Prospect Info: Quinton Byfield (2nd Overall 2020 Draft) Discussion part II

[Sol]

or being pessimistic to think he can't be that.

the main point I'm trying to make is he fits the mold of that type of player as opposed to the Mackinnon/Matthews model.

We just gotta see. What if he becomes the next Datsyuk except taller?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think that's being super optimistic to think he can replicate Kopitar. I think we would have seen some of the signs by now. He will probably top out as a Jordan Staal caliber type player.

We have, though.

Keep in mind he literally just turned 19 and is just now entering what would have been Kopitar's first NHL year.

 

[Rorschach]

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPP	SHG	SHP	GWG	OTG	S	S%	FO%
2013-2014	COL	82	24	39	63	20	26	8	17	0	0	5	0	241	9.96	42.92
2014-2015	COL	64	14	24	38	-7	34	3	7	0	0	2	0	192	7.29	46.96
2015-2016	COL	72	21	31	52	-4	20	7	16	0	1	6	0	245	8.57	48.42
2016-2017	COL	82	16	37	53	-14	16	2	14	2	2	4	2	251	6.37	50.56
2017-2018	COL	74	39	58	97	11	55	12	32	0	1	12	3	284	13.73	41.92
2018-2019	COL	82	41	58	99	20	34	12	37	0	0	6	1	365	11.23	43.7
2019-2020	COL	69	35	58	93	13	12	12	31	0	0	4	2	318	11	43.1
2020-2021	COL	48	20	45	65	22	37	8	25	0	0	2	0	206	9.7	48.48
Career	-	573	210	350	560	61	234	64	179	2	4	41	8	2,102	10	46

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TFOOT] [/TFOOT]

It took Nathan MacKinnon five full NHL seasons to get to the caliber of center he is today, one of the top five players in the league.

Let's wait for Byfield to have at least one?

 

[kingsfan]

I think that's being super optimistic to think he can replicate Kopitar. I think we would have seen some of the signs by now. He will probably top out as a Jordan Staal caliber type player.

"By now."

You do realize Byfield right now is the same age Kopitar was when he was just about to enter the league right? I mean, maybe we can scroll back to 2006 on these boards and have a look, but I seem to recall a lot of people picking holes in the game of a 19-year-old Kopitar too. They say you can't judge a draft until 5 years after for a reason, the post above about Nathan McKinnon is exhibit A. A look at a 19 year old Joe Thornton -who legendary coach Pat Burns wanted to return to junior AFTER his first NHL season- is exhibit B. This guy will get it and be an amazing player.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

We don’t need Byfield to become Kopitar much less Datsyuk. Teams are winning Cups with centers less talented than those two.

 

[kingsfan]

Which teams?

 

[KingLB]

Blues.

Edit: Caps too imo.

 

[kingsfan]

Blues.

Edit: Caps too imo.

Ryan O'Reilly, especially 2019 Ryan O'Reilly, is very much that level of a centre. 2018 Niklas Backstrom and Evgeni Kuznetsov were both 70+ points and Backstrom's been elite his entire career. Kuznetsov posted great numbers with his nose stuffed half the time. GTFO with that.

 

[KingLB]

Ryan O'Reilly, especially 2019 Ryan O'Reilly, is very much that level of a centre. 2018 Niklas Backstrom and Evgeni Kuznetsov were both 70+ points and Backstrom's been elite his entire career. Kuznetsov posted great numbers with his nose stuffed half the time. GTFO with that.

None are on Kopitar level. And definitely not on Dats. So I’ll stay right where I am thanks.

 

[kingsfan]

You're right. Winning the Conn Smythe isn't on Kopitar or Datsyuk's level at all. Or a Selke. Or a soon to be 1,000 point career. Yeah, chump careers.

 

[KingLB]

You're right. Winning the Conn Smythe isn't on Kopitar or Datsyuk's level at all. Or a Selke. Or a soon to be 1,000 point career. Yeah, chump careers.

Im not sure you know what the word level means. Nobody is saying Oreilly is a bad player. But Kopitar’s numbers when he was in his second season, match Ryan’s career high…he has 1 season over 64 pts. If you can’t see they are on completely different levels I can’t help you.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Hopefully some people saw last night what a few more of us saw in the other streamed game...Byfield is a couple of teammate posts/tap-ins away from a serious breakout game. The guy is a chance creation machine. He strikes me as a guy who might just break out with a 5 point game early on as guys start to expect the skill around them a little more.

 

[kingsfan]

Im not sure you know what the word level means. Nobody is saying Oreilly is a bad player. But Kopitar’s numbers when he was in his second season, match Ryan’s career high…he has 1 season over 64 pts. If you can’t see they are on completely different levels I can’t help you.

Good thing I don't need your help then. Good thing too points aren't the litmus test for how good a player is. They are far more equal than you are implying and very much on equal levels.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Ryan O'Reilly, especially 2019 Ryan O'Reilly, is very much that level of a centre. 2018 Niklas Backstrom and Evgeni Kuznetsov were both 70+ points and Backstrom's been elite his entire career. Kuznetsov posted great numbers with his nose stuffed half the time. GTFO with that.

Hey, I doubt that was a detriment

2019 ROR was certainly amongst that crowd. Rest of his career is debateable, but if he's the 'worst' 1C to win in 15 years (and played at a Conn Smythe level), that really strengthens the case that you need a Kopitar-esque center at worst to lead the charge.

 

[kingsfan]

Hey, I doubt that was a detriment

Your signature quotes make this even better

 

[Kurrilino]

Blues.

Edit: Caps too imo.

Well yes, but they also have winger who score 50+ goals
Try that with our wingers who have trouble to pass the 20+ mark

 

[Frolov 6'3]

I think that's being super optimistic to think he can replicate Kopitar. I think we would have seen some of the signs by now. He will probably top out as a Jordan Staal caliber type player.

We would ?

Nobody here has seen barely anything from Kopitar in Sweden. For some reason people constantly act they have.

He had what ? 8 goals and 18 points in the SEL the year before he entered the NHL. Nothing shattering. He showed some more in pre season.

Not saying Byfield would become just as good as Kopi but the timeframe (add Covid to this as well) is just so small to compare him to either Kopitar or Staal at this point.

 

[Rorschach]

OT/Offseason comment: This whole situation reminds me of the early days of Pokemon Go, when we would all go out in droves to certain hotspots and chase after big Pokemons...

A lot of people know here that after the draft lottery when we got #2OA, before the big choice/chase, I was a big proponent of drafting the guy I thought was closer to the NHL, Tim Stutlze, over the 3+ years away project, Quinton Byfield. But as a purple-blooded (some have accused me of having one eye and one horn) Kings fan of multiple decades/eras, I would 100% support whoever Blake/Yanetti/Kings would pick. No matter how strong my preference, I'm smart enough to know to defer to those clearly smarter and more knowledgeable than me.

To me, this was like having a Charizard spawn 900 ft. south of your location and a Dratini spawn 1000 ft. north. You can make it to one almost for sure but not the other...not both. So which do you run to? With Charizard you know what you get...it's a bad ass Pokemon that anyone would want. You get to immediately train him, fight with him and he will immediately show his strength. On the other hand, if you catch Dratini, it will take a lot more raising and he won't pay dividends right away. You'll have to evolve him twice, from Dratini to Dragonair to the legendary Dragonite, and that is a journey that not only is much, much longer, it might not even succeed. But, a fully evolved, fully trained Dragonite is significantly better than a full Charizard. (My PGo collection, I have one ok Charizard but I have over a dozen fully leveled Dragonites that are very strong).

So if we chose Dratini, we must understand up front we must keep training and evolving. We can't compare the development to the fully evolved Charizard. But we expect that if we can stay the course, we will have something better.

Ok the season starts soon...

 

[Rorschach]

Here's Kopitar's development, the guy many of us envisioned/hope that Byfield becomes...

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	PPP	SHG	SHP	GWG	OTG	S	S%	FO%
2006-2007	LAK	72	20	41	61	-12	24	7	29	2	2	1	0	193	10.36	46.1
2007-2008	LAK	82	32	45	77	-15	22	12	34	2	4	3	1	201	15.92	49.22
2008-2009	LAK	82	27	39	66	-17	32	7	23	1	1	3	0	234	11.54	49.52
2009-2010	LAK	82	34	47	81	6	16	14	38	1	1	2	0	259	13.13	49.71
2010-2011	LAK	75	25	48	73	25	20	6	18	1	1	6	1	233	10.73	49.91
2011-2012	LAK	82	25	51	76	12	20	8	26	2	4	2	0	230	10.87	53.81

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Kopitar took six full NHL seasons to become the top two-way guy he's known to be now (nearly ppg, significantly positive +/-, significantly above 50% FO). I'm sure both defensive coaching from Terry Murray and getting to play with a significant two-way winger in Justin Williams greatly helped him to get there...of which Byfield has 0 of those opportunities yet.

 

[All The Kings Men]

OT/Offseason comment: This whole situation reminds me of the early days of Pokemon Go, when we would all go out in droves to certain hotspots and chase after big Pokemons...

A lot of people know here that after the draft lottery when we got #2OA, before the big choice/chase, I was a big proponent of drafting the guy I thought was closer to the NHL, Tim Stutlze, over the 3+ years away project, Quinton Byfield. But as a purple-blooded (some have accused me of having one eye and one horn) Kings fan of multiple decades/eras, I would 100% support whoever Blake/Yanetti/Kings would pick. No matter how strong my preference, I'm smart enough to know to defer to those clearly smarter and more knowledgeable than me.

To me, this was like having a Charizard spawn 900 ft. south of your location and a Dratini spawn 1000 ft. north. You can make it to one almost for sure but not the other...not both. So which do you run to? With Charizard you know what you get...it's a bad ass Pokemon that anyone would want. You get to immediately train him, fight with him and he will immediately show his strength. On the other hand, if you catch Dratini, it will take a lot more raising and he won't pay dividends right away. You'll have to evolve him twice, from Dratini to Dragonair to the legendary Dragonite, and that is a journey that not only is much, much longer, it might not even succeed. But, a fully evolved, fully trained Dragonite is significantly better than a full Charizard. (My PGo collection, I have one ok Charizard but I have over a dozen fully leveled Dragonites that are very strong).

So if we chose Dratini, we must understand up front we must keep training and evolving. We can't compare the development to the fully evolved Charizard. But we expect that if we can stay the course, we will have something better.

Ok the season starts soon...

I have no idea what you're talking about and yet somehow it all made sense and I loved it.

 

[Rorschach]

I have no idea what you're talking about and yet somehow it all made sense and I loved it.

Some day, a year and a half from now, I will re-read it myself and wonder wtf is this guy on about?

 

[Yog S'loth]

To me, this was like having a Charizard spawn 900 ft. south of your location and a Dratini spawn 1000 ft. north. You can make it to one almost for sure but not the other...not both. So which do you run to? With Charizard you know what you get...it's a bad ass Pokemon that anyone would want. You get to immediately train him, fight with him and he will immediately show his strength. On the other hand, if you catch Dratini, it will take a lot more raising and he won't pay dividends right away. You'll have to evolve him twice, from Dratini to Dragonair to the legendary Dragonite, and that is a journey that not only is much, much longer, it might not even succeed. But, a fully evolved, fully trained Dragonite is significantly better than a full Charizard. (My PGo collection, I have one ok Charizard but I have over a dozen fully leveled Dragonites that are very strong).

So if we chose Dratini, we must understand up front we must keep training and evolving. We can't compare the development to the fully evolved Charizard. But we expect that if we can stay the course, we will have something better.

Ok the season starts soon...

Can someone translate this from nerd to English?

 

[All The Kings Men]

Can someone translate this from nerd to English?

Higher ceiling. Delayed gratification.

 

[Trash Panda]

Can someone translate this from nerd to English?

That whole analogy was a long walk for a short drink of water.

 

[tkb81]

OT/Offseason comment: This whole situation reminds me of the early days of Pokemon Go, when we would all go out in droves to certain hotspots and chase after big Pokemons...

A lot of people know here that after the draft lottery when we got #2OA, before the big choice/chase, I was a big proponent of drafting the guy I thought was closer to the NHL, Tim Stutlze, over the 3+ years away project, Quinton Byfield. But as a purple-blooded (some have accused me of having one eye and one horn) Kings fan of multiple decades/eras, I would 100% support whoever Blake/Yanetti/Kings would pick. No matter how strong my preference, I'm smart enough to know to defer to those clearly smarter and more knowledgeable than me.

To me, this was like having a Charizard spawn 900 ft. south of your location and a Dratini spawn 1000 ft. north. You can make it to one almost for sure but not the other...not both. So which do you run to? With Charizard you know what you get...it's a bad ass Pokemon that anyone would want. You get to immediately train him, fight with him and he will immediately show his strength. On the other hand, if you catch Dratini, it will take a lot more raising and he won't pay dividends right away. You'll have to evolve him twice, from Dratini to Dragonair to the legendary Dragonite, and that is a journey that not only is much, much longer, it might not even succeed. But, a fully evolved, fully trained Dragonite is significantly better than a full Charizard. (My PGo collection, I have one ok Charizard but I have over a dozen fully leveled Dragonites that are very strong).

So if we chose Dratini, we must understand up front we must keep training and evolving. We can't compare the development to the fully evolved Charizard. But we expect that if we can stay the course, we will have something better.

Ok the season starts soon...

I didn't understand most of this, but i understood all of this ... maybe its the nerd in me