you’ve been out to lunch on Byfield for a while now, I recall you originally saying he was a bad skater which is categorically false, and seems to hint that you don’t really know what you are talking about. That said, you seem to have a steel resolve when it comes to this topic and I can respect that much. Only time will tell us who ends up being right.
I still don't believe he's a good skater, this was part of the problem at this WJC. That's why he took bad penalties - the game was too fast for him! The thing I'm trying to address here in particutlar is how athletic 1%-er are extremely hard to resist from a draft point of view, but when they arrive at the next level, they go from a very small minority to being maybe in the top 30% and that's where sometimes the skill issues show up.
We didn't just see Byfield in one international tournament where that effect I'm talking about came true, 2 tournaments in a row.
Hlinka -at the same age Lafreniere dominated, Raymond dominated, Drysdale dominated - not Byfield he was a secondary piece to Perfetti and Lapierre.
At the WJC - well what's to be said, he was benched after 2 games more or less. Moreover why he was benched is even more important to underline. 1) He didn't control the puck much, and thats a critic he gets from scouts even in league play. 2) Everything seemed way too fast around him and to me is a core concern at this point in his progression. 6 months won't change his speed that much...
- I'm not saying Byfield is a bad player, he is for sure in the elite of this draft, what I call the group of 7
- I'm not saying Byfield won't be drafted 2nd, in his case in particular nhl team needs are an important consideration, he doesn't have any competition this year. Does not mean he's the 2nd best however...
- Factually, 3 players have done consistently better than Byfield internationally at the same age he is right now (17). Lafreniere (wide margin), Raymond (quite wide margin), Drysdale (smaller margin) - if going on by facts is "being out to lunch" I'm not sure what else I need to say. (Their respective league play are matching Byfield's)
- Then I have Byfield 6-7 because I believe Stutzle has been developing rapidly in the last year, he has that late charge momentum the way KK had it, he has merits to go ahead of Byfield on current performance. Holtz is hard to ignore, I could have added him to point 3 as he performed better internationally, I dont think that will stand vs. Byfield long term. And then there is Askarov, well, this is one is a bit of unknown as to how to rank him but he's certainly in the group of 7. Maybe Byfield before Holtz, fair enough.
Then there is something else that needs to be addressed, because I find it absolutely ridiculus.
Byfield is not Malkin. At the same age Malkin (17) was ahead of Lafreniere at 18. Ok can we stop this nonsense? I know he looks like Malkin, but Malkin was in another league of performance close to Ovechkin/Crosby.