C Berkly Catton - Spokane Chiefs, WHL (2024, 8th, SEA)

[WeThreeKings]

What's disappointing about his draft season?

Destroyed the Hlinka and basically scored or assisted on every big goal for Canada in that tournament.

He's pacing for a 100 point season in the WHL and over 50 goals.

Only his linemates have points, the rest of that roster is hot trash.

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

What's disappointing about his draft season?

Destroyed the Hlinka and basically scored or assisted on every big goal for Canada in that tournament.

He's pacing for a 100 point season in the WHL and over 50 goals.

Only his linemates have points, the rest of that roster is hot trash.

Some people just have extremely unrealistic expectations for players

 

[TLEH]

Nothing about his year has been disappointing. I have watched more than a handful of Spokane games and they essentially do nothing with him off the ice.

He drives his line, he drives his team. That is everything you want in a player. I don't want a guy on a great team playing with insane players dominating junior, its harder to evaluate. This kid is going to be a good NHL player. I think his compete and corner/board play has gotten better this year as I've watched.

You can definitely argue the ceiling limited vs a guy like Lindstrom due to the size, but Catton has already proven he can be the go-to guy and make it happen. That's more than a lot of these D0 guys can say.

 

[Castle8130]

I have him at 6. He's on the smaller side and projects as an NHL winger. Guys like Helenius and Lindstrom play a more NHL projectable center. He hasn't played a game this year where he isn't one of the best talents on the ice, but a top 5 player needs to be an extraordinary prospect.

 

[LeProspector]

I have him at 6. He's on the smaller side and projects as an NHL winger. Guys like Helenius and Lindstrom play a more NHL projectable center. He hasn't played a game this year where he isn't one of the best talents on the ice, but a top 5 player needs to be an extraordinary prospect.

Catton is more likely a center than Helenius…

 

[Castle8130]

Catton is more likely a center than Helenius…

Considering the fact that Helenius is already a high scoring center in a pro league against men, I'm going to go with Helenius on this one

 

[LeProspector]

Considering the fact that Helenius is already a high scoring center in a pro league against men, I'm going to go with Helenius on this one

Helenius has played a good chunk of the season on the wing, but you wouldn‘t know that, would you?

 

[Artorius Horus T]

this thread was started in 2020, 183 replies so far, he is supposed to go what? top 10?
flewn under the radar of pretty much all of HFb's it seems?

you'd think he'd gotten more than 8 pages

 

[Castle8130]

Helenius has played a good chunk of the season on the wing, but you wouldn‘t know that, would you?

I've watched 4 games of his (in liiga) where he played center in all of them. He was terrific, he put points on the board, won a lot of face-offs, wins battles in front of the net despite his size, and plays positionally sound. This is all against men. I haven't watched every game of his, but he is very talented from everything I've seen. I think you should rewatch his games and lose the condescending attitude to people you message online lol

 

[Artorius Horus T]

nevermind - delete

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I have him at 6. He's on the smaller side and projects as an NHL winger. Guys like Helenius and Lindstrom play a more NHL projectable center. He hasn't played a game this year where he isn't one of the best talents on the ice, but a top 5 player needs to be an extraordinary prospect.

I think he plays like a center. If Bedard and Hughes can stick at center in the NHL, I don’t see why Catton can’t. He’s bigger and more attentive defensively than both.

 

[Castle8130]

I think he plays like a center. If Bedard and Hughes can stick at center in the NHL, I don’t see why Catton can’t. He’s bigger and more attentive defensively than both.

I'm not shutting the door on him. He's a great player in a lot of different areas of the game. I've heard some scouts say he plays a tad more on the perimeter than they'd like for NHL projectability

 

[landy92mack29]

He's the 1B of this draft for me and he'll be a franchise center for some lucky team.

 

[MS]

Kind of a weird player as an undersized shoot-first sniper C. Kind of a Dollar Store Connor Bedard with a similar sneaky release on his shot (although opposite handedness).

Going back a ways, he reminds me a lot of Stephen Weiss as a junior player.

Talented player and a very good prospect but #2 overall seems a reach for me for a guy who probably projects as a 60-70 point smallish 2C or maybe a winger.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Kind of a weird player as an undersized shoot-first sniper C. Kind of a Dollar Store Connor Bedard with a similar sneaky release on his shot (although opposite handedness).

Going back a ways, he reminds me a lot of Stephen Weiss as a junior player.

Talented player and a very good prospect but #2 overall seems a reach for me for a guy who probably projects as a 60-70 point smallish 2C or maybe a winger.

I wouldn't call him shoot first. Only place he's had more goals than assists was at the Hlinka this year. Every other team the last three years he's had more assists than goals.

 

[MS]

I wouldn't call him shoot first. Only place he's had more goals than assists was at the Hlinka this year. Every other team the last three years he's had more assists than goals.

He's at basically a 1:1 ratio of G:A this year and is 6th in the WHL in SOG but 1st in SOG amongst full time Cs.

If he isn't a shoot-first C, then nobody is. He's the most shoot-first C in the entire WHL, on pace for well over 300 SOG this season.

 

[landy92mack29]

He's not small for todays nhl and he projects over ppg

 

[TLEH]

He's at basically a 1:1 ratio of G:A this year and is 6th in the WHL in SOG but 1st in SOG amongst full time Cs.

If he isn't a shoot-first C, then nobody is. He's the most shoot-first C in the entire WHL, on pace for well over 300 SOG this season.

I think that is more a product of how bad his team is rather than his play style. I wouldn't call him a shoot first or pass first. Think he just has to shoot because he's the only one.

Regardless, I don't really care what you classify him as, he's my second favorite prospect this year.

 

[MS]

I think that is more a product of how bad his team is rather than his play style. I wouldn't call him a shoot first or pass first. Think he just has to shoot because he's the only one.

Regardless, I don't really care what you classify him as, he's my second favorite prospect this year.

Spokane's bottom 3 lines suck but he has a couple solid WHL scorers on his wings so I don't really know if that's an issue in terms of the guys he's actually playing with. He has a good shot and he likes using it, and uses it a lot.

He has a weird profile. So does Bedard, but he's Bedard. There aren't a lot of small, shoot-first Cs in the NHL.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He's at basically a 1:1 ratio of G:A this year and is 6th in the WHL in SOG but 1st in SOG amongst full time Cs.

If he isn't a shoot-first C, then nobody is. He's the most shoot-first C in the entire WHL, on pace for well over 300 SOG this season.

You are overdoing this.

Cole Eiserman would be an example of shoot first. Bedard would too.

A guy who has barely ever finished with more goals than assists, and the one place he did was a short tournament, is not really shoot first.

He has a good shot. So does Nate MacKinnon, but he wouldn't be called shoot-first. I think Catton is a dual-threat.

 

[MS]

You are overdoing this.

Cole Eiserman would be an example of shoot first. Bedard would too.

A guy who has barely ever finished with more goals than assists, and the one place he did was a short tournament, is not really shoot first.

He has a good shot. So does Nate MacKinnon, but he wouldn't be called shoot-first. I think Catton is a dual-threat.

He literally shoots more than any C in his entire league (and by a fair bit, at that). He's a sniper. He has a great shot and shoots a ton.

This shouldn't really be a controversial statement.

And whether that projects to playing C is certainly a valid question. I don't know the answer and you're free to disagree, but I'll guarantee that there are NHL teams wondering about his final position.

 

[landy92mack29]

Yeah he has a good shot and is a threat but since the 1st time I saw him 4 years ago he's always been more of a playmaker

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He literally shoots more than any C in his entire league (and by a fair bit, at that). He's a sniper. He has a great shot and shoots a ton.

This shouldn't really be a controversial statement.

And whether that projects to playing C is certainly a valid question. I don't know the answer and you're free to disagree, but I'll guarantee that there are NHL teams wondering about his final position.

MacKinnon and McDavid were #2 and #3 in SOG in the NHL last year. The best forwards are usually towards the top of these lists because they are better, not because they are shoot-first. Whether they are shoot first or pass first usually will show up in their scoring totals. Catton is likely towards the top of shot assists, but those are analytics that we don't see.

 

[MS]

MacKinnon and McDavid were #2 and #3 in SOG in the NHL last year. The best forwards are usually towards the top of these lists because they are better, not because they are shoot-first. Whether they are shoot first or pass first usually will show up in their scoring totals. Catton is likely towards the top of shot assists, but those are analytics that we don't see.

Those players are also big, explosive, generational megastars who put up 80-90 assists/82 in the NHL last year in addition to shooting a lot.

They aren't relevant to a discussion of Berkly Catton.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Those players are also big, explosive, generational megastars who put up 80-90 assists/82 in the NHL last year in addition to shooting a lot.

They aren't relevant to a discussion of Berkly Catton.

Brady Tkachuk is 4, Jack Hughes is 5. Two other players that have never had more goals than assists.

This year Kucherov is 2, MacKinnon is 3, Eichel is 4, Panarin and Nylander are 5. None are shoot-first.

You don't have to be shoot-first to be one of the leaders in a league in SOG. Catton is also one of the stars of the WHL, so a comparison to the stars of the NHL is logical.