My stance is I want to give me as many sources, quotes, and named people as you can that say Patrick pre-draft wasn't a top 2 pick pre-draft? Because so far it's just a nebulous "scouts" quoted by McCagg, which is not nothing, but not also the supreme pre-draft authority you seem to be painting it as
What if I posted every other pre-draft scout, rankings, and draft lists that had him at either first or second overall? You think ~95% of scouts saying that means it's pretty damn close to a consensus? Because I do. And it's a massive part of the context you keep leaving out of McCagg thinking he's not 2nd overall quality but a no brainer at 4th overall.
It's not "well I guess I'd take him at 4 or 5", it's "he would be a no brainer at 4 or 5". Those are the exact words of the Scout. What kind of player do you think is a no brainer at 4th overall, a bust? Someone not even worth talking about at 2nd overall? That's what you're trying to say? Because that sounds insane to me.
You claiming Patrick was draft day poison at 2nd overall because a known draft contrarian wouldn't have drafted him at 2nd but would take him as a no brainer at 4th overall is a pretty weak argument, which is why I was hoping you had more names to back it up.
My point was very simple and succint.
In response to a post claiming that Nolan Patrick was a leaguewide consensus no-brainer top 2, I disputed it, saying his stock had dropped in many's eyes as the draft approached and he was NOT a leaguewide consensus no-brainer top-2 by the time of the draft.
To support this, I cited an article quoting at least three sources, jobs rather specifically described (WHL head coach, scout for a team picking in the top 10, another scout for a team picking in the top 10) who all expressed concerns (such as character, injuries, and lackluster play) and indicated they were souring on him compared to his previous reputation.
The fact that the author of the article was Grant McCagg is irrelevant. I said nothing about McCagg as an authority. I cited the article for the quotes that indicated there were growing concerns about Patrick in hockey circles.
(Now McCagg, to his credit, did use other parts of the article, not cited, to state he was moving Makar to #2 in his rankings ahead of Patrick. These quotes were part of the reasons why. Hey, he ended up being right, even though he's often wrong; but again, that's irrelevant to my point.)
A scout saying that Patrick would be a no-brainer at 4 or 5, but that he didn't see his team taking him otherwise (i.e., before that), supports the reason I cited the article: Patrick's stock was falling, and he was NOT a leaguewide consensus lock as a top 2 player in the draft.
Now you can bend over backward, and try to move the goalposts, and bring in a bunch of other irrelevant, extraneous information.
But the point is: No, by the time of the draft, Nolan Patrick was not an obvious, leaguewide, consensus top-2 player in the draft.
There were growing concerns, his stock was dropping, and hockey circles and scouts had conflicting opinions on him.