Jesse is projected by a few on here and other chat forums to go some where in rounds 3-6. He has the exact same stats as Madison Bowey ,differences being style and size. Madison is a stronger skater , Jesse has smarter hockey sence , Madison is also almost a year older than Jesse so size gap should close a bit.
My question is if Madison is a potetial first rounder and if Jesse falls to the 6th round, what in comparison would Jesse go in other weaker draft years?
Rounds 2 or 3 ?
Coming into the year I thought the two were almost neck and neck, Bowey still ahead by a bit, but not too big of a gap. Coming into this season it became a bit more clear to me that he is not as mature or heads-up smart as Bowey. Doesn't have the same raw potential. Bowey is a better skater, more physical, and better all-around.
That being said, Lees is still a solid prospect. He does think the game well play on the rush pushing the puck up ice with passing or with skating. Not a burning fast skater, but smooth and mobile. Not a punisher physically but he's not afraid to throw the body around.
So why isn't he rated higher? He is prone to the occasional gaffe. It might be a bluntly awful turnover in the neutral zone or a slow reaction to what should seem like an obvious play in the defensive zone. Size isn't great, doesn't really project to get much bigger, but a late 2 inches would be huge for him. Good playmaker from the point but he doesn't do anything too incredible. Yeah he'll make some very good passes but he doesn't really have that true wow factor that guys like Theodore, Morrissey, and Bowey do. Keep in mind he played on a pretty stacked team, so the +/- numbers are pretty useless.
In another draft he might go a round or two higher. It's hard to tell. 3-4 maybe. I have him as a 5th for 2013.