Turcotte- time to worry?

[Seattle King]

So if we pulled the thread from ‘19, it’s got you saying you want the Kings to pick Cozens at #5?

I wasnt around here back then as you can clearly see from the date beneath my avatar. Is it that far-fetched, I am sure there must have been others here that saw what I did?
I will concede that Don Granato is a much better coach than Todd so he has raised the ceiling for Cozens.

 

[NikF]

If Dave Taylor were still employed by the Kings the pick would have 100% been Cozens. And that is why Cozens scared me, he looked like so many Kings flops of the last 25-30 years. A lot of you are scared of small scorers, I am afraid of big players with “developing offensive games”

Turcotte was indeed a scouting miss, but not only by the Kings, everyone misjudged his offensive ability, it just happens sometimes. We have statistical and viewing evidence through four years to kind of comfortably say that he was the one on that team that benefitted most from that environment at the NTDP. All his peers on that team taken high in the draft have produced significantly at all levels they have played at. Just sucks for the Kings they were unlucky enough to end up with the guy, could have easily have been Minnesota, Montreal or the Ducks.

But Axl, you have said in the last you just care about evaluating results only (when it comes to the good stuff). By that same logic there is no other way but to say that this pick has been one the worst ones in recent memory by the team, right?

My gut feeling for high rate bust categories in recent years are mid-sized centers with intangibles but "just ok" skill and any undersized Swedish defenseman with an offensive game. I think a number of these players could still bring value, including Turcotte, but they tend to get overdrafted quite a bit. Tyson Jost, Conner Bleackley, Alex Turcotte, Victor Soderstrom, Erik Brannstrom, Ryan Merkley (well he is not Swedish) come to mind. After the success of underdrafted Mike Richards, Bergeron, Erik Karlsson and the like everyone seemed to be after a two-way C with intangibles and an undersized offensive defenseman. I would even include Adam Boqvist here to an extent.

 

[Mats26]

If Dave Taylor were still employed by the Kings the pick would have 100% been Cozens. And that is why Cozens scared me, he looked like so many Kings flops of the last 25-30 years. A lot of you are scared of small scorers, I am afraid of big players with “developing offensive games”

Turcotte was indeed a scouting miss, but not only by the Kings, everyone misjudged his offensive ability, it just happens sometimes. We have statistical and viewing evidence through four years to kind of comfortably say that he was the one on that team that benefitted most from that environment at the NTDP. All his peers on that team taken high in the draft have produced significantly at all levels they have played at. Just sucks for the Kings they were unlucky enough to end up with the guy, could have easily have been Minnesota, Montreal or the Ducks.

But Axl, you have said in the last you just care about evaluating results only (when it comes to the good stuff). By that same logic there is no other way but to say that this pick has been one the worst ones in recent memory by the team, right?

Montreal had Zegras 3rd overall , they would not take Turcotte.

 

[Herby]

My gut feeling for high rate bust categories in recent years are mid-sized centers with intangibles but "just ok" skill and any undersized Swedish defenseman with an offensive game. I think a number of these players could still bring value, including Turcotte, but they tend to get overdrafted quite a bit. Tyson Jost, Conner Bleackley, Alex Turcotte, Victor Soderstrom, Erik Brannstrom, Ryan Merkley (well he is not Swedish) come to mind. After the success of underdrafted Mike Richards, Bergeron, Erik Karlsson and the like everyone seemed to be after a two-way C with intangibles and an undersized offensive defenseman. I would even include Adam Boqvist here to an extent.

NHL teams are usually very risk averse and they prefer safer more vanilla players. Twenty years ago teams were always on the look out for the next power forward, now it’s the two-way Toews like centers.

The problem with the well rounded guys is if something turns out to be a big negative (Turcotte’s offensive game) it just means you basically drafted a third line energy guy with a Top 5 pick. Turcotte has been a double whammy because it’s also a big mystery if he can play a physical on the edge game against NHL players and not get injured doing it. So now four years later you don’t have much offense and you might not have the edgy type game if he wants to have a sustainable career.

Montreal had Zegras 3rd overall , they would not take Turcotte.

Obviously different teams have different draft boards, and I’m sure other teams had Zegras higher. The point was that all the scouting services and NHL teams had Turcotte about where he was drafted. The Habs 2019 behind the scenes video even showed Bergeron discussing who Chicago would take between Dach and Turcotte and when it was Dach something like “ok the defenseman to Colorado and Turcotte to LA”

Everyone missed on this pick, so it’s tough to place much blame on the Kings at least in the evaluation, because no one could have guessed that the offensive game would not translate at all to higher levels.

 

[Herby]

Cole Caufield was supposed to be rookie of the year and has only 1 goal, 6 points in 23 games -- should we be worried?

Alex Lafreniere was supposed to be the next Crosby and has only 8 points in 30 games. Should we be worried?

Turcotte hasn't played a single minute in the NHL, but yeah, we need to be very worried because that's what we do...

Do you bookmark your own posts that turn out to be wrong, or just the rest of us?

 

[tny760]

Do you bookmark your own posts that turn out to be wrong, or just the rest of us?

heh, i think you know the answer to that one

 

[Brownie to Pancakes]

Do you bookmark your own posts that turn out to be wrong, or just the rest of us?

Hall monitors lack the authority to give themselves a citation

 

[kingsfan28]

After Dach, Turrcotte,Zegras and Cozen were all about the same type in some ways, with Cozen having the size advantage. It really came down to what your team wanted out of the centers available. Each one brought something different. Cozen in my view is turning out to be the best rounded guy of the lot. He a team player,a leader and will be a captain one day, you can just see it. Zegras is turning out to be really good player too, but also very imature and selfish on the ice. it's about him , and flashy plays and his points. The guy is a wreck defensively, and when his coach benches him for playing poorly, he pouts and scowls at him. That leaves Turcotte, currently a big question mark and hopefully can get healthy enough to show he was worth being drafted so high. He may take a long time like valardi, and I really hope he can have a good solid nhl career.