Draft Round 1 #23: New York Rangers Select RW Gabriel Perreault (Boston College, NCAA)

[Wieters]

Haven’t watched all his games so this last one may be an outlier, but it also seemed that for almost every great play he made that connected there’d be 2 or 3 he'd try that would end up in turnovers. Reminded me of Panarin in that he’s just not interested in making the safe/simple play most times, especially on the PP.

This is mostly true re. Perreault turning down the safe for the flashy. But some of that is by design from a coaching/development standpoint.

The USNTDP and BC, the two teams Gabe has played for, have more talent than whichever team they're playing against almost every single time they step onto the ice. So they are uniquely situated to pull off the high-skill plays. And when considering the arc of elite prospects' careers, it's better to take those chances at the amateur level because you're not going to be given the leash to experiment creatively in the NHL.

If you watch a BC game with an eye toward the players other than Perreault, they're all doing the same thing in terms of going for the plays with a high degree of difficulty, so it's not just a Gabe thing. It's not necessarily optimal for point totals, but I would argue it's ideal for development and why the top-tier prospects are encouraged to go to programs like that.

 

[rangersfansince08]

Currently is tied in 3rd in points in the entire NCAA. The 2 guys above him have played 2 extra games and are linemates on Denver.

Also note that BC for the most part has had a tough schedule for the first quarter.

Someone on the Chicago boards was actually saying started slower this year due to BC not being as stacked as last year.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Haven’t watched all his games so this last one may be an outlier, but it also seemed that for almost every great play he made that connected there’d be 2 or 3 he'd try that would end up in turnovers. Reminded me of Panarin in that he’s just not interested in making the safe/simple play most times, especially on the PP.

That said, can’t recall the last time we had a forward prospect that was so good at slowing the game down and orchestrating scoring opportunities, maybe Stepan?

Oh no, our 23 overall pick is playing like a potential future Hall of Famer!

 

[Wieters]

Someone on the Chicago boards was actually saying started slower this year due to BC not being as stacked as last year.

BC is as stacked as they were last year and Gabe has more points through this point in the season than he did last year.

 

[Fitzy]

Oh no, our 23 overall pick is playing like a potential future Hall of Famer!

Yeah but you know what he's getting at here. It's not unlike Kakko dribbling around Finnish league players until he has a slam dunk chance. The question is does the player have the toolbox to adjust their game, espeically whe nthey're facing the world's best almost every game.

For Perrault ,I think the best thing for him to start his NHL career would be to play him with a top physical talent (Kreider, Chytil, Cuylle ) and a defensively responsible player for balance. I wouldn't put him out there with Zuccarello and Martin St Louis and hope they can pass the puck into the net.