Quote:
Originally Posted by burnitdown
Yes, the Oilers suck and will likely ruin Draisaitl but let's not make him sound like he's already a bust and not a high level prospect. He won the Memorial Cup MVP and dominated juniors once he was sent back. If the 2014 draft was re-done today, I would bet he would generally go 3rd (behind Ekblad and Bennett), with a handful of teams choosing Draisaitl over Bennett due to his size.
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Who gives a rip about what awards the kid has won. He is poor skater. The more I look at Draisaitl the more I see Pavel Brendl. Both were big time junior talents, but both lacked the skating talent to play at the next level. Draisaitl's skating mechanics are so poor I'm not certain he can ever learn to skate well enough to survive in the NHL. The guy spends so much time on his heels that he is flat footed at every turn. This is something scouts would look at and evaluate as to whether they think he can improve. I've seen enough guys that skate like Draisaitl to know they are hit an miss as to whether they will every find a stride that lets them play at the NHL level. He was absolutely brutal in his first 37 games. His skating stood out like a sore thumb as an area for massive improvement, so this is the thing to watch. Since Edmonton likes to work so hard with their players on they are weak at, I don't like his chances. I see a bust happening before our eyes, just like Pavel Brendl.