Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
I'd be interested to hear which scouts had Bennett 1st on their list, hopefully it wasn’t unanimous. Sam may have looked great in Kingston, but to me, the type of game he wanted to play did not look like it would translate well at the NHL level. Constantly going one on one, putting pucks between defender’s legs, trying to dipsy doodle around them.
To me, Draisaitl was the clear #1 guy. Obviously, it's easy to say that now seeing what he has accomplished thus far in his career. But he definitely b gbbnhad the type of game that could translate well from league to league. Played big, impossible to move, used his frame to protect pucks, vision, awareness. The plays he made were very transferable to the big leagues whereas Bennett’s game was not IMO. The only thing that held him back was his lack of polish in his skating and mobility which he fixed in spades. Even without McDavid, I still think he'd be a franchise center.
I wonder if the Flames scouts fell in love with the whole Doug Gilmour schtick, instead of paying attention to his potential shortfalls. Maybe it was Brian Burke, who knows. But he was never going to be the type of player he wanted to be. He didn't have the speed of Connor, the agility of Gaudreau or the hands of a Patrick Kane to be that type of player. Instead, it’s his truculence, motor and jam that’s made him into a good NHL hockey player and impact playoff performer.
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You're going to have to back that up.
It was a mixed bag, with some support for each of the top 3 at #1, between Ekblad, Reinhart and Bennett. Ekblad probably had the most support, and Reinhart and Bennett were a coin toss. Draisaitl was a clear 4th on virtually every list, with a couple pushing him up to 3rd.
But no doubt you had a better read on the 4 of them 10 years ago, than all the scouts did. No hindsight bias there.