C Frederik Gauthier (2013, 21st, TOR)

[7even]

Drafting a third line center in the first round of a deep draft. Lol

Lottery numbers, crystal ball, etc etc.

I don't even like him very much as a prospect but y'all mofos is ackin cray

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Drafting a third line center in the first round of a deep draft. Lol

After being here a few years I'm starting to wonder what exactly the definition of a "deep draft" is around here. Are you supposed to draft a first line player later in the first round because some guy at TSN referred to it as a deep draft? how ridiculous is that? Every year people say "it's a deep draft this year". Every.Single.Year.

 

[WhiteCurse]

Kids young, he will be in the NHL one day maybe not in the top 6 but people forget a good 3rd liner is still really useful to every team

 

[WTFMAN99]

Leafs fan...hated the idea of drafting him and of course we did on draft day...that being said, for the better of my team I hope he pans out and reaches his ceiling of a 3rd line centre...lol.

 

[Nash]

If anything, Edmonton proves the point the guy was stating.

They picked Eberle (skill) over Cuma (Defensive D) and Nemisz (size). They also used later picks to draft D, and know have some of the best D prospects in the league (top 5)

Defensive specialist picked in the first round are normally busts. But this is not to be confused with 2 way players that score at great rates in Junior.

These type of players (2 way, size) can be picked in the later rounds. For instance, Jujhar Khaira (6'3, 200) was picked in the 3rd round of the 2012 draft and is currently outscoring Gauthier. Gauthier might be a better prospect, but players that have similar upside can be picked in later rounds. Guys like Poirer, Petan, Shinkaruk etc cant.

Thanks.

Skill cannot be taught. They can be honed with lots of repetition, but you really don't see players suddenly develop skill later on. Defense can be taught.

So when you draft a player in the first round skill should be near the top of your checklist. Having a high defensive ability in junior doesn't even necessarily translate to the NHL. The competition is teenagers going down to 16 years old. Mistakes are common and size & strength vary hugely.

Is Gauthier's size, strength or skating above par in the NHL? I don't really think so. This was a poor pick.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

After being here a few years I'm starting to wonder what exactly the definition of a "deep draft" is around here. Are you supposed to draft a first line player later in the first round because some guy at TSN referred to it as a deep draft? how ridiculous is that? Every year people say "it's a deep draft this year". Every.Single.Year.

I find it funny how every year at some point or another is considered a "deep draft", usually becoming the "best draft since 2003" around march-april. It's pretty hard to say how deep a draft really is/was half a season afterwards.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

After being here a few years I'm starting to wonder what exactly the definition of a "deep draft" is around here. Are you supposed to draft a first line player later in the first round because some guy at TSN referred to it as a deep draft? how ridiculous is that? Every year people say "it's a deep draft this year". Every.Single.Year.

Well, it should probably be argued that you attempt to draft a first line player before a 3rd line player, wherever your picks may be.

But if you listen to enough "people", you'll hear absolutely everything. If you listen to someone who knows what they're talking about, it's a pretty different story, and their opinion of one draft year vs. another will vary - often greatly (2003 vs 2007, for example, last year vs. this year, for another). In fact, the rhetoric dating back to last year continues to claim that this year's draft is decently deep, but still not as deep as last year's, and probably not as deep as next year's.

I'm with you to a certain extent. I mean, how can you know, right? It's just a matter of picking who you listen to from experience.

 

[Sonofamitch]

After being here a few years I'm starting to wonder what exactly the definition of a "deep draft" is around here. Are you supposed to draft a first line player later in the first round because some guy at TSN referred to it as a deep draft? how ridiculous is that? Every year people say "it's a deep draft this year". Every.Single.Year.

No matter how you spin it it's stupid. Leafs always draft guys who are safe bet nhlers instead of trying to take a little risk with a 1st round pick once in a while. They had two first round picks in 2011 and still went with the safe bet both times. I'm ok with the Percy pick it was a safe pick but with two first round picks that year you would hope they would take a little more risk with the other first round pick that year.

They draft Gauthier because he's a pretty safe bet to become a third line center. Why not draft a guy like Hunter Shinkaruk, who was available late and has first line potential.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

Which brings us back to your original comment. Bet you wish you had a time machine so that you didn't look ignorant.

No, not really.

There are some differences, but they both were/are projected to be big two-way guys who can play in the middle 6, Colbourne is better offensively, Gauthier is defensively. Both don't seem to be all that great though.

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

No matter how you spin it it's stupid. Leafs always draft guys who are safe bet nhlers instead of trying to take a little risk with a 1st round pick once in a while. They had two first round picks in 2011 and still went with the safe bet both times. I'm ok with the Percy pick it was a safe pick but with two first round picks that year you would hope they would take a little more risk with the other first round pick that year.

They draft Gauthier because he's a pretty safe bet to become a third line center. Why not draft a guy like Hunter Shinkaruk, who was available late and has first line potential.

The funny thing about these safe bet picks is that if they can't even score at an appreciable rate at the junior/college level, then they're not really a safe bet to become solid AHL players, let alone NHL-level depth players.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

The funny thing about these safe bet picks is that if they can't even score at an appreciable rate at the junior/college level, then they're not really a safe bet to become solid AHL players, let alone NHL-level depth players.

Sometimes you have to be careful of relative role/opportunity on squads and late blooming, but you're essentially right when it comes to forwards.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

No matter how you spin it it's stupid. Leafs always draft guys who are safe bet nhlers instead of trying to take a little risk with a 1st round pick once in a while. They had two first round picks in 2011 and still went with the safe bet both times. I'm ok with the Percy pick it was a safe pick but with two first round picks that year you would hope they would take a little more risk with the other first round pick that year.

They draft Gauthier because he's a pretty safe bet to become a third line center. Why not draft a guy like Hunter Shinkaruk, who was available late and has first line potential.

Or maybe the scouts see something offensive that we don't? did scouts see Datsyuk being the offensive force he is today? of course not. In a cap era you need to make every selection count, you can't miss on all your picks, it cannot be done with a ceiling.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Or maybe the scouts see something offensive that we don't? did scouts see Datsyuk being the offensive force he is today? of course not. In a cap era you need to make every selection count, you can't miss on all your picks, it cannot be done with a ceiling.

Well, thanks to Datsyuk not being selected to the Russian Junior team that year, Andersson was really the only scout that had a chance to get a few looks at him, and he was originally there to scout Kalinin in the first place so... never a fair example to bring up, honestly. But here's a quote from Hakan Andersson himself discussing Datsyuk's scouting report:

“Great hands, hockey sense, quick skater, little deceptive speed,'' Andersson said. “I don't think he was more than 5-9 or 5-10, skating just a little awkward. But the thinking and the hands were … ''

 

[theIceWookie]

Lottery numbers, crystal ball, etc etc.

I don't even like him very much as a prospect but y'all mofos is ackin cray

Thanks.

Skill cannot be taught. They can be honed with lots of repetition, but you really don't see players suddenly develop skill later on. Defense can be taught.

So when you draft a player in the first round skill should be near the top of your checklist. Having a high defensive ability in junior doesn't even necessarily translate to the NHL. The competition is teenagers going down to 16 years old. Mistakes are common and size & strength vary hugely.

Is Gauthier's size, strength or skating above par in the NHL? I don't really think so. This was a poor pick.

I'll reference 7even's post because it's crazy the response that this player is getting SEVEN MONTHS AFTER BEING DRAFTED.

He's not even 19 years old yet.

 

[P0LiUM]

The argument that he's an excellent two way player, but only in the Q, is garbage. He's an excellent defensive player relative to other players his age. If you discredit his defensive abilities solely on the league he's in, then you'd better be ready to argue that none of Mantha, Drouin, Hudon etc. are going to be excellent point getters in the NHL, simply because they're excellent junior guys.

Sheesh.

 

[Highlander23]

It there any other reason why people talk about this guy other than being a leafs prospect ? i mean points don't tell the whole story, see connor brown (88 pts in 43games) does that make him better than any OHL player ? obviously not, no sane leafs fan is saying he is better than this guy or that guy !!

enough with this meaningless judgment

 

[Hero]

Anyone who watches him know why his production has dropped off this year?

 

[GuillaumeLetsundress*]

Not a leafs fan and not sure how much it as been mentioned but it is too early to count him out, it is important to see that last year(his draft year) was his first year in the qmjhl, the year before that he was playing AAA hockey. The learning curve is huge and hopefully he continues to work on his play with the puck to take his game to the next level

 

[Porn*]

people make it sound like being a quality 3rd liner is a joke or unnecessary position... it's extremely important. If he can develop into a martin hanzal type mold, improve his skating and be a star on the 3rd line / pk for years i'd be ecstatic.

 

[Patmac40]

Currently riding an 8 game point streak. 13 points in that stretch. 15 in his last 11 games. Good to see him put some offense together.

 

[bigdirty]

Anyone who watches him know why his production has dropped off this year?

It's not just Gauthier. There really seemed to be something wrong with the whole Rimouski team in the early part of the season. Not sure what was going on, but hardly anyone on that team was playing as expected.

Last year Peter Trainor led the team with 100 points in 68 games, this year he has 58 points in 61 games.
Scott Oke was second in team scoring last year with 71 points in 57 games, this year he's been injured, but still has just 12 points in the 20 games he's played.
Others have of course improved their production from last season, but nobody expects to see their two leading scorers drop off like that.

Gauthier's production this season seems like it's tied to how the team as a whole is playing. When they were struggling, his production was low, right now they are absolutely tearing it up, so his production has increased.


Basically, what it all boils down to is that the situation for any player is always more complicated than people want it to be. It sure would be nice if we could tell a players worth by looking at his point totals, but that's just not how it works.

 

[Patmac40]

Assist so far vs. Baie-Comeau. 9 game point streak.

Edit: make that 2 assists

 

[Byron Bitz]

This kid can be a top 6 center when he makes the nhl as long as hes between 2 offensive game breakers. He'll do all the dirty work and little things on the line. But most likely hel be a solid 2way 3rd line C.

 

[theIceWookie]

11 goals, 26 points, +18, 58 shots in his last 21 games.

 

[7even]

11 goals, 26 points, +18, 58 shots in his last 21 games.

2.8 shots a game is, I think, the most encouraging stat there