You articulated my thoughts better than me. I look at like Power for example, or Nemec vs Cooley as examples that support this thought process. I think Schaefer is a better prospect than Power and Nemec, but its a whole lot of projecting needed for him, when you already have to project D to begin with.
He'd have to look ridiculously good in TC for him to make the team, and even then they might not care.
Yeah, when you start factoring in cap-hit post-ELC it starts to get a lot more confusing. But, I will say the gap in salary between Tavares and Hedman on ELC's was like 1.5m or something but was also a year shorter than JT's deal. They likely provided comparable value on their 2nd contracts relative to cap hit, as Hedman only really started to match or surpass JT on impact by about year 4 of the deal. Tavares in year 1 and 3 of his 2nd contract was in Hart contention. Whereas Hedman didn't get a Norris nomination until year 5 of his 2nd deal (then immediately re-upped). Obviously, this is a very specific example. The Stamkos/Doughty discussion would be much closer.
I keep on seeing the NCAA as a possibility.
NCAA is always a possibility now. For any player not on an ELC. I haven't heard anything specifically about Schaefer, no.
Hughes and McAvoy made the jump after a year. Makar got 2 years though from what I remember. I wouldn't be opposed to that, I just have zero faith in an NHL franchise waiting 2 years on a 1st overall pick. I don't think that's happened since MA Fleury like 20+ years ago.
Pretty unique situation for Schaefer, being so young and missing almost a full season.
It’s juniors or college. We just got a gift, there hadn’t been any expectation that who we’d pick would be in the NHL immediately before the draft. It’s not like 2009, we can be patient.
I hope so. I already know we're going to get the "if he was THAT good, wouldn't he be in the NHL right now?"....you know it's coming. Hopefully it's just a small fraction of the fanbase though.
I mean does anyone know how that actually works? I mean, are NCAA D1 teams holding back scholarships for CHL players? It's kind of an odd deal.
Sort of new but I'd guess top NCAA programs are planning for CHL guys. Especially older ones.
Chris Phillips to me will always be remembered as the least NHL looking player of all time. More-so than Kessel even
I hate to rag on a guy's appearance, but you're not wrong. He literally looks like a construction foreman...
Plus what's really holding him back is that fact that he's about 15-20 lbs. too light from being an everyday NHL defenseman.
Wheeler at Athletic said NCAA college is dramatically harder than the OHL and not even close . Look at Dickinson at London ripping up OHL but when he played world Juniors against college age he was flat out bad with no pace or offense . I like Schaefer but to have no concerns is ridiculous and he’s basically number one mainly because he didn’t play a lot .
