Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
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.
|
Umm...ok?? You seem pretty confident in your scouting abilities yet you're off on an island when you compare him to the next Pavel Brendl. You're saying scouts would evaluate his foot speed and see if he can progress, yet somehow he was a consensus top 5 pick based off what the scouts saw? I hate defending an Oiler prospect but I watched a lot of Rockets games and he was not nearly as slow as you're making him out to be. I didn't watch his games when he was with the Oilers but in the WHL, he was consistently getting shorthanded breakaways because of his size and strong stride once he got going. He'll never be a speedster but the projections to a big bodied/possession centre that can control the play don't seem all that implausible. He was clearly the team's best player on a very star-studded team and would likely be the top prospect in the system for a number of NHL teams.
@Textcritic - As for the significance of the Memorial Cup MVP, all it shows is that in his only year since he was drafted 3rd overall, he had a very solid junior season and didn't hurt his stock. Sure, of course it doesn't guarantee success but don't don't make it sound like it's a long list of scrubs who have won it. Do you even know who won it over the past few years?? Prior to Draisaitl this year, MacKinnon, Huberdeau, Hall (X2), Lucic, Radulov, and Perry have won it.