Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Over the last decade, all I have seen from Kylington is a wonderful attitude.
In his draft year, he did have some struggles in the SHL (which is a crazy tier 1 league for a 17 year old to be thrust into anyways) and he and his agent requested a demotion to the tier 2 league to prioritize his development, which was somehow framed as selfish behaviour.
As a prospect, he definitely struggled defending... ehich kind of checks out considering he played forward up until he was a teenager, and had never had someone actually teach him the defense position until he moved to Stockton as a rookie.
I personally feel that the color of his skin was actually a very real factor in how clueless the NHL was about him. Here was a kid being touted in the same sentence as Marner, Eichel, Hanifin and suddenly fell to 58th overall over a 6 month span?
I also think that the D who did get drafted high that year - including Hanifin, Chabot and Werenski - weren't exactly strong defensively themselves at that age. It was a work in progress for all of them. Hanifin may have played in the NHL as a 19 year old but was -53 over his first three seasons despite sheltered third paid minutes. Not trying to overstate plus minus here but there's a good chance that another team may have and arguably should have sent him to the AHL for a few years too to get more ice time in an expanded role.
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He was highly touted for a while, but then fell to 58th because... they suddenly discovered he was black? Did they not know that while he was highly touted? I mean, come on.