He's a weird one. Average skater with average shot (but great hands). He's a good 2-way guy who just makes things happen. IMO he's the closest thing to Bergeron in the league and his game will get better as he gets older.
It is his IQ. Even going back to his draft year, you could just see his IQ was on a completely different level than anybody else.
Newhook's heavier than all those players you listed. He's for sure an inch or two undersized but for me the hockey sense was what stood out the most. I'd give his skating a borderline A and his hockey IQ a D. When he's moved over to the wing or in a less structured system he improves quite abit. That to me shows the decision making is the issue and not the skating. He looked the best he's ever looked in the NHL centering Armia/Gallagher for example.
Agree to disagree. We've seen coaches, scouts, teams etc. all rave about his skating. You see flashes of it. When he's in practice he looks like a borderline elite skater. The issue has been putting it together and using his tools in game with how fast you gotta make decisions at the NHL level. For me that's why he'll ultimately be a winger. If he could think the game faster I think he sticks at C. At 5'10/200ish pounds the top end speed elite and the rest of his skating is all solid.
I'd argue his weight is actually a detriment. Small guys shouldn't bulk up, they should trim down. Get to the 185 range (or below) to keep all the skating up. Point and Hughes are under 180. Bedard may push up to 190, but IMO should really stick in the lower to mid 180s. Small players that bulk up typically lose their skating edge as a result. We've seen that here with Girard.
Coaches and teammates all talk up their guys. Just what they do. Those same sorts all talked up Jost's skating. All the internet scouts talked it up too. They did the same with Jarvis. I've long stood on the soap box that people simply don't know how to evaluate skating... that to many, they see guys skate fast and pretty and simply decide it is elite. Which is just the wrong way to look at it. Burst, edges, strength, transitions, efficiency... these all matter far more than hitting 23 or 24mph. IE the fastest skater to ever be tracked in the NHL is Ryan Poehling. Nobody has been clocked faster than him. Owen Tippett and Brendan Lemieux have also clocked some absurd numbers. They are not what I'd call good skaters.
I agree that Newhook is not a really smart player, but I don't think that with good, or B level IQ on your grading, that he'd be a top 6 center on a good team. We're talking the guys with similar skating and size have all shown they have to have A++ IQ. Marco Rossi is a very smart player (I'd put him in the good category at least), has always shown good IQ, has good skill... also on the smaller side. He's shown he can't really cut it as a center. Newhook is a better skater, but not by as much as people would think.
IMO the needle to thread on <6' top 6 centers is just difficult. You need IQ, you need elite skating, you need high end skill... if you lack in those, it just becomes really difficult. That's why we really don't see a ton of them. You see guys like Gourde or JGP who become energy and defense guys. Or guys like Kerfoot who bounce around and can play the spot... but don't really hold it down and a team won't build with them there. The guys who bypass the mold like Suzuki are incredibly rare. We might see 1 or 2 every 10+ years.