If Button's opinion still mattered, he'd still be a GM in Calgary. Its funny that his most controversial pick is the one Edmonton is picking at.
I wish I could have watched more of Hanifin's game, but from what I saw, he looks like a perfect match for Darnell Nurse. A complementary player with a wicked stretch pass on a pairing with a skating defenseman that loves to hit and grind. those two on the breakout would have phenominal neutral zone penetration. pretty big boys, and that's without saying who would be playing in front of them.
I have been all for Provorov since the prospect game, but... how many offensively minded defensemen do we need? Hanifin's game statistically transitioned seamlessly. Provorov's blossomed on a possibly under-rated team. Provorov has a flair for the game from the blueline that I haven't seen in years. Great hockey IQ. To me... it looks like Provorov will get more points, but Hanifin will win more games. Its a tough call on a team that has a hard time scoring. But its also the team with the most goals scored against. it looks to me that right now if we had players that had an easier time getting the puck out of their end that we'd already have players that would have an easier time scoring.
As for the Strome/Draisaitl debate, Draisaitl carried his whole team on his back. this year that team was 9 points out of last place in their conference. And Draisaitl put up his points in a far more defensive league.
By my count we have 5 offensive minded d-men in Schultz, Hunt, Oesterle, Gernat, and LaLeggia. The thing is I'm not even sure if Schultz is going to cut the mustard in a top 4 capacity and I'm thinking we'd be lucky to get one of those other 4 to turn into a solid offensive bottom pairing d-man. The amount of offense we generate from our defense in comparison to other teams is a big area of weakness. To me we have 3 two-way d-men worth talking about in Klefbom, Nurse, and Simpson; then 2 shut down guys in Fayne and Marincin everyone else is either garbage or likely won't amount to being more then a 3rd pairing d-man. I don't think we have a legit top end powerplay quarterback d-man on our team or forthcoming prospect wise and I don't see Hanifin having that element either.
I re-watched a college game of Hanifin's I had recorded, it's hard to knock anything he does defensively his gap control, threat recognition, stick positioning, and ability to retrieve loose pucks are all top shelf for someone his age. He plays like a pro in these respects, that combined with his solid stretch outlet pass and capacity to always make the safe play he could easily be fast-tracked to the NHL, which is why I'm sure so many scouts like him, his offensive game though looks to be significantly lagging behind, offensively speaking I'd put him roughly on par with where Jeff Petry is currently, he has some tools that looks like they could be applied offensively but definitely leaves something to be desired. In watching the game he was given the liberty to post up on the half wall at even strength quite frequently, which is something you just don't see in the NHL this has the capacity to over-inflate his point totals down there cause he is going to be more involved in the play and will get more assists just having the play relayed through him. Hanifin has not looked particularly dangerous in any of the times I've watched him in generating offense directly from the blueline and while he does jump in on occasion he doesn't seem to have the natural inclination or instincts to know when is the perfect time to do so. His shot like Petry is pretty good power wise but he has similar problems with accuracy and finding the proper shooting lanes, his passes in the offensive zone are of the smart safe variety, but seem to lack the crisp quickness you like on the powerplay to force defenders to scramble to get back in position. I see him developing into a top pairing shut-down d-man with good mobility and good outlet passes, but anything above the 2nd powerplay unit is too much for him and offensively I could see him hovering just a little north of the 30 point mark for most of his career. While I do have a lot of respect for defensively strong d-men and I feel tons more confidant about Hanifin being an impact player then I did Luke Schenn or Erik Gudbransson in their respective draft years, taking d-men who lack that special offensive spark that early in the draft just makes me uneasy.
I'd take Marner and Provorov over Hanifin, Marner is just electric out there he's got some Patrick Kane kind of flair to him despite the fit not being great he just seems like he could easily become a franchise forward. Provorov is great offensively and he feels far from being clueless in the defensive zone, he's going to need more marinating time then Hanifin, but he just seems like he could be the total package, possibly a more physical puck rushing Mark Giordano.
