PWJunior
Stay safe!
This past season was littered with oh so many definitive guarantees of how many points Barzal wouldn't score "once he came back down to earth".
Now, unlike literally every other hockey player 25 or under who fans expect to improve their games and get better, Barzal is expected to regress from scoring 85 points as a 20-year-old to getting much worse as a 21-year-old.
But please guys, tell me more about your 23 and 24 year old AHL players that you expect will make a huge impact at the NHL level once they get up here like Gourde did.
Barzal is a franchise level talent, a puck dominant center that skated circles around the NHL last year. The Isles got him with a '2nd half 1st rounder' at #16 overall. I think we all know the details that led to that happening by now. Gamechangers like him are usually only obtained with a top-2 pick. In an absolute monster 2015 draft class, he has emerged as a contender for 2nd best player behind a true generational talent in McDavid. He is the steal of steals in the draft of drafts to get lucky and hit the jackpot. When that happens, much butt hurt ensues all around.
He has personality and he really seems to be enjoying himself. He knows what it's like to be the franchise talent during his Seattle days and now it's time for him to do it at the NHL level. He is perhaps the best technical skater in the NHL, it's been described as a cross between Coffey and Savard by the NHLN's skating guru. He has the hands to match and the vision and instincts to control the game with the puck on his stick. He works hard and keeps his nose clean. Aside from his hilarious bromance with Beauvillier and his terrible fashion sense, there isn't much to dislike or be weirded out about a 21 year old new face of a franchise.