OgeeOgelthorpe
Baldina
- Feb 29, 2020
- 17,211
- 18,333
I think McIsaac is toast. Here's a guy who's marketed as a shutdown defender at the highest level, yet he is too often lost and scrambling in his own zone.... in juniors. His decision-making is poor and he falls out of position too quickly. He needs more development at the junior level, yet he missed most of his last season there and is now going to miss his entire age-20 season. And so he's going to be way behind the development curve, and transitioning to the pro ranks after not playing consistently for 2.5 years. I think this portends some very rough times for him down the line. I don't see him sniffing Detroit until he's out of waiver exemption, and even then he'll likely be at the bottom of the depth chart. His age-21 and -22 seasons in GR are going to be extremely important for him, and I'm not ruling him out in Detroit one day, but at this point he's a big long-shot.
What is the justification for this opinion?
The guy was Canada's best defenseman at the WJC20, and since his draft year he's either been his team's first or second best defender. He's got good wheels, good athleticism, is pretty physical, has a very good first pass. We all kind of expect that his offensive game from the Q won't translate over but I've never once heard that he's scrambling in his own zone or that he makes poor defensive choices. Can you link anything that verifies all of that?