Does anyone think we can get McLeod? Will he be picked higher than he is ranked just because he is a center and this draft is devoid of quality centers? He was supposed to be ranked higher based on his past, so why has he fallen off in what many consider a weakish draft? With everyone talking about trading for RNH, this guys seems to fit that bill, and would be a year away from the NHL possibly to fix our center depth issue for years to come if he translates his skills to the NHL.
Thoughts?
He's his brother with maybe slightly better vision, but not as hard a worker, probably not quite the same level of skater. His number really aren't that impressive when age-adjusted.
I'd also put caution on expecting any kid drafted in the 20's or later to be a year away. We are trying to be a contending team, when something like 35% of kids in that range become something of value long-term (top 9 forward, top 4 defender or starting goalie), you have to hope you hit on one of those. To hope for it in a year, is wishful thinking.
I can't think of the last center drafted in the 20's who was an NHL center within a year of being drafted. You see wingers who can make the transition quickly, or centers moved to the wing. If you want to look at 1st rounders (I don't think there were any 2nd rounders or later, but I don't have the time to thoroughly check) who were capable of playing center in their draft +2 season since 2010, the list is basically this. RNH, Sean Couturier, MacKinnon, Barkov, Monahan, Horvat, McDavid, Eichel, Matthews, Hischier and Patrick.
Fringe guys who moved back and forth from wing include: Seguin, RyJo, Zibanejad, Larkin, Galchenyuk, Lindholm, Bennett, Reinhart, Nylander, Fabbri, and Jared McCann.
A couple things to note. Pretty much every kid who was drafted in the 20's who made the jump either primarily played wing like Fabbri or clearly weren't ready and were sent back to the AHL (McCann). Next, pretty much every kid who was ready to be a full-time center in their draft +2 was a top 10 pick. Also, most of these guys played for bad teams, if you look at playoff teams, most of those kids were asked to play the wing primarily like Seguin, Galchenyuk, and Larkin. The only guys who could quickly play 3rd line on a good team were pretty elite players. Matthews was #1 center on a playoff team as a rookie, I'm sure pretty much all the guys in the first grouping could be good 3rd line guys on a team with serious aspirations in their first draft +2.
I'm not a fan of either McLeod brother, but I can see their appeal in the 20's. I'm fine with the pick if that is indeed our choice, but I wouldn't be expecting him to be a contributor in our line-up in 2019/20, especially as a center.
This isn't really about McLeod though, I wouldn't expect any kid in this draft to be a legitimate top 9 center by 2019-20. Even if we got Kupari, Kotkaniemi or Veleno.