TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
I’ve watched no less than 10 of their games this year. I’ve had him 2 and he’s still 2.
C Berkly Catton - Spokane Chiefs, WHL (2024, 8th, SEA)
- Thread starter landy92mack29
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rubenflamshep
Registered User
With all this chatter about Catton going second, it's still absolutely wild to me that Benson dropped to 13th last year
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Hockeyville USA
Registered User
And Benson isn't even that old, May birthday is pretty normal. Catton is the obvious January birthday Canadian so he's the oldest in his grade and hockey birthyear, but Catton has been so impressive that hopefully the relative age effect doesn't stunt him too much as time goes on
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Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
Despite what NHL teams SAY, some remain hesitant on small, undersized guys.
FourQuarters
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- Mar 31, 2022
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2023 draft may be one of the deepest draft in few years, and Benson has proved that many teams made a mistake to pass him
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
Yeah, it’s absolutely insane that Benson dropped to 13th. Just stupid, he would be the clear-cut 2nd overall prospect in this draft.
Castle8130
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Benson had more issues than Catton. Both are smaller and have out-performed in every tournament or league they've played in. Catton is a little bigger than Benson and has superior skating capabilities.
At the time of the draft, Benson was under 5'10" with a lot of question marks surrounding his skating abilities. Some scouts thought his skating was below average. Some thought his skating would be fine at the NHL level. Either way, the combination of under-sized + average skating is not well-liked amongst NHL scouts.
Caufield fell similarly. A top 5 pick in talent alone, but his height hurt his stock a ton. 5'7" is very small and not many people his size ever make it to the NHL.
At the time of the draft, Benson was under 5'10" with a lot of question marks surrounding his skating abilities. Some scouts thought his skating was below average. Some thought his skating would be fine at the NHL level. Either way, the combination of under-sized + average skating is not well-liked amongst NHL scouts.
Caufield fell similarly. A top 5 pick in talent alone, but his height hurt his stock a ton. 5'7" is very small and not many people his size ever make it to the NHL.
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
This is absolutely revisionist history. Only dumbasses thought Benson had skating issues and Catton has a half inch on Benson at best.
Castle8130
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I was very attentive at the time of the draft. I can promise you there were concerns about his skating for his size. That happened....
He got drafted 13th oa for a reason. Matthew Savoie was smaller and an inferior prospect that went 9th oa in 2022. He wasn't in the same draft, but definitely got drafted earlier than he should've if size was an issue. Size + skating go hand in hand for a ton of scouts
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
It sounds like you were attentive to HF boards at the time of the draft, not Benson himself. I watched 20+ games of Benson last year and I never had any concerns about his skating. Like I said, only dumbasses had skating concerns with Benson, and there are a lot of dumbasses on this forum.
And Benson is proving why he shouldn’t have lasted until 13th overall. In the NHL, as an 18 year old. He was a vastly superior WHLer at the same age compared to Catton. I do like Catton and I would certainly have time for the idea that Catton’s potential is higher, but Benson was one of the safest draft prospects I’ve ever seen and his potential is extremely high as well.
Castle8130
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No, a few scouts were quoted by articles and some of my sources as well. It was more-so his size + skating combination that wasn't enticing from the NHL scouts. Not to the extremity of Perreault.
I had faith in both Benson and Caufield. Currently have Catton 6th, the kid can play. I'm still trying to re-work my rankings.
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
“Some of your sources”?? Oy vey buddy.
The scouts were wrong. Go to the Benson thread, you’ll find posts from the few of us that watched Benson refuting the “skating concerns” constantly. It’s true that scouts said there were skating concerns, but those people were the type just looking for excuses to move Benson down their boards because he’s small.
Hockeyville USA
Registered User
Feels like Savoie went high in part because he was a known quantity for a longer period of time (similar to Wright) dating back to minor hockey prestige, and in 2020-21, many thought 2022 would be the Wright-Lambert-Savoie draft, obviously before Cooley emerged.
As for Catton, he continues to get better, goes about his business without many paying attention. I also feel that most CHLers are getting less hype (outside of the major junior centric prospect watchers/prospect focused Canadian outlets) predraft since the CHL isn't producing studs as quickly as European Pro and the NCAA route are to some extent.
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Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Most sources have it as a two inch discrepancy, and Catton isn’t yet 18. Could be more by the combine when we’ll see his official measurement.
I agree that Benson should’ve went before he did, but he’s not that comparable to Catton. Different types of players.
Castle8130
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There are definitely a small portion of scouts that can't get over what they saw in players D-1 year. 2023 version would be Charlie Stramel. That kid was awful last year, but great the year prior.
I felt most scouts realized Savoie wasn't a game-breaking talent, but his speed was still highly coveted. I think if skating wasn't one of his strengths, he would've fallen a lot more
landy92mack29
Registered User
Catton is the better prospect of him vs Benson. In every skill set it's equal or advantage to Catton. Benson also had way more talent around him on a stacked Winnipeg team vs a meh at best Spokane team
Castle8130
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I've been around long enough to know that anytime someone quotes you and says "Ok Buddy", it doesn't mean they think you're their friend. It means it's about to go down lmao
No ill intent, we just have two differing memories of what happened
Juxtaposer
Outro: Divina Comedia
There is just no way that Catton is 5’11”, he looks barely 5’10” if that.
I like Catton a ton, and I do agree that they aren’t the same type of player. I just mean that while I think there is a decent argument they Catton has higher upside, Benson was the superior prospect the same age because of all the off-puck skills he has in addition to his superior production. I get that Winnipeg was a much stronger team than Spokane is, but Benson was the biggest reason that team was so strong.
I was with you having a normal debate but when an online poster breaks out with “my sources” my eyes roll straight back into my head. I’m sure you understand…
landy92mack29
Registered User
Benson didn't have superior production though both are the exact same 1.63 ppg
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
rubenflamshep
Registered User
I have Catton at 1.53 vs Benson at 1.667 ppg (rolling 30gm average) at the same age. Looks like Benson falls off a bit immediately before the draft though
Both Benson and Catton are good players, I had Benson at 5th behind Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson, Michkov. They're obviously different players, but from a numbers point I think Catton has been more impressive considering how stacked that Winnipeg Ice team was, although I'm not gonna act like you couldn't make decent arguments for picking either player depending on which skillset you prefer.
To be fair, Catton gets 100% of his ice time with Conner Roulette and Chase Bertholet – it doesn’t get much more stacked than that in the WHL right now, even though the rest of that team is garbage.
TLEH
Pronounced T-Lay
What? Those guys aren’t the reason the line goes at all.
Also am I crazy or have people seen Benson’s speed numbers in the NHL? I saw a chart yesterday and hes in the slow poke quadrant a mile down. The dude is slow. But his edges are great and he’s so smart he makes it work.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
You keep saying this, but neither of those players are within the top 10 of WHL scoring.
