Almost 20 year old NHL FRP cannot make that turnover, absolutely pathetic. Rough start for Barlow, he’s gonna heat fast and soon. Been a dominant player since he entered the league.
Yeah, IMO Barlow is a good player, no doubt. But, I think he falls in the category of better NHL Prospect than OHL player. The league sees a lot of players that are great NHL prospects. They have the right size and many of the right attributes that make a potential impactful hockey player in the NHL “in time.”
Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have developed in a way that makes them super elite right now in the OHL. There are a handful of players in the OHL right now that are far more impactful and have demonstrated as such over their career.
So, when I say Colby Barlow is overrated, I don’t mean as an NHL prospect. I mean as an OHL player. He has scored 40 goals twice which is great. No doubt. He uses his size pretty effectively for the purpose of scoring goals and creating opportunities for himself. But, he isn’t and has not been super elite. He hasn’t developed a game where he makes the players around him better. He is a finisher and that is pretty much it. He doesn’t create much offence. He doesn’t have great puck touches that generate that offence. He can use his size to get to the net and he has a great shot. That’s about it. He is not making and setting up plays.
In my opinion, the trade return for him was based so much more on his reputation as an NHL prospect rather than his actual impact as an OHL player. Can he change his game to be more impactful? Sure. Will he? I don’t think so. He will have to at the NHL level though.
Where I think that trade may pay dividends is in the playoffs. He definitely is an elite scorer and with his size, he will be able to battle through the traffic and tighter defence to find his scoring opportunities. So, although I don’t feel he is a super elite player that was worthy of that level of trade return, I do feel that there is a possibility he could earn his keep when the playoffs roll around.