I've read back the thread and see a lot of Landy and Huberdeau are the same player but Huberdeau has more upside talk. Just wondering how the two compare now and why is Landy the better player. Not to rehash old things but to help me understand evaluating two supposed similar players in a draft class vs reality 3 years later.
Personally, I never really thought they were similar and never understood where that came from. Landeskog was always going to end up a power forward and Huberdeau was always going to end up an offensive force with lots of dangle, kind of like an Alex Tanguay type. That's the way I always saw it, anyways.
I still have a lot of confidence that Huberdeau is going to get there at some point as long as he's got the right attitude. If he would have been brought into a really good situation, much like Tanguay was way back when or say Tomas Hertl, if you want a present day example, he'd probably have a much easier time.
But right now that Florida team isn't constructed to allow for a lot of growth without severe growing pains. The veterans they do have on the team, aren't the teams' best players, not even close. So kids like Huberdeau, Barkov (I'm not convinced and never have been that Barkov will be
all that) and Bjugstad have to carry the load because the veterans are mostly complimentary 2nd line players at best. It's been like that in Edmonton too, where Hall, Eberle and RNH have had to be the top guns for years without any insulation.
Meanwhile, you have a team like the Avs who at least had Stastny to lean on while the kids developed on the 2nd + 3rd line. Same deal with bringing the Sedins along behind Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrow and that other guy who's name I forget because he sucks.
