NHL scouts take development years into account, the difference between a 98' and 99' is quite significant. A guy like Patrick, who would have been a high pick last year if he was born 4 days earlier, is much different then a guy like Lind, who if born 30 days earlier likely doesn't crack the first 3/4 rounds in the 16' draft after his mediocre 2nd year junior eligible regular season, and absolutely horrific 0 p in 16 games playoffs.
In saying that, picking in the bottom end of the first round, those are usually the types of guys that go. Obviously he led his team in scoring in the regular season, so he wasn't leaching his points, and he saw quite a jump in production. He seems to have become a leading contributor as an 18 year old, to me that is enough for me to be happy with him in the late 20's (There are many other guys available I'd rather, but that's myself personally). He doesn't ring to many alarms for me that many do with his late birthdate, the only one being the big jump in production. In his case, I attribute it to player development and see it as a positive.
I want to point at Paul Bittner, someone that many on this board wanted in 2015, as an example of a very obvious case. That's the type of late birthday you don't take. Very obvious, leeched points off 3 of the best players in the CHL, and has since gone on to make the Blue Jackets look like fools. I thought that was very obvious in 2015, and can't believe an NHL scouting staff fell for that.
On the other end, let's look at Cliff Pu. A guy who if born 2 months later, would be in this draft. He was a steal for Buffalo in the 3rd. Where would he be slotted this year? I would think he would be a surefire guy in the 20's. Things do change over the 17-18 year old season, the task is determining the factors that brought the change.
I'm leaning more towards Lind in a Nick Foligno (extremely similar prospects, and 17/18 year old seasons) late birthday scenario than a Paul Bittner.