Crosbyfan said:
I have no problem with your overall assessment. While he may be head and shoulders better than anyone else under 18 it may be quite debatable where he would be positioned in the top 10 under 20 years old, or arguably only in the top 20. I would not have placed him there 6 months ago but personally I would put him close to where you have him today.
I like Parise and think he is a character player but I wouldn't put him top ten although I do think he has a smart and well rounded game.
I do kind of wonder how capable you think Sid is defensively. From at least midpoint in the season he would be the first player on the ice for Rimouski in a defensive situation. He probably caused more turnovers defensively this year than anyone else in the Q. You could arguably call many of these offensive skills as he certainly had lots of unassisted breakaway chances. You could also say his physical play was more based on willingness to sacrifice himself to make plays than dihing it out. But I think he proved he could play any forward role other than enforcer or perhaps powerforward. If he played with kids his age he could play shifts with "powerforward" written all over him but of course we are comparing him as an under 20 here.
As far as picking him 10th for one season looking forward, I suspect you would regret not picking him earlier after very few months but of course that is both debatable and not relevant to "top 10 under 20 now".
Take what I have to say for what it's worth, as i'm from North Carolina and have only seen Crosby during the WJC's and select few Rimouski games, but I think the type of defense that Crosby plays at the Junior level isn't going to be the type of defense he plays at the pro level. Crosby is an immense talent, and his stickwork is the best i've seen out a prospect in the past 8 to 10 years that i've been following prospects with more than passing interest. Granted, that's not exactly a large sample of elite players but it includes Spezza, Zherdev, Kovalchuk, and Datsyuk to name a few. However, the results are almost always the same with these immense players. Their stickwork is so far and away better than the level of competition that they're playing against that they can create turnovers with an active stick and get back into the offensive end, where these type of players usually want to be. The level of competition and the style of league that the "Q" is doesn't lend itself well to players protecting the puck. In a sense what i'm saying is that these players don't show too many defensive problems due to the fact that they're so skilled in offensive ability that it compensates for these shortcomings. Crosby, as many offensive wizards are, is very active in the defensive zone at this age due to the fact that he wants to get back into the offensive zone where he can create plays. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that, but the turnovers aren't going to come as easily in the NHL as they will in the Q and that is something that Crosby is going to have to compensate for. Does he have the level of desire to perform well in the defensive zone when it doesn't lead to a 2 on 1 breakout, is essentially what i'm saying. I'll hold my own personal thoughts regarding that to myself, due to the fact that i've not seen enough of him to make such a groundless comment outside of speculation. However, I will say that i've seen Crosby with one foot on the blueline cherry-picking quite a bit in the games that i've seen of him. I very rarely saw him create a play on defense rather than offense.
Don't take all of this as Crosby bashing, because it's not. Crosby is going to be a fine player at the NHL level and whoever gets him is going to have an elite player for the better part of two decades, barring injury concerns. However, his defensive positioning is a little raw at this point and that is a facet of his game that Crosby is going to have to place a lot of emphasis on coming into next season. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Crosby's point totals drop a slight amount due to the fact that he's going to be playing deeper in the defensive end and learing the game on the other side of the neutral zone. If he doesn't take next year and dedicate it to defense rather than offense, he's going to have a longer adjustation period when he hits NHL ice the season after next.
For those reasons, i've taken quite a few under 20's ahead of Crosby. I've always professed that I want a player who can stop goals in his end and score them in their end. Right now, Crosby is only half of that at the NHL level as far as i'm concerned. It's not going to take long i'm sure, but he's not there yet.
