2015 Draft Thread "McEichel" Part 3

[sabrebuild]

What does everyone think of Chabot? People either think he's a steal in the late 1st or it's too high. He was crazy bad defensively when I saw him at times last year and his defensive IQ was non existent. He started off okay this season but has gotten better as St John rolls on. He's improved leaps and bounds defensively without sacrificing his offensive game too much but players like him generally scare me. He will likely be the highest rated defensemen available when Buffalo picks with STL/NYI's pick.

I haven't seen him. What's his game like?

 

[Deleted member 27798]

Does anyone have pre-draft grades for the top 25 or so prospects from the last 3 or 4 drafts?

Thx.

 

[Moskau]

I haven't seen him. What's his game like?

Great skater that likes to handle the puck.

 

[sabrebuild]

Great skater that likes to handle the puck.

Is he J. Roy lite?

 

[Paxon]

He certainly could be told to play conservatively or within the team, but I mean come on. This team needs offense and they are not going to load him with pk time as has been agreed by everybody. They are not going to make him a part of some shutdown line, nor is he playing in the bottom six with Des, Kaleta, and Flynn. It is possible a worst case scenario of coaching stupidity could happen, but I don't think I should be overly conservative in a projection just to account for that possibility.

I'm not suggesting they would put him on the PK (already said they wouldn't) or tell him not to score goals. This team has a system and it's a conservative one. That affects goal-scoring. So what I'm saying is there will be a difference in possible production if they tell him to just go wild vs. telling him to play within the team's system as it has been.

As to Reinhart not getting pp time. I think that was dumb by Nolan, but its irrelevant because I love Reinhart as a player, but McDavid is such a jump above him in terms of readiness for the NHL as an 18 year old that it's absurd.

It was already absurd to not give Reinhart PP time. If Nolan gave Reinhart no PP time to start with, why is it hard to believe he may not give McDavid first unit PP time to start with? Reinhart had the best hockey IQ, vision, and passing on the team at the time. I just don't know why people would assume McDavid would definitely be given top responsibilities at even strength and the powerplay from day one when that is not very common and the organization stresses taking time with young players.

 

[Bps21*]

He also gave him 70 something percent Dzone start times. Nolan clearly wanted him gone. Not even saying it's the wrong thing since this team is what it is right now. But those 9 games...flush them from the memory. They didn't accomplish or mean anything. Hell...he was dropped to the 4th line because Hodgson couldn't handle playing wing for more than 3 games before Nolan had to move him.

 

[sabrebuild]

I'm not suggesting they would put him on the PK (already said they wouldn't) or tell him not to score goals. This team has a system and it's a conservative one. That affects goal-scoring. So what I'm saying is there will be a difference in possible production if they tell him to just go wild vs. telling him to play within the team's system as it has been.



It was already absurd to not give Reinhart PP time. If Nolan gave Reinhart no PP time to start with, why is it hard to believe he may not give McDavid first unit PP time to start with? Reinhart had the best hockey IQ, vision, and passing on the team at the time. I just don't know why people would assume McDavid would definitely be given top responsibilities at even strength and the powerplay from day one when that is not very common and the organization stresses taking time with young players.

The reason is exactly because McDavid is not COMMON. Normally I would agree with you that putting up huge numbers like what I am talking about are ridiculous for a rookie. I would have said the same thing about Reinhart last year. I didn't believe that he had the physical tools to make an impact right away.

McDavid is that guy. He is one of those random lucky genes combined with crazy desire guys who is that good. He combines most of Reinhart's game with freak skating ability. Add in more of a will to dictate the game to his opponents, aggression he will need in the NHL. I think he will be the level of player that, despite the hype now, within a few preseason games, maybe a game or two into the regular season posters on here will be blown away at how much better he is than everybody else. He won't be there with every part of his game right away, but offensively he will abuse people, especially early on before NHL vets take him completely seriously or have a real handle on his tendencies.

 

[Baccus]

Wow this is brutal. You are aware he probably won't be a Sabre correct?

Please continue for 3 more pages and substitute Eichel...

 

[sabrebuild]

Wow this is brutal. You are aware he probably won't be a Sabre correct?

Please continue for 3 more pages and substitute Eichel...

Of course we are. Both players were referenced early. This is a discussion on McDavid specifically. Not a debate about the Sabres future, they are being used solely as a team example that everyone is familiar with. Move along or say something useful.

 

[Baccus]

I think everybody has said their points, repeatedly, what the hell else is there.

Move on to Eichel or go do something useful.

 

[sabrebuild]

I think everybody has said their points, repeatedly, what the hell else is there.

Move on to Eichel or go do something useful.

If it bothers you look at different thread.

 

[Baccus]

I wasn't even being totally sarcastic about moving on to Eichel, or even Reinhart.

If McDavid is X points around Y minutes, what's the expectation for Eichel going to be on this team next year? He's a more realistic draft pick percentage-wise anyway.

At least that would provide some type of context for scoring potential between #generational and #franchiseplayer. Or would Eichel be #elite? I can't even tell anymore.

 

[Paxon]

I wasn't even being totally sarcastic about moving on to Eichel, or even Reinhart.

If McDavid is X points around Y minutes, what's the expectation for Eichel going to be on this team next year? He's a more realistic draft pick percentage-wise anyway.

At least that would provide some type of context for scoring potential between #generational and #franchiseplayer. Or would Eichel be #elite? I can't even tell anymore.

I don't see why Eichel would have massively different expectations, he's just not as likely to hit the high end of the possibilities as McDavid is. I'd bet if situations were equal Eichel would score more goals and McDavid more points.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Getting close to 1000, time to move on.