ReDraft- Recent Years with a 19 year old Draft and Calendar Year Cohort

[4thline]

In light of Lafontaine's comments on the switch to 19 year old draft I thought it would be interesting to look at how things would have changed, a redraft with only 1 year of hindsight with the added twist of inserting the late born players pushed back a year under the current system.
* (slightly trickier with players that stepped right into the NHL at U19.

The 96's (2014 Class drafted after 14-15 Season)
Eichel- no faux rivalry with McDavid, but NCAA year and WC performance catch eyes
Ekblad* (Assuming dominant OHL season)
Nylander- ppg SHL season at C, dynamite WJC and physical growth remove concerns
Pastrnak-* assuming great SHL season
Larkin- Fantastic freshman showing and making WC vaults him up, less doubt about offense
Bennett/Ehlers- stays healthy without NHL injury, crushes OHL/ puts Drouin questions to rest
Sanheim- leap in production shows converting tools to play
Meier/Rantanen- same PF debate, a year early

Please post your thoughts, expand to other recent draft years, go deeper into later round guys that would have really raised their stock with the extra season

Click to read more...

 

[Randy Randerson]

wasn't Nylander's big weight gain in the summer between his D+1 and D+2? - I'm missing the forest for the trees here for sure

I think that a later draft would generate truer results - scouting departments would get more accurate and the disparity between earlier and later pick values would get more pronounced. Certainly wouldn't eliminate late round gems but they probably would get harder to find. Would definitely rise the stocks of guys like Sam Steel who have breakout current D+1's in their 19yo year, wonder if it would also eliminate some of the stigma for guys who break out in D+2 like Adam Brooks - like I don't think there's any stigma or asterisks on Steel's production with that 19yo jump and most just think that Anaheim found a gem that would go higher in a redraft, so I wonder if 20yo seasons would be just like 19yo seasons are now under a 19yo draft system