Prospect Info: 2020 NHL Draft 134th Overall Pick, Brett Berard, LW

[EdJovanovski]

Not enough hype for this kid

 

[pld459666]

Not enough hype for this kid

Seems like a feisty kid.

Hope he plays with a nasty attitude.

 

[Savant]

Not enough hype for this kid

Better that way

 

[WojtekWolski86]

Your 3rd line as a secondary scoring line is ideal, but it requires at least one of your top-2 lines to be able to act as a matchup line. This is of course ideal since your matchup line is going to get a lot of minutes and you'd rather give those minutes to one of your best lines. Fortunately, we have KZB for that which was one of the best matchup lines in the league last year.

In 13-14 our top 6 was:
Kreider-Stepan-Nash
Hagelin-Richards-Callahan

So using the 3rd as a scoring line was pretty obvious. People also seem to forget about 10-11 when we used Wolski-Stepan-Zuccarello as our 3rd line and they had even better results than Pouliot-Brassard-Zuccarello believe it or not.

Incredibly sheltered, but the results were out of this world:
View attachment 383725

I'm here for the name drop of the Polish legend

 

[Lua]

Hope he makes some noise again in this year's WJC. If I recall correctly he was the youngest player on the squad other than Beniers and he played his heart out. Definitely won me over a bit. He's a long shot, but I'm pulling for him.

 

[JimmyG89]

Hope he makes some noise again in this year's WJC. If I recall correctly he was the youngest player on the squad other than Beniers and he played his heart out. Definitely won me over a bit. He's a long shot, but I'm pulling for him.

He'll likely be one of the senior members of the team. A lot of their roster was from the Kakko draft. He should have a rather large role with the squad, top 6 as long as he starts well in college.

Fun player to watch. Relentless motor, goes to the net and is physical. He'd be one of the faster Rangers currently too.

It would not shock me if in 3-4 years time, he's the RW Panarin plays with at ES. Sure, lefty on the right side, but his motor and skating can mimic the ability of a Hagelin type that could play with Richards and Gaborik when he came up.

 

[egelband]

He'll likely be one of the senior members of the team. A lot of their roster was from the Kakko draft. He should have a rather large role with the squad, top 6 as long as he starts well in college.

Fun player to watch. Relentless motor, goes to the net and is physical. He'd be one of the faster Rangers currently too.

It would not shock me if in 3-4 years time, he's the RW Panarin plays with at ES. Sure, lefty on the right side, but his motor and skating can mimic the ability of a Hagelin type that could play with Richards and Gaborik when he came up.

That would be terrific. Sounds a bit like Brendan Gallagher. Which is exactly what we need.

 

[Bluenote13]

Looking forward to drafting his brother Brady in next years draft

 

[bl02]

Hopefully our Yanni Gourde.

 

[RangersFan1994]

Hopefully our Yanni Gourde.

As much as I don’t like him cause he is on a rival team, I’d love Gourde if he is moved due to cap reasons.

 

[HFsNumber1Heel]

As much as I don’t like him cause he is on a rival team, I’d love Gourde if he is moved due to cap reasons.

Players that know how to win in this league are ones you hold onto. Carl Hagelin may have been "overpaid" on paper, but look at his impact on the Rangers and then Penguins before his shoulder/knee injuries made him just another player. How many deep playoff runs did he go on from 2012-2017? 112 playoff games that would have been 114-116 if he doesn't get suspended for the Alfredson his and if the Rangers take at least one OT game in the 2014 SCF.

Gourde ain't going anywhere.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I have Conor Garland hopes for him.

 

[cwede]

I have Conor Garland hopes for him.

That his drafting team will be eager to move on at age 25?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

That his drafting team will be eager to move on at age 25?

I hope we aren’t Arizona dumb.

 

[jay from jersey]

I have Conor Garland hopes for him.

We really need 2 out of Berard, Vierling, Edstrom, and Cuylle to become good solid cheap bottom 6 players.
Would be great if they all pan out, odds are they won’t, but with the large dollar contracts the top guys are going to get, we need to keep refilling cheap young talent with balls for the bottom 6

 

[Harbour Dog]

I'm here for the name drop of the Polish legend

In NHL2003 (I think), Poland was the lowest rated team in the game, and my buddies would often make me use them when we played one another.

"f***ing Czerkawski" became a meme for a few years, whenever I managed to win at anything, video games or not haha.

 

[cwede]

Not enough hype for this kid

underestimated by The Hockey News, too
Top 100 Players to Watch in the NCAA
71. Brett Berard

(yeah THN is now run by same folks now running SI.
Maven rebrands to The Arena Group and reorganizes around sports and finance
Even as Internet made the weekly less relevant,
I still enjoy certain THN special issues - Yearbook, Draft Preview, Future Watch.
Inconsistent availability, and over-priced direct shipping from their site,
has meant that this year I've found guys on eBay to snail-mail these issues from Canada.)

 

[nyr2k2]

He plays tonight. Opponent is Merrimack, where Huge Ole Ass is rostered. Could theoretically be Ollas' debut.

It's on NESN+ if you're in that viewing area. Streams should also be available.

 

[EdJovanovski]

I won’t fanboy too hard, don’t want to give him the Jovo jinx. But I’ve been telling you guys he’s going to be a stud and he is starting the season on fire!
3 goals, 5 points through his first 3 games this season in the NCAA.

 

[Levitate]

Not enough hype for this kid

oh no the EdJova kiss of death

 

[nyr2k2]

I won’t fanboy too hard, don’t want to give him the Jovo jinx. But I’ve been telling you guys he’s going to be a stud and he is starting the season on fire!
3 goals, 5 points through his first 3 games this season in the NCAA.

Why'd you wait a year to pump his tires in this thread? We've been tracking him every game in the prospects thread and a bunch of other threads since he was drafted. You're late to the game, guy.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Why'd you wait a year to pump his tires in this thread? We've been tracking him every game in the prospects thread and a bunch of other threads since he was drafted. You're late to the game, guy.

Nah I’ve been high on him for a while.

Berard should be several spots higher than he is.
Khodorenko was once regarded as the best prospect in the world in his age group
C Patrick Khodorenko - Michigan State, NCAA (2017 undrafted; signed by NYR)

“Not enough people talk about Brett Berard.

If you would've told me he was a top 3 draft pick when I was watching the WJC I would've believed you. He was one of the best players in the entire tournament and was noticeable every shift, despite being like the youngest player in the entire tournament other than Matt Beniers. (who he outproduced & looked better than). He was only 6 days shy of being a 2021 draft pick, and would easily be a 1st rounder this year. Berard is small but he's an excellent skater and is an absolute thorn in the side of opposition.

Edit: Another thing he has that our team lacks at times is swagger & confidence. A little thing I noticed that was unusual, every time I heard a stick smacking against the ice it ended up being him. Every time he's open he would smack his stick very loudly calling for a pass because he wanted the puck at all times, he had this attitude like he knew he was the best. He's extremely aggressive and would legit just shove guys after each face-off for no reason lol, he would get in a scrum after nearly every whistle too. Looked like a young Brad Marchand out there.”

“Berard will be the steal of the draft
Such an up tempo player and has so much attitude & swagger”
December 2020

1. Vitali Kravtsov
2. Nils Lundkvist
3. Braden Schneider
4. Zac Jones
5. Brett Berard
6. Matthew Robertson
7. Morgan Barron
8. Lauri Pajuniemi
9. Tarmo Reunanen
10. Brennan Othmann

And Brett Berard in the 5th round last year. Kid was one of the stand out players of the WJC’s

I think Berard should replace him, he plays with so much energy and could cause havoc and create space for Turcotte & Zegras

2020 draft mid to late round steals

 

[nyr2k2]

Nah I’ve been high on him for a while.


“Not enough people talk about Brett Berard.

If you would've told me he was a top 3 draft pick when I was watching the WJC I would've believed you. He was one of the best players in the entire tournament and was noticeable every shift, despite being like the youngest player in the entire tournament other than Matt Beniers. (who he outproduced & looked better than). He was only 6 days shy of being a 2021 draft pick, and would easily be a 1st rounder this year. Berard is small but he's an excellent skater and is an absolute thorn in the side of opposition.

Edit: Another thing he has that our team lacks at times is swagger & confidence. A little thing I noticed that was unusual, every time I heard a stick smacking against the ice it ended up being him. Every time he's open he would smack his stick very loudly calling for a pass because he wanted the puck at all times, he had this attitude like he knew he was the best. He's extremely aggressive and would legit just shove guys after each face-off for no reason lol, he would get in a scrum after nearly every whistle too. Looked like a young Brad Marchand out there.”

“Berard will be the steal of the draft
Such an up tempo player and has so much attitude & swagger”
December 2020






2020 draft mid to late round steals

As I said my guy, welcome to the bandwagon.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

 

[LokiDog]

The kid is the really real deal and I have thought for a bit that he could be our Marchand, or Marchand-lite. Marchand’s been above point per game for several years - Berard may not be THAT good, but I could honestly see him being more productive than Kakko and possibly even Laf. He could be a 70 point buzz saw winger. Of course, he could just as easily be a 35 point bottom six buzz saw. But he really seems to have “it”.