Was going to vote Andrae until he lost his man in front again for a GA and got benched after two shifts today.
Went Tanner. Cates deserves some consideration in this area as well. He had a great year.
But what kind of odds would you put on him becoming a top 4 defenseman? I could get on board that he has a non-zero chance at being a top 4 defenseman, but his top 4 potential is mostly tied to his age. You have to consider his floor as well, which is considerably lower imo. Like I think Connor McClennon has middle six upside. Which is probably more than say a guy like Cates, but there's also a chance that McClennon is just a good Junior player that is nothing more than a AAAA player at the professional level. I would be surprised if Cates isn't at least a decent NHL 4th liner and relatively quickly at that, therefore I can't vote McClennon higher than Cates because he theoretically has higher upside.
If Andrae has true top 4 upside, he should be ranked much higher than 6th.
This isn't the best way to look at it, but he has to beat out both Zamula
and York in addition to Millman and Ginning to be a top 4 defenseman here. Those are just the LHD (+ Myers who has already established himself as a Top 4 guy) in the organization right now. Tough sledding.
Provorov
Sanheim
Myers
York
Zamula
Millman