I remember scratching my head watching the 2016 pre-draft shows . . . everyone had him pegged to go between like 30th and 60th. I mean the guy was coming off back to back 51 goal 100+ point seasons. Yea he had some good linemates, but watching Erie his 2nd year it was quite evident that he had elite offensive instincts. And it's not like you have to draft every player to be an independent producer - pretty much every team has a enough talent to support an elite complimentary scorer like Debrincat.
Considering the recent success of small guys before his draft (Kane winning Art Ross and Hart, Gaudreau and Panarin 6th and 9th in scoring - a 4th rounder and undrafted player who fell because of size) you would have thought teams would start learning.
But no, he's gifted to Chicago at 39, while bigger, more athletic / impressive looking guys like Max Jones went 24th. That's not a knock on Jones - I'm a big fan of his combination of speed and power. But the guy was barely a point a game player in the same league as Debrincat, who finished the season at over a goal a game and 2+ points per game. His goal per game average was almost higher than Jones's point per game average!
Projecting upside in "project" type players or in guys who "have all the tools" but haven't produced is a difficult art to begin with, but banking on said prospect to close a 2X development gap is incredibly unlikely. But that's the sort of production gap we saw between Debrincat and Jones.
It's one thing to prioritize bigger / more athletic guys who putting up numbers (Brown and Thompson), but it's downright risky to be picking guys like Jones, Tufte, McLeod, Howden, and Gauthier over a guy like Debrincat.
Debrincat is a top 20 pick in a redraft, like he should have been.
