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Prospect Info: #5 OA - Barrett Hayton - Center - Back to the OHL

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He actually reminds me of Bo Horvat. Similar production, similar scouting report, similar size. Of course Horvat turned out to be a completely different player than the reports said - not a 2-way player at all but rather an offensive more dangling center who struggles defensively.

My problem with this pick is that it seemed like a reach. I feel they should've been able to extract some value by trading down and still pick Hayton. Of course if they knew say Detroit was picking him, then can't really complain. Doubt that though. Just seems like a wasted opportunity. Then again, with how open the lists were around 6-12, maybe those teams weren't interested in moving up and were confident they'd get a good player where they were, and trading lower than that would've meant Hayton would've been gone. It's understandable I guess.

Clearly they thought Hayton was simply the BPA, especially given the current surplus of centers in the roster. Can't really have a problem with that. One thing is for sure though, this pick is going to be under a LOT of scrutiny. If they miss on this one/some of the higher consensus rated players (like Zadina) picked after end up clearly outperforming Hayton, heads will or at least should fall.
 
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Imagine having Zadina fall into your lap and decide to reach instead. f*** we better look back on this thread in a couple years and laugh because Hayton is a stud, but Zadina will make an immediate impact.
 
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Jagged Ice said:
Like we know more than the scouts. Montreal and Ottawa also passed. A lot of scouts passed. How much did Hayton rise? We're going to learn a lot in the next few days and weeks.
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10 teams passed on Forsberg despite having a consensus top three ranking (and most of them picked for the more important position in doing so). And then Washington traded him for Martin freaking Erat.

There's such a thing as trying to be too cute.
 
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Chayka heat check after Keller's success this year and Chychrun's the year before. He likes the late birthdays.

Hayton showed a lot in a second line role this year. If Frost lands in Philly this year, Hayton's production will look a lot more like a top five pick's. He was just outside my top 10 (I would have taken Zadina without hesitation) but I understand the thinking.
 
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I can see the logic. They had him rated highly themselves and presumed other teams did not, but as the rankings are all over the place it's too hard to gauge the actual picks so you don't want to trade too far down. Additionally, with the rankings all over place it's expected every one looks like their reaching for players so each team probably has multiple acceptable picks they'd be pleased with so they aren't too interested in paying to move up.

I also wonder if this is more of the strategy of going with the centers who can switch over to wings rather than just grabbing the wings, even after Chayka warned of not wanting to go overboard on that.
 
Muppet said:
Imagine having Zadina fall into your lap and decide to reach instead. **** we better look back on this thread in a couple years and laugh because Hayton is a stud, but Zadina will make an immediate impact.
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Lot of people thought Pool Party would have an immediate impact and that hasn't gone so well. This is art, not science.

I wish they'd traded down to 8 or 9, though.
 
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_Del_ said:
Lot of people thought Pool Party would have an immediate impact and that hasn't gone so well. This is art, not science.

I wish they'd traded down to 8 or 9, though.
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There were always questions about Pool Party's game transitioning to NA ice. Which would not have been a problem for Zadina.
 
moosemeister said:
Anybody wanna borrow my toaster?
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flying-toasters.png
 
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How often does this team actually get a whiff of lady luck? Despite losing the lottery and falling to 5, Zadina drops into our lap.

We pass it up and reach about 10 spots too early based on what, the guy plays center?

How can you possibly justify this pick given what should have been learned when we wasted 3OA on Strome.

Disgusted.
 
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I had posted something similar in the draft thread, but I think this is a trend that teams are going to start doing in terms of "reaching" for centers. I mean, we could argue that Strome was reached for at #3, when looking at the current comparable careers of picks taken behind him in Marner and Hanifin.

But the truth is that if you have a reason for a failed pick and failed potential, make it on a center b/c you can still convert them to wing and get something out of them. Much harder to convert a wing to center the higher up you go.

I agree that somewhere around 8 would have been better, but maybe all three teams behind us had a similar thought about going C early as soon as Hughes or Zadina came off the board. Also shows why we didn't execute a trade up to #3 and had a separate deal for Domi/Galchenyuk.

I think there is a lot to like about the player, with the exception of where the value was relative to the draft board. Even at #6 or 7, it looks better, just b/c the clear-cut top 4 or 5 players are off the board usually. Also makes me wonder if some teams soured on Zadina for any reason. Hard to figure why when he would make another Halifax forward who played well in the NHL after the likes of Drouin, Ehlers, and Hischier.
 
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