alot of people have said Hagens >> Celebrini and quoted D-1 stats as if Hagens isnt the same birth year as Celebrini
Nobody on this forum was saying that though. No reason to grandstand here.
Yet Smith got plenty of goals next to that puck hog.
Nah i feel like Chicago knows they need someone to play with Bedard who is increasingly looking like a winger rather than a C, i think they go Hagens/Misa before anyone else.
Smith was best friends with and same age as that puck hog. Hagens is a 17-year-old freshman who is shooting like 3%.
So that best friend will refuse to sign and then sign with the Sharks in 3 years to play with his best friend.
I don't understand how anyone has ever had Leonard on the same level as Smith and Perrault. When one guy is always trying to force plays and every season ends up with the fewest points per game out of the three, that should be a pretty big red flag.
How Leonard translates to the NHL is going to be absolutely fascinating for me, after watching him for the last two years. On one hand, he's a tenacious forechecker and boards battler and he's pretty strong defensively for a winger. He's got a great shot and pretty good playmaking. But I'm extremely curious how his style of play translates once he can't just physically throw himself around. So much of his 'heroics' come from one-man plays that I'm not sure would fly in the NHL. So whether he turns out to be a first line power forward or just a great two-way second liner is going to be a great litmus test of NHL translationability.
The thing is, those plays aren't even good in college. Just no coaches have called it out yet. If he were just patient and played off his elite teammates, they would have scored even more. He shows great hands and skills, but more often he just gets smashed and turns it over. So without that, what does he have? Like you said, hardworking board battler, which is fine, but I don't see it translating to much more than a slightly undersized bottom 6 grinder type.
It's worth remembering that even if some of these prospects have been on our radars for many years at this point, they're still teenagers. Do you expect a 19 year old to be mature and calculated in literally any aspect of their lives? If not, then is that a reasonable expectation for how they should act on the ice at that age?
Ever since watching Leonard, I haven't believed the hype. He's obviously skilled and he plays with his heart on his sleeve, but he plays a totally not translatable game IMHO. As you both have said - he plays hero hockey, and he plays a crash and bang style that writes a check his body can't cash at barely 6'0" 200 or whatever. On his ass way more than people seem to admit even in the NCAA.
I'm considerably more optimistic than you seem to be re. Leonard as compared to the other players mentioned since Leonard has a more complete skillset. But I do think he's the type of prospect whose arc can go in very different ways depending on how his development is handled. So his projection depends in large part on how you feel about the Capitals.
I almost included the random shot at Gauthier in my post too, but I didn't want it to turn into too much of a "these prospects suck" tirade.
