As prospects, Leonard's processing is way better though. I also think his playmaking is generally underrated. Slaf has the size advantage obviously. As the opposing team in 4 years, if I had to face Slaf, Dach and Leonard together I'd probably sh*t my pants.
Another factor that HuGo will probably consider is that Will Smith creates the most in the slot. He thrives in the middle of the ice so potentially cutting off his most opportune positioning ont the ice might not bode well. It's also like with Smith, either you get him to play C where he's definitely the pick at 5 or you risk having him as a less effective winger going forward.
Depends on if you think Suzuki and Caufield are legit 1st liners and Dach is a C going forward. Cause I don't think Smith at wing will be as good as Leonard. I also think Leonard will be a more effective playoff performer. Remember absolutely no one thought Tkachuk would be competing for Hart's when he was drafted. If so, he would went 2 easily. Not perfect comparables but would you rather Matthews or Tkachuk is basically what you're asking
Leonard, because I expect him to be a more impactful playoff performer than Smith.
I gotta go with Leonard
That's THE question Jimmy.
Id go 1000% Michkov and can’t conceive of anyone passing on him unless you ND him for non hockey stuff.
Before this season RNH never even broke 70 points.
Smith is IMO much more skilled offensively than Nudge. His offensive upside is higher. But Smith’s unfortunately still as soft as Nuge. And Nuge is better defensively.
Ya even though I said this want a perfect comparison, I said using hindsight, would you pick Matthews or Tkachuk in the 2016 draft
That's an assumption people make based on Kent coaching Smith, not the fact. Just because Kent knows the prospect better than others considered, it does not mean Smith will be selected even if they determine that there are better options. Besides, Kent is not the only decision maker, Gorton, Bobrov and the scouting team are all involved in that.
Yes, I don’t typically like selections of players that are based overwhelmingly on physical advantages over junior aged players (Fantilli? Dvorsky?). It’s not to say those advantages won’t persist at the NHL level, sometimes they do (Svechnikov) sometimes they don’t (Byfield, Turcotte). When it works out it’s usually because the player is actually a lot more skilled and intelligent than they were originally given credit for. Its just tough to predict. Leonard is a skilled, intelligent player in his own right, I’m not worried about his transition to the pros.
Not sure I agree with that honestly, they actually have kind of similar profiles with their vision and IQ being high end traits, but I would argue Nuge is/was a better skater and definitely smarter and better defensively. Plus he stepped into the NHL in his d+1 and put up 52pts in 62 games. Not sure anybody would expect Smith to do the same.
Smith is also a low intensity player, and I'm not entirely sure what 'more intense offensively' means to be honest. He still doesn't engage in battles in the O Zone.
