Prospect Info: Player Discussion - Drew O'Connor (LW/C)

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'll take the kid being a regular on the 4th line without going like 20 games between registering a point. Work from there.

 

[jmelm]

I'll take the kid being a regular on the 4th line without going like 20 games between registering a point. Work from there.

Well that's already better than Kapanen!

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Well that's already better than Kapanen!

No argument there, brother.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Net positive middle 6 wing or strong 3rd line C are insanely good outcomes for DOC.

I just hope he can be a regular, and expect him to, but if I was a betting man I’d say he’s more likely to be a bottom 6 option.

 

[jmelm]

Net positive middle 6 wing or strong 3rd line C are insanely good outcomes for DOC.

I just hope he can be a regular, and expect him to, but if I was a betting man I’d say he’s more likely to be a bottom 6 option.

Not that "insane" when you consider he's already been a #1 C and point per game player at the AHL level, despite not even playing a full season's worth of games of AHL hockey over the last 2 years due to Covid shortened seasons (and then a freak collapsed lung and getting Covid himself this year).

So given he has NHL size, skating and strength, and he has no apparent weaknesses (in terms of skills, vision, hockey sense, etc.) -- and given his off-ice commitment to diet and training, etc. -- for him to jump from #1C/#1W as a rookie in the AHL to a middle 6W or 3rd line C in the NHL, that is not an insane leap at all.

Not guaranted, but not a huge leap and certainly not insane.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Not that "insane" when you consider he's already been a #1 C and point per game player at the AHL level, despite not even playing a full season's worth of games of AHL hockey over the last 2 years due to Covid shortened seasons (and then a freak collapsed lung and getting Covid himself this year).

So given he has NHL size, skating and strength, and he has no apparent weaknesses (in terms of skills, vision, hockey sense, etc.) -- and given his off-ice commitment to diet and training, etc. -- for him to jump from #1C/#1W as a rookie in the AHL to a middle 6W or 3rd line C in the NHL, that is not an insane leap at all.

Not guaranted, but not a huge leap and certainly not insane.

In the lens of he’s a UDFA.

You’re right in that it’s not that crazy but I was more just trying to say we gotta remember this kid wasn’t drafted.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

In the lens of he’s a UDFA.

You’re right in that it’s not that crazy but I was more just trying to say we gotta remember this kid wasn’t drafted.

Martin St. Louis was also undrafted and didn't do much in the NHL til he was 25. Now that doesn't mean I'm saying that DOC is the new MSL. But am I? Yes.

 

[jmelm]

In the lens of he’s a UDFA.

You’re right in that it’s not that crazy but I was more just trying to say we gotta remember this kid wasn’t drafted.

Ahh, in that sense, I agree with you.

But I also agree with @Randy Butternubs post even more!