I think Fitz has tunnel vision which he transmits to the scouts when it comes to forwards. His recorded speech about finding passionate players because they are more likely to make it for example. He's not wrong and I think it's similar to STI's commentary about competitiveness. But what about the other skills and intellect that goes into playing hockey? Despite the seeming focus on size with Silayev, Traff, and Pikkarainen, this past draft was much better than his few prior drafts in terms of approach as I see it. At least the guys he picked in Traff and Pikkarainen aren't total stiffs. They can at least play and aren't just big. They picked two goalies and invested in one fairly high up so they clearly liked him. Melovsky has some skill and can potentially jump in with Utica this season so not a bad flyer to take with a late round pick. You can't win in the NHL with an entire lineup of 5'10" 175 pound skill players up front and on defense but you also can't win with a full lineup of grinding big forwards with mediocre skill. The game is too fast now and I wonder if Fitz sees that? When he talks it's to say how "hard" it is to play in the NHL but my impression is he's talking hitting and physical play as opposed to just how fast it is now.
Yeah, we cant win with 10 Bastians. Even if we will have a couple from this huge Bastianesque squad. I understand his desire to find big physical scorer but he should work on the other markets too, try to find solutions for other problems from systemic point of view.
Overall I would say roster problems could be solve on the draft, but mostly its much better to work on the market, in the same time overall system should have different type of players to solve the problems of the roster if they suddenly form. And of course its better to pick for potential upside.
But when Fitz is trying to find bottom line physical scorer just because he doesnt have it in the roster, its a problem he doesnt pick for upside and even for system need. We have many potential physical scorers. Some are better some are worser. But we dont have potential playmakers, playdrivers, defensive center, two way centers, defensive wingers with motor and good positional game.
We have Gritsyuk, who is potential scorer(and who was drafted in 2019), we have physical wingers with scoring potential(or without it) in Stillman, Traff, Pikka, Hauser, Brown, Graham, Filmon(more scorer with physical potential, not actually physical). Even actual signed or traded players like Beckman, Halonen, Wendt are more physical/scoring(or both) wingers.
Only Squires looks like a player who can create situations for other players and play solid without the puck all over the ice. Again - potentially.
I like Melovsky. May be not so happy with him as the pick but still its very good where he was drafted. From games I saw and from actual performance on the tournament he played pretty accurately, nice positioning all over the ice, especially on the blue lines. I hope he has some defensive potential, but it looks like he is the only forward who has it may be with Squires(I dont know how it will work for him on adult or especially on NHL level), and its not like he is dynamic to have this "number one defensive forward on the line" potential.
So yeah, I really dont like how Fitz is working with forwards on the draft from strategic point of view even if I like some player outside the context of the draft.
