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Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Retrospect. There's a reason the Oilers tank was called the "Fall for Taylor Hall" that year. Hall was the right pick, and he turned into a valuable player. Seguin being a center doesn't mean anyone knew he would become what he has.
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Some fans called it that. The more informed people called it "Taylor vs Tyler". It was very much up for debate which of the two was the correct player to take. They were very much in the same tier, Hall was not in a tier above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Nah, Nugent-Hopkins is still probably the most valuable player from that draft not named Johnny Gaudreau. RNH can still play wing, what he was drafted for were things like his vision and puck skills. Where they went wrong with him, is they didn't develop him physically because they rushed him into #1C duties in the NHL. I'm pretty convinced he still weighs less than 19 year old Sam Bennett.
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The RNH pick is very defensible IMO. Agreed that he was rushed. However I don't think he was a slam dunk #1 that year, I do think Landeskog and Huberdeau were on the same tier as him and were rated #1 by some scouts/teams. I think they've mismanaged him for sure. That pick by itself wasn't a problem. I think he wouldn't made a dynamite 1/2 centre punch with Seguin.
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Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Rasmus Ristolainen was arguably the BPA at #7. Hockey sense was a knock on Nurse since the beginning. Ristolainen oozes hockey sense.
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Yep their scouts appear to have gotten the rankings between Nurse and Ristolainen wrong. Ristolainen may end up better than Seth Jones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
We don't know that that's the reason. Draisaitl has some great tools and we've already seen him play at a very high level for stretches this year, a level we'll be stoked if Bennett reaches within the next two years.
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I'm not sure why they preferred Draisaitl. I still think he's a top young player and they certainly aren't disappointed in that pick. But I think Bennett's speed, tenacity, physicality, determination, consistency puts him above Draisaitl. I liked Ekblad/Bennett ahead of Reinhart/Draisaitl. But that was another year where the top 4 were on a tier together and none of them were consensus #1 picks. I think BUF would have taken Reinhart first they liked him that much. I think CGY would've taken Ekblad 1st and Bennett 2nd (just a theory).