I'd prefer Glass. I would understand Vilardi though, or even Mittelstadt or Pettersson for that matter. I think you can make a very reasonable argument for any of them.
Vilardi's skating is a concern to me. I don't think it will be a terribly detrimental factor with what he does excel at. He doesn't need to have high-end mobility to use his size and strength to protect the puck down low, behind and around the net. In that sense, i don't worry about his projection. As long as he's playing with the right linemates, he'll have opportunities to play the half court game in the offensive zone and play to his strengths.
The concern for me, is in how it will hold back his all-around game. So much of the game these days is played in the neutral zone and in quick transition. That's where Vilardi's weakness as a skater will really show up most, and that's a big deal to me. Makes it really hard for me to project him as a 200 foot Center at the highest level. Even if he does somehow find a way to tread water in the middle with his skating limitations, i think that ends up taking away from what he does best in the first place. Just too hard for me to project him as a Center and having a 200 foot impact, when it's something he hasn't really shown he can do at a high level in Jrs yet...combined with the skating limitations that are already a red flag in that regard.
I do think his skating is starting from an already weaker point that the oft cited examples like Tkachuk/Draisaitl/Horvat. Plus, Vilardi is already a big strong kid...not sure how much room there's going to be to improve his skating by getting more powerful in that regard.
Whereas Glass has a ton of filling out to do with his frame. He needs to get quite a bit bigger and stronger in pretty much every way. Which i think will naturally help improve the comparatively minor weaknesses in his skating.
He's a natural center who plays the whole ice and has a significant impact in all three zones. He's got great vision and anticipation (better than Vilardi imo), and consistently positions himself well to support play in all facets of the game. So many of the little things he does are what allow a team to "play fast" in transition. He makes the players around him better in a lot of ways. Those are strong qualities in a Center.
I think the raw skill is close between the two (albeit stylistically very different execution), which is where that projectability as a natural center and true 200 ft player swings it pretty easily for me. That's my preference. That's more valuable and higher "upside" to me as a potentially bigger contributor overall.
But with this draft even more than most, i don't think there's a lot of room for black & white declarative statements about how one or the other would be amazing or conversely, absolutely catastrophically stupid as a pick. They're all good prospects with specific strengths, but each also with their own pretty glaring weakness or liability. Any one of the 4 could ultimately end up the best or worst of the bunch, and it's entirely conceivable that someone from completely outside that group ends up better than any of them.
