Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
I think it's the reverse actually. It's extremely hard to find big, fast, skilled players outside the first round. It's easy to find purely skilled smaller players outside the 1st (see Gaudreau, Kucherov, Petan, Mangiapane, etc)
Of course we wouldn't pick size over skill at 6, but why settle for one of those? You can get big and skilled players at the top end of a draft with a strong top end.
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My question is:
Why settle for "pretty good skill" if there's potentially gamebreaking skill available?
Also If Mangiapane (who has
yet to even prove he is as good as Paul Byron) is an example of purely skilled smaller player, then Brett Pollock is an example of a so-called Power Forward available in a later round. And for every Gaudreau/Kucherov there's a Jamie Benn, Milan Lucic, Tyler Toffoli, Brandon Saad.
The Kucherovs and Gaudreaus are the exceptions. Clayton Keller is not an exception, everyone is aware of him, and he's one of the youngest players in this draft class. If were two months younger he'd be eligible for the 2017 draft class and have spent a year tearing up a more common level of play. Know who did that? Patrick Kane, he was one of the oldest players in his draft class, had a great season(inferior to Keller) in USNTDP as a 17 year old with an November 19th birthday (Keller is a 17 year old with a July 29th Birthday) and then moved on to the OHL where he tore it apart and was drafted 1st overall as an 18 year old.
Keller is not a Kucherov or Gaudreau because those guys weren't
surprises, they were
secrets. They were guys that even our team identified but god greedy on. If Button had the gift of hindsight he would have taken Kucherov over Granlund or Wotherspoon.