TheNumber4
Registered User
- Nov 11, 2011
- 48,678
- 60,543
From an Oiler fan who has seen everyone of Draisaitl's games so far, including pre-season and prospects tournament.
He's been invisible for the most part. Offensively, this is not a good thing. Defensively, this is a good thing. Hasn't created much offence, but you see flashes of his Thornton-like passing game show through here and there. Defensively, he's in the right positions, battles hard in board battles and holds his own.
Seen him get to open spots offensively for great chances but hasn't buried much yet.
Speed is odd and exactly what many has said pre-draft. He definitely looks slow, but its deceptive because when he has his jets on he looks to have great top end speed. I assume this must be a stamina thing, and will only get better with time. He has the ability to skate fast just doesn't do it very often.
The one thing that was his main strength in his junior game as touted by scouts was his ability to protect the puck. And make time and space for himself. This hasn't worked very well at the NHL level. He gets knocked off the puck because he simply isn't strong enough yet. He's strong for his age group, but not strong enough in relation to NHL players.
Physically, he WILL mature. It took almost 4 years for Nuge to mature physically, and he's still developing. I don't think that time frame will be the same for Leon as he's starting with a bigger, more filled out frame.
Once he does mature though, look out. Because his vision and passing are things you just can't develop in players. Speed and strength you can. Vision and passing will make him an elite player. It just won't be this year, and probably won't be next year either. His development curve will be slow in the first year, I'm predicting it to be similar but slower than Thornton's progression.
He's been invisible for the most part. Offensively, this is not a good thing. Defensively, this is a good thing. Hasn't created much offence, but you see flashes of his Thornton-like passing game show through here and there. Defensively, he's in the right positions, battles hard in board battles and holds his own.
Seen him get to open spots offensively for great chances but hasn't buried much yet.
Speed is odd and exactly what many has said pre-draft. He definitely looks slow, but its deceptive because when he has his jets on he looks to have great top end speed. I assume this must be a stamina thing, and will only get better with time. He has the ability to skate fast just doesn't do it very often.
The one thing that was his main strength in his junior game as touted by scouts was his ability to protect the puck. And make time and space for himself. This hasn't worked very well at the NHL level. He gets knocked off the puck because he simply isn't strong enough yet. He's strong for his age group, but not strong enough in relation to NHL players.
Physically, he WILL mature. It took almost 4 years for Nuge to mature physically, and he's still developing. I don't think that time frame will be the same for Leon as he's starting with a bigger, more filled out frame.
Once he does mature though, look out. Because his vision and passing are things you just can't develop in players. Speed and strength you can. Vision and passing will make him an elite player. It just won't be this year, and probably won't be next year either. His development curve will be slow in the first year, I'm predicting it to be similar but slower than Thornton's progression.
