Zegras vs Caufield vs Boldy

[biturbo19]

I take Zegras. There's certainly some risk there. His game lacks a fair bit of maturity and can lack engagement at times too. But his vision on the ice is absolutely top shelf. As long as he's willing to put in the work to adjust his game moving up levels, that playmaking ability is going to be the sort of thing that absolutely drives a Top-6 scoring line, whether it's from Center or the Wing.

Boldy would be second choice for me. Feels the "safest" of the group to me, but still with a pretty high ceiling. Hard to see someone with those sort of tools and that great complementary skillset not at least finding their way into someone's Top-6 even if he's not necessarily the line-driver.

Caufield has a pretty 1-dimensional skillset that when coupled with his lack of size, makes him a bit risky. Hard to see a guy like that not finding ways to continue scoring goals, especially on the PP. But players who profile with that singular sort of exceptional dimension can be a fickle thing, even when they're not also overcoming a significant size deficit. It's also just not a skillset that i tend to value as highly as a lot of others. They don't tend to be what i'd call real "line drivers". Can be quite reliant on players who project more like Zegras or Boldy, doing the spadework and feeding them pucks to really utilize their particular skillset to its fullest. Whereas players that project like Zegras and Boldy, tend to have a way of elevating the play of others around them more. I typically value that more highly, personally.

 

[joe dirte]

Caufield

come again?

 

[Kotkaniemi15]

come again?

72 goals?

 

[CraigsList]

Caufield for me.

 

[HanSolo]

This was my final ranking on draft day.

Hughes
Kakko
Turcotte
Byram
Zegras
Boldy
Cozens
Dach
Podkolzin
Caulfield
Krebs
Broberg

Still haven't changed my mind about any of this. (though I am second guessing my ranking of Dach a bit.)With Caulfield his numbers and skill are impressive to me, and though the league is changing so much that size really doesn't hold back players as much any more I still keep a "I'll believe it when I see it" policy

After I've seen Caufield go against AHL/NHL competition and thrive, then I'd be ready to admit I was wrong. But not before then.

 

[HanSolo]

72 goals?

Emerson Etem had 61 goals to lead the WHL once. Now he's barely cutting it in the AHL.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Emerson Etem had 61 goals to lead the WHL once. Now he's barely cutting it in the AHL.

He’s done period

 

[The Great Weal]

Emerson Etem had 61 goals to lead the WHL once. Now he's barely cutting it in the AHL.

Etem didnt shatter a goalscoring record in his draft year...

 

[HanSolo]

Etem didnt shatter a goalscoring record in his draft year...

I'm not making a one to one comparison. I'm just saying 13 teams didn't draft Caufield for a reason and just regurgitating a single stat doesn't add enough substance to clarify why 13 GMs were wrong (or say, 11 since Hughes and Kakko were slam dunk picks). There are plenty of examples of prospects having scorching draft and even post draft junior stats and amounting to nothing or falling short of expectations. Etem being one of them as a guy that had a tremendous goal scoring total in the WHL but never stuck in the NHL because he was too one dimensional and couldn't figure out how to score when the competition got tougher. I'm not saying that will necessarily happen to Caufield, but pointing out 72 goals isn't proof on its own of him being better than Boldy and Zegras either.

 

[The Great Weal]

I'm not making a one to one comparison. I'm just saying 13 teams didn't draft Caufield for a reason and just regurgitating a single stat doesn't add enough substance to clarify why 13 GMs were wrong (or say, 11 since Hughes and Kakko were slam dunk picks). There are plenty of examples of prospects having scorching draft and even post draft junior stats and amounting to nothing or falling short of expectations. Etem being one of them as a guy that had a tremendous goal scoring total in the WHL but never stuck in the NHL because he was too one dimensional and couldn't figure out how to score when the competition got tougher. I'm not saying that will necessarily happen to Caufield, but pointing out 72 goals isn't proof on its own of him being better than Boldy and Zegras either.

At least use valid comparisons if you are going down that path. Caufield had a historic season and you mention Etems d+2 season.

 

[Kotkaniemi15]

Emerson Etem had 61 goals to lead the WHL once. Now he's barely cutting it in the AHL.

Caufield scores 72 goals in draft year. Etem scored 61 goals in his D+2. There’s no comparison there.

 

[HanSolo]

Caufield scores 72 goals in draft year. Etem scored 61 goals in his D+2. There’s no comparison there.

Again, it's not a comparison.

 

[HanSolo]

At least use valid comparisons if you are going down that path. Caufield had a historic season and you mention Etems d+2 season.

Just to appease your dancing around my point? Nah.

 

[The Great Weal]

Just to appease your dancing around my point? Nah.

Your point is very flawed when you use D+2 seasons. It's not a valid argument whatsoever.

 

[HanSolo]

Your point is very flawed when you use D+2 seasons. It's not a valid argument whatsoever.

I mean if that's your takeaway, you didn't understand my point. Etem is not singular evidence that one statline isn't enough. Let's try a different one. Nail Yakupov had more D1 points at the same junior team than Steven Stamkos. Steven Stamkos is a star player while Yakupov failed to hang in this league.

Caufield's goal record is impressive. No one is saying it's not, but this is the second time I've seen that Kotkaniemi guy respond to a challenge to Caufield relative to other players in his draft class with no debate substance other than "72 goals?"

So let me ask this, if 72 goals is so amazing and immutable, why wasn't Caufield the consensus first overall pick? Why did fourteen teams pass on a guy who didn't have a significant injury? Paid and employed amateur scouts were aware of the goal total and still had other guys ranked above him for a reason or set of reasons. And we as a community of fans should just accept 72 goals as the only evidence of his primacy any time he's compared to another one of his peers?

 

[cgf]

Emerson Etem had 61 goals to lead the WHL once. Now he's barely cutting it in the AHL.

Skillsets my man. Caufield has a 40 goal shot with the instincts, shiftiness & mentality to match.

I voted Zegras here...wanted my Avs to pick him at #4...but Caufield wasn't far off.

 

[HanSolo]

Skillsets my man. Caufield has a 40 goal shot with the instincts, shiftiness & mentality to match.

I voted Zegras here...wanted my Avs to pick him at #4...but Caufield wasn't far off.

And I'm not begrudging anyone having him close. (in spite of where I ranked him personally I still have him pretty close). I'm not saying his goal total should be entirely disregarded but it's a weak argument to use a solitary stat to put him above guys that were drafted ahead of him.

 

[cgf]

And I'm not begrudging anyone having him close. I'm not saying his goal total should be entirely disregarded but it's a weak argument to use a solitary stat to put him above guys that were drafted ahead of him.

That's perfectly fair.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Etem didnt shatter a goalscoring record in his draft year...

ETEM also wasn’t on a historically stacked team and didn’t play with a future number one overall pick

 

[Mrb1p]

Voted Caufield but meant Boldy. My unconscious homer took the reigns for an instant.

 

[Mrb1p]

Wow Boldy with only 20 votes. Are you guys freaking crazy here? Jeez.

 

[Kairi Zaide]

His only strength is his shot. His defensive game is bad, he’s not great at driving play, he’s not great at passing, his skating is fine, but he’s subpar at most other aspects of the game at this point. He gets into open space, and the elite playmakers he played with get him the puck. He’s very much a one dimensional winger in the same vein as Laine. Remains to be seen if he can even be half as good at scoring in the NHL as Laine, though. Certainly not the same quality of prospect as Laine was at this point. And Laine has struggled immensely to grow his game.

Caufield plays nothing like Laine. His ceiling is basically Gallagher with an elite shot. And if Gallagher had a better than he has (it's not bad, not elite either), he'd be a 40-50 goals scorer. As said, he's always in movement and disrupting the defense, and fighting for his spots. Him shattering the goal scoring record isn't just because he played with elite playmakers. Shooters who are constantly in movement give the playmakers many more options.

I do agree he has a lot of work to do to reach that ceiling. All in all, using the old HF rating system, I'd give Caufield 8.5D, Zegras 8.0C and Boldy 7.5B.

 

[The Great Weal]

I mean if that's your takeaway, you didn't understand my point. Etem is not singular evidence that one statline isn't enough. Let's try a different one. Nail Yakupov had more D1 points at the same junior team than Steven Stamkos. Steven Stamkos is a star player while Yakupov failed to hang in this league.

I clearly said that I understand your point, but Etem is an awful example. Yakupov makes a lot more sense.

ETEM also wasn’t on a historically stacked team and didn’t play with a future number one overall pick

ETEM also didn't shatter the goalscoring record in his draft year. He scored 61 goals in his D+2 season. So don't even put Etem as the same sentence as Caufield because it's laughable.

 

[bsu]

Wow Boldy with only 20 votes. Are you guys freaking crazy here? Jeez.

no it just means people think he's the worst out of the 3 players....

 

[Mrb1p]

no it just means people think he's the worst out of the 3 players....

Zegras doesnt have one trait that beats Boldy. This is a draft position poll.