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Old 05-02-2025, 02:09 PM   #2721
Jiri Hrdina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18 View Post
And it also shows why drafting is tough.

I would have said you were crazy if you took Stutzle over Byfield in that draft at the time - Byfield looked to be that unicorn combination of size, speed, and skill.

Even the Turcotte pick...IIRC the prevailing sentiment at the time was how lucky the Kings were to have a center of Turcotte's calibre fall to them at 5.

I think for the Kings the issue has been more the post-drafting development. Guys like Turcotte, Byfield, Clarke, Vilardi, Kaliyev, all seemed to stall out development wise in that system. Sometimes it's more the development than it is the drafting.
Agreed though I would say that
- The compelling part of Byfield was always his physical attributes but Stutzle was on the rise because of the pure skill. Byfield had been talked about for a few years for that draft, but Stutzle was the rising one.
- Turcotte the concern was, at the time, that he was a high floor, low ceiling player.

Easy with 20/20 of course.
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