Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaudreauvertime
Of course not, and nobody is making that argument. But it was certainly something that was in his favor as a 15 year old. If he had a different maturity curve (say of a guy like Sam Bennett) he likely wouldn't have gotten exceptional status
Wait, so comparing Phaneuf to Gaudreau is completely fair game, but comparing him to Ekblad is somehow off limits? The Phaneuf - Ekblad comparison is way more appropriate than the Phaneuf - Gaudreau comparison, not even sure how that is debatable.
He was great in his rookie year as well, and more productive offensively
If that is the case, then wouldn't that imply that Ekblad has even more variation with respect to the outcome distributions?
And that should somehow be used against him?
Wow I would not agree with that, and neither would most people. There is a reason Johnny was rated much higher in the NHL's top 50 player list. Maybe one day Ekblad could be top 10, but you have to score more than 36 points to be an elite defenseman these days, regardless of how good you are in your own end.
Karlsson
Doughty
Hedman
Ekblad
OEL
Brodie
Subban
Letang
Weber
Josi
Burns
Keith
Vlasic
Pietrangelo
Are all ahead of Ekblad IMO.
|
Ekblad is easily better than all of OEL, Brodie, Subban, Letang, Weber, Josi, Burns, Vlasic, Pietrangelo. NOT Duncan Keith though. On my list Ekblad is easily a top 5 defenseman in the league right now. Scoring more than 36 points does NOT make you an elite defenseman. Playing the toughest competition and dominating them does. That's what Ekblad does, and then he goes down to the other end and adds plenty of offense for an elite shutdown defenseman.
As for the rest of your post, you're talking in circles now.
List of Exceptional Status junior players: John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid. These are the only examples we have of guys that had this status who have transitioned to the NHL. I would say that all of them have become superstars without any hesitation.
Phaneuf is an EXAMPLE of what can happen to a guy that everyone is sure to be a superstar. I don't think it's a particularly good comparison, and I never made the comparison in the first place. Know who you're arguing with because I never made any connection between the two.
If a player is already exceptional their first year in the league, do you expect them to progress a lot? No? Then why would you expect Ekblad to be so much better than what he was back then?
I honestly don't even know why I bothered responding to you.