Byfield is a lock at 2, barring some sort of catastrophic injury. Every factor works in his favour, and his nearly first place team just went 1-7 while he was out of the lineup for the WJC. If that doesn’t speak volumes to how good he is, I don’t know what does. 6’4 C with silk hands, excellent skating, IQ, less than a month away from next year’s draft...
People want all big guys to lay the body, but that’s just not realistic for any/every player out there. I don’t give a f*** if he is softer than you’d expect at 6’4, 215, because he has a bunch of un-teachable skills and GM’s won’t risk their jobs picking a ~5’10 German (who I love) or a ~5’10 D man (who I also love) over him. If you want someone to lay the body, pay Andrew Shaw to do it - not a guy who has 70-80+ pt potential.
Auston Matthews is a big boy too, can’t recall the last time he laid a hit, and that doesn’t seem to ever work against him because he is unbelievably talented in so many other areas.
for me, much like in 2018/19, this draft gets interesting at 3. I have Drysdale occupying that spot, but we will see how things play out as the year goes on.