Quote:
Originally Posted by bigrangy
I would argue that, right now, Phillips is no worse of a hockey player than Matt Tkachuk. Obviously, they project very differently, but at the junior level, both players have roughly the same impact on a game. Tkachuk as the third wheel on a top line and Phillips as the leader of the second line. It's not even remotely out of the ordinary that he could have had a better dev camp than Tkachuk, and therefore receive a higher rating in whichever ranking is used.
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Tkachuk was just a key player on a memorial cup championship team. Different leagues, but he also put up, what 30 more points? He was also over 2 points per game in the playoffs while playing a physical power forward style. It's pretty easy to see that last season Tkachuk was a far better junior player than Phillips.
And this is not a knock against Phillips. I love that pick.