Its really hard to completely compare the two regimes drafting successes at this current point. Mainly because there inherently will be more Busts from drafts that occurred 5 years ago vs. ones that occurred within the last 2 years. Some of the prospects listed as "still progressing" under Dubas' watch will inevitably migrate to bust over time.
That said, there really is no comparing the 2 GM's when it comes to drafting IMO. Dubas' strategy is very much unique in the sense that he always prioritizes skill in the draft, and not necessarily size. If they have both, great, as seen with Matthew Knies.
Contrary to popular belief, Dubas will draft someone with size, it just can't be the only thing they bring to the table.
Dubas will never draft a player without them having at least 1 specific attribute that would be deemed as NHL level skill. Whether it's a shot, skating, passing, hands, IQ or a combination of all of them. There has not been a pick made specifically on size. I personally love this. Gone are the days of the Gordeev's, Mattinen's, and Greenway's. To me those were largely confirmed busts shortly after they were drafted.
So many times we'd draft players that struggled with the pace of Major Junior just because we hoped they'd develop the skill as time wore on. I never really understood it. You cannot make the NHL without skill. Gone are the days of just being big and strong. It has to be accompanied with some skill.
As you can see with our current roster construction, you can always acquire good bottom six forwards that play hard via free agency. Why draft a player that projects to be Bottom pairing and bottom 6? makes zero sense to me. Projected checking 3rd line centre might be the only exception.
Dubas has always had way worse positioning in drafts, and has often utilized trading back to multiply his picks with the theory of more picks = better odds of hitting gold. It is how we got Niemela and Hirvonen in the same draft. Not to mention the signing of undrafted prospects like Gogolev, Steeves, Kressler...etc
Our current prospect pool is absolutely loaded with skill. We have very little prospects I'd completely write off. There undoubtingly will be a handful of Jeremy Bracco's in that lot, but there will also be a handful of quality NHL players.
Time will be the ultimate test on this one, but I'd bet my cock on the Dubas bunch being higher impact over the Lou/Hunter bunch. Of course that is subtracting the top 10 picks that Hunter/Lou had that Kyle has never had. I really don't think it took a great deal of skill to select Matthews and Marner where they were. I think it took a bit more skill to select Mo and Willy as there were other options in those positions. But I'm confident Mo was Burkey, and I wanna say Willy was Nonis.
All n all, I'd much rather have a Miettenen/Abrusezze/Ovchinikov prospect to track, as their upsides have way higher limits. Their floors on the other hand are low in my opinion, but all you need to do is hit with 1 of those guys for that strategy to pay off.
That said, there really is no comparing the 2 GM's when it comes to drafting IMO. Dubas' strategy is very much unique in the sense that he always prioritizes skill in the draft, and not necessarily size. If they have both, great, as seen with Matthew Knies.
Contrary to popular belief, Dubas will draft someone with size, it just can't be the only thing they bring to the table.
Dubas will never draft a player without them having at least 1 specific attribute that would be deemed as NHL level skill. Whether it's a shot, skating, passing, hands, IQ or a combination of all of them. There has not been a pick made specifically on size. I personally love this. Gone are the days of the Gordeev's, Mattinen's, and Greenway's. To me those were largely confirmed busts shortly after they were drafted.
So many times we'd draft players that struggled with the pace of Major Junior just because we hoped they'd develop the skill as time wore on. I never really understood it. You cannot make the NHL without skill. Gone are the days of just being big and strong. It has to be accompanied with some skill.
As you can see with our current roster construction, you can always acquire good bottom six forwards that play hard via free agency. Why draft a player that projects to be Bottom pairing and bottom 6? makes zero sense to me. Projected checking 3rd line centre might be the only exception.
Dubas has always had way worse positioning in drafts, and has often utilized trading back to multiply his picks with the theory of more picks = better odds of hitting gold. It is how we got Niemela and Hirvonen in the same draft. Not to mention the signing of undrafted prospects like Gogolev, Steeves, Kressler...etc
Our current prospect pool is absolutely loaded with skill. We have very little prospects I'd completely write off. There undoubtingly will be a handful of Jeremy Bracco's in that lot, but there will also be a handful of quality NHL players.
Time will be the ultimate test on this one, but I'd bet my cock on the Dubas bunch being higher impact over the Lou/Hunter bunch. Of course that is subtracting the top 10 picks that Hunter/Lou had that Kyle has never had. I really don't think it took a great deal of skill to select Matthews and Marner where they were. I think it took a bit more skill to select Mo and Willy as there were other options in those positions. But I'm confident Mo was Burkey, and I wanna say Willy was Nonis.
All n all, I'd much rather have a Miettenen/Abrusezze/Ovchinikov prospect to track, as their upsides have way higher limits. Their floors on the other hand are low in my opinion, but all you need to do is hit with 1 of those guys for that strategy to pay off.
