I watched recently a couple games from Othmann and McTavish and don't know why, they didn't fully come out as real talented players.
From my point of view both (mostly Othmann) have ceilings that compare to 3rd liners with limited skills. McTavish does better in the O zone but nonetheless he misses something to make me say he'll be a blast later. Just too many holes in his game right now.
I know the engagement levels and the ice surface are different in Switzerland but I expected much more from them.
Nah man. That's a bad take. They've been everything and more for Olten, a team that didn't always play well when they were there so it wasn't always easy for the two kids. The Swiss League may not be Switzerland's top league but it's no beer league. It's still pro hockey. And I can promise you that nobody in Olten was ever unhappy with those two kids. They've shown exactly what they were expected to show and for large parts, and particularly during playoffs, much more than that.
Granted, Othmann cooled off scoring wise after a good start but he's always played well (aside from taking stupid penalties) and he's come back red hot for the playoffs to score two beautiful and important points and to draw many penalties while not taking any so the learning effect was definitely there. He came to Switzerland with the main goal to be able to compete physically against men and improve his checking game after laying the foundation for it while not playing. He definitely did that. He was Olten's most efficient forechecker and energy guy pretty much from game 1. He started crossing the lines more often as his scoring hit the wall which lead to stupid penalties but late in the regular season and into the playoffs him getting under opponents skins started paying off. He's drawn many minors as well as two match penalties, one of them leading to a suspension. Not the most skilled player but a very good skater with a powerful shot who''s awful to play against because he's just relentless. If games don't go well for him or his team you know he's not gonna go away quietly. He was a bit unlucky in the SL. With the shots and opportunities he had he should have scored more goals but he's shot is great so it's probably more bad luck and running into hot goaltenders than anything else. I see a lot of Brad Marchand in Othmann. Nobody expected him to be that much of a factor in the NHL because much like Othmann he's undersized and lacking elite talent. Still he's an absolute difference maker because he knows his strengths and wants to win much more badly than others. I could see him fall down because of the lack of production in the 2nd half of the season and because some may worry about the lack of size. Having said that, I wouldn't be shocked should he turn out to be one of the best players of this draft class, potentially even better than McTavish.
McTavish may not be the very best skater and is probably never gonna beat anyone with speed in the NHL but I don't think his skating is ever gonna be a problem. Besides that, he's been impressive in pretty much every department. When playing Center, he was very impressive with the puck, showing great partience and poise on zone entries or carrying the puck out of the defensive zone as well as playmaking and passing skills. After getting shifted to the Wing, he was able to completely change his game and almost instantly became a force in the slot. His shot selection was more than impressive because 30 of his 38 shots in the regular season came from the slot. 2,31 shots from the slot per game is good for 4th leaguewide and those numbers were identical over the 4 playoff games he played. Don't think you can complain about his scoring output either especially since he didn't see much game time the first few games after almost jumping right from the airport into games despite the jetlag. He's also been very solid defensively and played like a vet pretty much from game 1. I don't think he had a single stupid penalty or giveaway all regular season long but many good defensive plays. Granted, he did take two stupid penalties in the playoffs and also had one horrible giveaway which eventually let to a demotion in his last game but you can't be perfect at that age. He was also very good with the puck though after the shift to top line he clearly stopped carrying the puck and left that to the imports he was playing with. He was very good arount the net though be it to standing in front of goaltenders or to generate shots from the slot for himself. For a young man, he knows exactly what to get open and how to be efficient around the net. I wasn't all that impressed with his physicality. I think that Othmann was way better at getting under people's skin and is the more efficient hitter but McTavish did receive lots of praise for his physicality from former NHLer and AHLer Timo Helbling and other experts and analysts here in Switzerland. I don't think he's that high on other lists but both TSN guys have him in their top10 I believe. McKenzie at 9 and Button at 7 or something like that. Now I know why. He's big and very mature for his age. He's also very versatile and can sort of do it all. He's very good defensively, he's a great passer and playmaker, has a great shot and he's an absolute force in the slot because he knows where to go be open or to get to rebounds first. He also has the hand eye coordination to deflect pucks. Should he improve his faceoff skills and grow into his body allowing him to throw his weight around more efficiently then he's gonna be a pretty good player in the NHL. There aren't many comparable players in this years draft so I can totally see him go high.
