C Quinton Byfield (2020, 2nd, LAK) part IV

[AnThGrt]

Byfield looked like arguably our best forward in camp last season. He broke his ankle and struggled the rest of the year after. Let us see how a healthy Byfield does. People forget he was less than 2 weeks from being a 2021 draft pick. If he seriously struggles and falters this year and shows no growth maybe one can have this discussion next off-season.

It was wildly re-known it would take Byfield multiple years. Not 1 or 2. Was drafted as a 'unicorn' project. Now whether one picks that at #2 is a different question, albeit same time if one can pass-up on that is an alternative question. All pundits said he would be slow out the gates, but in 4-6 years well possible the best player in the draft with the highest potential. LA took a home-run swing, which will take time to see how it turns out.

 

[Fatass]

The evolution of his early career is still not terrible. In addition, he still has the physical advantage. Other players of the same age have done better.

When you compare him to Beniers it hurts.

He still has a long career ahead of him but I'm skeptical about ranking him 2nd in a future redraft.

Stutzle was clearly a better choice and yet Byfield's struggles were noticeable in the junior when the level rise up.

Could QB be one of those guys who’s being bigger (physical maturity) was a huge advantage in junior that is a lot of why he dominated at that level, and now he’s up against men as strong as him he’s struggling?

 

[Belloco]

Could QB be one of those guys who’s being bigger (physical maturity) was a huge advantage in junior that is a lot of why he dominated at that level, and now he’s up against men as strong as him he’s struggling?

I had that feeling when I saw him in Midget. A very large adult among children. Byfield's dominance is diminishing year after year. Difficult to project a further acceleration of his progression curve. He will progress but I hardly see him reaching the Elite level.

However, he is less worrying than Turcotte. We will have to wait to see the next few seasons and Byfield has the possibility of becoming a very good center No. 3 in a defensive game by developing his game without a puck.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Could QB be one of those guys who’s being bigger (physical maturity) was a huge advantage in junior that is a lot of why he dominated at that level, and now he’s up against men as strong as him he’s struggling?

I don’t think so - but I can understand why it would be something one would question.

He has never really been able to use his physical gifts to his advantage and it is the single thing that worried me the most about Byfield when I saw him play as a 16/17 year old, he plays the game as if he is 5'11" where he shys away from contact and isn't fond of battling in corners for pucks, and when he does he doesn't use his frame to his advantage. He may be 6'5" but doesn't play how you would expect someone that size to play. Logan Brown has the same issues. He is a finesse player stuck in a power forwards body.

I think Byfield will get there and has already started to use his size to his advantage more in the NHL - he just needs to continue this development further to get to the player that many expect him to be in the NHL.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Looooooooool he literally just turned 20.... only one calling him busts see, to be ANA fans

A certain few Ducks fans are calling him a bust.

Me on the other hand is really excited watching him develop. So what he’s had growing pains, the kid is slowly getting it together and will be a force to be reckoned with.

 

[TGWL]

Could QB be one of those guys who’s being bigger (physical maturity) was a huge advantage in junior that is a lot of why he dominated at that level, and now he’s up against men as strong as him he’s struggling?

Yes, and no. Going into the draft, as a poster above mentioned, he wasn't seen as the most dominate or ready player. He was a skilled, big body player, who if everything goes right could reach an elite/star level in the NHL. A big body that found open space and transitioned well going into the O zone. You drafted him on potential displayed. Those type of centers don't grow on trees. If Byfield spent his playing time as a winger and got drafted as a winger, he probably wouldn't have been viewed the same way. But for a center, you want that if it pans out. Every team wants that.

 

[Osprey]

Byfield looked like arguably our best forward in camp last season. He broke his ankle and struggled the rest of the year after. Let us see how a healthy Byfield does.

I remember Chromiak being the most impressive forward in camp. Byfield did have a strong game just before being injured, but it's not unusual for one of the last remaining prospects fighting for a roster spot to stand out in a preseason game in which nearly everyone else on both teams is coasting. The injury was obviously a big setback, but he was arguably healthy by the time that he played his first NHL game of the season because he played for a month in the AHL beforehand. Even if we grant him a few months to get adjusted and look at his play in only the final 20 games of the season, after March 13th (over 3 months after his return from injury), he still had one of the worst Corsi percentages and +/- amongst forwards on the team and the worst FOW% among regular takers. In other words, he was still struggling when the season ended and he was relatively healthy. I think that that had more to do with him being a teenager in the NHL than an injury that occurred 6 months earlier.

 

[Hockey Know it all]

Could QB be one of those guys who’s being bigger (physical maturity) was a huge advantage in junior that is a lot of why he dominated at that level, and now he’s up against men as strong as him he’s struggling?

Just like Michael Rasmussen for my wings.

 

[bsu]

He will be fine, he just turned 20 years old literally less than a month ago. The biggest concern with me is everyone always mentions his size but he doesn't use it and from what I've seen avoids it at times. My other issue with him which I've stated multiple times on here is his little stick he fumbles and bobbles so many pucks because of his hunched over style he needs a much longer stick IMO. His obvious strength is north/south speed at that size.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

But shouldn't he have?

Yeah, he should have, and WOULD have...but he missed half of the season with a broken leg and covid.

Come on.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

He will be fine, he just turned 20 years old literally less than a month ago. The biggest concern with me is everyone always mentions his size but he doesn't use it and from what I've seen avoids it at times. My other issue with him which I've stated multiple times on here is his little stick he fumbles and bobbles so many pucks because of his hunched over style he needs a much longer stick IMO. His obvious strength is north/south speed at that size.

LOL. You are the one on here that dogs him at any given opportunity. Did you suddenly have a change of heart or something?

 

[ponder]

Byfield looked like arguably our best forward in camp last season. He broke his ankle and struggled the rest of the year after. Let us see how a healthy Byfield does. People forget he was less than 2 weeks from being a 2021 draft pick. If he seriously struggles and falters this year and shows no growth maybe one can have this discussion next off-season.

It was wildly re-known it would take Byfield multiple years. Not 1 or 2. Was drafted as a 'unicorn' project. Now whether one picks that at #2 is a different question, albeit same time if one can pass-up on that is an alternative question. All pundits said he would be slow out the gates, but in 4-6 years well possible the best player in the draft with the highest potential. LA took a home-run swing, which will take time to see how it turns out.

100% this - he’s got franchise player upside, but was a lot more raw on draft day than most 2nd overall picks. The Kings and everyone else knew this when he was drafted. If he hits his potential, it’ll take time, I’m guessing 23-25 before we really know how good (or not) he’ll be.

And yeah, he’s still very young. Last year he was 19, had a pretty raw game, and was still a borderline NHLer. He only turned 20 a few weeks ago, my guess is this year, at 20, he takes a significant step forward, like establishes himself as a legit NHLer, a quality 3rd liner. How much higher he goes from there, we’ll see!

My personal projection is he matures into a 2C, and quite a high impact/high value one with his exceptional combo of size/strength/skating. But anywhere from a 3rd line winger to a star 1C is possible IMO.

 

[majormajor]

Folks evidently lack the language tools to describe a player who is somewhere in between "bust" and "everything's good". He's been moderately disappointing so far (at this point still early in his development curve). I don't believe it when folks say that this slow pace of improvement was the expectation when he was drafted, he was one of the most heralded #2 picks in ages.

 

[Peasy]

 

[sennysensen]

Byfield has been compared to Logan Brown on here. Similarity in that they both are finesse despite being large is true. However, Brown is a bust due to extremely slow foot speed. Brown has absolutely no quickness either, its like he's skating in mud. And he doesn't think quickly. Can't get away from or get separation from other players.
Byfield is not like Brown in this way, he can move, and isn't slow. He's just a large package which takes longer to develop. Hopefully he becomes more physical. Like others said, he's very raw, will take awhile. I doubt he'll become a scoring star, but there's no reason he can't become a very good, valuable all round player.

 

[ponder]

For those who are low on Byfield, you should really watch this. He's come a long way since draft day, and he's still very young (just turned 20 a month ago, was 19 in this game/all of last season). It's very fair to question his ability to become a superstar, but he's got such great tools, and is improving very quickly. He's a borderline NHLer already, and has plenty of games where he's legitimately dominant at the AHL level. While he's certainly not consistently as good as he is in the above vid, it shows his upside quite well IMO.

It's hard for me to imagine he becomes anything less than a 2C, and a high value one at that - a huge, mobile, high skill, 2-way 2C. I think his chances of becoming a legit 1C are quite good too. If I was a team who had a top pick in the 2022 draft, including 1st overall, and the Kings offered me Byfield for my pick 1:1, I'd have very strongly considered it, and probably would have pulled the trigger.

 

[Boud]

Big part of the questioning surrounding Byfield has been caused by Stutzle having a great start to his NHL career. There was a lot of debate at the draft on who should go 2nd between both of them and a big reason why Byfield was selected 2nd by LA was because he was considered a true center while Stutzle was seen more like a winger at the NHL level. 2 years later, Stutzle is one of the most promising young centers in the league. Normally that will trigger a little panic even though it's too early.

If you take a step back from that comparison, you see Laf who's also struggles to a certain degree to establish himself and other guys like Sanderson, Rossi, Perfetti, Holtz and Quinn who are just starting to get opportunities. I see it as a similar situation for Byfield. He needs more time.

Biggest issue with Byfield IMO is he's big but he doesn't play big. He relies on beating guys on the outside and using his shot but what he needs to do is own the middle of the ice. When/If he understands how to use his size to create space and to slow down the game he will be an amazing player.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Big part of the questioning surrounding Byfield has been caused by Stutzle having a great start to his NHL career. There was a lot of debate at the draft on who should go 2nd between both of them and a big reason why Byfield was selected 2nd by LA was because he was considered a true center while Stutzle was seen more like a winger at the NHL level. 2 years later, Stutzle is one of the most promising young centers in the league. Normally that will trigger a little panic even though it's too early.

If you take a step back from that comparison, you see Laf who's also struggles to a certain degree to establish himself and other guys like Sanderson, Rossi, Perfetti, Holtz and Quinn who are just starting to get opportunities. I see it as a similar situation for Byfield. He needs more time.

Biggest issue with Byfield IMO is he's big but he doesn't play big. He relies on beating guys on the outside and using his shot but what he needs to do is own the middle of the ice. When/If he understands how to use his size to create space and to slow down the game he will be an amazing player.

He's been physically abusing people in camp and preseason thus far, and put on some weight/strength this offseason. His puck protection and physicality is noticeably better and it looks like he's been taking lessons from Kopitar. Will be nice to see how this translates to 'real' games as he refuses to be sealed off the way he was often done last year.

 

[haulinbass]

Big part of the questioning surrounding Byfield has been caused by Stutzle having a great start to his NHL career. There was a lot of debate at the draft on who should go 2nd between both of them and a big reason why Byfield was selected 2nd by LA was because he was considered a true center while Stutzle was seen more like a winger at the NHL level. 2 years later, Stutzle is one of the most promising young centers in the league. Normally that will trigger a little panic even though it's too early.

If you take a step back from that comparison, you see Laf who's also struggles to a certain degree to establish himself and other guys like Sanderson, Rossi, Perfetti, Holtz and Quinn who are just starting to get opportunities. I see it as a similar situation for Byfield. He needs more time.

Biggest issue with Byfield IMO is he's big but he doesn't play big. He relies on beating guys on the outside and using his shot but what he needs to do is own the middle of the ice. When/If he understands how to use his size to create space and to slow down the game he will be an amazing player.

Not sure many people thought of Stutzle as a winger. I had him rated #2 before the draft as a center. Everything about his game screamed center and transitional to the NHL, he's not undersized either.

Byfield at that time looked like a guy to me that wasn't displaying enough at the junior level to show me he would likely or atleast quickly become an impact player at the NHL level. I steer clear of guys that don't play with the puck a ton at those levels of hockey. The ability he did have to produce, I didn't see it happening against more aggresive and stronger NHL players at a very high rate.

I haven't and I'm not going to say he isn't going to be a good NHL player, just not a guy who I would feel good about spending a 2OA pick on if I was in charge.

Stutzle, Raymond, Lundell and Holtz were my primary targets as forwards depending on where I was drafting in the top 10.

 

[KevinRedkey]

He reminds me a lot of Jared Cowen in the sense that everyone talks about his size despite him not using it, he's highly touted and projected to be a star, and I seem to be the only one that thinks he's missing "it" between the ears.

 

[ponder]

Nice work by Byfield to setup Vilardi for LA’s first goal of the season:


The Kings overall weren’t great this game, but Byfield/Vilardi looked quite good (Quick too). Quality first game of the season for QB.

 

[Dominance]

12 minutes of ice time is not enough.

 

[Mattb124]

He reminds me a lot of Jared Cowen in the sense that everyone talks about his size despite him not using it, he's highly touted and projected to be a star, and I seem to be the only one that thinks he's missing "it" between the ears.

I got a snide response here for having that same opinion. Watched the 2nd half of the game tonight and missed his assist, but from what I watched he was really unimpressive.

 

[ponder]

12 minutes of ice time is not enough.

Agreed, but it’s just game 1, not surprised McLellan is defaulting to playing his vets out of the gate. Byfield and Vilardi looked good, if they keep playing like that the minutes will come soon.

 

[fsanford]

12 minutes of ice time is not enough.

Kings are not going to use him on the PK, and the Kings had like 12 minutes of penalties tonight.

Kid turned 20 just this past August, he actually played okay tonight. You could see more comfort in his game.
Hard to get into a flow when Kings are taking so many penalties. And defense is coughing up the puck.