Sure let's continue collecting undersized players. You already have Hutson and Caufield playing top 6 minutes. Demidov is listed as 6"1' but he will never be a physical player.
I don;t see the great need for Bear except it's Snake's player of the year. You talk about Pronman but he's much plugged than Snake who only looks at the players through a prism of skill. Habs have all the skill they need, they need big bodies that can play on your top 9 F top 4 D. Anyone not seeing this is living in bizarro world where the playoffs have the same value as the regular season.
Demidov is extremely strong for his age/size and will eventually be a tank when he matures. Calling players like Bear and Cootes "undersized" is a disservice to their potential impact as players who are closer to average size than being small and play much bigger than their size.
I agree that we need more size but when the opportunity arises to select skilled players who are around 6'0" with the potential to play at close to 200 lbs and are born winners who don't back down from anyone, you take them all day over players that are bigger but don't project as players who are likely to play higher in the lineup. Players like Nick Suzuki, Seth Jarvis, Brayden Point, Robert Thomas, Sebastian Aho, Travis Konecny, Jake Guentzel, etc. are core pieces for their teams and playoff warriors who were not drafted in the top 10 and were all known to be undersized to some degree but were hard to knock off of the puck and were fierce competitors. These players were the Bear's and Cootes of their respective drafts to differing degrees and are not only core pieces but are looked to as leaders when the playoffs roll around.
I have been championing the need to grab multiple big forwards in this draft but if Bear or Cootes (especially Bear) are there at 16 or 17 it would be tough for me to pass on them. I also like Carbonneau, Hensler, Lakovic (he is growing on me), Fiddler, Spence, Zonnon, Nestrasil, Moore, Zharovsky and Nesbitt out of players that I think have a reasonable chance to still be there. There are also some huge prospects that HuGo may take a flyer on and shock everyone with a "reach". I suspect our 2nd and 3rd rounds will be showcasing some big aggressive boys.
Gallagher will be on his way out or gone altogether by the time they make the team so they will essentially already be providing a size upgrade anyways.
Giving Pronman any flowers whatsoever is grotesque when he has zero hockey background or acumen and exposes himself as a full on ass when he grades player's attributes. Seriously, I had a better grasp on scouting at the age of 12 then this wiener currently has. Pronman is more plugged into being a fool than he is to actual hockey insiders.
