C Quinton Byfield - Sudbury Wolves, OHL (2020 Draft) II

[swiftwin]

View attachment 351895

Interesting tibit from Pronman, and if I'm honest I’ve thought the exact same too. I’ve never seen an elite prospect such as Byfield get nitpicked the way he has. You’d think he was a 2nd round talent with the way people talk about him.

Its one thing to raise concerns about him and rank him lower than the average, this is perfectly fine. Yet, it’s another thing to get constantly blasted for faults that similarly ranked players don’t. Also the stuff like what ISS pulled with the poor kid, It makes you wonder why he’s more criticized.

It's like Brady Tkachuk all over again.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

If Ottawa gets him then damn what a giant team they are building at forward.

Tkachuk
Byfield
Logan Brown
Norris
Batherson
Formenton
Pinto
Chlapik
Paul

Only Norris is under 6’2.

So you're an advanced stats fan huh?

 

[jc17]

View attachment 351895

Interesting tibit from Pronman, and if I'm honest I’ve thought the exact same too. I’ve never seen an elite prospect such as Byfield get nitpicked the way he has. You’d think he was a 2nd round talent with the way people talk about him.

Its one thing to raise concerns about him and rank him lower than the average, this is perfectly fine. Yet, it’s another thing to get constantly blasted for faults that similarly ranked players don’t. Also the stuff like what ISS pulled with the poor kid, It makes you wonder why he’s more criticized.

What was the ISS thing?

 

[Peasy]

What was the ISS thing?

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I mean, ISS still has Byfield 4th. Isn't it possible though that he has some warts in his game? Big, "skill" guys like him seem to get a lot of flak and if we're honest the failure rate is fairly high. They can take a while to develop and many aren't all that physical or aggressive and end up looking like they don't work hard or care. Teams that go to that well over and over again are often disappointed based on perception or misconceptions. It seems like they are trying to make this a racial issue and I'm not sure I see it.

 

[JoemAvs]

I think Byfield is overscouted and his ethnicity certainly plays a part in this as well unfortunately...

But I think the main reason is just NHL scouts being NHL scouts...
They love to pick apart one of the guys that has been highly touted that does not completely fulfill expectations in his draft season.
Which is insane considering the numbers Byfield has put up but his WJC was poor and that alone is good enough reason I guess combined with the other factors mentioned....

Dach ended up getting picked #3 and was more flawed than Byfield has IMO and I don't think Chicago will regret the pick.
Same will happen with Byfield. He might take some time to get there but IMO the odds of which one guy you will want on your team between Byfield and Lafreniere 3-5 years from now, are pretty much 50 -50.
Byfield has a lower floor thats why teams will easily pick Lafreniere but I also believe considering his position, he has the higher upside as well and if I didn't have a young franchise center , I would pick him over Laf fully knowing that Laf right now is clearly the better player...

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I think Byfield is overscouted and his ethnicity certainly plays a part in this as well unfortunately...

But I think the main reason is just NHL scouts being NHL scouts...
They love to pick apart one of the guys that has been highly touted that does not completely fulfill expectations in his draft season.
Which is insane considering the numbers Byfield has put up but his WJC was poor and that alone is good enough reason I guess combined with the other factors mentioned....

Dach ended up getting picked #3 and was more flawed than Byfield has IMO and I don't think Chicago will regret the pick.
Same will happen with Byfield. He might take some time to get there but IMO the odds of which one guy you will want on your team between Byfield and Lafreniere 3-5 years from now, are pretty much 50 -50.
Byfield has a lower floor thats why teams will easily pick Lafreniere but I also believe considering his position, he has the higher upside as well and if I didn't have a young franchise center , I would pick him over Laf fully knowing that Laf right now is clearly the better player...

Good points. Some guys are in the limelight for so long they get overexposed and ripped to shreds unjustifiably. Kessel was another guy like that which comes to mind. If Byfield is getting the "black quarterback" treatment that's too bad but given the good old boy network that continues to exist within the NHL that might not come as a surprise.

 

[Nabrules]

Not only that but they thought it would be a great idea to tag him in that post, while they didn’t tag any other prospect in the write ups.

 

[Fatass]

Sad the hockey world has these archaic attitudes. Long ago it was French Canadian negative things. Then Euro’s were soft. And too recently Russians don’t have the heart. Who the heck are these scouts?

 

[Nabrules]

I mean, ISS still has Byfield 4th. Isn't it possible though that he has some warts in his game? Big, "skill" guys like him seem to get a lot of flak and if we're honest the failure rate is fairly high. They can take a while to develop and many aren't all that physical or aggressive and end up looking like they don't work hard or care. Teams that go to that well over and over again are often disappointed based on perception or misconceptions. It seems like they are trying to make this a racial issue and I'm not sure I see it.

I’m not saying all the negative coverage he gets is racially motivated but you’d be a fool to think that it isn’t the case for some people covering him.

Not only did ISS have an overtly negative write up for him, the only one for the top eligibles, but they also tagged him in the write up. Why didn’t they tag any other prospects for their write ups? That’s just a clear message that they were trying to blast him.

 

[Waterbuf]

Hockey is so racist. I remember watching a broadcast a few years ago when a black player was compared to Wayne Simmonds. Can't remember who the player was but they basically played nothing alike. The commentator clearly just compared them based on what they look like. The other commentator was silent for a second, you could tell he caught it to and didn't know how to respond.

 

[sufferer]

He's still going top-3 and very likely #2. Los Angeles will be happy.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I asked a hypothetical 'what if' question in the Rossi prospect thread that I'd like to ask HF posters here.

IF Quinton Byfield was 6'0" 185 lbs instead of 6'4" 214lbs, how does this change your ranking of him as a prospect in the draft, and how does it change your projection of him as a player?

 

[Jeffrey Pedler]

He's still going top-3 and very likely #2. Los Angeles will be happy.

Exactly, a 6'4 214 centre who can still grow don't come along to often. Add to that his skating, puck skills and defensive game. People need to stop putting too much stock on the World Juniors. Doubt LA passes on him.

 

[passive voice]

I asked a hypothetical 'what if' question in the Rossi prospect thread that I'd like to ask HF posters here.

IF Quinton Byfield was 6'0" 185 lbs instead of 6'4" 214lbs, how does this change your ranking of him as a prospect in the draft, and how does it change your projection of him as a player?

Then he's Cole Perfetti and still a top-five pick??

 

[theslatcher]

Then he's Cole Perfetti and still a top-five pick??

If there's one prospect I wouldn't compare him to if every prospect were the same height, it's Perfetti.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

If there's one prospect I wouldn't compare him to if every prospect were the same height, it's Perfetti.

Yeah. Perfetti topped the OHL's Western Conference coaches poll in 4 categories.

Smartest player
Best playmaker
Best stickhandler
Best shootout shooter

Byfield didn't even make the top 3 in any category.

So, again I'll ask, IF Byfield were 6'0" 185lbs where does he land? What does he project as?

 

[93LEAFS]

View attachment 351895

Interesting tibit from Pronman, and if I'm honest I’ve thought the exact same too. I’ve never seen an elite prospect such as Byfield get nitpicked the way he has. You’d think he was a 2nd round talent with the way people talk about him.

Its one thing to raise concerns about him and rank him lower than the average, this is perfectly fine. Yet, it’s another thing to get constantly blasted for faults that similarly ranked players don’t. Also the stuff like what ISS pulled with the poor kid, It makes you wonder why he’s more criticized.

Brady Tkachuk got it way worse if we are talking about kids ranked in the 1st to 5th overall range. With people saying he was only going high because of his family, bashing his production at BU, not realizing he was often played out of position on the power play to accommodate Jordan Greenway. I also didn't see any of this with Seth Jones, who was also of mixed race. I don't think Byfield has any work ethic issues which seemed to be a weird thing for ISS to tear into, but it is valid to question the speed he processes the game, especially when you are comparing it to that of Stutzle and Lafreniere. Maybe your just noticing it more because you seem to be a big fan of him. Outside of ISS, I haven't really seen much tearing him down. Laine/Matthews got it much worse from competing fan bases, same with Kakko/Hughes around here. People were very skeptical about Cale Makar coming from the AJHL. Ekblad was viewed by a lot of people as capped out and possessing limited upside.

While it was almost 15 years ago, and draft coverage wasn't what it is today, Phil Kessel was completely torn apart as a prospect and person. This is well documented in Future Greats and Heartbreaks by Gare Joyce. Then you have the guys flagged for major character concerns like Kyle Beach, Ryan Merkley, Josh Ho-Sang, Anthony DeAngelo, etc.

Whoever drafts him has to fix his skating balance issues, obviously Sudbury doesn’t have that kind of coaching in place.

Most elite OHL prospects will get that type of stuff provided for through their agency. He's repped by Jeff Jackson of the Wasserman/Orr Group who has connections to high-level skating coaches and skill-development coaches (he's McDavid and Ekblad's agent). He's also from the GTA area which gives him easy access (at least pre-pandemic wise) to those types of people over the summer.

 

[BigKing]

Yeah. Perfetti topped the OHL's Western Conference coaches poll in 4 categories.

Smartest player
Best playmaker
Best stickhandler
Best shootout shooter

Byfield didn't even make the top 3 in any category.

So, again I'll ask, IF Byfield were 6'0" 185lbs where does he land? What does he project as?

If Byfield grew up as a much smaller player, than he most likely plays a different game since he wouldn't be able to do what he does now. He has the hands and the talent but he would probably have a more refined game if he was smaller because he'd have to play differently.

If he was the same size as Stutzle and played the same way he plays now, he isn't ranked #2. The fact that he has Top-5 skill at his size makes him a special prospect so it is difficult to remove his size and ask where he ends up. Like, if Stutzle's agility and acceleration were average, where does he go? If Rossi was Byfield's size, where does he go?

 

[bert]

Yeah. Perfetti topped the OHL's Western Conference coaches poll in 4 categories.

Smartest player
Best playmaker
Best stickhandler
Best shootout shooter

Byfield didn't even make the top 3 in any category.

So, again I'll ask, IF Byfield were 6'0" 185lbs where does he land? What does he project as?

First of all Byfield plays in the east. He isnt 6'0 so why does it matter? I do not get it either point you are trying to make.

 

[sufferer]

Maybe someone can correct the record here, but I don't recall Evander Kane getting panned for his attitude and lack of vision/playmaking/hockey IQ at the time of his draft, either. He still has those problems to varying degrees to this day.

 

[Fatass]

Yeah. Perfetti topped the OHL's Western Conference coaches poll in 4 categories.

Smartest player
Best playmaker
Best stickhandler
Best shootout shooter

Byfield didn't even make the top 3 in any category.

So, again I'll ask, IF Byfield were 6'0" 185lbs where does he land? What does he project as?

Players who a fairly equal in every way except one is 6 inches taller, and projected to be 40 pounds heavier the bigger guy will be more impactful.
I’m thinking the team that gets Bayfield might, in 4 years, have the best player in this draft.

 

[Just Linda]

Maybe someone can correct the record here, but I don't recall Evander Kane getting panned for his attitude and lack of vision/playmaking/hockey IQ at the time of his draft, either. He still has those problems to varying degrees to this day.

Evander Kane was absolutely dragged through the mud for what was seen as attitude issues.

One of the publications called him Patrick Kane if Patrick wasn't skilled.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I think his world junior performance is overlooked. Lafreniere performed similar the year before, and he’s 10 months older than Byfield so they’re very similar situations.

 

[Osprey]

It's just confirmation bias, IMO. Some people want to see racism, so they do. It completely ignores the fact that Byfield has been gushed about for two years now. I'm pretty sure that he didn't become black only just very recently. I'm sure that the same scouts who are nitpicking him now were doing the gushing last year. They have the right to slightly sour on a prospect that they helped build up. It's only natural after a Word Juniors performance like his and the rise of Tim Stutzle, who is like the scouts' shiny new toy. It's also natural, with a prospect that you built up on the basis of raw potential, to be a bit disappointed that the concerns that you assumed another year of development would fix are still there. Finally, if you had Byfield at #2 for a full year and just recently put Stutzle there, you'd probably feel compelled to explain why by bringing up concerns with the one and raving about the other. Of all of the things to cry racism over, a black player who was the consensus #2 prospect for over a year finally slipping a spot or two feels like one of the silliest, to be honest.