Prospect Info: #5 OA - Barrett Hayton - Center - Back to the OHL

[Jakey53]

Vermette was a 2nd round pick. We're talking about top 5 picks.

Go back since 2003 and look at the CHL centers taken in the top 10. The majority of them had better draft years better than Hayton.

Imagine you're Toronto in 2015. You don't have Mark Hunter. Trevor Letowski gives a ringing endorsement of Pavel Zacha. Premium size. Premium hitter. Premium energy. So projectable. You think he can play center and be the 'engine' of a team. Sure, Marner has twice as many points but how much of that will translate? Kid barely fills out a child's tee. How stupid would you look for passing on the better winger? That's before we even get to Werenski, Provorov, and Rantanen.

If we're going to rave about Vancouver and Montreal liking Hayton (historically speaking two teams you don't want to throw in with), it should be mentioned that Detroit happily snapped up Zadina and then was adamant he was 2nd on their board. So Chayka can claim whatever inside info he wants. It's still a 'risky' pick.

I don't see the 1C potential or even the super elite 2C. I'd love to be wrong.

For sure Hayton is not the sexy pick. The draft is a crap shoot at best, so I guess time will tell, but to say everything negative at this time is pointless. You took the 2015 draft as an example, but take that same draft and see how many passed on Barzal. TO thought Marner was the better player, but today most would probably pick Barzal because of his play and position. You never know how these kids develop. It's easy looking back and say woulda, coulda, shoulda, but teams are trying to predict the future at the draft.

 

[Mosby]

Vancouver has had very impressive drafts the last couple of years.

Agreed. Only real stumble is Juolevi. Jim Benning is still a really good scout.

I dont think enough are questioning the Red Wings having Zadina ahead of Svech. That’s just crazy to me.

 

[Matias Maccete]

Agreed. Only real stumble is Juolevi. Jim Benning is still a really good scout.

I dont think enough are questioning the Red Wings having Zadina ahead of Svech. That’s just crazy to me.

I wonder if that wasn't just Holland showing Zadina some love, and piling more granite onto the ever expanding chip on his shoulder.

 

[XX]

Agreed. Only real stumble is Juolevi. Jim Benning is still a really good scout.

I dont think enough are questioning the Red Wings having Zadina ahead of Svech. That’s just crazy to me.

Not really crazy when you consider they drafted his brother and how that has gone.

 

[XX]

 

[IPreferPi]

Is it me or does Hayton look a little like Harrison Ford/Alden Ehrenreich?

 

[rt]

Is it me or does Hayton look a little like Harrison Ford/Alden Ehrenreich?

He’s like a Harrison Ford mixed with that toothless kid from Stranger Things.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Is it me or does Hayton look a little like Harrison Ford/Alden Ehrenreich?

Shane Doan's face with young Harrison Ford's eyes.

 

[IPreferPi]

Shane Doan's face with young Harrison Ford's eyes.

I think that's exactly it.

 

[rt]

I think that's exactly it.

No it’s the thing I said.

 

[Grimes]

No it’s the thing I said.

I agree.

 

[johnchayka89]

I sense a “man crush” developing here.

 

[zerekstar]

Looks like a leader to me

 

[tucknroll]

Just heard from a buddy that the Soo hired their new head coach (know who but not an insider so not saying any names) but from what ive seen and heard hes a great coach who loves playing a 6 transition defensemen game with a ton of speed and scoring. So thats great for Hayton hopefully being able to get some points and develop a good offensive game while also potentially working on his speed

 

[johnchayka89]

So how did Premium look at the WJS last week? Anybody get to watch it?

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

He was less than stellar with only 1 assist in 3 games (lone assist came in the game against the United States). Against his peers he was not spectacular...could have been just a bad 3 game stretch, but my guess is that we "swung and missed" on the 5th overall. Tkachuk looked good along w/Hughes (both of them). Dobson also impressed for Canada.

Surprise in the Canada game is how good O'Brien looked. Best player on the ice was Jack Hughes though...and his brother Q wasn't far behind.

 

[hbk]

I think he had a goal and two assists but the stats keeping I can’t vouch for. I know TSN had put up the assist on Entwistle’s goal to a Haddon.

He looked solid overall but lacked the dynamic presence we were expecting with a top 5 pick. That being said he was being utilized primarily in a two way defensive role as this is the only way he could make the team. It’s a team that based on what I saw that I do think he has a fairly good chance of making. He was good. Just not dynamic.

 

[Jormungandr]

I think he had a goal and two assists but the stats keeping I can’t vouch for. I know TSN had put up the assist on Entwistle’s goal to a Haddon.

He looked solid overall but lacked the dynamic presence we were expecting with a top 5 pick. That being said he was being utilized primarily in a two way defensive role as this is the only way he could make the team. It’s a team that based on what I saw that I do think he has a fairly good chance of making. He was good. Just not dynamic.

I saw it as “Haydon” but yeah, he had a goal and 2 assists as far as I know. He also dropped the puck to Entwistle, in the USA game, where Entwistle beat Petruzelli by throwing a cross ice pass in the high slot off a Canadian defenseman and into the back of the net that was credited as unassisted.

 

[johnchayka89]

I think he had a goal and two assists but the stats keeping I can’t vouch for. I know TSN had put up the assist on Entwistle’s goal to a Haddon.

He looked solid overall but lacked the dynamic presence we were expecting with a top 5 pick. That being said he was being utilized primarily in a two way defensive role as this is the only way he could make the team. It’s a team that based on what I saw that I do think he has a fairly good chance of making. He was good. Just not dynamic.

I saw it as “Haydon” but yeah, he had a goal and 2 assists as far as I know. He also dropped the puck to Entwistle, in the USA game, where Entwistle beat Petruzelli by throwing a cross ice pass in the high slot off a Canadian defenseman and into the back of the net that was credited as unassisted.

Thankfully it’s only been a month since we drafted him...
I must say this is a controversial pick. It made me sign up for this forum just to get the low down... My but is still hurting from the 3oa we had.

Next season in junior will tell the story of what we got. The Hughes brothers are studs.
Heard they stole the show...

Heard Wahlstrom didn’t look good either.

 

[rt]

Thankfully it’s only been a month since we drafted him...
I must say this is a controversial pick. It made me sign up for this forum just to get the low down... My but is still hurting from the 3oa we had.

Next season in junior will tell the story of what we got. The Hughes brothers are studs.
Heard they stole the show...

Heard Wahlstrom didn’t look good either.

Why? We had Hayton ranked 3rd.

Chayka said we had Tkachuk after Hayton. The draft feature on the site makes it seem as though we had Hayton over Kotkaniemi. Those were the only non-consensus guys we didn’t have a chance to pass on. We passed on every other player in the draft. We MAYBE had Kotkaniemi third but I REALLY doubt it after all that “obsessed” talk from Chayka.

 

[PuckLife]

Why? We had Hayton ranked 3rd.

Chayka said we had Tkachuk after Hayton. The draft feature on the site makes it seem as though we had Hayton over Kotkaniemi. Those were the only non-consensus guys we didn’t have a chance to pass on. We passed on every other player in the draft. We MAYBE had Kotkaniemi third but I REALLY doubt it after all that “obsessed” talk from Chayka.

Right you are! #TrustChayka!

 

[BUX7PHX]

I think he had a goal and two assists but the stats keeping I can’t vouch for. I know TSN had put up the assist on Entwistle’s goal to a Haddon.

He looked solid overall but lacked the dynamic presence we were expecting with a top 5 pick. That being said he was being utilized primarily in a two way defensive role as this is the only way he could make the team. It’s a team that based on what I saw that I do think he has a fairly good chance of making. He was good. Just not dynamic.

We'll let the dynamic presence start to figure itself out. As many have touched on, his positioning and play in all phases dictate a player who knows where to be to be the most helpful to his team. There are plenty of players with dynamic presence who don't know where to put themselves on the ice. IIRC, Modano was one of those players who was great at certain things, but he hadn't really put a concerted effort into the defensive side of things. He took the suggestions of Bob Gainey (Modano's coach at the time) to develop more on the defensive side and that turned into furthering his point totals that much more. The point is that b/c Hayton has some of the other boxes checked off on the list (positioning, defensive awareness, etc.), it is now time to let him mature physically and see him assume a larger role in the Soo. I think that as he progresses, he may just be a little more dynamic than we realize.

 

[hbk]

We'll let the dynamic presence start to figure itself out. As many have touched on, his positioning and play in all phases dictate a player who knows where to be to be the most helpful to his team. There are plenty of players with dynamic presence who don't know where to put themselves on the ice. IIRC, Modano was one of those players who was great at certain things, but he hadn't really put a concerted effort into the defensive side of things. He took the suggestions of Bob Gainey (Modano's coach at the time) to develop more on the defensive side and that turned into furthering his point totals that much more. The point is that b/c Hayton has some of the other boxes checked off on the list (positioning, defensive awareness, etc.), it is now time to let him mature physically and see him assume a larger role in the Soo. I think that as he progresses, he may just be a little more dynamic than we realize.

I’m not saying he doesn’t have capacity just that the role he was auditioning for was more tailored to the strength of his two way game. I’m hoping that offensive upside that can justify a top 5 selection comes. I’m not saying it won’t. I am saying however that if it doesn’t then the head of amateur scouting needs to go. This was a statement pick by the organization. There just needs to be consequences if things don’t go as expected.

 

[BUX7PHX]

I’m not saying he doesn’t have capacity just that the role he was auditioning for was more tailored to the strength of his two way game. I’m hoping that offensive upside that can justify a top 5 selection comes. I’m not saying it won’t. I am saying however that if it doesn’t then the head of amateur scouting needs to go. This was a statement pick by the organization. There just needs to be consequences if things don’t go as expected.

Agreed, and I wonder if that was what brought about GMDM being dumped (he was the final say on drafting Strome, whom we know has the dynamics in him, but just hasn't put it all together at the NHL level quite yet).

If this doesn't work out, I have faith that the right decision will be made to remove a scout, scouts, or even go all the way up the chain to Chayka should things go south with this.

 

[SniperHF]

and I wonder if that was what brought about GMDM being dumped

No relation. Power struggle, Barroway/Drummond, Tippett, etc.

Especially if you consider that since Chayka took Hayton it makes it pretty clear that in the same position on draft day he takes Strome 10 out of 10 times in that spot. Strome checks almost all the same boxes Hayton does besides two way play and adds a few of his own.
Maloney got stale roster building wise at the NHL level, but their preferences in drafting are quite similar. Chayka has more resources (So no need for dumb bloodlines picks, which Maloney mostly stopped toward the end as he too got a better scouting dept.) and Chayka does have a distinct preference for younger draftees.