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Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
Well its not like Gaudreau plays against midgets in college hockey. He's been shockingly successful at the University level and at the World Junior Championship level against top level competition with size. His skill, skating and what he's shown so far against good competition has to erase almost all of the size concerns. He made the best Canadian defenders aged 18 and 19 look silly at the World Juniors.
It's not like this the old clutch and grab NHL either where some small players still managed to thrive (Fleury, St. Louis, etc.) The success of guys like Desharnais, Gionta, Ennis, etc shows that size doesn't have to be a determiner.
Strange to be more excited about Poirier than Janko and Gaudreau, especially Gaudreau. Gaudreau is far more proven than the other two.
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His performance at the WJHC was nothing short of impressive. Gaudreau's also has been a standout at every level he's played at. I still approach him with more caution than certain other prospects because (a) his stature is so small and (b) the road he has to take to be able to achieve success at the NHL level is more daunting than the average prospect - his skill has to be that much better, his lower body strength that much more developed, his skating that much more superior, etc. His skills are highend, I'm just being subjectively realistic to his chances of success.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
I don't understand why you think Gaudreau's style benefits more from the development camp. What is his style? Amazing skill and offensive ability? That's going to look in any environment I would think. Not sure what you're getting at there.
I don't see why you'd question how his game would translate to the Q or W. He'd easily dominate there as well, no question about it. If he dominated against the best 18 and 19 year olds in the world, why wouldn't he dominate against some mediocre Canadian teens as well? He'd have insane numbers in juniors, no question about it.
In the new NHL small size is not as big of a negative as you make it out to be. His skill, hockey sense, skating makes up for it. There are guys like Gaudreau excelling in the NHL. Smaller players have trouble making the NHL when they don't have elite attributes. Gaudreau has elite attributes that make up for his lack of size.
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We'll see. I think the development camp is more geared towards the higher skilled guys than the power forwards and defensive defensemen simply because it's not as physical as live game action (IMO, anyways).
Hopefully Poirer, Jankowski and Gaudreau all suit up for the Flames down the road. I just think Guadreau's path is the most difficult which, IMO, knocks him down a few notches (1. Monahan; 2. Baertschi; 3. Wotherspoon; 4. Gillis; 5. Poirer; 6. Gaudreau; 7. Sieloff; 8. Knight; 9. Jankowski; 10. Reinhart - I think anyways... haha).