Prospect Info: 2020 NHL Entry Draft Thread

[Steve Zissou]

Wheeler: Every NHL team's best draft of the last 20 years

Wheeler reminds us that our best draft of the last 20 years was.... 2019.

Excited to see what 2020 brings!!!

 

[Steve Zissou]

Speed fades, size doesn't.

 

[psych3man]

Any post with that Olivia gets a like...

 

[BigKing]

Wheeler: Every NHL team's best draft of the last 20 years

Wheeler reminds us that our best draft of the last 20 years was.... 2019.

Excited to see what 2020 brings!!!

I still think this is a dumb take.

2005 produced Kopitar and Quick. A HHOFer and a guy with a case to be one. Two numbers that will be up in the rafters for this team.

2008 with Doughty and Voynov. If the latter wasn't a complete toolbag, we'd be talking about the best d-man in Kings history and a Top 4 guy for a decade.

If the 2019 draft produces at least one player as good as 11, 32 or 8 then I will be pumped. It might be more of a few Voynov-level types (Top 4/2nd line C and W) so the depth level is there but there isn't anyone taken in 2019 that looks to be as elite as the aforementioned three. Maybe Kaliyev because of how elite his shot is.

Regardless, it is pretty shortsighted to say 2019 is the Kings best draft when there are zero tangible results yet 2005 provided the backbone of the Cup teams, sans Doughty.

 

[Brodeur]

It's almost like Canadian media wants to push a Stutzle to LA narrative built upon tin foil so Byfield winds up staying in Canada or something.

Stutzle's been making his case for #2 for awhile. Bob McKenzie's survey was done in advance of the lottery. Not sure why people need to make conspiracy theories out of everything. Some people prefer Byfield, some people prefer Stutzle. Doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

Is there a backup plan already for the first pick if they cancel the season? I don't think I've seen it mentioned anywhere.

 

[BigKing]

Stutzle's been making his case for #2 for awhile. Bob McKenzie's survey was done in advance of the lottery. Not sure why people need to make conspiracy theories out of everything. Some people prefer Byfield, some people prefer Stutzle. Doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

It isn't about ranking Stutzle above Byfield, it is about the stories coming out that the Kings are taking Stutzle because of "x,y and z" with said reasons being kind of silly.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It isn't about ranking Stutzle above Byfield, it is about the stories coming out that the Kings are taking Stutzle because of "x,y and z" with said reasons being kind of silly.

Bluntly, it's Canadian media selling the good ol' Canadian boy to the home teams. It's pretty f***ing tinfoily pandering at that.

 

[cyclones22]

Bluntly, it's Canadian media selling the good ol' Canadian boy to the home teams. It's pretty f***ing tinfoily pandering at that.

Yep. Look if the Kings draft Stutzle because they think he's a reasonable facsimile of Peter Forsberg/Marner/Barzal/Kane, then fine. If Stutzle develops into that type of player while under the Kings watch, I'll be ecstatic! But they won't be drafting him because of some "German connection". I don't buy that for one minute and I only would entertain that for a tiny bit if he was an off the radar prospect and the Kings mined their resources to value him way earlier than other teams. But this kid is pretty much consensus top 3, so either they're not uncovering some gem. Whoever the Kings pick is who they think will turn out better (and have the right attitude, which is important to this FO), not anything predicated by race or positional need for a winger or defenseman.

 

[SFKingshomer]

I'm on the Stutzle bandwagon...kid is going to be a stud. I get a combo of Bure/Parise/Kane type vibe from him. Great hands, speed, smarts, vision.

 

[BigKing]

I'm not going to lie: I overwhelmingly prefer the OHL product due to track record and being able to compare Byfield to other players over a long time period as it relates to production, age etc.

I know Drai is German but he still went through the WHL. Someone might try to say that I'm being like the idiots that passed on Kopitar in 2005 because of being Slovenian but I'm not saying I wan Brian Lee over Stutzle: it is just something that plays in to my thinking when choosing between the two players.

 

[KINGS17]

I'm on the Stutzle bandwagon...kid is going to be a stud. I get a combo of Bure/Parise/Kane type vibe from him. Great hands, speed, smarts, vision.

How do you get any kind of Bure vibe off Stutzle? He may be a superior skater, but he isn't even close to being the kind of finisher Bure was in his day.

 

[funky]

I want Byfield. Take away the skill, the hands, the fact he is almost a year younger etc.

He has the one thing the others don’t, size and speed. In the new NHL everybody talks about speed speed of play etc. but when you have a 235 pounds 6 foot 5 guy coming down the ice at full speed he is not only making room for himself, he is opening up the ice for smaller teammates. No we just acquired a massively undersized guy in mMadden that has massive skill. What a guy the size or Byfield does is open up ice for those smaller guys. I would love to see Byfield drafted and placed on a line with a guy like Madden and a solid two way skilled guy like Turcotte or Fagemo. They can all scared, they all have great skills, and they don’t have that extra split second and a couple of inches of room due to the space that a big strong skating pivot like Byfield creates.


I see a guy like Vilardi , if staying at center being on the line with a Frk or Kaliyev of tape shooter on one side and another solid to a skilled player like Kempe, Fagemo or Grundstrom on the other side. Vilardi to me moves slower but is more creative and can protect the puck until he dishes for a one timer or tap in. Plus he does have a great release himself.

No matter what happens we have a wicked prospect base. We still have holes that many positions. And I’m not so much worried about the 17 to 20-year-olds as much as I’m worried about the gap of players were missing between the ages of 22 and 28

 

[Nodoughtyboutit]

Man, its only been like 3 days and this debate feels like its been going on forever. Haha October can't come fast enough.

I've gone back and forth, at this point I just want either of them and nothing stupid to happen where Blake tries to get cute. Both seem like studs and I'm not a decent enough gauge of talent to know if one is better than the other.

 

[fivehole32]

Man, its only been like 3 days and this debate feels like its been going on forever. Haha October can't come fast enough.

I've gone back and forth, at this point I just want either of them and nothing stupid to happen where Blake tries to get cute. Both seem like studs and I'm not a decent enough gauge of talent to know if one is better than the other.

You mean you don't want Blake looking for the Colton Teubert of the draft?

 

[Steve Zissou]

I see a guy like Vilardi , if staying at center being on the line with a Frk or Kaliyev of tape shooter on one side and another solid to a skilled player like Kempe, Fagemo or Grundstrom on the other side.

Don't forget Tyler Madden who although is centerman could potentially move to the wing. Kid is a gamer.

 

[bland]

Its easy to make a perfect case for drafting either player. Forget day to day, I sway from hour to hour.

We are in good shape.

 

[LAKings88]

How do you get any kind of Bure vibe off Stutzle? He may be a superior skater, but he isn't even close to being the kind of finisher Bure was in his day.

Skating style, not finishing.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Bluntly, it's Canadian media selling the good ol' Canadian boy to the home teams. It's pretty f***ing tinfoily pandering at that.

The Canadian media hasn’t been trying to sell Byfield, and certainly not to Ottawa, a market that’s routinely ignored. From their perspective, this draft is only about Lafreniere.

If anything, Byfield has been overly picked apart by the media here. Stutzle surpassed him in most “rankings” after the WJC, not after the lottery.

 

[Little Psycho]

LA has never had a problem with adding more centers to the youth core or the team. We seen time and time again Kings converting their centers to wing because of the abundance of natural centers. Having a lot of good centers hasn't been a problem. I think they'll go after QB.

 

[King'sPawn]

I'm not going to lie: I overwhelmingly prefer the OHL product due to track record and being able to compare Byfield to other players over a long time period as it relates to production, age etc.

I know Drai is German but he still went through the WHL. Someone might try to say that I'm being like the idiots that passed on Kopitar in 2005 because of being Slovenian but I'm not saying I wan Brian Lee over Stutzle: it is just something that plays in to my thinking when choosing between the two players.

I'm working on a comparison article for MM. Contextualizing Stutzle's production has been among the hardest things, because 1) there aren't a lot of star German players and 2) not many of them played in the DEL during their first draft year.

With Byfield, there are a lot of known qualities from the OHL who have gone on to play in the NHL. His points-per-game ratio and goals-to-points ratio are basically identical to Taylor Hall. The key difference being that Hall was tied for the league lead in scoring while Byfield was sixth. And Hall had much better numbers (more ice time) playing on the 2010 WJC Canada team. Canada U20 at eliteprospects.com

That said, I prefer Byfield. The skill and consistency is higher in Stutzle, but Byfield has more to offer and bigger potential.

This will probably sound like a terrible comparison, but personally, I feel Stutzle is a lot like Karl Alzner from the 2007 draft: what you see is what you get. Granted, there's a LOT to like, but if the gap in talent is small, with the gap in potential huge, I'm going to lean for the one with bigger potential.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The Canadian media hasn’t been trying to sell Byfield, and certainly not to Ottawa, a market that’s routinely ignored. From their perspective, this draft is only about Lafreniere.

If anything, Byfield has been overly picked apart by the media here. Stutzle surpassed him in most “rankings” after the WJC, not after the lottery.

I agree with you bigtime especially re: the boldfaced.

I'm not making a general statement, though. We're referencing a segment that was selling HARD the idea that LA is drafting Stutzle based on a bunch of third-degree German connections (AEG's ownership is of German heritage and has arenas in Germany! Why would they want Byfield?) rather than anything to do with playing ability so they could go on with the "canadian kid goes to canadian team" narrative.

 

[The Tikkanen]

that whole Canadian farm boy stuff is so far in the rear view mirror. These kids are groomed for stardom from the time they are 3 years old-NOBODY is growing up on a farm anymore firing pucks in the barn-it's 2020.

 

[BigKing]

I'm working on a comparison article for MM. Contextualizing Stutzle's production has been among the hardest things, because 1) there aren't a lot of star German players and 2) not many of them played in the DEL during their first draft year.

With Byfield, there are a lot of known qualities from the OHL who have gone on to play in the NHL. His points-per-game ratio and goals-to-points ratio are basically identical to Taylor Hall. The key difference being that Hall was tied for the league lead in scoring while Byfield was sixth. And Hall had much better numbers (more ice time) playing on the 2010 WJC Canada team. Canada U20 at eliteprospects.com

That said, I prefer Byfield. The skill and consistency is higher in Stutzle, but Byfield has more to offer and bigger potential.

This will probably sound like a terrible comparison, but personally, I feel Stutzle is a lot like Karl Alzner from the 2007 draft: what you see is what you get. Granted, there's a LOT to like, but if the gap in talent is small, with the gap in potential huge, I'm going to lean for the one with bigger potential.

I think I read that this was a higher scoring year in the OHL on the whole which might take a little bit of bite out of Byfield's numbers this year but, then again, Hall is a November birthday so he was five months away from being 19 when he was drafted whereas Byfield would have been two months away from turning 18 under a normal draft timeline. Hall also didn't make the WJC when he was 17.

If you compare there 17 year old seasons, Hall had 90 points in 63 games while while QB had 82 in 45.

I don't know who QB is playing with, but I look at that 2008-09 Windsor roster when Hall was 17 from November 14th on and I see a lot names I know...Ryan Ellis, Greg Nemisz, Dale Mitchell, Loktionov, Adam Henrique, Austin Watson, Lane MacDermid and Jesse Blacker.

 

[crassbonanza]

Fairly or not, I don't know why everyone is shocked that Byfield received some criticism after his WJC showing. He did not have a great tourney in his draft year and at that point Laf clearly separated himself and Stutzle gained some ground. Byfield is younger so he has a built in excuse(Laf was only slightly younger at the last WJC and put up similar points), but it was not a good showing at all in the main prospect tourney.

 

[KopitarFAN]

that whole Canadian farm boy stuff is so far in the rear view mirror. These kids are groomed for stardom from the time they are 3 years old-NOBODY is growing up on a farm anymore firing pucks in the barn-it's 2020.

The current NHL/AHL Sutter's kids might, otherwise you're right.