Prospect Info: Round 3, Pick 95: Denver Barkey, C, London (OHL) ELC signed 3/3/24

[Chuck Downie]

 

[BernieParent]

Is Snoop Dogg just making the rounds to every sports franchise, professional and minor league, collecting jerseys?

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Is Snoop Dogg just making the rounds to every sports franchise, professional and minor league, collecting jerseys?

Can I expect to see him in Hershey today?

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Barkey was named captain of the Knights.

Bonk named as one of the assistant captains.

 

[deadhead]

I mean... Andrew Cristall got taken ~25 picks too late this last draft. He is DeBrincat 2.0. Such high odds to be a great player.
Gabe Perreault went 23rd when should have gone maybe 10 picks higher.
Reily Heidt almost fell out of the 2nd when probably should have gone ~20-25th.
Jayden Perron went 3rd round.

Dumais went 3rd round in 2022.
Gushchin went 3rd round in 2020.
Farrell went 4th round in 2020.
Berard went 5th round in 2020.
Maccelli went 4th round in 2019.
Brink fell to 34 in 2019 when should have gone top 20.

Maybe guys are not falling as far as they used to... but there is still a bias against smaller guys that the stats dont reflect.

Heck, Benson and Jarvis going ~5-7 picks behind where should have even.

This draft you have:

Nikita Artomonov, Terik Parascak and Luke Misa who will likely fall out of 1st, when if were ~6'1 would be talked about as top 15 picks.
Alex Zetterberg, Justin Poirier, Jett Luchanko, Teddy Stiga, Andrei Krutov, James Reeder, Mac Swanson, Alex Blais, Gavin Hodnett, Topias Hynninen... will all likely be under-drafted due to mainly size. (and only ~25% will end up top 6 level, but still)

And Barkey might not be a burner. But he is agile and has a relentless motor. He is a far better skater than Brink for example.

Looking at a list of NHL player heights, only 21 under 5'10.

1. Logan Stankoven, DAL, 68 inches (5-foot-8)
2. Daniil Gushchin, SJS, 68
3. Bobby Brink, PHI, 68
4. Cole Caufield, MTL, 68
5. Alex DeBrincat, DET, 68
6. Colin Blackwell, DAL, 68
7. Cameron Atkinson, TBL, 68
8. Mats Zuccarello, MIN, 68
9. Thirteen players tied at 5-foot-9, including Lane Hutson and Seamus Casey

Sizing up the NHL: Analyzing 2024-25 teams by age, height, weight and nationality

It's been a few years since The Athletic's last demographics breakdown and league composition has shifted in the meantime.

www.nytimes.com

Doubt this is prejudice, b/c these are players, not draft picks, that is, even undrafted undersized players get to play at some point if they're talented, and once in the AHL, you can play your way up the ladder.

Since the distribution in the general population is centered around 5'10, height must matter to some extent in NHL success. Partially mass, shorter players who have average frames are going to be light. Partially reach, shorter players have a shorter reach radius, especially important on defense.

Doesn't mean short players can't make it, but they need to be faster, more agile, better skills, higher IQ relative to the average NHL player to compensate. And there will be a limited number of short players who excel in other dimensions.