Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanCharles
I don't know how you can say that about Byfield. He is 20 years old and had 15pts in 16 AHL games last year. In the NHL he had 22pts in 53 regular season games and 4pts in 6 playoff games.
When he was 18 he played in the AHL, which is a league of 20 year olds and up, and had 20pts in 32 games. As a 19 year old he had 6pts in 11 AHL games.
The sample size isn't much but he showed he is essentially too good for the AHL by 20 years old and was getting reps on the top line with Kopitar and Kempe.
If you look his stats compare quite well to Tage Thompson who is also big guy that didn't really explode until last season.
The only reason I'm coming at you on this is cause in his draft year, he was literally expected to take a bit longer because he was one of the youngest players in the draft and bigger guys take longer to iron out the kinks and realize what they can do utilizing their size and reach. Byfield also has the speed of a average sized player so the sky is the limit for him IMO.
Not every prospect produces star numbers before they are 21. Just because they don't doesn't mean they can't reach their draft potential, especially when the book literally said Byfield will need time.
Anyways, I agree with you about the rest of your post however and it really is funny how far they have fallen as everyone was praising their prospect pool not too long ago. Just goes to show that it really is difficult to make the show and reach your full potential if you get there.
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I didn't say he was a bust.
And I think he's going to be a top 6 center. But I do think he's going to be in tough to be a truly elite center.