Best player from this draft

[DJB]

Exactly lol.

I feel bad for Daigle. Immense pressure being called the next "Lemieux". 18 years old playing on a garbage team and was handed a ton of money when he was really immature.

If he had gone to a team with a much better support system for him and he wasnt relied upon to be the saviour, I truly think the circumstances would have been different.

 

[Sting]

I firmly believe Stutzle > Byfield. A lot of the hype around Byfield comes from what he could become and it's true that the thought is enticing. I remember thinking that with Logan Brown...and while Byfield is a considerably better prospect, I have serious doubts as to whether Byfield has the talent to feature as a #1C.

Stutzle on the other hand seems a lot more electrifying and has the "it" factor. People keep saying LA is going to take Byfield but I doubt it...I think they'll take Stutzle second.

 

[Xspyrit]

This is just becoming a circular argument that I expect it will take longer to finish this rebuild & you would prefer it go quicker. I think we all prefer it go quicker & they do all kinds of things like acquire good young players, but as you know that is easier said than done. I think you are reading more into what I'm saying than what I actually mean.

When exactly do you expect this team to make the playoffs & contend for a cup in 2, 3 or 5 yrs? I think it will take about 3 yrs to contend for a playoff spot & 5 yrs to content for a SC. In that time a lot of the players on the current team will be 5 yrs older & my guess is that a good number of them won't be there any longer. Hopefully, I'm wrong & they contend much sooner, but I just don't see it. Lots of teams make the playoffs & never get good enough to make it to the end.

Obviously not all the 2020 draft picks will be NHL players & replace half the team & they won't have to. Ottawa will make trades every yr & hopefully add at least one good young player per yr, most are hoping for Sergachev this yr. Not sure he would come here to play but he might given there are a couple of other Russians here already. But I agree there will be other young players available but it will also depend what they will want in return & it makes little sense to give away a young player & acquire a similar young player unless both need a change of scenery. Maybe they sign a couple of good NCAA players too who stick over the course of the next few yrs.

Every yr they will add a few players that have developed in their system as well & every yr they will draft a few players who are much closer to being NHL players & won't need as much development time & some longer. But all that still takes time, it doesn't happen in 2 or 3 yrs, all of the teams playing for a SC today have had their main stars for at least 5 yrs. And of course, they will need ownership that is willing to spend when the time comes to lock these guys up, at least some of them. Look how long it is taking the Leafs, they've barely made the playoffs & they are not there yet. Edm, Arz, Nashville, Columbus, Florida & others have all had their problems & have all had some good draft picks over the yrs. It takes time & it takes the right kind of players, coaches, mangers & ownership & they need their fans to support them.

Pinto & JBD for example, are going back to school for next season, that puts them at least another yr away from playing in Ottawa. It's also likely they will start in the AHL & play there for maybe a full yr, that's now 2 yrs away from playing in Ottawa. It will probably take them a yr to get their groove on in the NHL which makes it 3 yrs & so on. I imagine they will all most likely be similar, hence the 5 yr window, if not longer. I just don't see it happening sooner, sorry.

- The Stittsville/Kanata area around the arena is growing by leaps & bounds. There must be at least 10,000 new homes that have been built in the Kanata/Stittsville area over the last few yrs, if not more. I kind of agree with EM that he doesn't need to move downtown & has enough suburban population growing around the arena to sustain it. There will always be those who drive from farther away to go to a game as well, I've been to Montreal to see games multiple times.

Some people will go to Kanata to see the team play if they want to see NHL hockey in Ottawa, & not everyone cares about the owner enough to not go to games, when they have them that is. It's clearly not a popular view on here, but it's an observation given I have lived about 15 minutes from the arena since they built it & have seen all the growth in this area. I used to have deer in my yard & now there are homes everywhere & it's not stopping, but accelerating & moving further west & south of the city.

Of course this is a circular argument as we have very different views on what a rebuild should be. You have the old conservative approach that rebuilds take forever and I have the modern aggressive approach that you have to compete as soon as possible and benefit of having multiple young players in their prime, ELCs and RFA contracts.

Like I mentionned in another thread :

Chabot will be in his 4th NHL season,
Tkachuk and White in their 3rd NHL seasons
Duclair, Boro (if back) and Tierney in their 7th NHL seasons
Connor Brown in his 5th NHL season
Zaitsev is his 5th NHL season (+ 7 in the KHL)
Reilly (went the NCAA route) in his 6th pro/NHL season

Batherson, Brannstrom, Logan Brown and Wolanin (went the NCAA route) in their 3rd pro/NHL seasons
Balcers and Chlapik in their 4th pro/NHL seasons
Nick Paul in his 6th pro/NHL season
Zub will be 25 y/o and has played 5 seasons in the KHL
Hawryluk in his 5th pro/NHL season

Norris and Formenton in their 2nd pro seasons

20 guys here and only Norris and Formenton don't have much pro experience. The B's (Brown, Batherson, Balcers, Brannstrom) starting to have some experience (3-4 years in the pros)

Not all are core pieces going forward but some are and have gotten some experience (Tkachuk, Chabot notably) and it's time for others (Norris? Batherson? Brown? Brannstrom?) to establish themselves. Most certainly seem on the right track. There is still several key holes in the line-up and some of these young guys will have to fill them if we want to go anywhere

Now we are going to add SERIOUS talent in the upcoming draft. They might not terrorize the NHL right away but one of them is probably going to start in the NHL and the other probably the season after at the latest. It's not a weird thing nowadays to see young high talent perform in the NHL, so they are not "3-5 years away" as you would usually say. It's time to evolve, to refresh the views and realize that the NHL is a very fast young league where small speedy players will dominate rather than heavy strong guys.

Pastrnak is 6'0; MacKinnon is 6'0, McDavid is 6'1, Panarin is 5'11, Marchand is 5'9, Hucherov is 5'11, Kane is 5'10, Marner is 6'0, Aho is 6'0, etc. It's all about skating skills, speed, pace, elusiveness and SKILL. Size is just a bonus.

With the talent in place (Tkachuk, Chabot, Duclair, Brown, White, Wolanin), the talent about to "arrive" (Batherson, Norris, Brannstrom, Brown, Formenton, JBD, Thomson, Pinto, Balcers, ?) and the one we are about to draft (2 top-5 picks is ultra rare and this draft is well above average, plus all the other picks), there is going to be enough talent on the team to start being competitive. Yes they might not make the playoffs next year but if we are going to wait another 3-5 years before starting to be competitive and when Chabot will be in his late 20's, then we might as well REBUILD AGAIN.

Ottawa is not a market that can afford 10 years of suckage. It's already been 3 years... Clock is already ticking, believe it or not. The fact that the Sens rebuilt while their stars were in their late 20's gives me hope than they are going to be proactive rather than just follow the parade. Plus with the context of the salary cap (and the Sens having plenty of cap space while most teams don't), they could possibly make some splashes and speed up things even more.

You have to keep in mind that the Sens rebuild is not a "rebuild from scratch", simply bc they already had some young talent in the organization (Chabot, Batherson, Brown, Wolanin, White, Formenton, etc) and they already added some high picks (Tkachuk + 3rd OA + 5th OA), plus they traded their stars while in their prime and got plenty of valuable assets in the process (Norris, Brannstrom, etc). They are positionned to turn things around sooner than later. If it takes another 3-5 years like you say, I will consider it a major failure. 2020-21 is the last year I give them a pass. They should have making the playoffs as a goal sooner than later.

 

[Sweatred]

Of course this is a circular argument as we have very different views on what a rebuild should be. You have the old conservative approach that rebuilds take forever and I have the modern aggressive approach that you have to compete as soon as possible and benefit of having multiple young players in their prime, ELCs and RFA contracts.

Like I mentionned in another thread :

Chabot will be in his 4th NHL season,
Tkachuk and White in their 3rd NHL seasons
Duclair, Boro (if back) and Tierney in their 7th NHL seasons
Connor Brown in his 5th NHL season
Zaitsev is his 5th NHL season (+ 7 in the KHL)
Reilly (went the NCAA route) in his 6th pro/NHL season

Batherson, Brannstrom, Logan Brown and Wolanin (went the NCAA route) in their 3rd pro/NHL seasons
Balcers and Chlapik in their 4th pro/NHL seasons
Nick Paul in his 6th pro/NHL season
Zub will be 25 y/o and has played 5 seasons in the KHL
Hawryluk in his 5th pro/NHL season

Norris and Formenton in their 2nd pro seasons

20 guys here and only Norris and Formenton don't have much pro experience. The B's (Brown, Batherson, Balcers, Brannstrom) starting to have some experience (3-4 years in the pros)

Not all are core pieces going forward but some are and have gotten some experience (Tkachuk, Chabot notably) and it's time for others (Norris? Batherson? Brown? Brannstrom?) to establish themselves. Most certainly seem on the right track. There is still several key holes in the line-up and some of these young guys will have to fill them if we want to go anywhere

Now we are going to add SERIOUS talent in the upcoming draft. They might not terrorize the NHL right away but one of them is probably going to start in the NHL and the other probably the season after at the latest. It's not a weird thing nowadays to see young high talent perform in the NHL, so they are not "3-5 years away" as you would usually say. It's time to evolve, to refresh the views and realize that the NHL is a very fast young league where small speedy players will dominate rather than heavy strong guys.

Pastrnak is 6'0; MacKinnon is 6'0, McDavid is 6'1, Panarin is 5'11, Marchand is 5'9, Hucherov is 5'11, Kane is 5'10, Marner is 6'0, Aho is 6'0, etc. It's all about skating skills, speed, pace, elusiveness and SKILL. Size is just a bonus.

With the talent in place (Tkachuk, Chabot, Duclair, Brown, White, Wolanin), the talent about to "arrive" (Batherson, Norris, Brannstrom, Brown, Formenton, JBD, Thomson, Pinto, Balcers, ?) and the one we are about to draft (2 top-5 picks is ultra rare and this draft is well above average, plus all the other picks), there is going to be enough talent on the team to start being competitive. Yes they might not make the playoffs next year but if we are going to wait another 3-5 years before starting to be competitive and when Chabot will be in his late 20's, then we might as well REBUILD AGAIN.

Ottawa is not a market that can afford 10 years of suckage. It's already been 3 years... Clock is already ticking, believe it or not. The fact that the Sens rebuilt while their stars were in their late 20's gives me hope than they are going to be proactive rather than just follow the parade. Plus with the context of the salary cap (and the Sens having plenty of cap space while most teams don't), they could possibly make some splashes and speed up things even more.

You have to keep in mind that the Sens rebuild is not a "rebuild from scratch", simply bc they already had some young talent in the organization (Chabot, Batherson, Brown, Wolanin, White, Formenton, etc) and they already added some high picks (Tkachuk + 3rd OA + 5th OA), plus they traded their stars while in their prime and got plenty of valuable assets in the process (Norris, Brannstrom, etc). They are positionned to turn things around sooner than later. If it takes another 3-5 years like you say, I will consider it a major failure. 2020-21 is the last year I give them a pass. They should have making the playoffs as a goal sooner than later.

A base anchored by Wolanin, White, Duclair, and Brown is about as unaccountable as they come. As you said Chabot and Brady will be OK but this rosters doesn’t compare with other rosters.

They need a tremendous amount of puck luck and some young players to take huge steps to compete.

 

[Xspyrit]

A base anchored by Wolanin, White, Duclair, and Brown is about as unaccountable as they come. As you said Chabot and Brady will be OK but this rosters doesn’t compare with other rosters.

They need a tremendous amount of puck luck and some young players to take huge steps to compete.

Did you really read my post? Because if that's all you took from it, you certainly did't read or understood...

Those 4 players you mentionned are support players, I never said they were key players, and yet you start your post saying "A base anchored"... Go figure

White and Brown are good pieces for the bottom-6, Duclair is a good fast and skilled support offensive forward (if he's your 6th/7th best forward you might be in great shape) and Wolanin can certainly be a good 4th/5th D-man.

And Chabot + Tkachuk won't just be "OK", they are great building blocks and if you surround them by talent, they are going to really blossom and then you might see their real impact. Tkachuk is hell to play against and has a knack for creating scoring chances all over the place, while Chabot is a real puck magnet.

Unless you think that you need to have a line-up full of Crosbys to compete? I don't know, looking at this line-up, it certainly seem possible that we'll have that kind of overall talent :

2018-19 Skating Postseason St. Louis Blues ESPN

So to summarize, you need 5-6 forwards better and/or more useful/efficient than Duclair (and White/Brown) and 4 D-men better than Wolanin...

Forwards :

1- 3rd OA pick in 2020 (Byfield/Stutzle)
2- 5th OA pick in 2020 (Raymond?)
3- Tkachuk
4- Batherson/Norris?
5- Norris/Batherson?
6- L. Brown? Formenton? Balcers? Pinto? Abramov? Duclair?

7 to 13 : C. Brown, White, Paul, Chlapik? Hawryluk? Davidsson? Crookshank? Gruden? etc and all the guys that don't end up being the 6th best forward, could end being good options for the bottom-7

D-men :

1- Chabot
2- Brannstrom?
3- JBD?
4- Thomson?

5 to 7 : Wolanin? Zub? Alsing? Jaros? Guenette?

Of course, it will be a bit more clear after the upcoming draft as to who they select at 3rd OA and 5th OA, but let's not forget that they're going to add AT LEAST another 1st round pick, 4 second round picks, etc.

I mean, after this draft, the pool of U-25 talent is going to be INSANE. Guys like Formenton, Balcers, Pinto, Wolanin won't be top-10 prospects, let that sink in.

After that, there's many other important factors like coaching, goaltending, chemistry, health, etc. but the first thing you need is a POOL OF TALENT and the Senators are certainly on their way to amass an incredible pool of young talent. It's not crazy talk, all the "experts" say the same thing, at least here in Quebec on TV, Radio, blogs, etc and they are Habs fans.

It doesn't mean that they'll win anything but if they mess it up, it might be because of other reasons than potential (hi Melnyk and Dorion!)

 

[aragorn]

Of course this is a circular argument as we have very different views on what a rebuild should be. You have the old conservative approach that rebuilds take forever and I have the modern aggressive approach that you have to compete as soon as possible and benefit of having multiple young players in their prime, ELCs and RFA contracts.

Like I mentionned in another thread :

Chabot will be in his 4th NHL season,
Tkachuk and White in their 3rd NHL seasons
Duclair, Boro (if back) and Tierney in their 7th NHL seasons
Connor Brown in his 5th NHL season
Zaitsev is his 5th NHL season (+ 7 in the KHL)
Reilly (went the NCAA route) in his 6th pro/NHL season

Batherson, Brannstrom, Logan Brown and Wolanin (went the NCAA route) in their 3rd pro/NHL seasons
Balcers and Chlapik in their 4th pro/NHL seasons
Nick Paul in his 6th pro/NHL season
Zub will be 25 y/o and has played 5 seasons in the KHL
Hawryluk in his 5th pro/NHL season

Norris and Formenton in their 2nd pro seasons

20 guys here and only Norris and Formenton don't have much pro experience. The B's (Brown, Batherson, Balcers, Brannstrom) starting to have some experience (3-4 years in the pros)

Not all are core pieces going forward but some are and have gotten some experience (Tkachuk, Chabot notably) and it's time for others (Norris? Batherson? Brown? Brannstrom?) to establish themselves. Most certainly seem on the right track. There is still several key holes in the line-up and some of these young guys will have to fill them if we want to go anywhere

Now we are going to add SERIOUS talent in the upcoming draft. They might not terrorize the NHL right away but one of them is probably going to start in the NHL and the other probably the season after at the latest. It's not a weird thing nowadays to see young high talent perform in the NHL, so they are not "3-5 years away" as you would usually say. It's time to evolve, to refresh the views and realize that the NHL is a very fast young league where small speedy players will dominate rather than heavy strong guys.

Pastrnak is 6'0; MacKinnon is 6'0, McDavid is 6'1, Panarin is 5'11, Marchand is 5'9, Hucherov is 5'11, Kane is 5'10, Marner is 6'0, Aho is 6'0, etc. It's all about skating skills, speed, pace, elusiveness and SKILL. Size is just a bonus.

With the talent in place (Tkachuk, Chabot, Duclair, Brown, White, Wolanin), the talent about to "arrive" (Batherson, Norris, Brannstrom, Brown, Formenton, JBD, Thomson, Pinto, Balcers, ?) and the one we are about to draft (2 top-5 picks is ultra rare and this draft is well above average, plus all the other picks), there is going to be enough talent on the team to start being competitive. Yes they might not make the playoffs next year but if we are going to wait another 3-5 years before starting to be competitive and when Chabot will be in his late 20's, then we might as well REBUILD AGAIN.

Ottawa is not a market that can afford 10 years of suckage. It's already been 3 years... Clock is already ticking, believe it or not. The fact that the Sens rebuilt while their stars were in their late 20's gives me hope than they are going to be proactive rather than just follow the parade. Plus with the context of the salary cap (and the Sens having plenty of cap space while most teams don't), they could possibly make some splashes and speed up things even more.

You have to keep in mind that the Sens rebuild is not a "rebuild from scratch", simply bc they already had some young talent in the organization (Chabot, Batherson, Brown, Wolanin, White, Formenton, etc) and they already added some high picks (Tkachuk + 3rd OA + 5th OA), plus they traded their stars while in their prime and got plenty of valuable assets in the process (Norris, Brannstrom, etc). They are positionned to turn things around sooner than later. If it takes another 3-5 years like you say, I will consider it a major failure. 2020-21 is the last year I give them a pass. They should have making the playoffs as a goal sooner than later.

I admire your optimism, I just don't agree on your timeline. Edm, Arz & Buff are still just trying to make the playoffs & how many yrs have they been rebuilding regardless of the excuses why? You make it sound easy when in reality it's extremely difficult & you need a lot of things to go right, including picking the right players for your organization & team. While the NHL may be moving in that direction it doesn't mean every team is doing that & as quickly as you suggest. And of course, there is ownership, management & coaching that also needs to be done right & Ottawa doesn't have that great a record there lately.

There are many factors associated with rebuilding teams including old contracts that need to be moved. I think we both agree that Ottawa should have a lot of good young prospects in their org, it's just a matter of time before they are all up to NHL speed depending on their development. There are also a number of other teams that are also rebuilding now & competing for any young players that become available. I'm all for them competing for a playoff spot sooner rather than later, I just don't think it will happen as quickly as you suggest, but I hope you are right.

 

[MatchesMalone]

Same story with #5, only two options are Raymond and Drysdale.

Personally I'd take Raymond over Byfield at 3, but i know I'm in the minority there. And I strongly disagree with your assessment of the number 5 pick. Plenty of good options at 5. Sanderson, Perfetti (not my personal choice, but there are some smart people that have him this high), Holtz would all be perfectly reasonable choices.

 

[JD1]

I admire your optimism, I just don't agree on your timeline. Edm, Arz & Buff are still just trying to make the playoffs & how many yrs have they been rebuilding regardless of the excuses why? You make it sound easy when in reality it's extremely difficult & you need a lot of things to go right, including picking the right players for your organization & team. While the NHL may be moving in that direction it doesn't mean every team is doing that & as quickly as you suggest. And of course, there is ownership, management & coaching that also needs to be done right & Ottawa doesn't have that great a record there lately.

There are many factors associated with rebuilding teams including old contracts that need to be moved. I think we both agree that Ottawa should have a lot of good young prospects in their org, it's just a matter of time before they are all up to NHL speed depending on their development. There are also a number of other teams that are also rebuilding now & competing for any young players that become available. I'm all for them competing for a playoff spot sooner rather than later, I just don't think it will happen as quickly as you suggest, but I hope you are right.

I think in Edmonton Arizona and Buffalo the answer is quite clear: poor mgmt and poir scouting.

Our situation is different than these 3 teams. We have an absolute wealth of prospects. And the one valid criticism might be a lack of elite talent which the 2020 draft will help with.

Whilw I understand your point about nothing being certain, our situation is also very different from those 3 teams. At no point did either of those teams have the prospect pool that we have

 

[Xspyrit]

I admire your optimism, I just don't agree on your timeline. Edm, Arz & Buff are still just trying to make the playoffs & how many yrs have they been rebuilding regardless of the excuses why? You make it sound easy when in reality it's extremely difficult & you need a lot of things to go right, including picking the right players for your organization & team. While the NHL may be moving in that direction it doesn't mean every team is doing that & as quickly as you suggest.

There are many factors associated with rebuilding teams including old contracts that need to be moved. I think we both agree that Ottawa should have a lot of good young prospects in their org, it's just a matter of time before they are all up to NHL speed depending on their development. There are also a number of other teams that are also rebuilding now & competing for any young players that become available. I'm all for them competing for a playoff spot sooner rather than later, I just don't think it will happen as quickly as you suggest, but I hope you are right.

I'm not sure you understand... It's not optimism, it's expectations. Like I said, if they don't meet these expectations and start gunning for the playoffs after next season and it takes another 3 to 5 years like you say, then that whole rebuild might have been a massive failure (although it could just be a Melnyk disguise buying years of low spending to get out of debt). If you're ready to wait another 5 years for any ressemblance of success then you have very low expectations. I'm usually more patient than most, but not to that level of ineptitude, sorry.

I have expectations because :

1) it's already been 3 years at the bottom accumulating high end picks (4th OA, 19th OA (instead of 4th OA), 3rd OA, 5th OA)
2) they already had quite a good prospect pool (Chabot, White, Brown, Batherson, Formenton, Wolanin, Chlapik, Jaros, Hogberg, Paul, Daccord+++)
3) they traded several stars in their primes and added several prospects/picks/young players as a result (Duclair, Norris, Brannstrom, Balcers, Gutvasson, JBD, Abramov, picks +++)

These facts SHOULD absolutely bring some kind of expectation. IF they had to start from scratch with an awful prospect pool and stars PAST their prime, then yes maybe I understand if it would take a million years to do anything... but you're missing the whole point if you can't acknowledge the fact that the Senators were already well positionned when they started rebuilding.

=====================================================

"Edm, Arz & Buff are still just trying to make the playoffs & how many yrs have they been rebuilding regardless of the excuses why?"

Simply because they suck at drafting and developping players. Ottawa can draft NHL players in any round, just look at their track record since 2008...

Ok finally, look at this (and you should read post #55), players in the system vs draft position :

3rd OA pick in 2020 (Byfield/Stutzle)
4th OA in 2018 (Tkachuk)
5th OA pick in 2020 (Raymond? Drysdale?)
11th OA in 2016 (L. Brown)
15th OA in 2020 (NYI's pick : could be higher, could be lower)
15th OA in 2017 (Brannstrom)
18th OA in 2015 (Chabot)
19th OA in 2017 (Norris)
19th OA in 2019 (Thomson)
21st in 2015 (White)
26th in 2018 (JBD)

How many 1st round picks do you need? That's 11 first round picks (3 top-5 and 3 more top-15)

And many more who have already beat their draft status or are on their way to be worthy of a 1st round pick/2nd round pick (not all of them but several, highlighted already did or are good bets to do it)

32nd OA in 2019 (Pinto)
32nd in 2014 (Hawryluk)
33rd OA in 2020 (???)
47th OA in 2017 (Formenton)
48th OA in 2015 (Chlapik)
48th in 2018 (Tychonick)
65th OA in 2015 (Abramov)
80th OA in 2013 (Duclair)
95th OA in 2018 (Gruden)
101st OA in 2013 (Paul)
107th OA in 2015 (Wolanin)
121st OA in 2017 (Batherson)
125th OA in 2019 (Kastelic)
126th OA in 2018 (Crookshank)
133th OA in 2016 (Lajoie)
139th OA in 2015 (Jaros)
142nd in 2015 (Balcers)
156th OA in 2012 (C. Brown)
170th in 2017 (Davidsson)
187th in 20179 (Guenette)

Not even mentioning Zub, Alsing or any of the goalies or any of the 3 other 2nd round picks in 2020 +++

So because other teams are inept and have no idea how to build a hockey team we should just accept that and be okay with it "they can take all the time they need to rebuild properly".

Do you realize that a few months rebuilding and before they traded Karlsson and other stars, they already had Chabot, Batherson, Tkachuk, Brown, Formenton, Wolanin, Hogberg, Daccord, etc

If you need several more years to assemble a good hockey team after accumulating all those assets, then you have no idea what you are doing and you shouldn't be in the NHL. Dorion might have been a rookie GM and not the greatest public talker but he knows what he's doing at the draft table.

But yes NHL competition will always be ferocious so even when we have a good hockey team, it won't be easy to win. That's why we have to start sniffing at the playoffs as soon as possible. We have enough assets seriously.

 

[Samsquanch]

I firmly believe Stutzle > Byfield. A lot of the hype around Byfield comes from what he could become and it's true that the thought is enticing. I remember thinking that with Logan Brown...and while Byfield is a considerably better prospect, I have serious doubts as to whether Byfield has the talent to feature as a #1C.

The thing is though that its not just about what Byfield "could become". While its certainly a big part of his allure, lets try to remember that hes already done some amazing things.

CHL rookie of the year, and scoring at 124pt pace in his second year, which puts him into some very elite company for an August born player.

Better yet, we've already seen him carry a bad team into the top of its division as its best player thats used in all situations. Hes shown he can be exactly what we are looking for in our #1C.

All Im saying is that Byfields current resume seems to be all bur nullified because the WJC, at least it feels like that sometimes. Stutzle and his DEL resume/performance is a way bigger mystery box in actuality.

 

[BlackEye from Xhekaj]

He does based on how strong he is with the puck. His reach is also a benefit. He is not a physical player but he has his advantages that moving to the next level won't be as forgiving. No one knows what kind of training he does so we won't know how much better he can get.

He's been training with Gary Roberts since March, so that gives some indication of the level of his training and his commitment to getting better and stronger. He's a big body, but also elusive and uses his reach and size to protect the puck rather than simply using his size to truck over opponents through the middle to create a scoring opportunity. He has the skillset of a smaller forward and the body of a power forward. He also has a great shot to go along with his playmaking. As much as I didn't like the comparison at first, he really has a similar skillset to Malkin (stylistically).

Imagine a Byfield/Raymond combo at 3-5 or if Stutzle falls to 3, Stutzle/Rossi(or Raymond) - either way there's a chance to get a strong C/W combo here.

 

[senswon]

He's been training with Gary Roberts since March

Doesn't Brady also train with Gary Roberts?

 

[bert]

I firmly believe Stutzle > Byfield. A lot of the hype around Byfield comes from what he could become and it's true that the thought is enticing. I remember thinking that with Logan Brown...and while Byfield is a considerably better prospect, I have serious doubts as to whether Byfield has the talent to feature as a #1C.

Stutzle on the other hand seems a lot more electrifying and has the "it" factor. People keep saying LA is going to take Byfield but I doubt it...I think they'll take Stutzle second.

Byfield scored at a 2 ppg pace with no support on a weak team. Thats better than Lafreniere, Hall, Seguin, Duchene, etc etc at the same age. He is doing it, he has s ton of raw talent too. Its not only potential he is an absolute force and one of the youngest players in the draft.

He's been training with Gary Roberts since March, so that gives some indication of the level of his training and his commitment to getting better and stronger. He's a big body, but also elusive and uses his reach and size to protect the puck rather than simply using his size to truck over opponents through the middle to create a scoring opportunity. He has the skillset of a smaller forward and the body of a power forward. He also has a great shot to go along with his playmaking. As much as I didn't like the comparison at first, he really has a similar skillset to Malkin (stylistically).

Imagine a Byfield/Raymond combo at 3-5 or if Stutzle falls to 3, Stutzle/Rossi(or Raymond) - either way there's a chance to get a strong C/W combo here.

Bang on.

 

[JD1]

If Byfield has been training with Roberts since March and ends up with 6 months of that under his belt by the time the 2020 camps open, i suspect he ends up full tìme in the NHL in 2020. What's typically the challenge for drafted kids is the speed and the strength required to be an NHLer and that's not likely to be an issue with Byfield

 

[aragorn]

I think in Edmonton Arizona and Buffalo the answer is quite clear: poor mgmt and poir scouting.

Our situation is different than these 3 teams. We have an absolute wealth of prospects. And the one valid criticism might be a lack of elite talent which the 2020 draft will help with.

Whilw I understand your point about nothing being certain, our situation is also very different from those 3 teams. At no point did either of those teams have the prospect pool that we have

Hasn't Ottawa had poor management & ownership for a while now?

Edm -McDavid & Draisaitl
Buffalo - Eichel & Dahlin

On another note - I think Stutzle plays LW in the NHL & not centre.

 

[JD1]

Hasn't Ottawa had poor management & ownership for a while now?

Edm -McDavid & Draisaitl
Buffalo - Eichel & Dahlin

On another note - I think Stutzle plays LW in the NHL & not centre.

I'd be more inclined to say Edmonton and Buffalo have a good ownership in terms of owners willing to spend but terrible management whereas we've had terrible ownership but decent management in spite of it. Given our ownership situation i think we've actually done ok in the past few years andcthat we're on the verge of a good run.