Based on...? You literally said you didn't even follow the draft closely.
comments: In my opinion, Del Mastro’s skating could very well be the most impressive feature of his overall game. His skating ability is relatively surprising, considering most 6’4, 200lbs defensemen aren’t as agile or quick on their feet as he is.
Connor Kelley... His great skating and love for offense shows he’s a USNTDP-kid at heart but his calm defense and active stick show how much he’s already taken away from his college coaching.
You even said Allan is decent and he I see put below those two by people saying just average or nhl caliber like average.
The 6'7" guy is the only one that seems to get below average skating on reports.
Allan is an adequate skater in my viewings
Colton Dach can’t skate but has a decent stride so I have hopes.
Del Mastro was not a good skater when I watched and saw him struggle at holding the blue line and getting beat to pucks dumped behind him by fore checkers.
Safonov truly cannot skate and probably never will.
Watching Kaiser gave me the most knowledge of Kelly and i didn’t come away impressed with his skating. The only thing I liked was his poise and he made a good first pass/ exit with passing. His skating wasn’t good.
I said I didn’t watch as much as I normally do, but I still took 1 hour or so a day at work watching guys and doing readings. I had my own list like I do every year. It’s all my opinions and I put a huge emphasis on skating.
I’ve seen the guys at Smaht say similar as well as Pronman but I’m not a Pronman fan so him agreeing with me is no endorsement.
Im not saying they can’t improve their skating I just would rather them take guys that can skate earlier on than take chances on bigger guys learning to skate.