Did we ever hear what Burke's injury was last year? I know the main concern with him was skating, so if it was something which affected that and made it an even bigger problem, it could help explain why he faltered so badly last season? I wouldn't say anybody was overly high on him... he ended up at #18 on our ranking list. But still, he was signed at 19, turned 20 a few weeks later, that's still not an overager, just a graduating junior. And part of his story was Covid, how he was a guy who maybe turned a corner during his Covid down time, and went from a complete nobody to a 50-goal scorer in the OHL, so flashing some signs of potentially having a significant late-blooming trajectory change due to a newly discovered work ethic and dedication.
Anyway, we were excited at the start of last year about Sward's early scoring exploits too. And the prospect that Wenatchee would have a really high-powered offense that would allow him to sustain that. I'm not sure why they blew it up with Savoie and Geekie? But Sward still produced well even after. I wasn't too impressed with him in the rookie games, I think he sat out at least one, but looked tentative/non-descript as far as I can recall? Anyway, NHL scouts have a consensus that he wasn't worth signing to a contract. They aren't just sleeping on guys very often and he had the visibility of being drafted, and the opportunity of getting a look from Colorado scouts too, and nobody signed him even after they let him walk. Maybe he can earn an AHL deal in the Jets organization, maybe not, but one has to realize things are not looking up for him atm.
I think with Hanzel, you also have to consider his 60 pts in the context of the team he was on. Both Sward and Hanzel ended up being the leading overall scorers on their teams last season. But the highest-scoring forward on Seattle had 41 pts. That team was blown up completely after the Memorial Cup run. And it was really that run which got Hanzel drafted, the +70, the playoff scoring. There were a lot of other big names on D on that team in the Mem Cup year too, he wasn't just getting opportunity sort of "by default" as perhaps Sward was.
It's pretty clear the Nashville Predators think Hanzel is a better prospect. Even if not a very notable one, so I'm not too sure why one would just read last year's overager stats alone and declare an opposing view? Players who have big points as overagers in junior hockey rarely amount to anything. (Because of course, legitimate NHL prospects are rarely left playing an overage year in junior.)