C Kirby Dach (2019, 3rd, CHI)

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He was one of the most dominant players with the puck at the Ivan Hlinka. He was so much bigger and stronger than other players, while being just as quick and agile as them. Dach and Lafreniere took turns controlling the play and doing what they wanted with the puck.

He is such a more advanced player than a year ago when he started his junior career, he had some flaws. He was tall, but skinny, quick, but weak. Now, it feels like you're watching a top 5 pick on his way to becoming a future superstar.
 
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93LEAFS

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He was one of the most dominant players with the puck at the Ivan Hlinka. He was so much bigger and stronger than other players, while being just as quick and agile as them. Dach and Lafreniere took turns controlling the play and doing what they wanted with the puck.

He is such a more advanced player than a year ago when he started his junior career, he had some flaws. He was tall, but skinny, quick, but weak. Now, it feels like you're watching a top 5 pick on his way to becoming a future superstar.
I thought he was good at Hlinka, alongside some other guys. I actually felt Cozens imposed his will on games more often, but he was asked to drive his own-line, whereas Dach was asked to be a key part of a stacked line meant to overwhelm the opposition.
 
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I thought he was good at Hlinka, alongside some other guys. I actually felt Cozens imposed his will on games more often, but he was asked to drive his own-line, whereas Dach was asked to be a key part of a stacked line meant to overwhelm the opposition.
I think it was easier for Dach to transition to a winger than Cozens just by their playing style. And since Lafreniere was playing centre, it made sense for Cozens to have his own line. Some of the issues I saw from Cozens didn't really have anything to do with his own line, losing the puck and fumbling it while skating.
 

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The issue was that Krebs should not have centered that line over Dach. That was weird because clearly Dach is not only a superior player he's a superior C.
Krebs and Lafreniere are both left-handed, so if Dach was the center, one of Krebs or Lafreniere would be on their off-wing. That's what I think because I agree Dach is a superior player than Krebs.
 

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The issue was that Krebs should not have centered that line over Dach. That was weird because clearly Dach is not only a superior player he's a superior C.

I don't think it's super clear. He's a bigger and more physically developed but Krebs has had to carry a far more inferior team in the WHL. Plus Krebs is better at faceoffs which is likely why he played center over Dach. I also think they wanted two playmaker to be with Lafreniere.
 

TeddyBare

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It's surprising that Dylan Cozens was favored so much in a poll vs Dach.
This guy is carrying his team according to some of the WHL articles I read.
he is taking like 25 faceoffs a game, and Cozens hasnt taken over 20 in a game once. He really takes on a lot of ice time, and is doing well with it.
 
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PWJunior

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Ahh that makes sense. I remember seeing that thread just last week and Cozens had like twice as many votes.

Cozens was the #2C and taking on the seemingly tougher matchups for the top line of Lafreniere-Krebs-Dach to flourish offensively. He was as advertised - big, fast, aggressive, and a force in all 3 zones. Visions of Eric Staal were running through people's minds.

Dach gets a lot of Getzlaf comps and for good reason. Nice to see him shooting and scoring goals, that was a big knock against him. He has really stepped up though and being a full time C has boosted his stock. I think Cozens has primarily been at RW for Lethbridge so that might ding his stock.

As an Isles fan, I would be thrilled to get either to pair with Barzal as the 1-2 center duo.
 
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newfy

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Kirby Dach shift-by-shift vs Spokane from October 19, 2018, courtesy of @KillEmAll83.



Kirby Dach vs Spokane | Oct 19 2018 - ProspectShifts.com


I didnt watch all of it but he showed some really good play down low at about 3:50 of the video against Ty Smith who is one of the best dmen out west.

I found that he looked behind the play quite a bit though. If he was down low defensively he almost never got up and joined the rush with his wingers from what I saw. Its great that he plays a solid defensive game but you also need to transition up on the attack so your wingers arent always in a 2 on 3 situation. Once they got set up in the offensive zone he looked good but didnt see anything in transition from him.

Its one game though so not really gonna pass judgement on him. I would just to see him attack more on the rush if hes going to be a top 5 pick
 

Artorius Horus T

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His first name thou...
upload_2018-11-1_17-15-28.jpeg


...kidding,kidding, nothing wrong with the name Kirby.

I think Dach haves a brilliant future ahead of him and will have a great pro career.
- despite his disadvantage ;)
 

landy92mack29

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Vision was on display tonight as he used the eyes in the back of his head for 3 assists. Up to 32 points in 19 games. Those 3-6 rankings are going to be tough for me this year with how awesome Dach, Byram, Krebs and Cozens have been
 
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Vision was on display tonight as he used the eyes in the back of his head for 3 assists. Up to 32 points in 19 games. Those 3-6 rankings are going to be tough for me this year with how awesome Dach, Byram, Krebs and Cozens have been

Then you have to factor in Zegras, Suzuki and Turcotte as well.
 

Josepho

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I'd say Dach is easily a safer bet than any of the aforementioned players. Zegras and Turcotte haven't played enough, defencemen like Byram are tougher to project, Cozens isn't as impressive statistically and Krebs is pretty heavily reliant on secondary assists and PP points. Suzuki one could argue for but Dach's definitely got the better frame.

Kakko, Dach, Hughes, Suzuki is currently my top 4 in that order.
 

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I'd say Dach is easily a safer bet than any of the aforementioned players. Zegras and Turcotte haven't played enough, defencemen like Byram are tougher to project, Cozens isn't as impressive statistically and Krebs is pretty heavily reliant on secondary assists and PP points. Suzuki one could argue for but Dach's definitely got the better frame.

Kakko, Dach, Hughes, Suzuki is currently my top 4 in that order.

I've got it Hughes, Kakko, Dach, Cozens, Turcotte for my top 5.

Zegras is currently tied with Hughes for the team lead on the U18 team and has actually played more total games then Dach. Turcotte has been out for awhile though. Cozens scores goals at a higher rate per 60 according to prospect stats but he has switched to RW, still takes a lot of faceoffs though. But he isn't as good of a playmaker, though I'd argue his defensive game is better than Kirby's.
Krebs pretty much carries his team on his back. He has significantly less help up front, on the back end and in goal then both Dach and Cozens. Is the better faceoff man and I'd say he has shown himself to be better defensively then either of the other high end WHL C's. Despite all of that Krebs is pretty much on par with primary assists per 60 minutes of ice time with Dach and ahead of Cozens. And only 39% of Krebs production has come on the PP compared to 37% for Dach so it's not like he's THAT much more reliant on the PP to score than Dach is (2%) and basically has the same Primary assist rate per 60 as Dach so I don't see that much separation between them other then Dach plays for the better team, gets more ice time and is the bigger player. Which is mostly why I have Dach ranked ahead right now. I think Krebs will be a criminally underrated player for this draft that a lot of teams are going to wish they didn't pass on.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

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I'd say Dach is easily a safer bet than any of the aforementioned players. Zegras and Turcotte haven't played enough, defencemen like Byram are tougher to project, Cozens isn't as impressive statistically and Krebs is pretty heavily reliant on secondary assists and PP points. Suzuki one could argue for but Dach's definitely got the better frame.

Kakko, Dach, Hughes, Suzuki is currently my top 4 in that order.

I don't even think Zegras is in the same tier as Dach, but your Zegras comment doesn't make sense and I think the Turcotte one is a very flawed approach.
 
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