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Prospect Info: LAK Draft (2nd, 2020) C Quinton Byfield - Sudbury Wolves, OHL

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ru4reals

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Dach, Turcotte, Cozens and Zegras were probably the four centerman that we had to choose from. If one were taken at 3 then it depended on who we had rated higher. If Chicago took Turcotte no doubt I think we take Dach. Zegras and Cozens will be really good as well. I was a huge fan of Zegras before the draft and he may very well be the number 1 center for Anaheim after Getzlaf hangs them up. But I guess only time will tell who becomes the best out of the four. Looks like Dach is in the early lead.
 

RaymondReddington

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Lisa Dillman wrote at least one article I remember telling Kings fans to be ready for Dach if the Hawks took Turcotte, as most thought they would.
 
Statto

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ru4reals said:
Dach, Turcotte, Cozens and Zegras were probably the four centerman that we had to choose from. If one were taken at 3 then it depended on who we had rated higher. If Chicago took Turcotte no doubt I think we take Dach. Zegras and Cozens will be really good as well. I was a huge fan of Zegras before the draft and he may very well be the number 1 center for Anaheim after Getzlaf hangs them up. But I guess only time will tell who becomes the best out of the four. Looks like Dach is in the early lead.
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Which if I recall is what was expected, he was definitely talked about as the most NHL ready of the group and the debate was more about long term projection vs readiness. I always just had Turcotte as my pick from that group assuming Byram was off the board. I’m sure if Byram were still there that is who we were taking and the whole ‘Turcotte, right?’ piece could easily be about that rather than Dach. I’m sure the character part is one of the things they love about Turcotte and that along with the longer term is why I had him slightly ahead. That doesn’t mean I think Dach would have been a bad option, far from it.
 
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Statto

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432Cane said:
I think the media just needs talking points. Not concerned that QB isn’t scoring a hat trick in a scrimmage.
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Quite. It’s against his teammates, it just isn’t a comparable to real performance. The coaches will be far more interested in detail stuff like systems at this point.
 
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bland

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Raccoon Jesus said:
What the f***

we're like literally 24 hours removed from the coaches and teammates raving about him

now we're complaining that a guy from the previous year's draft with NHL experience is showing better?

f*** off media
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Come on now, most of the folks who commented on the games came away with the same idea. Byfield shows incredible flashes so you can see what he is capable of, but he isn't doing it consistently enough yet.

No shame in that, that is his narrative until he proves otherwise. We didn't go apeshit about the player he is now, but rather the player he very well could be. He isn't there yet, no matter how many fans think he is somehow NHL ready.

He has a month to get up to speed then show folks who he really is. If he underperforms again, well, that tag is going to follow him around. If he nails it, that whole discussion is done and over. Its up to him. I think this whole conversation will be moot by New Years, and our hype train will be chugging along full steam ahead.
 
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Raccoon Jesus

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bland said:
Come on now, most of the folks who commented on the games came away with the same idea. Byfield shows incredible flashes so you can see what he is capable of, but he isn't doing it consistently enough yet.

No shame in that, that is his narrative until he proves otherwise. We didn't go apeshit about the player he is now, but rather the player he very well could be. He isn't there yet, no matter how many fans think he is somehow NHL ready.

He has a month to get up to speed then show folks who he really is. If he underperforms again, well, that tag is going to follow him around. If he nails it, that whole discussion is done and over. Its up to him. I think this whole conversation will be moot by New Years, and our hype train will be chugging along full steam ahead.
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I'm good with that, I'm just pointing out the annoyance in

"wow, Quinton Byfield huh? Love his intensity. NHL shot. Man among boys."

24 hours.

"When is Quinton byfield going to show up?" When even that article's associated video shows he's inches away from having the opposite narrative be true.
 
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KINGS17

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6 feet, 4 inches; probably 220-235 lbs.; younger than the rest of the top ten in the draft; skates like the wind; great hands

Even if Byfield is a bust (he won't be), Blake should have been fired if he wasn't the pick.
 
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bland

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KINGS17 said:
6 feet, 4 inches; probably 220-235 lbs.; younger than the rest of the top ten in the draft; skates like the wind; great hands

Even if Byfield is a bust (he won't be), Blake should have been fired if he wasn't the pick.
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Absolutely, it had to be made. But Byfield isn't the usual 2nd overall, he is still very much a work in progress. Hell, he is probably the best "project" pick I can remember - not in the sense that its a project of getting to the league, but rather that of being a potentially dominant player and not just a very good one.
That is NOT a given, but as we learned in the weeks heading into the draft, it seems damn near sacrilegious to suggest we pump the breaks a bit here and let him reach his own boil without turning the heat all the way up from the start.

Even the folks that stated how they were expecting more added the caveat about missing the first set of practices, no game time in ages, all that stuff. Its just scrimmages weeks away from actual games. Eyes will be on him due to his draft spot and potential, all part of the game.
 
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Raccoon Jesus

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It makes it worse that they're trying to compare scrimmage performances in light of that anyway, but that in large they're comparisons to Dach and Byram being dominant. I get what you're saying and I'm not at all saying Byfield is immune from critique, especially given those have been the labels chasing him all along--I just think using those comparisons are dishonest for some pretty god damn blatant reasons.
 
KINGS17

KINGS17

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bland said:
Absolutely, it had to be made. But Byfield isn't the usual 2nd overall, he is still very much a work in progress. Hell, he is probably the best "project" pick I can remember - not in the sense that its a project of getting to the league, but rather that of being a potentially dominant player and not just a very good one.
That is NOT a given, but as we learned in the weeks heading into the draft, it seems damn near sacrilegious to suggest we pump the breaks a bit here and let him reach his own boil without turning the heat all the way up from the start.

Even the folks that stated how they were expecting more added the caveat about missing the first set of practices, no game time in ages, all that stuff. Its just scrimmages weeks away from actual games. Eyes will be on him due to his draft spot and potential, all part of the game.
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I can see Byfield coming in and not setting the NHL on fire right away. It took MacKinnon four years to become a dominant player in Colorado, so I am fine with a similar development arc for Byfield. That would make him around 22-23 when he starts doing terrible things to the Kings competition. It also makes his second contract, like MacKinnon's second contract, much more reasonable.

I don't expect Kopitar and Doughty to be useful players by the time Byfield hopefully becomes a dominant player. I think the watchword for the Kings on Byfield will be patience.
 
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Raccoon Jesus

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tbrown33 said:
we talkin about practice?
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I'm serious when I say we are inches away from everyone raving about Byfield instead of criticizing him.

Even in that video, he had a sick dangle and several near misses. In the game, he had a disallowed goal, a few near misses, a couple of insane saves by the goalie, and a few setups that should have been assists.

I swear to god it's Lafreniere all over again. If not for Kirby Dach--the guy who graduated with a mature game and now has nearly a full season of NHL experience--people are talking about Byfield manhandling everyone. I feel like I"m taking crazy pills watching this guy double up his mediocre team in production and just being dominant (albeit with inconsistency) while others are making excuses that he's going to fail. You would think this guy is the most broken #2 overall of all time.

We complain about people overreacting to tourneys--I seriously cannot believe people are f***ing even sweating a god damn scrimmage after a million months off and a few more days behind due to testing.
 
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cyclones22

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Not to mention the fact that Kirby Dach has played organized hockey and training with his pro team more recently than anyone there. That's a monstrous advantage. It's part of the reason why I was annoyed that those play-in teams were also in the lottery. It's a great advantage for developing their young players to be able to have that extra time that our players didn't have. You think Vilardi would be even better now if he had that same opportunity?
 
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