Cristall can't skate. And, yeah, he's got great edges, but he's got zero power to his skating. His startups are trash too.
If you want to draft a poor skater with great hands then draft Matthew Wood. He doesn't have a lot of power either, but he can gain speed through the use of crossovers. Cristall is no longer on my draft list at either ours or Florida's spot.
I find it really hard to believe that teams will draft him top 20 with his size & skating deficiencies. LBB was predicted at #20 in 2022 he went #44. Dumais was ranked at around #50, he went #96. I expect a similar drop for Cristall. Think he goes 20+.
I won't lie and say he is a total burner and all, but everyone agrees his edges are good and he does have speed. To say he can't skate and comparing him to Wood is quite the statement there, and I love Wood. He doesn't generate much push on his stride, but what he does is have a great stride, good overall technique and very, very quick feet. When he adds in power to his legs, the stride is going to become more efficient.
His processing speed is also going to make his skating a non-issue, he is quicker off the blocks than most, because he just sees the ice better and starts up earlier, just like in the clip above, he takes two strides before anyone even takes their first. (Also because he has quick strides, and small legs, lol.)
There's two areas that keeps Cristall from being a slam dunk and its the combination of size, separation quickness and lower body strength, but that is true of a lot of players this year, Benson, Michkov also have that concern. It's something you just have to live with when you draft smaller. Caufield is doing more than fine with similar skating to Cristall, Cole Perfetti was looking to be good too even with worse skating. The other one is just that sometimes he seems like he just doesn't want to play defense ?
I see some plays and I go like bruh wut ? Just lets players go on breakaways without even trying lmao. Im sure this will sort itself out in the bigs though, and even if it doesn't, Kane's made a career out of it, not too concerned. He also showed at times that he can make good defensive plays and that he can be solid, remember when he cucked Bedard in october ? That was pretty cool.
Also look at that absolute mad man move to open up space for a pass to the opposite blue line (12:01.) Just a beauty of a guy.
don't know if this was posted in this thread, reminds me of the draft dynasty channel before he got hired by the Habs
I wonder how the copyright and ownership works for youtube vids of feeds like you do ? Ever had anything deleted ?
That's why I compared his style, not his impact or talent level. The way he skates and handles the puck is similar to Crosby in style. Also, the combination of talent, iq and intensity is pretty rare, even if it's not on Crosby's level.
Doesn't have Crosby's lower-body either but his edges do remind you of Sid sometimes. The way he just makes a small adjusment in his blade angle to make a play, is pretty special stuff. Same with Cristall. Not sure labeling those guys poor skaters makes sense.
