Not a huge fan of this pick. Don't get me wrong, Newhook is a very good player and I absolutely buy him having a lot of high end potential outside of the top 10. Nonetheless, I don't see him ever reaching his high end potential. You know, that's okay for me since all he needs to be is a 2nd line centre who can take pressure off the 1st line and I suggest he can do that.
He's primarily a playmaker who has top-end vision, but I am very much a fan of his shooting characteristics. His accuracy is terrible and needs a lot of work, but all the shot attributes that you cannot teach like heaviness and power are absolutely there. As I said in a previous post very long ago, if he had the accuracy, he would easily have been a 50 goalscorer in the BCHL. If he's able to increase his accuracy, he can definitely become a 2nd line version of Vlad Tarasenko.
Now of course, you're going to hear how amazing of a skater he is. I don't think he needs to work on straight line speed, this area I think he's really good in. Agility, explosiveness, and anything around the net is pretty poor and will need a couple years. Just don't be fooled by scouting reports who say he's this truly gifted skater, because a lot of it is aesthetic and playing against weak competition (same league for two seasons in a row).
I would like to see him do more 5v5 once he gets his feet wet in the NCAA, because I thought he was okay even strength, but pretty freakin' unbelievable on the powerplay. I can't wait to see what he can do at BU, but I would be surprised if he was a one and done player compared to Turcotte. I think he's at least two seasons away and at least one year in the AHL for me. Avs might potentially rush him though similar to Jost if he's able to really bring out his offencive skills early.
Passing on Krebs for him though broke my heart and Caufield going one pick earlier is so unfortunate. He's Avs property so I am going to cheer as much as I can for him, but Avs made a mistake passing on Peyton.
