To be fair, the excitement surrounding Nick is completely warranted. The way he put the puck in the net last year was historic, and that is no where close to a hyperbole. He scored 1.2Goals/Game last year in the OHL on a slightly above average Peterbourogh Petes team. To put it in perspective, only 3 CHL players under the age of 19 years old have been able to match that rate in the last 38 years; Lindros, Sakic, and Mario. Further, only 2 OHL players under the age of 19 have scored at over 1goal/game in the last 20 years; Tavares, and Kane.
That is as elite of company as you could possibly put yourself in. I have tried to temper my excitement with this kid, because it is unfair to pencil a 19 year old as a perennial 40 goal scorer. But his resume to date, and more importantly this kids work ethic just screams tap-in gimme to me. I would not say that about any of our other prospects personally. But his impact in the league is as bit of a guarantee as Mitch and Auston's were when they broke in. I am not saying his impact will be as big as Auston and Mitch's, but I am saying he as sure of a thing as those 2 were when they broke into the league IMO. If we need to understand just how bad this kid wants to be a star in the NHL, look no further than him forgoing the WJC to try and make the Leafs as a bottom 6 player. To put it in perspective, Kirby Dach was willing to risk his whole NHL season to play in that tourny, and that's not a knock on Kirby. That's what most rationally minded kids would do. This kid is special