Hull Fan, for what it's worth I have Stranges at #9 and Arcuri at #10 on my personal list. I view them very closely giving a slight edge to Stranges due to being further down the development path. Arcuri has an elite skill that will translate to every level of hockey. Stranges has great puck skills also. I'd hesitate to say Stranges' skating is necessarily a huge mark in his favor as he progresses. He has a situational gimmick and good -- not great -- "everyday" skating. I know people are going to get sick of Robertson being brought up every time we have a prospect with below average skating, but there are similarities to Arcuri. He gets to where he wants to go and the puck tends to go in the net which is a neat trick. We'll see how he does as a pro.
My only complaint about a Arcuri/Robertson comparison is that Robo has a vastly overall better skillset. His vision and passing are significantly better than Arcuri. That's not even a knock on Arcuri, Robo has top ten player in the NHL overall game and Francesco does not.
I don't even have a problem with you going #9 and #10. I don't agree but that's fine, it's just shiny new toy syndrome or something similar that people judge one on a much more difficult scale than the other because Arcuri played a ton more games in the OHL last season than Stranges did in the AHL.
This year will be a direct comparison between them and all the other AHL forwards. We'll be able to see how things go and have a much better picture where guys are overall and what the true pecking order will be as far as the club is concerned. I just don't see how people sleep on his upside cause offensive wingers have an easier bar to clear to get NHL minutes than say defenders, 4th line forwards, and goaltenders. Neither have to be good defensively, they just have to be not horrible and it's a hell of a lot easier to learn positioning and leverage in board battles than it is to learn vision, passing, puck skills, creativity, off the puck movement in the offensive zone.
