Yet DET is ranked 10th with a guy who is a year older and puts up similar numbers as Kadri as their #2 prospect, and a guy half as good as Gardiner as their #1.
I dunno if Detroit should be 10th, but saying Smith is half as good as Gardiner is laughable. Detroit and Toronto fans wont agree on much but in the NCAA Smith was the more dominant of the 2 and babcock said he wanted him on Detroit last season but Holland wouldn't let him.
Even Gardiner as good as he is, is probably not as good as Rielly.
DET's best D prospect is Brendan Smith. I beg you to PLEASE make an argument was to why he is as good or better than Rielly. Pretty please with a cherry on top, tell me why Smith is better than Rielly.
I have been saying all along Nyquist is not much different than Kadri. But Nyquist must be a future allstar to get DET to 10th overall, while Kadri is a bust to drag TOR down to 20th.
Noone will make an argument for Smith over Rielly, but Smith is looking to be as good as Gardiner but with a mean streak on top. Hes not a better prospect then Rielly but Smith is also very polished and clearly going to step into the NHL and do well. A lot could still happen with Rielly.
You need to watch these players to know whos ebetter, you clearly havent watched Nyquist. He and Kadri dont play the same game at all. Nyquist is a very good defensive player and has the offensive game to match Kadri. In Nyquists second year in the NCAA he put up the same points per game as Kadris most dominant junior season. He did that playing against much older players, in a lower scoring league and while having a great two way game
Smith is essentially all about scoring points, something he has not even excelled at on the AHL level, so it is much easier with him.
Thats not true either. Its part of the reason Detroit kept him down so long, they want him to be that two way guy and not only about getting points. Now he puts up points, is the go to defensive player and pretty damn tough as well
Look, Detroit is ranked 10th on the strength of two 23yr olds. Toronto has an elite 18yr old and a 22yr old who is as good as the Wings #2 prospect but Toronto is ranked 20th.
They even admitted Detroit has no goaltending prospects, but Toronto has 3 or 4 depending on how you want to count. BUt Detroit is ranked 10 spots ahead of Toronto
Age of the prospects doesnt matter, theyre considered prospects based on the criteria of the ranking. Its also how Detroit operates, they cant draft the Riellys and Kadris at 5th overall so they take guys that need to have their game ironed out. The same thing happened to Kronwall, Datsyuk, Zetterberg.
I consider Mrazek to be a pretty awesome goalie prospect as well.
Look I dont think Toronto has a bad prospect pool but theyre also a young team, most of their top young guns are already on the leafs so being lower in the prospect rankings isnt a bad thing.
But outside of Rielly the leafs dont have an amazing blue chip prospect either. Kadri has a tonne of question marks and theres just as many leaf fans who think hes a bust as think he'll be a top 6 player. Colborne hasn't been good. Frattin is a scorer for sure but seems more like a third liner. Outside of Rielly is a lot of question marks.
Detroit doesnt have the Rielly level prospect, but they have 2 high calibre top line/top pairing type prospects that are better then anything else Toronto has. Mrazeks just as good as any goalie Toronto has. Sproul and Ouellet are probably also better than any other dmen Toronto has besides Rielly (Finn could be there though). Its not ridiculous to say Detroits prospects are better because after Rielly Detroit has a clear advantage, you should learn more about their prospects before comparing Kadri and Nyquist or saying Smith is half as good as Gardiner. But like I said with such a young team its also because of young guys already being on the rsoter which Detroit doesnt have
you need to be able to skate. 
