C Quinton Byfield - Sudbury Wolves, OHL (2020 Draft) II

[Rzombo4 prez]

Do we have a separate Lafreniere thread by chance?

 

[kings11]

Lafreniere was in his draft-1 year and didn't have much of a role on the team, yet I still believe he had a better tournament regardless. I'm sure Byfield will be great and he is lighting up the OHL, I think that most people get to watch him when he's on national TV (WJC, Top Prospects Game, etc) and he has been underwhelming in that small sample size, so naturally he will be a bit underrated compared to those who see him in the OHL regularly.

D-1 doesnt really matter when they were the same age... Most people see his size and immediately assume he'll wreck everyone. He likely will but that'll be 2-3 years down the line when he matures further and the game slows down more.. This draft is shaping up to be another Ovi vs Malkin type draft(with the depth of the 2005 class) where in the end it doesnt matter which guys you get as long as its one of them...

 

[Dominance]

If I had to compare him to someone drafted in the last 6 or 7 years I think PL Dubois would be the closest.

They don’t play remotely similar in any aspect of the game and Byfield’s all-around offensive instincts and skills are on another level of what PLD demonstrated in junior.

 

[nbwingsfan]

So what was your opinion of LaFreniere putting up the same type of performance last season??

People were down on him a bit after that yes. But as has already been pointed out, most are just down on Byfield because he was given a shot in a top 6 role due to bad forward depth unlike Lafreniere or basically any 17year old forward and he didn’t run with it.

Lafreniere also wasn’t judged as much because he had an amazing Hlinka, and very good U18 and U17 tournaments.

Byfield was very meh at the Hlinka, bad at the U17, didn’t play the U18 and poor top prospect games. He just doesn’t look good when playing against peers for some reason.

 

[Dominance]

His draft status is really up in the air right now. Obviously someone could take a flyer in the late rounds, but that would be a risky pick banking on long-lost hype. Maybe if he puts his head down and works hard over the summer he can improve his offensive game enough to get a second chance to put up a couple points against Slovakia or Switzerland in the WJC, and then get a team to fall in love with him.

 

[Hfbsux]

This is by far my favorite thread!

 

[Dion TheFluff]

People were down on him a bit after that yes. But as has already been pointed out, most are just down on Byfield because he was given a shot in a top 6 role due to bad forward depth unlike Lafreniere or basically any 17year old forward and he didn’t run with it.

Lafreniere also wasn’t judged as much because he had an amazing Hlinka, and very good U18 and U17 tournaments.

Byfield was very meh at the Hlinka, bad at the U17, didn’t play the U18 and poor top prospect games. He just doesn’t look good when playing against peers for some reason.

also didn't look good in the CHL vs Russia games. I think he is massively overrated

 

[93LEAFS]

D-1 doesnt really matter when they were the same age... Most people see his size and immediately assume he'll wreck everyone. He likely will but that'll be 2-3 years down the line when he matures further and the game slows down more.. This draft is shaping up to be another Ovi vs Malkin type draft(with the depth of the 2005 class) where in the end it doesnt matter which guys you get as long as its one of them...

It's way closer to Hall/Seguin than it is to Ovi/Malkin.

 

[93LEAFS]

How does his offensive instincs compare to Dach?

Dach has a better vision and a more cerebral game. Byfield tries harder, is more athletic, and is a better scorer.

 

[kings11]

It's way closer to Hall/Seguin than it is to Ovi/Malkin.

Completely forgot about those top 2

 

[nbwingsfan]

also didn't look good in the CHL vs Russia games. I think he is massively overrated

Massively no. He’s still my pick at #2 but he’s closer to 3/4 than #1 IMO

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I think Dach is the better prospect, but its close. I think Dach's game is more predicated on skill. Both are offensive minded power centers, but I think Dach does it more with skill and hockey IQ and Byfield does it more with speed.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

This thread is hilarious. Imagine a team picking at #2. Well we’ve got this 17 year old 6’4 centre who scored nearly 2.00ppg in the OHL... BUT he was invisible in a tourney dominated by 19 year olds, so let’s go with someone else

 

[Hen Kolland]

This thread is hilarious. Imagine a team picking at #2. Well we’ve got this 17 year old 6’4 centre who scored nearly 2.00ppg in the OHL... BUT he was invisible in a tourney dominated by 19 year olds, so let’s go with someone else

Imagine people thinking there might be 2 or 3 prospects better than Byfield for at variety of reasons instead of only 1 in a draft where over 217 players will be selected. What idiots!

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

Imagine people thinking there might be 2 or 3 prospects better than Byfield for at variety of reasons instead of only 1 in a draft where over 217 players will be selected. What idiots!

I don’t mind people thinking there are better prospects, but the amount of people that have him shoot down the rankings for one mediocre tournament is dumb

 

[Hale The Villain]

I think Dach is the better prospect, but its close. I think Dach's game is more predicated on skill. Both are offensive minded power centers, but I think Dach does it more with skill and hockey IQ and Byfield does it more with speed.

Dach is absolutely not the better prospect.

It's not all about points, but Dach only had 73P/62GP last year in the WHL (1.177 PPG), while Byfield has 67P/35GP (1.914 PPG)

Hard to ignore that kind of difference in production. It's about the same as the gap between Lafreniere (2.189 PPG) and a guy like Quinn (1.341 PPG), who obviously isn't close to as good as a prospect.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I don’t mind people thinking there are better prospects, but the amount of people that have him shoot down the rankings for one mediocre tournament is dumb

Shot him down? I haven’t seen any list where he’s lower than 3rd and almost everyone still has him at 2. Saying he’s not going #1 is not “shooting him down”

 

[Great Panda 2]

Byfield didn't lose his spot, other players took it. Saying Byfield lost his WJC spot downplays the tremendous play of Foudy, Foudy stole that spot rightfully

 

[landy92mack29]

Dach is absolutely not the better prospect.

It's not all about points, but Dach only had 73P/62GP last year in the WHL (1.177 PPG), while Byfield has 67P/35GP (1.914 PPG)

Hard to ignore that kind of difference in production. It's about the same as the gap between Lafreniere (2.189 PPG) and a guy like Quinn (1.341 PPG), who obviously isn't close to as good as a prospect.

I do think Byfield is the better prospect but it's a lot harder to put up points in the WHL than the OHL as it's a much more physical+defensive league. Byfield needs to start playing as big as he's listed and impose himself like Dach did last year

 

[Gold Standard]

This thread is hilarious. Imagine a team picking at #2. Well we’ve got this 17 year old 6’4 centre who scored nearly 2.00ppg in the OHL... BUT he was invisible in a tourney dominated by 19 year olds, so let’s go with someone else

That's basically it. The player/prospect analysis around these parts generally runs about as deep as a puddle of spit.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

Is he injured?

 

[93LEAFS]

I do think Byfield is the better prospect but it's a lot harder to put up points in the WHL than the OHL as it's a much more physical+defensive league. Byfield needs to start playing as big as he's listed and impose himself like Dach did last year

I don't know what to make of the OHL numbers this year, but historically, OHL scoring has transfered better to the NHL short and long-term. For whatever reasons, a lot of the elite WHL forwards have been late-bloomers such as Stone and Benn. Drai is the most recent. It's also not like there aren't recent examples of guys putting up crooked numbers in the WHL such as Heponiemi who put up over 2 ppg at 18. Steele also put up some pretty crazy numbers. OHL and WHL have the same amount of players to break the 2 ppg threshold as u-19 players since 2015/16 with it being Marner for the OHL and Heponiemi for the WHL. The OHL has more guys over the 1.7 threshold by a decent margin, but the OHL also tends to produce noticeably more elite forwards than the WHL.

Is he injured?

Pretty sure he's sick.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dach is absolutely not the better prospect.

It's not all about points, but Dach only had 73P/62GP last year in the WHL (1.177 PPG), while Byfield has 67P/35GP (1.914 PPG)

Hard to ignore that kind of difference in production. It's about the same as the gap between Lafreniere (2.189 PPG) and a guy like Quinn (1.341 PPG), who obviously isn't close to as good as a prospect.

All these guys score high point totals in junior hockey. I tend to not make too much of one being more or less than the other. There are different reasons why some score more than others.

And I don't see why it's so outrageous to have Dach ahead of Byfield. I know some of you have Byfield ranked #2, but I personally have him somewhere in that 3-6 range, which is right around where I had Dach a year ago. I also had Dach closer to 3 than 6, and it might've even been 3 at the draft. I don't remember exactly. The Hawks also seemed to have him at 3 during the draft, and many agree he was the third best player in that draft. I don't know exactly where I'd have Byfield yet, but even if it was 3rd or 4th, the two drafts are similar in my opinion. I like 2020's talent a little more after the top 10 or so picks, but both are weaker drafts, in my opinion. I don't see why a comparison between the two isn't apt. And I said it's close. I didn't say I prefer Dach by that much.

 

[bert]

Shot him down? I haven’t seen any list where he’s lower than 3rd and almost everyone still has him at 2. Saying he’s not going #1 is not “shooting him down”

All you do is rip on him at every opportunity. You can see it throughout every single thread, literally hundreds of posts the obsession is getting a little unhealthy.

I do think Byfield is the better prospect but it's a lot harder to put up points in the WHL than the OHL as it's a much more physical+defensive league. Byfield needs to start playing as big as he's listed and impose himself like Dach did last year

This is absolutely not true. Look at the scoring the past 5 seasons.

 

[nbwingsfan]

All you do is rip on him at every opportunity. You can see it throughout every single thread, literally hundreds of posts the obsession is getting a little unhealthy.



This is absolutely not true. Look at the scoring the past 5 seasons.

It’s been very well documented that the WHL is the hardest league to score in.

Ive also stated over and over again Byfield is the 2nd best prospect currently and I’d be thrilled if the Wings get him at #2. It’s YOU who can’t seem to accept that saying a player isn’t as good as the guy ranked #1, and giving reasons why, is not “ripping” on a kid. It’s pointing out flaws in a players game that might hold him back, like literally every single player has. It’s like youre embarrassed that your call of Byfield > Lafreniere was wrong and now you take it out on others.

But sure, he’s a flawless player and perfect and the next Lemieux, probably better.

Happy now?