I don't know, I think he's a very WOW type of player, but I'm not the kind of guy that gets excited with dekes and plays off the rush at top speed, I'm a high IQ fan and love how he processes the game quickly and sees everything develop before it happens. That excites me and wowes me a lot more.
F Alexis Lafreniere - Rimouski Oceanic, QMJHL (2020 Draft) Part 2
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East Coast Icestyle
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Elite hands in tight spaces, very agile skater, great finish around the net. Excels as a perimeter playmaker and can be lethal as a passer or shooter off the rush. Has grit, wins board battles. Don't even know if there is a weak area in his game to be honest. Definitely has the ability to cut to the middle of the ice with the puck.
East Coast Icestyle
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I don't know why it hasn't been tried to be honest. To me he has all the assets you want in a playmaking center. Maybe he just likes being a winger and doesn't want to move at center.
East Coast Icestyle
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I know it might not be a popular idea but I think a lot of these young stars should be tried at C if they're willing early on. Gives an opportunity for so much more impact.
Just Linda
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I think zero. His game just isn't suited for centre. He's not like an Aho type winger where he can dance and control the middle of the ice, he's more like Laine from that same line when Laine was setting up Aho. If he became a centre, I imagine him being like Ryan Suzuki was last year.
No reason to take away his best weapons to make him into something he's not
To me he looks kinda like a matthews MacKinnon hybrid with the way he processes the game. He's able to create plays with little to no space and stickhandles in tight around the boards and net along with his edges and balance is reminiscent of crosby. But he is his own player a more modern power forward who possesses elite skill and hockey iq and comparing his speed and explosiveness from last year to this year has improved greatly. He does everything in the offensive zone, he forechecks plays gritty along the boards and corners and wins battles, sets the screen is good in front of the net and he can find the open space to score goals and be a sniper or control the puck and turn into an amazing playmaker. He is also capable of playing a great defensive game. He's also dangerous off the rush he can do it all and its not an exaggeration he is a phenom due to is ability to process the game at an elite level his iq and ability to put all his tools into one package successfully is what makes him a true franchise changing talent on the wing. No.1 overall without hesitation not knock on his peers because this is an elite draft class and its more of a testament to alexis than anything else.
Is he heads and shoulders above all the centers in this draft? Kinda rare that a winger goes 1st overall, since you can't build a team over them. Ovechkin is the only exception.
IMO this is more myth than truth. For example, this year there’s 3 NHL teams that have been a level above the rest - Boston, Washington and St. Louis. Boston’s top 2 players are wingers (Marchand and Pastrnak). Washington is arguable between Ovie, Kuzie and Carlson, but most would say Ovie, a winger. St. Louis is hard to say, a very deep/balanced team, when everyone’s healthy it’s probably between Tarasenko, Pietrangelo, ROR and Binnington. Regardless, it’s getting more and more common for top teams to have a winger as their best player. Kucherov, Kane, Gaudreau/Tkachuk, Panarin, Svechnikov, Stone/Patches, etc. So far this season, the top scorer is a winger for 17 of 31 teams.
Re: “is Laf head and shoulders above all the centres in this draft,” you’ll get mixed opinions on that, but IMO yes.
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Just Linda
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Hmm... Bergeron? Backstrom? RoR?
The top line of Boston only runs so well because Bergeron is such a good two way player.
At one point during the cup run, Trotz was quoted as saying something like 'we didn't build around guys like Ovi, we built around bringing their best out'. Having two top 30 centres is definitely a big reason they won.
Blues weren't contenders until RoR arrived.
You win down the middle, there's not a single example from the past 15+ years that proves otherwise
People like to oversimplify. Cup winning teams tend to have strong forwards, that strength is often rooted in both centres and wingers. Crosby, Malkin, Bergeron, ROR, Kopitar, Backstrom, Kuzie and Toews have all been big parts of recent cup wins, but so have Ovie, Kane, Tarasenko, Marchand, Kessel, Williams and Hossa. Hockey is a very balanced team sport, it’s not about one player, or even one position. I do agree that centres are very important, but great teams full of great players win cups, and those great players can be centres, wingers, dmen or goalies. Edmonton has frequently been a bottom feeder despite having McDavid, Draisaitl and RNH.
NHL GMs are smart. If centres were so much more valuable than wingers, the pay gap between them would be huge, when in reality it’s quite small.
Wouldn’t be shocked if Byfield completely flops. I feel his dominance has a lot to do with physical attributes and not skill or hockey iq.
Just Linda
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That's certainly not true, if you'd watch him play juniors you'd see that he's more than just a big fast guy. He's got a lot of skill for his age, easy top 5 pick worth.
You might be right but unlike most 17 year olds in this tournament he is not overmatched physically. Maybe trying him at Center would help but he’s making almost no impact right now. I see the arguments for him (size,age,center) but as of right now Lafrenierre is clearly the better player. I also think Lafrenierre is a much safer bet to become a impact player in the league.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
It’s talked about mostly for the list of Cup winners. The regular season is a different game.
The last 2 Stanley Cup series were St. Louis vs Boston and Washington vs Las Vegas. All 4 of those teams had greater strength on the wings than at centre, with the possible exception of Washington where it was arguable.
There’s lots of ways to build a cup winning team, the idea that they can only be built around elite centres is simply not true. Centres are very, very important, but if you’re choosing between Laf and Byfield, and you think Laf is going to be the significantly better player, then it’s Laf who will bring your team closer to cup contention.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
St. Louis had ROR, Boston had Bergeron, Washington has Backstrom and Kuznetsov. Vegas had a total anomaly of a season, so I don't think that proves much, although I didn't think they were all that weak down the middle that year.
I didn't say you can't have very good wingers, but I think you need first line caliber centers and a 1D or two first pair defensemen. Nearly all the winners of the Cup in the last 15 years have had those pieces on their team.
You think Toews was more important than Kane or Keith? Ovi was clearly the best player for the Caps and if Boston won game 7 last season, it certainly wasn’t due to Bergeron/Krejci
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