letowskie
Registered User
I've only seen Hanifin twice for BC and at the WJC. His mobility is extremely impressive. All compass smoothness that's out of this world for a D of any size, let alone a kid as big as him. Moves the puck pretty well, has good positioning. Pretty smart.
Nothing really flashy or eye popping, though. I don't see a kid who's ever going to be anyone's best player. Jay Bouwmeester I see. Brayden Coburn I see. Not so much Ekblad or Pietrangelo, though. I haven't seen him flash that dynamic, take a game over ability that elite D have. He's got tools. He could end up doing that.
There's a lot to like.
I think both Strome and Marner are more impressive prospects and I think both will have bigger impacts at the NHL level. I wouldn't hesitate before choosing either over Hanifin. I wouldn't be tempted at all to take Hanifin over either.
I've only seen him a few times too; like you said, impressive, but nothing overwhelmingly great. He's playing with higher QOC compared to vast majority of the draftees this time.
D's are harder to project, as they generally take longer to round out various aspects of their game, as there are a lot more details that are critical to a D's game over the development curve; almost all of them will grasp some areas better than others at first. And it's a bit tough to tell how quickly they can pick up and get comfortable with the remainder. Hanifin is one of those rare specimens that has no real weakness to speak of; so the risk of taking him (versus almost any other D in recent history) is fairly low.
Marner would still be a great pick @ 3rd; but if we were to move Yandle for a top forward, then this pick would make a lot of sense, and allow the Yotes to maintain one of the top D corps for a long time to come.