[Caged Great]

The main thing when it comes to scouting players has nothing to do with stats, but rather how they do what they do on the ice. It's all about that spark of creativity to do things in an atypical fashion. Anyone can shoot the puck on net and score, if you can do that while pulling moves that show a higher level competence, then you're awesome. Most guys that are expecting to be drafted should have great stats, otherwise it's a reach to be picked.

That's why guys like Ehlers stand out from prior drafts and Keller and Jost from this one. Typically guys that have size like Brown and Ritchie don't have that shiftiness and are more linear up and down type players, which is useful, but typically those guys go after the more skilled players regardless. Usually those guys have a more limited higher level potential. It is basically the argument of taking the guy who might be an all star but has some warts, vs taking a guy that will likely be a solid middle six player. When it comes to selecting between the two, it depends on how your prospect pool and roster is set up. If you have few prospects and a mediocre team, then you're more apt to take the riskier high end guy, like the Leafs did with Nylander and the Jets did with Ehlers. If you have an established core and are looking to flesh out your roster then it makes sense to get that quality middle sixer with size, which Anaheim did. Calgary currently is in between those two, which the direction they will take depends entirely on what is available when they pick. If they can add a higher end talent that isn't undersized, they will, because that entirely makes sense. If the options are Keller vs Brown, then I highly doubt they go with Keller. Although at that point, they may opt to trade down depending on what is on the board, too many variables to forecast from this point.