C Quinton Byfield (2020, 2nd, LAK) part III

[Frolov 6'3]

I give up.

 

[King'sPawn]

I give up.

I already placed someone on ignore. Judging by your responses but not seeing the quotes, I can only guess.

Some care more about things other than an informed and constructive discussion.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I give up.

Because you cant think of a reason why a team should risk "rushing" a prospect versus keeping him in junior to work on his game? Makes sense.

 

[Osprey]

I dont give up.

Six minutes later...

I give up.

 

[fsanford]

Hes been rated as one of the best players among his peers but has not once been close to being one of the best players when playing against the best of his peers

Again your criteria is lead in goal scoring, face offs, puck possession?

Can you more specific where he has been sub par?

 

[nbwingsfan]

Again your criteria is lead in goal scoring, face offs, puck possession?

Can you more specific where he has been sub par?

Not lead, but be anywhere close to the best player on his team since he's viewed as one of, if not the best, player for his peers by many. Yet he hasn't done so at any single best on best event. Hes been sub par essentially all over.

 

[ponder]

@93LEAFS FWIW, I think that a single year of development being slightly better or slightly worse likely doesn’t make a huge difference to a prospect’s outcome. A bit of a difference, yes, but at the end of the day it’s one year of development out of 20+ years (age 5-25ish).

None of us know for sure what’s best for Byfield this season. I personally suspect the AHL, but it’s a guess. My reasoning is that he’s already very dominant against junior players, but he has such a physical advantage that he doesn’t have to get all the little things right, or be consistently aggressive. I think he’s not ready for the NHL, but in the AHL he’ll be challenged, and will have to up his game, without being out of his league.

Also, this strategy of “play them against tough, challenging competition, but not completely out of their league” is what we do for prospect’s whole careers. Truly top talents are constantly playing against elite players who are 1-3 years older, where they’re pushed to be better while still being good enough to play a big offensive role. They make bantam AAA earlier than everyone else, same with midget AAA, the CHL, but ... not the AHL. And we don’t change it then for the good of the prospects, we do it for the good of the CHL as a business. The CHL to the NHL is an unnecessarily large step, there’s lots of D+1 and D+2 guys ready to be challenged in the AHL, but not quite ready for the NHL, but we hold them back for (CHL) business reasons. Byfield is such a player IMO, or he would be if not for this COVID break.

 

[93LEAFS]

@93LEAFS FWIW, I think that a single year of development being slightly better or slightly worse likely doesn’t make a huge difference to a prospect’s outcome. A bit of a difference, yes, but at the end of the day it’s one year of development out of 20+ years (age 5-25ish).

None of us know for sure what’s best for Byfield this season. I personally suspect the AHL, but it’s a guess. My reasoning is that he’s already very dominant against junior players, but he has such a physical advantage that he doesn’t have to get all the little things right, or be consistently aggressive. I think he’s not ready for the NHL, but in the AHL he’ll be challenged, and will have to up his game, without being out of his league.

Also, this strategy of “play them against tough, challenging competition, but not completely out of their league” is what we do for prospect’s whole careers. Truly top talents are constantly playing against elite players who are 1-3 years older, where they’re pushed to be better while still being good enough to play a big offensive role. They make bantam AAA earlier than everyone else, same with midget AAA, the CHL, but ... not the AHL. And we don’t change it then for the good of the prospects, we do it for the good of the CHL as a business. The CHL to the NHL is an unnecessarily large step, there’s lots of D+1 and D+2 guys ready to be challenged in the AHL, but not quite ready for the NHL, but we hold them back for (CHL) business reasons. Byfield is such a player IMO, or he would be if not for this COVID break.

Just to elaborate. Byfield actually grew up in a system where everyone plays their age (Jan 1st to December 31st), Ontario hasn't done the two year age grouping in decades. Top GTHL kids almost exclusively play against their age group between 12-15 outside rare exceptions such as McDavid, Crosby, Ho-Sang (who then had to repeat). I could be incorrect (and it may be a product of population), but I would think the GTHL produces more NHLers than any minor league system in Canada. As far as I know, Byfield always played his age group, at least in the years before his OHL draft year. I see you are posting from Van (at least profile wise), and I know a ton of Canada still works on the two-year cohort system. Ontario I guess due to population and density has abandoned that years ago, hence the introduction of minor-midget, etc.

I acknowledge the CHL is greedy and obviously taking advantage of kids' free labor. But, if we rapidly promote kids to the AHL, in my belief it will lead to less prepared kids at their draft date (which passes on more uncertainty to NHL teams, something they don't want). On a micro level it may sound beneficial, but I do think there would be macro-level consequences.

 

[TSJS2020]

I will give Byfeild another year before passing judgement on me still thinking he has the highest upside of any 2020 draft. He still might be good after that if he doesn’t show as much as we expect, but I won’t see him in the same convo as Laf or Stut etc

 

[KapG]

I’m of the opinion that this is going to be a hilarious thread to bump in several years.

 

[Wondercarrot]

Again your criteria is lead in goal scoring, face offs, puck possession?

Can you more specific where he has been sub par?

For me it’s puck possession/protection, and how quickly he processes the game. Plays just seem to die with him at the 2 WJC. In OHL play he seems to get the puck with speed and can fly and get wide - didn’t see any of that either.
I’m just surprised there weren’t more flashes of the talent - we’ll see in a couple years I guess.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

For me it’s puck possession/protection, and how quickly he processes the game. Plays just seem to die with him at the 2 WJC. In OHL play he seems to get the puck with speed and can fly and get wide - didn’t see any of that either.
I’m just surprised there weren’t more flashes of the talent - we’ll see in a couple years I guess.

I think these are good observations in the WJC vacuum anyway...but it doesn't explain why he was one of Canada's best at zone exits if processing speed is an issue. It's not like he had a ton more time with the puck inside his blueline. There was a serious disconnect between what he was doing with the puck quickly in the defensive end and what he was doing with it quickly approaching the offensive blueline and in--but that's always the question right? Was it role, overcoaching, in his own head? Is it a flaw? We'll see!

 

[CTZ181]

I hate to say it but I think Byfield is criminally overrated. He has the size and athleticism such that he will certainly be an NHL player. But I don't see the IQ there such that he will be a top line scoring centermen at this level. Would love to be proven wrong. I'm just not seeing what other people see in his game apparently.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

I’m of the opinion that this is going to be a hilarious thread to bump in several years.

I doubt it. This topic will get closed and we move on to another prospect we know nothing about.

That is HFboards. Lots of whining and bickering about futures but you cant make fun of people who were either wrong or terribly unbearable, than it will be locked.

Regarding this prospect section we are basically wasting our time.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Scored just minutes into his pro (but exhibition) debut.

 

[driller1]

Scored just minutes into his pro (but exhibition) debut.

I thought the consensus was he only scored against crappy opponents? Oh wait, they're playing the SJ AHL team. Never mind. That checks.

 

[wings5]

I hear he's injured , any idea how long he's out for?

 

[King'sPawn]

I hear he's injured , any idea how long he's out for?

Day-to-day

 

[tsujimoto74]

For me it’s puck possession/protection, and how quickly he processes the game. Plays just seem to die with him at the 2 WJC. In OHL play he seems to get the puck with speed and can fly and get wide - didn’t see any of that either.
I’m just surprised there weren’t more flashes of the talent - we’ll see in a couple years I guess.

Gotta keep in mind that the kids from Canadian juniors had been out of commission for a pretty long time when that tournament started. I'm sure it affected how some of them played (both in terms of their conditioning and in terms of just plain being rusty). Byfield is a freak athlete, and I'm a big believer in his talent.

 

[NuxFan09]

Day-to-day

That's crappy luck, though day to day isn't usually too serious.

By the way, the Reign seem absolutely stacked! He'll definitely have support in the AHL.

 

[Mats26]

That's crappy luck, though day to day isn't usually too serious.

By the way, the Reign seem absolutely stacked! He'll definitely have support in the AHL.

He was on the first line with Madden and Kaliyev. Wrobo(Reign's coach) will lean on him and I really hope he can stay in the AHL this year instead of the OHL. I just trust our AHL coaching staff to properly develop these kids.

 

[NuxFan09]

He was on the first line with Madden and Kaliyev. Wrobo(Reign's coach) will lean on him and I really hope he can stay in the AHL this year instead of the OHL. I just trust our AHL coaching staff to properly develop these kids.

Yep, could do a lot worse for linemates in the AHL. Hope he's not out for long!

 

[Caser]

Thread is over 1k posts, let's close it and start a new one here: C Quinton Byfield (2020, 2nd, LAK) part IV