I dont' think he is happy person
Brilliant. Not agreeing with everyone and not being blindly happy at virtually any possible pick we can make, makes me an unhappy person. Have you got other pearls of widsom like this that I can learn about myself?
What is it you don't like about Sennecke? Where would you rank him?
Personally I think he is definitely in the conversation in the top 10. In this year besides #1 and perhaps Demidov it really becomes more about flavours than quality. Lindstrom was definitely looking like a solid top 3-5 pick and he still may be but Sennecke really came on strong at the end. I love Iggy because he is such a gamer but I feel like his upside is a bit limited compared to Sennecke and some of the D.
Here's pretty much my whole take; While others have said that I have a "favorite player" for the Habs to take, it's simply not true. I really like Iginla, but would not be disappointed with any of him, Lindstrom, Demidov or Catton to be honest.
It's more about seeing way too many red flags about Sennecke than absolutely wanting this team to pick a particular player.
First, on the "uneducated" side of things;
It was reported as recently as this month, that at some point in time in the last year, there were concerns about his attitude and off-ice behavior from several scouts. Scott Wheeler went as far as saying most scouts speaking about him were often letting out a huge sigh, and feeling puzzled about what to actually think about the guy.
Then, there's an obvious lack of production. If a guy has hands that are as good as his, you'd expect him to show that in some way, shape or form, it allows him to distance himself from the pack and dominate. This is what happened with Lindstrom in the games he played, this is what happened with Iginla at many points in the season, same with Catton and even Demidov in the MHL. What you see here is a guy who struggled performing any better than 1 PPG in the OHL, and who "randomly" picked it up after being paired with Calum Ritchie. People are saying that it's because "he's growing in his body", which in my opinion is overstated and a load of b.s. I just don't buy it. It might have an impact, absolutely. But not to the extent that the jump in production between his D-1 and D year is almost nonexistant. Not even close. I think people are quick to buy on that.
There is also the fact that this guy is nowhere near as high on any projected list, and that the other fanbases don't seem to view the guy with the same enthousiasm as some here do.
So first, I read all of that. But still kept seeing how high some people were on the guy. So I decided to forge my own opinion and actually watch some of his shift-by-shift.
I tried to like the guy. I really did. The fact is that he's a lanky player with an odd skating style, who's trying to deke every opponent one-on-one like 95% of the time, and who doesn't exactly strike you as a fast player. His involvement away from the puck is also worrysome to say the least. And it's not just in the defensive zone. In the offensive zone he's often extremely passive, waiting for the puck to come to his stick instead of actively looking to get in the open. He's not particularly good at opening passing lanes. He's very often caught cheating at the opposing blueline. And most of the highlight goals he scores are just not projectable in the NHL. He's just an awkard player. The dekes he pulls off that end up being goals are spectacular, but there are very few of them I envision working against guys like Trouba or McAvoy. Guy is going to get murdered. There's also the fact that for his size, his strength is pretty darn worrysome. Guy falls on his ass most of the time he goes in the corner.
So yeah. You look at all that, and I think it is extremely short-sighted to suggest that he isn't the likeliest prospect to bust out of all the discussed group at 5.
Which, then again, would be perfectly fine if you're an organization with a ton of good forward prospects, and willing to swing for the fences with little to lose. At this point, I'd be all ears, would actually welcome the organization I'm cheering for to go with a high-risk, high-reward pick, and hope for the best.
But we're not this organization. We have absolutely NOTHING in the pipeline up front. Filip Mesar's lack of improvement is beyond concerning. Joshua Roy I won't even get into what I think of the guy, because I'll still get told that I'm "full of shit". And Owen Beck is not projected to be a top-6 forward. So this is pretty much a can't-miss pick for the organization.
Could Sennecke become a better player than Iginla? There's a possibility. Everything is possible. But he's a darn more risky pick. And I'm not the only one saying it. Most lists have him as low as mid-first round.
I think a lot of people high on Sennecke are trying to play 4D chess and convince themselves that this would be a great pick. This would be a "jury is still out pick", and I'm not sure we can afford that. People will probably come up and tell me "he's not any riskier than any of the other prospects". Which is not true. People will say "offensive numbers don't matter", but in the end, the guys who ended up becoming star forwards in the NHL after struggling to hit a PPG in the CHL on their draft year are very far and few between. You can come up with Scheifele all you want, he's not exactly the most common scenario.
Call it "Kotkaniemi derangement syndrom" if you want. I don't care. In my opinion there's no world in which Iginla is not a safer pick than Sennecke. And even a rather "boom-or-bust" type of pick like Lindstrom is safer, because of how natural and effortless his style looks and feels. And mainly because he's shown that he's a dominant player pretty much 100% of the games he played this season.
I also am tired of the ongoing notion that St. Louis is some kind of hockey coach version of "The dog whisperer" who magically transforms hockey players into superstars. I think this reputation is overdone. As is the one that suggests the organization as a whole now "knows how to develop players". I don't think there's enough evidence to suggest this yet.