Kyle Beach

Eye of Ra

Grandmaster General of the International boards
Nov 15, 2008
18,845
5,135
Malmö, Sweden
Why was he drafted 11th overall? What did the scouts see in his game?

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MS

1%er
Mar 18, 2002
55,027
89,378
Vancouver, BC
Beach was one of the best 16 year olds I've seen in the last 25 years in the WHL and at that point looked like the next Gary Roberts or Keith Tkachuk and a year ahead of the 2008 draft looked like a surefire top-5 pick.

But he just didn't really develop after that. Disappointing draft year that still saw him get picked 11th and just flatlined for the rest of his junior career basically. Needed to improve his discipline and focus on continuing to improve his skills and in particular his skating (which was his biggest weakness) and instead he seemed more interested in engaging in Barnaby/Avery type circus antics. Left off Canada's 2019 and 2020 WJC teams as a result. Just didn't seem like the sharpest tool or the most dedicated guy even before all the other stuff happened.
 

Crosby2010

Registered User
Mar 4, 2023
1,267
1,107
60 points in his draft year and with 222 PIM. Look, there is ALWAYS going to be a GM or 10 that will take a guy who is 6'3" and has a decent scoring touch. They figure he'll tone down the dumb penalties that got him so many minutes. You can teach that and drive that out of a player. But there were still good players picked after him. Erik Karlsson, Jordan Eberle, Tyler Myers, John Carlson was a late 1st rounder, and Cody Hodgson was 10th overall and he was a highly rated prospect. So I can see how they took a chance on him. But man, think about an already upward trending Hawks team drafting Karlsson in 2008!
 
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Ishdul

Registered User
Jan 20, 2007
4,004
178
He got comparisons to Ryan Getzlaf when he was drafted, who was also a hyper talented guy with great size who was kind of underperforming in the WHL in their draft year.
 
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JackSlater

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
19,001
14,211
Beach was one of the best 16 year olds I've seen in the last 25 years in the WHL and at that point looked like the next Gary Roberts or Keith Tkachuk and a year ahead of the 2008 draft looked like a surefire top-5 pick.

But he just didn't really develop after that. Disappointing draft year that still saw him get picked 11th and just flatlined for the rest of his junior career basically. Needed to improve his discipline and focus on continuing to improve his skills and in particular his skating (which was his biggest weakness) and instead he seemed more interested in engaging in Barnaby/Avery type circus antics. Left off Canada's 2019 and 2020 WJC teams as a result. Just didn't seem like the sharpest tool or the most dedicated guy even before all the other stuff happened.
What I remember about Beach as a prospect, not really having access to see him outside of things like the Subway Super Series, was good size, bad discipline, rumours of character issues, and bad trends in terms of progress. I actually remember Roberts (and I think Neely) thrown around as comparables when he was 16.
 
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MarkusKetterer

Shoulda got one game in
Yeah, the Hawks couldn't have won with the guy that nearly dragged a mediocre Ottawa team to the Finals.

Yea they woulda been terrible with Keith, Seabrook and Karlsson on the ice for 100% of the game.

Like look at that loser team Tampa having one of Hedman, McDonagh and Sergachev on the ice 100% of the time. They didn’t win anything.
 

Gorskyontario

Registered User
Feb 18, 2024
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Yeah, the Hawks couldn't have won with the guy that nearly dragged a mediocre Ottawa team to the Finals.

Ottawa never went to the finals with Karlsson.

Yea they woulda been terrible with Keith, Seabrook and Karlsson on the ice for 100% of the game.

Like look at that loser team Tampa having one of Hedman, McDonagh and Sergachev on the ice 100% of the time. They didn’t win anything.

Every player you listed is better than Karlsson.
 

MarkusNaslund19

Registered User
Dec 28, 2005
5,662
8,328
He was big and had some skill, was like a bull in a china shop.

He was also mean and sort of unhinged, and at first that was seen as a good thing. Like that sort of Todd Bertuzzi, if the wires cross... type of thing that scouts thought would buy him extra space out there.

If I recall correctly, he had concussion issues that had GMs wondering how long he could play that way.

The Canucks were rumored to go for either him or Hodgson at 10th in 08 and I was desperately hoping we would avoid Beach as, to me, his profile just screamed bust. It was all physical tools and fear creating, and not much in the hockey sense department.
 

Crosby2010

Registered User
Mar 4, 2023
1,267
1,107
I dont think they would have won with Karlsson.

I'm not following here. Karlsson won the Norris in 2012 and 2015. How is a franchise not better having him? That Senators team nearly beat a Pens team that won back to back and there was no earthly way that Sens team should have been in the same ballpark. Basically at this time it was Keith and Karlsson winning the Norrises. How do two perennial Norris winners not make them even better? Kyle Beach never even played, so how does Karlsson make them worse? Putting aside some of his defensive struggles, that is already factored in, but he has a ton of help.
 

The Great Mighty Poo

I don't like you either.
Feb 21, 2020
6,244
6,434
At the time, I recall he was viewed as a potential prototype to be a guy like Wilson and was highly regarded, but also had a reputation for being difficult to control and prone to immature acts and running his mouth a bit too much I recall him causing shit in a game when he mocked Lucic calling him Quasimodo that started a brawl or something to that ilk , just didnt work out for him, .....also that whole um *clears throat* THAT thing which we dont speak about with a certain POS didnt help matter much either.
 

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