He scored 61 points in 65 games as a 17 year old last year on, as
@beastintheeast refers to as a “6th place team.”
Just because I don’t like the game he plays, I prefer a more well rounded D-Man at the expense of offence, doesnt’ mean that all GM’s in the OHL hav ethe same wants and needs and value players the same. We have seem countless times where high offence players are valued by certain GM’s differently and a lot of that is based on need.
One of the biggest needs for most teams is a RHD that can Q-B the Powerplay and contribute scoring. They can offset the deficiencies in commitment to defence by pairing the player with a capable defensive D-Man.
If Mews were not in a situation where his current coach defines success more based on goal prevention than goal scoring, he may not be looking for a change of scenery. Provided he lands in a place that values the attributes he brings, his value would be very high as it should for a PPG D-Man at such a young age. Had Parekh and Mews switch teams as rookies, I would hazard a guess they’d both have similar point production. Parekh less and Mews more because of the system in place. We saw the same when Mintyukov moved from Saginaw to Ottawa. He went from 1.46ppg to 1.06ppg.
If I were running a team, Mews wouldn’t be my choice. Agreed there. But, we all know the GM’s value different things. When there is no RHD pure offence D-Man on the market and Mews is the only choice and that is what that team needs, they pay the price. It is not a common commodity.
Additionally, if he is a one year rental, that team can then move him out next year and recoup most of what they paid this year. That is a factor that goes well under the radar for most people when looking at 18 year olds. Case in point for PEterborough and their acquisition of Beck followed by them selling him the following year. The net cost to rent Beck for the one year was peanuts when you consider the return the following year.