OK, so I had a free night tonight so I basically shift-by-shifted Mynio in two of the games against Winnipeg in the WHL Finals.
And on closer watching ... not really impressed.
The good is that he's pretty clearly a guy who competes and battles, tries to get in front of shots, engages opposition forwards. Seems to have good hockey sense and solid fundamentals. Talked about his PK work in the interview linked above and yup - he basically plays top PK unit on an elite team.
But man, there's no tools there. I'll walk back what I said earlier about his skating - it isn't good. Doesn't generate much leg drive and isn't quick or smooth skating backward or forwards. Footwork is OK but nothing special. Talked in the Celebrini thread how Celebrini looked to have a bigger frame than he was listed at and Mynio is the opposite - looks pretty short and small. Offensively he makes the simple plays well enough but there's nothing dynamic there and no X-factor and no real upside. Basically a smallish, slowish defensive defender.
The player I kept thinking of watching play was Ashton Sautner who has basically the same toolbox and even has a similar look/stance/skating style on the ice. And Sautner basically overachieved to get 23 NHL games.
Looks like a guy who probably should have gone in the 6th-7th round and has 3rd pairing upside. I don't get the impression at all that he was a hidden gem on that great Seattle team.
That's definitely pretty fair as an assessment of "what is there currently".
The way i see this pick, is that they must be banking pretty heavily on physical development making him a more dynamic skater and player. A lot of the flaws with his skating, are that it's a bit disjointed at times and like you said...lacks power/explosiveness. It has a lot of the hallmarks of a guy who hit a bit of a growth spurt and just hasn't caught up yet.
I can see a projection there based on his height/weight from the combine and just visually on the ice where he looks really thin/light and not at all powerful, where some time and physical development could make him a stronger, more assertive, dynamic player.
That, combined with the expectation that he's going to be stepping into a bigger role...i think that's what they're drafting here. Not exactly "what he is now" per se.
Whether that pans out or he never gets there, that's certainly a bit of a shot in the dark. I'd imagine it's based on some more extensive off-ice and behind the scenes scouting, interviews, conversations with coaches, etc. In addition to probably looking at combine testing more closely. Or at least, i'd hope it's predicated on those sort of things that indicate that room for development is
actually there, with a reasonable chance of happening.
But it's certainly a big "headroom" projection swing. Drafted for the player he
might become rather than what he has for tools today exactly. Which to me at least, makes him very much the opposite of those big 200lb+ Stewart MacKenze, Cederholm, etc. etc. type lunks playing a bottom-pairing tough guy in junior leagues at their maxed out physical development level.
