2019 Redraft

Not sure I'd put Dach at #4. He arguably had the best season last year.

Knight goes higher

But none of those three were good. He was the best of the three, but the most you can really say was that he was keeping his head above water. I think it's more important for a player at that age to still play somewhere they can dominate, and I think management expected to much and ultimately failed those three players this season. I think that when you compare the seasons that say Cozens and Zegras had, it's hard for me to really argue that what Dach did this year was more impressive. And given there was already an argument that even at the time Dach wasn't the right Choice at 3, I don't think it's unfair to suggest that he would be behind one of those two Cs.

There wasn't much argument after the draft when a lot of teams shared they had Dach ahead of Cozens, Turcotte, and Zegras. Furthmore, Cozens season was impressive in isolation but comparing a WHL player which is a couple big jumps down from the NHL is not that impressive comparably. Zegras at the NCAA level is at least playing in a more physical league but even then, he didn't dominate. Newhook probably had the most impressive season outside of the 3 in the NHL. That said, there is no question in my mind, and this is coming from someone who was pissed the Hawks didn't draft Turcotte, that Dach is the best player as of now among the centers in this draft mainly because he's the most physically ready. That could change in the next few years, but he looked really good at times on the ice this season and did just fine holding his own in the NHL. The talent is there with Dach to potentially be the best player in a few years in this draft class.

Zegras

Hard to see Fla passing on Knight. No way Habs don’t draft Podkolzin at 15. And I thought the Oilers weren’t the only ones who wanted Broberg. Thought Van did too

personally i would still take Dach third. if chicago was drafting for need then they should have drafted Byram instead to begin with

My swapping of Dach vs Byram is more on what happened in CHI in the fall afterwards (firing of Q, team really going downhill fast). They need to restock that D corp in my mind. Dach had a great season, but Byram was a little more long term need. I think if CHI knew that 2019-2020 was going to be a flop, they draft Byram.

Do they still take Knight if they have Bob for 9 more years @ $10mm? I think they'd take the 2 way C over the goalie in that case. In this redraft, Knight would basically walk out of college and take over for Fleury right at the end of his contract.

In my mind, Dach has the best season of the Cs in this draft class, but Hughes still is the better long term prospect, with Dach as the 2nd best. Dach didn't play sheltered minutes in CHI (53/47 split), didn't get a ton of PP time (2nd PP unit), or a lot of ice time overall (14min/night, 3rd line minutes), but still had 162 shots in 64 games playing down the lineup. His shot totals showed up in his Corsi (-.5 relative, almost flat). He was trusted to play tough minutes as a kid, and even though he didn't play a ton of C, still took 222 draws (only won 33%, something that will get fixed as he gets older and stronger, not an uncommon issue).

When I went into the draft, I had Hughes, Turcotte, Zegras, Dach, Cozens, and Newhook in that order for the Cs. After this season, it's Hughes, Dach, Zegras, Turcotte, Newhook, and Cozens, but the spread isn't as wide as it may seem. You can make an argument for almost any order.

Also, the 2019 C class could be one of the better ones in recent memory, especially on depth. McMichael and Pinto really showed something too. In a 5 year redraft, you could have 8-9 Cs in the first 10 picks.

One other stat to point out about Dach which is really impressive for a 18 year old kid in the NHL is 38 takeaways to 16 giveaways. That speaks volumes to how good his puck possession is and how well his defensive abilities are. You just don't seen 18 year old centers doing that or wingers. Usually a young forward has trouble protecting the puck, as example Hughes with 53 giveaways and 42 takeaways. Dach's ratio in this area is very strong for a season vet let alone a 18 year old kid.

I agree that Hughes will eventually be the better C, but Dach for the first 3 years should be the clearcut winner in the draft class as he is more physical mature then the rest and now has 1 year more experience then the rest aside from Hughes. Turcotte I think is going to struggle to adjust to the NHL this coming season but ultimately will be a good. My money is Zegras is the dark horse but Dach is going to be a 1C if he can get his faceoffs together and stays mentally astute as he's shown so far.