If Lafreniere was born a month earlier would he challenge Hughes for 2019 1st overall?

[Siludin]

Hughes is born in mid-may. I don't think birthday would play a major factor. The gap is small than a lot of gaps already present in the draft. I'm also of the opinion, at the very top of the draft, when a prospect is born between Sept 16 and Sept 15 isn't significant. The gap only really starts to appear outside the top 5, and basically sets into a permanent gap around 20th overall or so. Since no major prospect in this draft is a late birthday, I don't think it would be that played up. There is really only one late birthday who shows up top 15 (Lottery territory) in most rankings, and that's Rapahel Lavoie.

It's a bit unusual, for example, 2018 had 5 late-birthdays (Tkachuk, Zadina, Hughes, Kravtsov and Bouchard), 2017 had 6 (Patrick, Makar, Pettersson, Andersson, Mittelstadt and Foote), 2016 had 4 (Matthews, Tkachuk, McAvoy and Kunin), and 2015 had 4 in that range (Eichel, Meier, Rantanen and Debrusk). The next most common are guys like Anntoni Honka and Nolan Foote. Now, maybe some guys improve and end up with the average between 4 and 6, but right now it's looking to be an abnormal draft in this regard. For whatever reason, almost all of the preceived elite talents born in 2000, were born before September 16th (Dahlin, Svechnikov, Kotkanimei, Hayton, Boqvist, Dobson, and Wahlstrom).

Oh for some reason I thought he was a Sept/Oct 2000 birthday, which is my mistake.

My preference is to take the late birthdays in general, but obviously J. Hughes isn't part of that. If I had the choice between, say, the Werenski and the Q. Hughes in their respective drafts, I go with Werenski every time. Though I guess I can say I am happy with Q. Hughes over Boqvist? Maybe that's just a temporary sentiment

 

[93LEAFS]

Oh for some reason I thought he was a Sept/Oct 2000 birthday, which is my mistake.

My preference is to take the late birthdays in general, but obviously J. Hughes isn't part of that. If I had the choice between, say, the Werenski and the Q. Hughes in their respective drafts, I go with Werenski every time. Though I guess I can say I am happy with Q. Hughes over Boqvist? Maybe that's just a temporary sentiment

I just don't think late vs early is a major factor at the very top of the draft, looking at the studies I've seen. Generally, the talents up there are so elite, and have been dominating prior to their draft year it doesn't matter. I mean, Ovi vs Malkin is a huge example of this. It'd be interesting to see how that one would have played out with the recent importance of birth year and positional considering both of those heavily favor Malkin. Now, it absolutely is an issue that creeps up once you remove the elite top tier of the draft away. If you look at top 2 picks and divide them into early and late, you don't think one side is more likely to disappoint if you go from 2005 on, if you account for the fact that early birthdays have the advantage because they account for slightly over 200 of the 365 days in a non-leap year. Here is how it breaks down

Early: Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Erik Johnson, Jordan Staal, JVR, Steven Stamkos, Tyler Seguin, RNH, Nathan MacKinnon, Alex Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Patrik Laine, Nico Hischier, Rasmus Dahlin, and Andrei Svechnikov.

Late: Patrick Kane, Drew Doughty, John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Taylor Hall, Gabriel Landeskog, Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, and Nolan Patrick.

The early group looks better, but I don't think the late is more prone to disappointment, once you realize they were unfortunate to produce the 2 best prospects in the worst draft depth wise in years (2012). Outside of 2012, it seems pretty evenly split, just with the two generational guys happening to be early Bday's.

Now, when you are talking about comparing guys who emerge in their draft year, always favor the younger guys. But, most top picks who are late-birthday's have been under heavy scrutiny for 2 to 3 years such as Tavares, Hall, Eichel and Matthews, so they have been heavily compared against their early comparables.

 

[Siludin]

I just don't think late vs early is a major factor at the very top of the draft, looking at the studies I've seen. Generally, the talents up there are so elite, and have been dominating prior to their draft year it doesn't matter. I mean, Ovi vs Malkin is a huge example of this. It'd be interesting to see how that one would have played out with the recent importance of birth year and positional considering both of those heavily favor Malkin. Now, it absolutely is an issue that creeps up once you remove the elite top tier of the draft away. If you look at top 2 picks and divide them into early and late, you don't think one side is more likely to disappoint if you go from 2005 on, if you account for the fact that early birthdays have the advantage because they account for slightly over 200 of the 365 days in a non-leap year. Here is how it breaks down

Early: Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Erik Johnson, Jordan Staal, JVR, Steven Stamkos, Tyler Seguin, RNH, Nathan MacKinnon, Alex Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Patrik Laine, Nico Hischier, Rasmus Dahlin, and

Late: Patrick Kane, Drew Doughty, John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Taylor Hall, Gabriel Landeskog, Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, and Nolan Patrick.

The early group looks better, but I don't think the late is more prone to disappointment, once you realize they were unfortunate to produce the 2 best prospects in the worst draft depth wise in years (2012). Outside of 2012, it seems pretty evenly split, just with the two generational guys happening to be early Bday's.

Now, when you are talking about comparing guys who emerge in their draft year, always favor the younger guys. But, most top picks who are late-birthday's have been under heavy scrutiny for 2 to 3 years such as Tavares, Hall, Eichel and Matthews, so they have been heavily compared against their early comparables.

Good post, I see what you mean - some talented players will expose themselves in the extreme so that it's cherry picking with an early draft choice - but I wonder if there was a way to compare, specifically, "extreme" 9+ month separations like say Heiskanen vs. Makar, or Hughes vs. Boqvist, in these particular cases. I can't remember which years the draft has allowed 18 year olds. Like Bobby Ryan should be excluded because he is more in the middle of the pack, for instance.

 

[PuckLife]

The main thing about birthdate from my perspective is that the late birthdays have an extra year to play Major Junior. Scouts don’t have to project as much, because the player is presumably “closer” to playing in the NHL. The flip side is the early birthdays do require more projection, so if the trajectory is high, it can be intriguing - how good will he get?

 

[wasup]

Huh? The BCHL always has 16 year olds in it. Here's a list of them.

Elite Prospects - BCHL Stats 2018-2019

And only a few 17 year olds? Umm, there's a bunch.

The second bolded is pretty pompous for someone who got a very basic fact about Jr. A Hockey in Canada wrong.

You also pick the one year that is a major abberation from the historical norm by using 2016. How many BCHL guys on average get drafted? How many WHL guys do? Last year their were 2 BCHLers in the top 90, the year before there was only one BCHLer drafted, and it was in the 5th, compared to 32 WHLers. Now, that's also an abnormal year, but just as nitpicked as your 2016 example and more recent.

That's 32 two players between 17 teams how the heck is that a crap load , the Brandon Wheat Kings have 9 them selves .
Also if you go back in the posts we have been talking about the last 5 years and the quality of players in these other leagues outside the OHL sorry CHL . And yes i have very limited knowledge of junior A hockey cause i only scouted in it for 13 years ( MJHL SJHL ) and i am not from Ontario so how much can i know . Every guy that is sitting here quoting all this stuff is doing there computer homework of stats but has not actually watched a game live in any of these other leagues but are experts on them all so who is pompus . The debt of players has gotten better,more and more players are coming from Europe and the US and always have come from Russia that have never played in the CHL . They litter the draft now and are only going to keep getting better . Once again go back and read the other posts we have been talking the last 5 years.
On the topic of this thread of Hughes and Lafreniere they are two completely different style of players . Who you would take first should be determined by the type of players you have on your team . If you you have big strong shooting wingers you want Hughes if you have some smaller skilled wingers you want Lafreniere both are fantastic players but if i'm Winnipeg''g GM and had to choose with the team we have we need a Hughes more .

 

[wasup]

Hughes is born in mid-may. I don't think birthday would play a major factor. The gap is small than a lot of gaps already present in the draft. I'm also of the opinion, at the very top of the draft, when a prospect is born between Sept 16 and Sept 15 isn't significant. The gap only really starts to appear outside the top 5, and basically sets into a permanent gap around 20th overall or so. Since no major prospect in this draft is a late birthday, I don't think it would be that played up. There is really only one late birthday who shows up top 15 (Lottery territory) in most rankings, and that's Rapahel Lavoie.

It's a bit unusual, for example, 2018 had 5 late-birthdays (Tkachuk, Zadina, Hughes, Kravtsov and Bouchard), 2017 had 6 (Patrick, Makar, Pettersson, Andersson, Mittelstadt and Foote), 2016 had 4 (Matthews, Tkachuk, McAvoy and Kunin), and 2015 had 4 in that range (Eichel, Meier, Rantanen and Debrusk). The next most common are guys like Anntoni Honka and Nolan Foote. Now, maybe some guys improve and end up with the average between 4 and 6, but right now it's looking to be an abnormal draft in this regard. For whatever reason, almost all of the preceived elite talents born in 2000, were born before September 16th (Dahlin, Svechnikov, Kotkanimei, Hayton, Boqvist, Dobson, and Wahlstrom).

Yup there has been a pile of late birthdays lately in the higher part of the draft . 2015 also had Kyle Conner . If you look at that list , 22 are from outside Canada 7 are Canadian . The ratio of players born in the first three months of the year use to be huge but is now closing .

 

[93LEAFS]

That's 32 two players between 17 teams how the heck is that a crap load , the Brandon Wheat Kings have 9 them selves .
Also if you go back in the posts we have been talking about the last 5 years and the quality of players in these other leagues outside the OHL sorry CHL . And yes i have very limited knowledge of junior A hockey cause i only scouted in it for 13 years ( MJHL SJHL ) and i am not from Ontario so how much can i know . Every guy that is sitting here quoting all this stuff is doing there computer homework of stats but has not actually watched a game live in any of these other leagues but are experts on them all so who is pompus . The debt of players has gotten better,more and more players are coming from Europe and the US and always have come from Russia that have never played in the CHL . They litter the draft now and are only going to keep getting better . Once again go back and read the other posts we have been talking the last 5 years.
On the topic of this thread of Hughes and Lafreniere they are two completely different style of players . Who you would take first should be determined by the type of players you have on your team . If you you have big strong shooting wingers you want Hughes if you have some smaller skilled wingers you want Lafreniere both are fantastic players but if i'm Winnipeg''g GM and had to choose with the team we have we need a Hughes more .

You said they had no 16-year-olds, there is a large gap between 32 and 0.

 

[Corso]

I come at you this way , just cause you are drafted does not guarentee you are going to be a great player . Lots of players develop late or are drafted quite late and tons are undrafted . If you backed the draft off to 19 it would look way different , drop it to 20 and it would look quite different again . Every year there are players that make the NHL that were never drafted and way more players are drafted in their second and third year of eligibility now than ever before . . These USHL are generally older and yes older makes a different . Jump ahead to to College DIV 1 , first round picks rarely or pretty well never in their teams top 3 players their first year and some not in there second year either . That's cause age of players matters .
There are about 22 players or so drafted in the first two rounds out out of the CHL these last few drafts and out of that a couple make the jump straight to the NHL . So 20 18yr old and 20 19yr olds divided by 60 some CHL teams leaves 2/3rds of a first or second round player playing on each team . That ain't going to make any difference . For the Mem cup yes those teams stack up and trade their left nut to try to win but i'm talking about the average CHL team the average USHL team , they are the same
This is also my last post on here cause i am debating with people that don't go to games to watch , other than their own leagues so have no idea what other leagues are all about and refuse to accept that other leagues have gained and some caught up with the CHL . Good thing the NHL teams doing the drafting don't have the same logic as you guys , the CHL has lost substantial ground in the last 10 years on the draft cause other leagues are every bit as good at developing and players no longer have to come to the CHL . Europe is doing a bang up job .
I'm gone ,

Agreed that players develop at different rates but only to a point. This does not change the basic fact that the USHL is losing its top 18 and 19 year old players to the NCAA (and in some cases to the CHL). If these were not the best players then they would not be advancing to the NCAA. This does not mean the the players left behind in the USHL are inferior and will never play in the NCAA because most certainly will but they are simply not as good at that stage of development than the players that advanced. The CHL does not face this pressure as its top players remain in the league until the age of 20 and this gives the league a distinct advantage over the USHL.

I'm not sure if this was mentioned previously but Hughes vs Laferniere is a very difficult choice. I have seen J. Hughes play at least a half a dozen times but have never seen Laferniere live but I suppose most posters haven't either. Hughes seems to be more offensively dynamic and explosive. His edge work looks better and I would argue he has a tad better stick skills than Laferniere but does this make him better? An emphatic NO because Laferniere has the better hockey IQ. Every time I see him (albeit only on the tele) he always seems to be exactly where he needs to. His passes are perfect, his sense is sublime and he just seems to process the game at a much much higher level than any other prospect I've seen in quite some time. Will he be a better player than Hughes? Maybe, maybe not. I think when their pro careers are over, they will be separated by a hair's width.

 

[daver]

Is Lafreniere doing anything that MacKinnon or Drouin weren't doing at the age and/or stage?

 

[NextYear67]

Is Lafreniere doing anything that MacKinnon or Drouin weren't doing at the age and/or stage?

I project him similar to Mack and expect a similar career trajectory and development

 

[sharknado]

Is Lafreniere doing anything that MacKinnon or Drouin weren't doing at the age and/or stage?

To me, he still hasn't proven anything in games outside of the regular season. The last 2 games vs Russia, he was invisible and on the ice for most of the goals.

 

[Thebesthockey]

To me, he still hasn't proven anything in games outside of the regular season. The last 2 games vs Russia, he was invisible and on the ice for most of the goals.

oh you mean the stacked russian 19 year old team that will probably win gold ?

pls ....he was actually one of only offensive threats that had Grade A chances in past 2 games for the Q

 

[newfy]

Is Lafreniere doing anything that MacKinnon or Drouin weren't doing at the age and/or stage?

In Mackinnons draft-1 season he had a 1.34 ppg. In Lafrenieres draft-1 season he has a 1.7 ppg right now and is leading the league in points per game and one point out of the actual lead with a game in hand. Draft-1 year for Drouin he was under a point per game and only played like 30 games in the Q.

I'm not going to say hes going to be better than Mackinnon but it would appear offensively hes doing more at the same age.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

In Mackinnons draft-1 season he had a 1.34 ppg. In Lafrenieres draft-1 season he has a 1.7 ppg right now and is leading the league in points per game and one point out of the actual lead with a game in hand. Draft-1 year for Drouin he was under a point per game and only played like 30 games in the Q.

I'm not going to say hes going to be better than Mackinnon but it would appear offensively hes doing more at the same age.

but his draft -2 he was only 1 month older than Mack in his -1. so we really should compare this year to Mack's 2nd q season which he was 1.7ppg.

Regardless of stats, no he has not separated himself from MacKinnon IMO yet, he is on that level of prospect. As for Drouin, he was given a really unique situation on a line with MacKinnon on a stacked team who would roll competition over nightly, his overall game was completely unneeded and he could just rack up the pts without any downfall. Lafreniere has is asked to play a lot more of a complete game than Drouin was and he doesn't have the luxury of having a MacKinnon to take the defensive pressure off of him.

As I would rank it right now at 17

1A. MacKinnon
1B. Lafreniere
3. Drouin

 

[Gold Standard]

In Mackinnons draft-1 season he had a 1.34 ppg. In Lafrenieres draft-1 season he has a 1.7 ppg right now and is leading the league in points per game and one point out of the actual lead with a game in hand. Draft-1 year for Drouin he was under a point per game and only played like 30 games in the Q.

I'm not going to say hes going to be better than Mackinnon but it would appear offensively hes doing more at the same age.

If you are going to compare stats at similar age, then stop using the NHL arbitrary cut off for the purposes of their draft. It's irrelevant. Nate turned 16 a few weeks before his rookie season, Alexis a few weeks later. You compare year for year, only 6 weeks separate their b-days. Their stats are almost identical, league and tournament play.

 

[93LEAFS]

If you are going to compare stats at similar age, then stop using the NHL arbitrary cut off for the purposes of their draft. It's irrelevant. Nate turned 16 a few weeks before his rookie season, Alexis a few weeks later. You compare year for year, only 6 weeks separate their b-days. Their stats are almost identical, league and tournament play.

Here's what I have for age and league adjusted (league doesn't matter because its the Q for both).

16 year old MacKinnon: 1.61 for the regular season, 1.78 when weighting playoffs and WJC (didn't play)
16 year old Lafreniere: 1.62 for regular season, 1.60 factoring in playoffs and WJC.

17 year old MacKinnon: 1.62 for the regular season, 1.79 factoring playoffs, MC and WJC
17 Year old Lafreniere: 1.84 for the season so far.

Drouin's 16 year old year numbers are a bit skewed because he didn't report to Halifax until mid-season, making him play a disproportionate amount of playoffs to regular season but he put up 1.00 in the regular season but due to putting up 2.07 in the playoffs he had a 1.33 on the year, as a 17 year old he put up 1.99 and finished the year with 2.02.

That looks pretty close, but Lafreniere could push himself above with a strong WJC and Playoffs considering how they are weighted (Playoffs 1.2x and WJC 1.5x). Just to put it out there before people ask about McDavid.

15 year old McDavid: 1.52
16 year old McDavid: 2.26 regular season, 2.11 for the whole year
17 year old McDavid: 2.70 regular season, 2.77 for the whole year.

Adjusted for age and league, Lafreniere is on track to have one of the better 17-year-old seasons. The only people who finished above 1.84 as a 17-year-old are Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Sam Gagner, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Dylan Strome, and Johnathan Drouin, I'm not saying this is a perfect system or that great, just using it to provide some insight into the discussion. Look, there are busts or disappointments on that list, although should be noted Sam Gagner played with Patrick Kane all year. Most of that list have developed into high-end players, with McDavid and Crosby being faces of the league, Tavares, and Hall being superstars, and Marner tracking to be a star player, and potenitally a superstar. Gagner is a bust/disappointment, Yakupov is a bust, Drouin is erratic but playing well this year, and Dylan Strome isn't trending well, but looks good. Should also be noted, Lafreniere had a better 16-year-old season than everyone listed but McDavid, Crosby, Tavares and Taylor Hall (Yakupov and Gagner didn't have 16-year-old CHL seasons though). So, guys who put up those types of numbers with a previous track record have all become elite players. Also keep in mind, all the elite players who have come through the CHL since 2005 who Lafreniere is ahead of, and not the notable busts who are ahead.

I would never draft off a spreadsheet, but this info combined with actual viewings of the players is insightful. The method I used to adjust is from Iain Fyffe's chapter in Statshot.

 

[Minnesota Wild]

No Hughes is better.

 

[newfy]

but his draft -2 he was only 1 month older than Mack in his -1. so we really should compare this year to Mack's 2nd q season which he was 1.7ppg.

Regardless of stats, no he has not separated himself from MacKinnon IMO yet, he is on that level of prospect. As for Drouin, he was given a really unique situation on a line with MacKinnon on a stacked team who would roll competition over nightly, his overall game was completely unneeded and he could just rack up the pts without any downfall. Lafreniere has is asked to play a lot more of a complete game than Drouin was and he doesn't have the luxury of having a MacKinnon to take the defensive pressure off of him.

As I would rank it right now at 17

1A. MacKinnon
1B. Lafreniere
3. Drouin

I'm not saying I think hes separated from Mackinnon at all. I do think offensively Lafreniere may be a little more impressive at the same age. If you want to look at draft-1 and draft year for Mackinnon and Lafreniere as equal years I would say Lafreniere leading the league in scoring and points per game is a bit more impressive than Mackinnon being 5th and lower in total points. I only say that because I dont think Lafrenieres team has nearly as much to work with as what Mackinnon had.

Lafrenieres U18 as a 17 year old leading the team in points and one goal off the leader was also extremely impressive, probalby moreso than anything Mackinnon had done by the same age off the top of my head.

I think there is an argument that offensivelyLafreniere might be performing a bit better at the same time as Mackinnon. But I agree theyre still 1A/1B. I think people turned down the hype on Mackinnon post WJC in his draft year as well so it will be interesting to see how Lafreniere does there if he makes it

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

That's 32 two players between 17 teams how the heck is that a crap load , the Brandon Wheat Kings have 9 them selves .
Also if you go back in the posts we have been talking about the last 5 years and the quality of players in these other leagues outside the OHL sorry CHL . And yes i have very limited knowledge of junior A hockey cause i only scouted in it for 13 years ( MJHL SJHL ) and i am not from Ontario so how much can i know . Every guy that is sitting here quoting all this stuff is doing there computer homework of stats but has not actually watched a game live in any of these other leagues but are experts on them all so who is pompus . The debt of players has gotten better,more and more players are coming from Europe and the US and always have come from Russia that have never played in the CHL . They litter the draft now and are only going to keep getting better . Once again go back and read the other posts we have been talking the last 5 years.
On the topic of this thread of Hughes and Lafreniere they are two completely different style of players . Who you would take first should be determined by the type of players you have on your team . If you you have big strong shooting wingers you want Hughes if you have some smaller skilled wingers you want Lafreniere both are fantastic players but if i'm Winnipeg''g GM and had to choose with the team we have we need a Hughes more .

And as a scout you should know that IQ is something that is very hard to teach and that IQ is #1...

You’re just spewing whatever at this point, and assuming that no one else is around the game like you. Guess what You’re wrong.


And as a general everyone point... skills can be easily improved if you’re willing to outnumber in the work...

There was a guy a few years ago by the, he wasn’t a great skater, late birthday, people said he’d go lower in the draft than this other dude because the other dude who was the same age but born earlier was a better skater...

This dude, the one to go a year earlier he’s really good, 50 goal scorer, and the other dude also really good now, one of the best players in the game.

His skating isn’t a problem, in fact I think it’s now one of John Tavares’s strengths... and I think quite a few people would pick Tavares over Stamkos...

If you can dominate on hockey sense life Laf, you can acquire the skills and be something else.

 

[jj cale]

Here's what I have for age and league adjusted (league doesn't matter because its the Q for both).

16 year old MacKinnon: 1.61 for the regular season, 1.78 when weighting playoffs and WJC (didn't play)
16 year old Lafreniere: 1.62 for regular season, 1.60 factoring in playoffs and WJC.

17 year old MacKinnon: 1.62 for the regular season, 1.79 factoring playoffs, MC and WJC
17 Year old Lafreniere: 1.84 for the season so far.

Drouin's 16 year old year numbers are a bit skewed because he didn't report to Halifax until mid-season, making him play a disproportionate amount of playoffs to regular season but he put up 1.00 in the regular season but due to putting up 2.07 in the playoffs he had a 1.33 on the year, as a 17 year old he put up 1.99 and finished the year with 2.02.

That looks pretty close, but Lafreniere could push himself above with a strong WJC and Playoffs considering how they are weighted (Playoffs 1.2x and WJC 1.5x). Just to put it out there before people ask about McDavid.

15 year old McDavid: 1.52
16 year old McDavid: 2.26 regular season, 2.11 for the whole year
17 year old McDavid: 2.70 regular season, 2.77 for the whole year.

Adjusted for age and league, Lafreniere is on track to have one of the better 17-year-old seasons. The only people who finished above 1.84 as a 17-year-old are Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Sam Gagner, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Dylan Strome, and Johnathan Drouin, I'm not saying this is a perfect system or that great, just using it to provide some insight into the discussion. Look, there are busts or disappointments on that list, although should be noted Sam Gagner played with Patrick Kane all year. Most of that list have developed into high-end players, with McDavid and Crosby being faces of the league, Tavares, and Hall being superstars, and Marner tracking to be a star player, and potenitally a superstar. Gagner is a bust/disappointment, Yakupov is a bust, Drouin is erratic but playing well this year, and Dylan Strome isn't trending well, but looks good. Should also be noted, Lafreniere had a better 16-year-old season than everyone listed but McDavid, Crosby, Tavares and Taylor Hall (Yakupov and Gagner didn't have 16-year-old CHL seasons though). So, guys who put up those types of numbers with a previous track record have all become elite players. Also keep in mind, all the elite players who have come through the CHL since 2005 who Lafreniere is ahead of, and not the notable busts who are ahead.

I would never draft off a spreadsheet, but this info combined with actual viewings of the players is insightful. The method I used to adjust is from Iain Fyffe's chapter in Statshot.

Could you give me your personal opinion of Lafreniere from your viewings of him? all stats aside, just the eye ball opinion.

 

[93LEAFS]

Could you give me your personal opinion of Lafreniere from your viewings of him? all stats aside, just the eye ball opinion.

He's a special player and should be an elite LWer in the NHL. I don't think he's notably above guys like Taylor Hall, Stamkos, Tavares or MacKinnon though at the same age (add Matthews, Dahlin, and Hughes for non-CHL guys). He's a good 1st overall, but not in that uber-elite stratosphere some people have been trying to place him at points such as the debate about points with McDavid at age 16. If you get him you are getting a foundational piece of your franchise, and a guy who has a high likelihood of becoming top 5 at his position in the league, with a solid chance of being the best. He really isn't lacking anywhere. If you want to nit-pick, you might was to improve explosiveness and speed, but those improve generally for teenagers. He has a good shot, he knows where to be, and has high level awareness of where his teammates are to compliment his crisp passing. He's the best CHL winger prospect since at least Hall, ahead of guys like Marner, Yakupov, Drouin, and Svechnikov.

 

[jj cale]

He's a special player and should be an elite LWer in the NHL. I don't think he's notably above guys like Taylor Hall, Stamkos, Tavares or MacKinnon though at the same age (add Matthews, Dahlin, and Hughes for non-CHL guys). He's a good 1st overall, but not in that uber-elite stratosphere some people have been trying to place him at points such as the debate about points with McDavid at age 16. If you get him you are getting a foundational piece of your franchise, and a guy who has a high likelihood of becoming top 5 at his position in the league, with a solid chance of being the best. He really isn't lacking anywhere. If you want to nit-pick, you might was to improve explosiveness and speed, but those improve generally for teenagers. He has a good shot, he knows where to be, and has high level awareness of where his teammates are to compliment his crisp passing. He's the best CHL winger prospect since at least Hall, ahead of guys like Marner, Yakupov, Drouin, and Svechnikov.

Thanks for the reply and your insight, much appreciated.

Good read.

 

[cmcneil02]

I thought this was a Hughes vs Lafreniere forum why is there people arguing over BCHL teams being able to beat WHL teams? (WHL would win by the way)

Anyways I feel like Lafreniere is the better player but I feel like Hughes will have a better NHL career. Not really sure why I believe in that but it’s just what I think at the moment. Lafreniere is pretty crazy for a 16 year old though.