report
(Red Line's two western scouts took in the action at the World Jr. A Challenge in early November and filed the following report. PLayers are listed in order of preference by team)
Canada West
1. Joe Colborne/LC- Camrose 6-5/185 30 Jan 90
Big AJHL center came in with high expectations and didn't disappoint. His combination of hands, size and skating is intriguing. Good straight line speed and balance. Does not have the quickness or natural agility to be a dynamic gamebreaker, but his play down low and in the cycle is outstanding. Almost impossible to knock off the puck and is a beast along the boards. Has the hands to stickhandle through traffic or thread the needle with a soft pass. Excellent finisher and has a knack for burying his chances in close. Excellent on faceoffs, winning well over 60% of his draws. Only concern is a lack of a mean streak.
Kirk note: Other players at the Jr. A challenge included: Nikita Filatov, Zac Dalpe, Burlon, Corey Trivino, Kirill Petrov, Evgeni Grachev, Vyacheslav Voynov and Jimmy Hayes.
December 07: 19
Western talent pool mid-season scouting reports: WHL and Tier II combined (So Colborne was lumped in with the WHL players as well, grading out 5th behind Beach, Teubert, Schenn and Boychuk)
5. Joe Colborne/LC- Camrose 6-5/185, 30 Jan 90: Big, rangy center has an impressive combination of size and skating. Huge frame with long limbs and a very long reach. Good balance and straight line speed. Not especially quick, but has decent agility. Protects the puck well- opponents have a hard time knocking him off it. Can take the puck through traffic and has a knack for getting the puck off the boards and taking it out front. Is not an end-to-end dynamic player; at his best battling along the boards and cycling the puck in deep. Excellent passing touch and sees the ice well. Sound defensively and wins a ton of draws. Works hard, but is not a high energy player and could stand to add an edge to his game.
January 08: 21
Recruiting Class update:
3. University of Denver:
This class is all about quality over quantity. Huge AJHL center Joe Colborne is a rising star and probably 1st round NHL draft pick who was one of the most highly sought after recruits. His terrific combination of size and skating will strengthen the pioneers up the middle.
February 08: 26
Okay- first we have to set the scene a bit for this next item. On January 23, the entire NHL scouting community, plus many of the League's general managers descended on Edmonton for the annual CHL Top Prospects Game. The following evening the whole crew (many GMs included) moved onto Camrose, one hour down the road, for the sole purpose of viewing the Kodiaks' Joe Colborne, a lanky 6-5 center with soft hands and offensive skills that will likely get him selected in the first round of this June's NHL draft.
The configuration of the rink led to all the NHL scouts standing on the concourse railing, ringing all around the oce surface. Mr. Colborne could not possibly failed to have noticed the scouting hordes as early as warmups. And yet, he put in one of the most passionless, non-intense efforts imagineable.
Look, the bottom line here is that some team is going to envision what he could become as he fills out into a 220-pounder with that impressive skillset and grab him early, probably in the top 16-18 picks. But it wouldn't be us at RLR. We see significant bust potential with a kid whose family is financially well off, who didn't want to try competing in the nightly wars of the WHL, and who can't even muster any passion in front of an audience that includes the biggest decision makers in the NHL.
March 08 Rank: 26
WHL/BCHL/AJHL Overrated
2. Joe Colborne, LC- Camrose
He's got one of the most intriguing packages of skill and size in the draft, but he's never shown us any heart or desire. Don't get us wrong- we like Colborne as a late-first rounder, but there's a lot of talk about him being a lottery pick. At RLR, we'd be very concerned about spending that high a pick on a gentle giant like Colborne, especially the kind of talent that will be available in the first 14 picks.
April 08 Rank: 26
Red Line believes its possible that as many as four Tier II prospects could crack the 1st round with another couple as second round considerations. Right now, we've got Brandon Burlon, Zac Dalpe and Joe Colborne solidly in our first round, with Junior B center Daultan Leveille with St. Catharine's as a potential late entry into the 1st round derby.
May 08 Rank: 28
An internal debate has been raging at Red Line Report since last November on the top two ranked western Tier II players on our list. Last month, Zac Dalpe of Penticton and Joe Colborne of Camrose went head to head for the Doyle Cup for the right to play in the Royal Bank Cup Tier II Championship and they were often matched up against one another from shift to shift. Camrose won 4-1, and Colborne showed the way as the leading scorer in the series with four goals and three assists in five games.
One of our western Canada scouts is sold on Colborne as a potential stud. And he does have the tools to become an outstanding offensive player once he fills out his huge frame. He's six-foot-five, skates very well with a long, smooth stride, and has a great release on an accurate wrist shot from the high slot. Plus. by all accounts- he's a great kid off the ice- sincere, intelligent and mature.
But RLR's chief scout is not sold and has nagging doubts, patricularly after going to see Colborne again at the Royal Bank Cup. He simply does not compete. It's not that he doesn't win battles for loose pucks, it's that he never gets close enough to the dirty areas to become involved in the battles. And the reason he has to fire those great wristers from the high slot is because he'll never drive to the crease.
So, Colborne remains a frustrating enigma for us.
June 2008 final rank: 28
Colt posted Colborne's draft profile on his draft day thread, so I won't re-post. But here is some more on him in the RLR draft guide:
Most overrated players
6. Joe Colborne We like him, but think he'll go top 20, and that's just too high for a 6-5 guy who's next hit will be his first.
Allstate "Good Hands" Trophy (Best natural goal scorer)
5. Joe Colborne Scoring machine if he would go into traffic.
Cowardly Lions (For those who have never been in the corners of the rink)
4. Joe Colborne Classic case of looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane.
So there it is. RLR clearly sees the upside, but raises the red flags as well. Time will tell, but it is going to be the source of much debate in the coming years.
Dreams know no denomination. No demographics. They may be small, personal and quietly framed in black and white. They may be large, public and splashed in bold colours.
Male or female. Young or old. Rich or poor.
There is no exclusivity on dreams. No rules. No compromises. No limits. Everyone can dream.
That is the wonder of them.
"My dream,'' says Joe Colborne, "since I was three or four years old, has been to play in the NHL.''
Not an unusual dream for an 18-year-old Canadian kid. A kid who grew up supporting his hometown Calgary Flames. Who cried when his favourite player, Al MacInnis, was dealt over contract issues to the St. Louis Blues (the Flames wept openly, too, after getting only a brief sampling of replacement Phil Housley's competitive fire).
Joe Colborne, Doyle Cup winner, playoff MVP and star of the Alberta Junior Hockey League Camrose Kodiaks, is off in the fall to the University of Denver to continue his studies, hockey and otherwise. This week, he travels to Ottawa to sit in Scotiabank Place, like countless others, and hopes to hear his name called by a team, any team; waiting, wondering, worrying.
Not so different, really, than thousands of other 18-year-old Canadian kids.
Except in one way.
Joe Colborne is a rich 18-year-old Canadian kid.
A very rich 18-year-old Canadian kid.
His dad, Paul, happens to be chairman of TriStar Oil and Gas. Happens to be a millionaire many times over.
That fact is, aside from the big body and willowy-soft hands, what sets Colborne apart. He understands this. Just as he realizes he's had advantages others have not.
Joe Colborne certainly doesn't expect to be lionized for growing up wealthy. Neither, however, does he appreciate being stereotyped by it.
"I'm used to it by now,'' says Colborne, ranked 30th among North America skaters by Central Scouting in January. "I've had to put up with it my whole career.
"My upbringing has been different from a lot of people's. I get annoyed with the question, sometimes. But I'm proud of my parents, proud of my family, proud of the way I was brought up.''
The Colbornes are an athletic family. Paul was a quarterback at the U of C. and with the old junior Calgary Mohawks; his mother, Jan, a competitive gymnast. His three sisters all play basketball at either the collegiate, university or high-school levels.
"We've always encouraged our kids to get involved in sports,'' says Paul. "Sports teaches you so many life lessons, so many lessons you can use later in business. Perseverance. Hard work. Teamwork. Not being afraid to make decisions. Getting along with people. Getting up after your butt has been kicked.
"Joe chose hockey. I think he could've been just as successful in baseball if he'd decided that way.''
How early, or late, he'll be selected this weekend in Ottawa is anyone's guess. He's projected by some as a first-rounder, despite the unorthodox route -- AJHL to NCAA -- chosen. What seems unanimous is that there's plenty of raw material on hand to mould, polish and buff to a luminous shine.
Joe Colborne admits he doesn't exactly fit the standard-issue profile established for budding NHLers: born and reared in, say, Moose Jaw or Parry Sound, from a Corner Gas-style middle-class family. None of the tales of financial sacrifice or personal hardship. None of that Don Cherry blue-collar jazz. No easy-to-write, easy-to-embrace against-the-odds storyline.
And because of that, Colborne has come in for a healthy dose of skepticism. Scouts like his build, six-foot-five, and those soft hands. He could reach 220 to 225 pounds in three years or so, and size, as former Flames GM Cliff Fletcher always says, is the only skill that can't be taught.
Due to the affluent upbringing, though, his inner drive has come under question. Maybe he doesn't want it enough. Could be too soft. Skeptics wonder about his motivation.
"Some of this stuff,'' says his dad, "is ridiculous.
"People that say those things haven't seen him in the weight room or out back in the garage we converted into a shooting shed, on his Rollerblades, hour after hour.
"He's done very well in school, too'' -- averaging 90 to 95 per cent at Camrose Composite High. "Joe's very driven.
"He's a worker.''
Kid Colborne adds that character trait is down to having the ideal role model right across the dinner table from him all those years.
"My dad is the hardest-working person I know. Up at 5:30, gone all day and then back home to take the kids to practice or watch us play games. He's worked very hard to get where he has.
"He and my mom instilled that in all of us. I have parents who have been successful because they've been willing to put in the time, put in the effort.
"The biggest thing they've taught me is that when you want something, go for it. My coaches, my teammates, my trainers, people, they understand how. They're there. They know.''
Going for it is something of a family motto. ..."Jan worked to put me through law school,'' says Paul. "And, really, my goal was to be a good local corporate lawyer. But then an opportunity in the oilpatch came up. I left a good job to pursue it. Jan supported me. We had four kids, a mortgage and no money. It was a risk.
"Joe took a risk, too. He left home and went off to Notre Dame at 15 to play hockey for Dale Derkatch. But he wanted to improve as a hockey player, wanted to push himself.''
Colborne doesn't view the draft weekend as make or break.
"I'm going to go enjoy the experience,'' says Colburne, who has interviews set up with a few teams upon arriving in Ottawa. "I was a little nervous at the Combine (in Toronto), but strangely I don't feel any right now.
"I see a whole of guys who are high draft picks that fall out of hockey after a few years. That doesn't guarantee you success. Where were Zetterberg and Datsyuk drafted?
"Where I'm drafted, or even whether I'm drafted, won't change my goal. And that's to have a long career.
"I haven't dreamed my whole life of being drafted. I've dreamed of playing in the NHL.''
It's quite true Joe Colborne needn't work a day in his life. He just chooses to, in order to chase the brass ring that glitters for so many.
In the final analysis, his family bank account won't land him a pro contract. Net worth doesn't mean squat when the puck's skipping near your blueline and there's three inches of elbow to go through to clear the zone. A killer financial portfolio won't count for nearly as much as dropping courageously down to block that shot a man short or fighting through the thresher of sticks to get position in front of the net.
Those are the checks and balances that matter to general managers and coaches in the bright lights and the big cities. Those are the investments that pay handsome dividends.
"To me,'' says his dad proudly, "he's earned it, to in the next three or four years have the chance to realize his dream.''
Dreams, after all, being for everyone.
He has to fill out his 6'5, 190 pound frame and once he does he'll be difficult to knock off the puck. His strength is his positioning on the ice - knowing where to go at the right time - and he's a smart player too.
1. Joe Colborne, C
Born: Jan. 30, 1990 in Calgary, Alberta
Size: 6-foot-5, 205 pounds
Acquired: Boston’s 1st choice, 16th overall in 2008 NHL Entry Draft
Contract: Unsigned
2009-10 stats: University of Denver (WCHA): 6 goals, 8 assists, 14 points, 14 PIM
Strengths: Colborne is huge, skilled and, when he’s on top of his game, controls the tempo and offensive flow every time his skates touch the ice. Blessed with superior playmaking ability, a heavy shot and excellent hockey sense, he’s showing more of a flair for finishing off the play this year, having scored several clutch goals in the early going.
Weaknesses: Even scouts who recognize his outstanding upside still want to see him initiate contact more and be a more consistent presence in the “dirty areas” of the ice and in front of the net from game to game.
Projection: First-line center and leader. The physical tools are there to be a very good NHL player, but there is still room for improvement. “Joe’s working on his consistency to be the kind of complete, well-rounded player we know he can be from week to week. We don’t see any single weakness in his game, but it’s more a matter of him gaining the maturity and experience to take advantage of his size and the many skills he has.”
-- Bruins assistant GM Don Sweeney
Has the size that every team dreams of but is still learning how to use it to his full advantage. The growth spurt is still relatively recent and so Colborne is still making the adjustment mentally that he can do much more than he believes he can from a physical perspective.
Decent skater but best asset apart from his size is his on ice vision and playmaking skills. He can finish and does possess an above average shot but he is a self-admitted pass-first player. Loves to control the puck on along the boards on the power play and find his teammates for gift goals.
Played the wing in Camrose but took most of the faceoffs and then would shift to the wing after the play had started. Some scouts have wondered if he might make a better center with his size and passing skills.
The knock on Colborne is his lack of physical grit; he's not a banger and he doesn't really drive to the net very often both of which he could do easily if he tried.
Comes from a wealthy family which some consider a flaw for some reason believing his committment isn't as deep as with other players. Hockey's Future does not believe this to be an issue. With excellent grades in school, Colborne has shown the dedication for personal improvement off the ice and his coach's do not question his determination on it.
I'd post more, but I really don't have the time or patience to copy out the word for word reports from my old magazines, but I tried to sum it up as best I could in the pros v. cons list.
