And people were complaining he might get recalled ahead of NAK?
To me, they're similar players, and fit what Fletcher probably wants in the organization, high energy big fast players - if you can't have skill, go for guys who can pressure other teams on the forecheck and wear down their defensemen.
The problem with Weal, Cousins and Leier was they didn't have enough skill for the top 6, enough speed to compensate or enough size to be physical. Guys with limited upside for ANY role. Later in the draft you have to compromise, but these were tweener compromises. Not gambles on a player filling out or on physical attributes that still have value (size/speed) if the player never develops NHL skills.
Compare to say Vorobyev and Bunnaman, who may only have average speed, but have size and skill, or Twarynski, who has good speed and size but less skill - Bunnaman may not have more skill than Cousins or Weal, but he has more size which allows him to go to the net or win board battles.