Hello all,
I've been lurking these forums for a few years now, and am finally deciding to post my thoughts and opinions.
Regarding Ekblad, Reinhart, Bennett, and Draisaitl: I believe that all 4 players will turn into something special, each in their own right.
Watching Ekblad and Reinhart in the WJC was awesome as you could totally tell that these 2 were elite level players. When Brent put Reinhart in on the 3v5 and he defended well, you could just tell that he is an easy player to coach that just oozes hockey IQ. Reinhart's poise with the puck is something that really catches my attention. With Ekblad, I see a great leader who uses his size effectively to make great plays in the defensive zone, while also having a wicked shot that is deadly from the point.
Having only seen Bennett and Draisaitl (minus WJC game against Canada) from YouTube highlights (
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9z...0OLCCn8KJExnIw), it is hard to say definitively who is better. When I watched highlights of Bennett, I was amazed by his speed and his stickhandling, not to mention his ability to hit. His ability to come down the right wing and either deke or power through the defender was something I really liked seeing. Draisaitl on the other hand plays the game well by using his huge body to protect the puck. He is an unbelievable passer as well, able to thread the needle to make for some pretty easy goals for his teammates. Both will be pretty darn good players in the future IMO.
I think all 4 players would fit the Flames' needs well and would be happy to have anyone of them on our team. I think barring trades, Ekblad would not realistically drop to #4, leaving the 3 centremen. A one-two punch of Monahan and xxx in the future is something I'm really looking forward to, assuming we choose one of the three, regardless of who we choose. My preferences for the 3 are:
1) Reinhart
2) Bennett
3) Draisaitl
Also, since the draft is still so far away, I figured that we could use a little more to talk about in this thread. So I compiled some data from this season's "Top 4 ranked forwards" which could be interesting to take a look at from purely a statistics point of view.
From this data, I was intrigued by Bennett's PPP% which was much lower than the rest and MDC's PPP% which was the highest of the bunch. (I was compelled to look up all these stats because of a highlight video I watched of MDC, where most of the highlights came from the Gen's PP. So I figured I just find the stats myself since I couldn't find them anywhere on the web)
So my questions to everybody:
- How significant is PPP% when looking at a prospect?
- Is it a concern to see Bennett's PPP% low or is it something that makes him look better as he can score better in even strength?
- Are these numbers normal compared to other top draft picks from previous years?
- Is there an upper boundary to PPP% that is a cause for concern (a la Schremp)?
Anyways, thanks for reading my post and I hope it is the first of many to come!