The little bit i've seen of Fink, he doesn't quite pass the eye-test like Johnny did though. Gaudreau had a lot better physical attributes, mostly in his skating.
Imagine that. An apprentice cook leading the Allsvenskan...err NCAA in scoring. In fact the top of NCAA scoring is dotted with apprentice cooks and cleaners helpers from north of the 49th. Along with Finch are notables such as Cole O'Hara, Trevor Hoskin, T J Hughes, Felix Trudeau, Aryton Martino, Mason Marcellus, Ethan Leyh and the sort.
He's just 20, so not quite the same as some of the others. But in general, this factor is only going to rise in future years, because all the CHL "future cook" types of top scoring overagers are signing up with NCAA teams, and now that they have played 4 or 5 years of junior and are aging out as top junior scorers, they're going to tag on another 4 or 5 years as big scorers in the NCAA. Will definitely be interesting.
I'm interested to see if his game translates to the NHL as a top 6 guy or if he is one of thsoe AHL/Europe scoring stars?
We've had so many NCAA superstars, I think we can take this with a "wait and see" perspective? Even Vesey, who we panicked so much over is barely an NHL player. I think there is a reasonable middle ground where we are all excited about what Fink is doing, but aren't really too invested in his ultimate NHL upside. It's kind of a dream-come-true if your 7th round pick is ripping up the NCAA, regardless of the longterm reality.
