Gauthier-Leduc has been insane since he's been demoted from the Sabres. Rimouski has a tradition for excellent offensive d-men in the Q (Walser, Scalzo, Coulombe) but non had great career in the NHL. Hope he does!
I think (hope) that he has an advantage over all of those that you named because he has acceptable size.
He's also coming into a good situation in the Sabres organization, so that should help him too.
He will able to grow at his own pace because of our defensive depth and will be eased into the professional game and the responsibilities that come with playing defense at that level.
Is he scoring as a legit d-man or is he scoring as a glorified forward? Just wondering. Hopefully he'll make the U20 team so I can see him play.
He's a legitimate defenseman who logs big minutes every night for the Océanic.
His vision is just incredible and he possesses great offensive tools (blistering shot and great puck-moving ability).
His decision making was apparently poor at times during his draft year, but he has gotten much better from what I've seen (last year, he seemed to get better as the season went on).
^ tied into question above, how's his defense?
I think his defense is fine.
He was pretty thin when we drafted him (6'2'' 179lbs) but has gained weight (now up to 194lbs), which should help him at the professional level.
Adding more grit to his game would be welcome, but I don't think he'll ever be considered tough.
I'd probably liken him to the Sabres newest defensive acquisition, Christian Ehrhoff, at least defensively.
They have a lot of the same tools and I think Gauthier-Leduc will probably be of the same defensive prowess (aka capable of handling minutes without being a liability but will have the occasional hiccup or lapse).
Offensively, I don't really want to compare him to people because I absolutely hate making projections and don't want to just take a shot in the dark like most seem to.
People love to compare him to Kris Letang and his coach (the same one that coached Letang) said JGL was better than Letang at the same age (however, keep in mind that Letang improved a lot after he was drafted).
Will he be a 50 point defenseman in the NHL like Ehrhoff and Letang?
I can't say that with any certainty, but I think he has the tools to become something close to that one day if things go well.