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Leaf Rumours

Skinner is undervalued like all midgets. If he was 6'1 190, no one would care about the supposed "holes" in his game that apparently none of the other top picks have. He is a damn impressive prospect, and someone is going to get a huge steal simply because he is an unconventional prospect.

As for Kabby for the 4th, Kaberle for Connolly or Fowler would most likely set the team back in the short run, but adding another 18 year old top 5 pick with star potential to the current young core would probably serve the team well in the long run. Obviously I'd prefer a more proven young asset then a pick though.
 
Of course the other projected top picks have holes:

3. Connolly: coming off of a major injury that cost him the majority of the past season. Needs to add weight.

4. Gudbranson: has not produced offensively at the level expected of him given his natural skill-set.

5. Gormely: does pretty much everything well but no singular aspect of his game is outstanding at an NHL level.

6. Fowler: has a poor shot given he's an offensive specialist and didn't produce as much as he should have on an outstanding team.
 
I find one of the biggest mistakes in drafts in all sports, especially football and hockey, is teams passing over players who can flat out play because they don't have the physical makeup of a guy that makes you think "just imagine if he could put it all together."

Is skinner small? Yeah. Is he a great skater? No. But he gets it done on the ice. And thats what matters.
 
There's not really a huge difference at that point. We're not talking about a 16 year-old versus and 18 year-old. We're talking about people born within several months for the most part.
 
hockeylover said:
I've mentioned him before, but tell me why you guys are opposed to targeting a guy like James Neal again?
Click to expand...

08/09 (21): 77 gms, 24 gls, 37 pts (82 gms, 26 gls, 40 pts)
09/10 (22): 78 gms, 27 gls, 55 pts (82 gms, 29 gls, 58 pts)



I don't know what do think of him because he wasn't a great offensive player in junior, but he's posted very solid numbers for his age in the NHL. Maybe he's a late bloomer whose finally put it all together.

If you believe he has at least 70 point potential, he could be a nice player to target.
 
I will flat out guarantee that I have seen Jeff Skinner play more times than any poster on this board. That includes going to the 2008 OHL Cup where he and Tyler Seguin were linemates for the Toronto Young Nats.

You don't take Skinny fourth overall. I've see Jeff score most of his goals this year including all of his playoff goals. Yes, this kid can score, he's fearless and he'll take punishment in front of the net. All that having been said, if you're gonna be small, you'd damn well better be able to move and Jeff is gonna have trouble contending with the Chris Prongers and Zdeno Charas of the world unless his skating improves. He's got good balance and agility, he's just not fast and he has trouble accelerating, both of which make it tough to escape coverage.
 
He shouldn't go 4th, because IMO Fowler and Connolly are a step above the rest. But he should easily be in the 5-10 range.
 
Offence?

In terms of defensemen, I'm taking the guy who contributes the most in all three zones. Fowler's contributions correlate negatively to his proximity to his own net. Gormley can, and I believe will, be just as effective offensively as Fowler but he'll be miles ahead of him defensively.
 
And that's pretty much why Tyler Myers fell as far as he did. I am confident that Gudbranson has the ability to put up 50 points next season.
 
Since we have no 1st, I've been totally outside of the loop on this year's prospects outside the top two.

Hope Burke can get that 4th overall so I can do some homework on this.
 
Defense can be taught and learned, and usually is with age and experience.

Fowler's skills can't be taught though.
 
No I mean his impressive puck skills and instincts that surpass his contemporaries.

And if a 17 year old d-man, putting up a ppg is disapointing you must thing Gudbranson and Gormley suck.

Shot can also be learned by the way (see Luke Schenn).
 
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