I think the best player in the draft slipped to you guys here.
I know that’s not the consensus, but I’ve been of that opinion all season.
This reminds me of the 2017 draft, where I also thought the best player in a weak top end of the draft prior to the draft, Pettersson, slipped due to bad drafting.
Hughes was crowned as the next American hockey phenom over a year before this draft. It was incredibly premature. It didn’t allow for the obvious development that happens in the 17 year old seasons of hockey players.
Turcotte outplayed Hughes this season and I’ve long said that his game projects better to the NHL. He isn’t as hyped, but I’ve watched these players play a lot over the last two seasons, and see Turcotte as having a higher ceiling and floor.
As for the other players picked ahead, I’m not going to complain about my team drafting Kakko, but I had Turcotte ranked ahead of Kakko. More positional value, better skater. Not a lot of difference in caliber, but I’d prefer Turcotte. I know that’s not a popular opinion.
I think the big gaffes here were the 3 and 4 picks. The 1 and 2 have been set nearly the whole season due to narratives surrounding players. Rarely do we see GM’s go contrary to consensus with the first few picks. Turcotte was talked about as the 3rd pick to his hometown team. They instead took an inconsistent player who has big bust potential. Colorado’s error wasn’t as bad because it wasn’t a kid who the GM has known for years living in their own backyard, but they needed a star forward. They are a one line team. That’s not going to win you a Cup.
I’m not guaranteeing that I’m right here, but I watched a lot of the NTDP players and enough of the other other 2019 draftees over the last few seasons. I think it’s a pretty weak top end of the draft. There’s no McDavid or Dahlin, but I think Turcotte will be the best player from this draft, like I thought Pettersson would be in the 2017 draft.
You can read the generic scouting reports, but what they underplay about Turcotte’s game is his hockey IQ and pure scoring ability. I think he has at least a 75 hockey IQ. I think he has the best hockey IQ in the draft. He’s such a smart forechecker and the best forechecker in the draft. He reads what defenders are going to do with the puck at such a high level. The player that defensemen who can’t move the puck don’t want to see coming at them while they retrieve picks is Turcotte. He’s going to take it from them and create an extra few zone opportunities per game due to his forechecking ability.
Also, his scoring stats were about the same as Hughes this season with worse line mates, worse zone starts and slightly worse PP usage. Hughes had better stats in international play and against college teams, Turcotte had better stats in league play. His stats are historically good for that program. He’s right there with his scoring averages compared to the best to ever come out of the NTDP program. You can look all of this up. People talked about how to rank the NTDP players this season, and I found the discussion to be very misinformed. Turcotte was viewed as having lower offensive upside, yet his scoring average was considerably higher than all of them, except Hughes. What is the basis for Zegras or Boldy having more scoring potential? It made no sense, but it was in the scouting reports, so it must’ve been true. Turcotte doesn’t play as flashy of an offensive game as some players in this draft because he plays more on the inside of the ice and less on the outside, but he’ll score a lot of points. He also has the ability to run a shift with offensive skill and dekes, so it’s not as if he isn’t capable of playing that style of game, but he operates closer to the net. That’s the more effective game.