It does look like I'm smarter than you, but not everyone should be smart, I do not hold it against you. It's just that analysis or critical thinking is not your strong suit.
Personal attack. I can tell you're worked up by this topic, so I'll let it slide. But yes, you appear to believe you are smarter than quite literally everybody. As this is a draft prospect that you say has no conceivable reason to be a draft prospect. So you must believe everyone is dumb and only you are smart.
Why would he leave China? I literally elaborated on that in multiple of my previous posts. China does not have enough junior players to have a competitive junior league all the way up until their draft year.
Oh ok so you walked back your original statement about the great Chinese infrastructure. China can't even build a single junior league or anything that feeds into Junior Leagues but is also somehow a great place for a budding NHLer to be to grow up! Make it make sense (spoiler: you can't)
Moving away at 12 sounds about optimal. He was showered with opportunities until that age and his progression was likely efficient and close to its theoretical maximum in terms of skating and individual skills especially.
Yes, he learned to skate well. That's cool, that's one tool to becoming a hockey player. It's a much more involved sport that skating and supposedly stick-handling around for a while compared to what players in all the other countries are getting in terms of learning system/team play and playing in highly competitive environments. Are you also still denying that when he moved to Canada there were pandemic shutdowns? Considering he was not playing in a well-organized setting prior that, that would likely continue to leave him behind peers that had already done so for multiple years by then. But sure, just throw some kids of all ages into a disorganized setting, playing a sort of hybrid between House League and drop-in and see how they do.
Ergo, bringing up China as an excuse or any kind of reasoning for an above average expected growth curve after the age of 17 makes no sense whatsoever.
It's not an "excuse", it's just literally an explanation for why scouts may have some more intrigue than your typical player at this development point. It's not hard to comprehend, I'm sure a very smart person like you can think through why it may be the case. You are quite literally calling the player himself a liar when he spoke on lack of structure in China. An 'excuse'? How is the fact that he was playing in a place that has never, not ever, come remotely close to developing an NHL caliber player until very recently, not a 'reason' as to why he'd have a longer development curve? It's common sense.
He will likely improve about as much as any other 17 year old or likely not as much due to his size and strength already being close to peak.
Many scouts beg to differ with your assessment. We've established you've deiced they're dumb and you're smart.
I already explained that several times, but you are somehow immune to this very basic point and keep on trying to insult me.
Just to be clear, you insulted me, multiple times. I said nothing to you until you said I "willfully fooled" myself and then followed up to a one-sentence retort that him being a finished product was not a commonly held belief with another comment DEMANDING 'one piece of evidence' which my original post had plenty of, at which time you proceeded to say that pointing out my 'errors' (which you never did) 'made [me] feel bad' and proceeded now to say I lack analysis and critical thinking.
Name me a single valid reason why should he improve at an above average rate if he hasn't done so while playing in Canada for 5 years?
He has improved quite a bit. So that's already a nonsensical claim. Do you think Boston University offered him a spot on their hockey team the day he arrived in Canada out of China?
And note that he has to improve at an extremely high rate, not an above average rate.
Yes, call him a longshot, dark horse, whatever you want. My original post said there's a high likelihood that he is not even an AHL player. It's a risk/reward, simple as that. The draft isn't very good and certainly not very deep. Someone likely makes a gamble at some point because the things he has (size/skating) are harder to teach than good systems play and awareness.
