Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
Ritchie's production is not particularly encouraging for a guy in this draft year. I think teams are starting to get wise to these guys who have NHL size but don't have the same star probability as their counterparts. You can get size in pretty much any round.
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I have to respectfully disagree with you to a point. Yes, if size is the only asset a player has, then they will fall in the draft- but as I’ve said before, size will always be an “asset” as long as the sport remains full contact, especially in the playoffs.
Look at the 2021 draft for example. Most of the “risers” were players with size (other than Coronato and Rosen) and most of the “fallers” were the smaller guys. Eklund was pegged to be top-4, but went 7th. Lysell fell to 21. Stankoven, Chibrikov, Tuomala, Zellweger, Behrens, and Pastujov all fell out of the first round. McTavish was taken 3rd (most had him around 10), Tyler Boucher was 10th, Cole Sillinger was 12, Othmann went 16th. Most of the first round was players 6 feet or taller, and as a guy who watches the Draft closely, I can say this happens every year- and if you look back at all the player profiles I wrote that year, I predicted as much.
If Calum Ritchie was a small player, would he be predicted to go in the first? If you had a team where all your forwards were 5’10”, would that team go far in the playoffs? The answer to both questions is no. If you go back to last year’s Draft, if Matt Savoie was 6 feet tall, he would have gone top-3, instead of 9th.