Honestly, we have so many defensemen in the organization that we could afford to target someone in this mold, especially after taking ASP in the first. The opportunity cost discussion needs to focus on the forwards we passed on, not the defensemen. For the sake of full disclosure, the forwards I personally wanted probably weren't "high upside, swing for the fences" prospects either.
The first part yes, the second part less so imo. Obviously like anyone who wants to make the NHL he needs to be able to make some passes and move the puck with in order to survive at all, but look at Brooks Orpik. 1000+ NHL games, 18 goals total. In Washington he went 2 seasons without a goal and was part of a cup winning team.
I generally agree with your point, but think you may be taking it too far. Every defensemen needs to be able to pass the puck to a certain degree. This doesn't mean 40ft stretch passes on demand, but they do need to know where pressure is coming from and how to move the puck safely and do so on time. I say that I agree with you because this is what keeps the vast, vast majority of NHL defensemen in the league. The average NHL defensemen is not nearly as impactful with the puck as we make them out to be.
He had one more point than a 16yo goalie from his own team that played roughly the same number of games.
...I'd love to see some proof that either of these things is actually true.if he was THAT good defensively you'd think he would get invited to tournaments or his Coaches would play him in the Playoffs
here's the Team USA roster for the currently ongoing World Junior Summer Showcase tournament, no Cleveland to be seen even though there's 16 Defensemen on the list including numerous teammates of his that were drafted well after he was:
teamusa.usahockey.com
Dude, watch his shift by shift video. He can hit and take penalties. That's all it shows.
There's also a handful of other guys from the USNTDP team that aren't there. Are they nursing injuries? Collegiate obligations? Personal skills coaches? Flat out not invited?here's the Team USA roster for the currently ongoing World Junior Summer Showcase tournament, no Cleveland to be seen even though there's 16 Defensemen on the list including numerous teammates of his that were drafted well after he was:
2023 U.S. World Junior Summer Showcase Roster
No Gabe Perrault, no Will Smith, no Ryan Leonard, no Oliver Moore, no Trey Augustine, no Cole Eiserman.....
Probably not invited because there are USHL players that are better. There are a few college kids on the roster as well. Makes it pretty tough for a 7D NTDP player to make the roster.
The problem is, if a guy is playing against other teens, and doesn't have the vision, creativity, skating or handle to do somehting other than "move it to someone else" then he's going to be in big trouble against a higher level of competition when he has to problem solve. Without escapability skills he's just a turnover waiting to happen.
Moore, Perreault, Eiserman, Augustine, and Leonard are all participating in the Summer Showcase.
Hope. By all means. Just try not to convince yourself that it's some megabrain pick because of said hope. Brady is a defenseman at the major junior level of hockey with the offensive output of a goalie. It is what it is. Am I rooting against him? Absolutely not. It's just stupidly rare for players to move up in tiers of hockey and also improve on their overall roles. And he would have to improve his role to even become an every day 3rd pairing defenseman. Guys that end up on the 3rd pairings in the NHL typically are at least 2nd pairing or higher guys in the minors or juniors.
