Byfield

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NHL.Com put out a nice article on QB. I hope what he says in the article comes to fruitation this coming season. He needs to prove that he is a legit Number 2 overall pick. It is good to hear he has made a stronger commitment to improve on face offs and defensive play.
 
Man do I sure hope so. If a kid or two could have a surprisingly good season the Kings could really make some noise.
 
I wish Turcotte or Villardi would've insured a healthy 1A/B situation, which would have opened up us to draft Stuetzel, a legit 1st or 2nd LW on the club. Now, I'm really hoping we didn't screw the pooch a far 3rd time with Byfield. So far, I've been underwhelmed and see a 3rd line center tops. God i hope I'm wrong, as he certainly hasn't wowed me like Kopi did in his early years.
 
I believe Byfield will be OK, do I believe he is worthy of a second pick, probably not, however he is so young, he has plenty of time to become confident and better. At the time and with the circumstances, the Kings had to take him. This will be a better season for him, hopefully he is better conditioned and he escapes injury. This will be a interesting season overall for the Kings, I believe one of the young players will step up and I'm leaning on Kupari.
 
I still love this kid and want him to succeed and still believe he can.... and he'd better because down the street here ol' Stutzle is exactly as advertised and everyone around here thinks we made a bad call. Let's go QB!
 
Illegal_Stick said:
I still love this kid and want him to succeed and still believe he can.... and he'd better because down the street here ol' Stutzle is exactly as advertised and everyone around here thinks we made a bad call. Let's go QB!
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Since before the draft, QB was known to be a project...not a long-term project, but a project just the same. Everybody said he might turn out to the best player out of this draft, though others had higher floors. As stated, his development was cut short for various reasons, so this should be his year to start showing what the scouts see in him. We all knew that Stutzle's best attributes had already developed to their potential (speed, shot), but he's also a one-dimensional player. Byfield is the complete package just as Kopi is. Will he reach Kopi's level? That remains to be seen, but consider that Kopi was in the top Swedish league for more than a season before we ever saw him. This season for byfield is probably the equivalent of Kopitar's full season with Sodertalje. There's no reason to sour on him just yet.
 
salami said:
Since before the draft, QB was known to be a project...not a long-term project, but a project just the same. Everybody said he might turn out to the best player out of this draft, though others had higher floors. As stated, his development was cut short for various reasons, so this should be his year to start showing what the scouts see in him. We all knew that Stutzle's best attributes had already developed to their potential (speed, shot), but he's also a one-dimensional player. Byfield is the complete package just as Kopi is. Will he reach Kopi's level? That remains to be seen, but consider that Kopi was in the top Swedish league for more than a season before we ever saw him. This season for byfield is probably the equivalent of Kopitar's full season with Sodertalje. There's no reason to sour on him just yet.
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Totally agree, when we drafted Byfield it was well known that he was 2+ years away from developing into a full time NHL player. Stutzle, on the other hand, was a NHL "Ready Now" player who was excellent in one zone of the ice. It's interesting that it's said Stutzle got a lot better in the defensive zone last season, yet he still led Ottawa with the worst +/- by a large margin. I think had we drafted Stutzle we'd have seen him grown defensively much like Kaliyev has (as Stutzle has shown a williness to put in the work) but while Stutzle has the potential, and has already proven to be to a degree, an impact scorer Byfield has the potential to impact every part of the game (though he will likely not ever match the scorer Stutzle will develop into).

Both players should have a large impact within the NHL in the future, but, between the two players, I'd still go with Byfield as Byfield has the potential to lead a team to a Championship while Stutzle has the potential to be a key contributor on a championship team.
 
QB honestly looks more like a 3rd liner. Hoping he improves this season but for a 2OA he hasnt shown really anything special.
 
salami said:
Since before the draft, QB was known to be a project...not a long-term project, but a project just the same. Everybody said he might turn out to the best player out of this draft, though others had higher floors. As stated, his development was cut short for various reasons, so this should be his year to start showing what the scouts see in him. We all knew that Stutzle's best attributes had already developed to their potential (speed, shot), but he's also a one-dimensional player. Byfield is the complete package just as Kopi is. Will he reach Kopi's level? That remains to be seen, but consider that Kopi was in the top Swedish league for more than a season before we ever saw him. This season for byfield is probably the equivalent of Kopitar's full season with Sodertalje. There's no reason to sour on him just yet.
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He has the potential to be an even better player than Kopi because he's a fair bit faster; he has above-average NHL speed which is outstanding speed for a player his size. His board work is also terrific for a very young player, showing both his smarts and his work ethic. Whether he has the offensive/defensive awareness Kopi has remains to be seen. Whether he turns into a superstar or not, writing him off at this point is ridiculous.
 
xLAxKingsx said:
QB honestly looks more like a 3rd liner. Hoping he improves this season but for a 2OA he hasnt shown really anything special.
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I'll agree he looks like a quality 3rd liner today, which is impressive given how few nhl games he has played. Last season his main challenge, in my opinion, was mentally processing the game at NHL speed. His second challenge was better utilizing his size his strength against NHL level players. What he did not lack was speed, board work, positioning, or awareness. At worst he will be a solid 2nd line center, but everything I have seen points to him being a future stud once he has more experience and confidence.
 
He doesn't turn 20 till next month, he has plenty of time to grow and has shown glimpses.
 
salami said:
Since before the draft, QB was known to be a project...not a long-term project, but a project just the same. Everybody said he might turn out to the best player out of this draft, though others had higher floors. As stated, his development was cut short for various reasons, so this should be his year to start showing what the scouts see in him. We all knew that Stutzle's best attributes had already developed to their potential (speed, shot), but he's also a one-dimensional player. Byfield is the complete package just as Kopi is. Will he reach Kopi's level? That remains to be seen, but consider that Kopi was in the top Swedish league for more than a season before we ever saw him. This season for byfield is probably the equivalent of Kopitar's full season with Sodertalje. There's no reason to sour on him just yet.
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I totally get it and knew that Stutzle was supposed to do what he's done - fit in right away. I was (and still am) all over the - go for the kid with the potential. Just saying, I get a little nervous living int he Stutzle city and watching what he does. Still believe in QB, just sayin' - a little nervous at times.
 
Stastny would be a pretty ideal guy to play with QB on the 3rd line and potentially AK or Kupari. One or two year deal.

He's turned into quite the Swiss army knife and had a low key very impressive season last year. QB needs to be set up to succeed and penciling in AI on his line doesn't reach that criteria for me.

Would probably entail having to dump AI, but any move at this point does.
 
Pickle_Pucks said:
Stastny would be a pretty ideal guy to play with QB on the 3rd line and potentially AK or Kupari. One or two year deal.

He's turned into quite the Swiss army knife and had a low key very impressive season last year. QB needs to be set up to succeed and penciling in AI on his line doesn't reach that criteria for me.

Would probably entail having to dump AI, but any move at this point does.
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Agreed, he had a decent season last year. Problem is he will turn 37 this season and, though he is an upgrade over AI as of today I'm not sure that will be the case by the end of next season. It's an interesting thought though if we could get him on a 1 year contract for cheap. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go that way to a contender however.
 
Illegal_Stick said:
I totally get it and knew that Stutzle was supposed to do what he's done - fit in right away. I was (and still am) all over the - go for the kid with the potential. Just saying, I get a little nervous living int he Stutzle city and watching what he does. Still believe in QB, just sayin' - a little nervous at times.
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Stutzle is racking up the points particularly on the powerplay. He's also a -45 in 132 games, which means he is getting exposed pretty badly 5 on 5.
 
HeadInjury said:
Stutzle is racking up the points particularly on the powerplay. He's also a -45 in 132 games, which means he is getting exposed pretty badly 5 on 5.
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His +/- numbers look better his rookie season largely because he got on the ice almost exclusively in the offensive zone. Ottawa didn't baby him as much last season and though he did a lot better defensively (he really did make a big jump forward) his +/- was horrible.

Thought this article was pretty interesting as he's a bit of an enigma:

https://www.silversevensens.com/202...houghts-for-friday-the-sens-are-so-in-session

"Tim St?tzle: Ottawa’s Best Defensive Player??

There’s been a lot of talk about the Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson line as of late, and with good reason. But I’d like to briefly turn everyone’s attention to Tim St?tzle, and the fascinating turn his development has taken this season.

In his first season in the NHL, St?tzle looked like your typical very talented teenage forward, which is to say that he had lots of offensive potential but was probably the team’s worst player defensively. In 2021-22, though, he has done a complete 180 and I don’t know why we’re not talking about this more because it’s incredibly impressive.

St?tzle is currently the single best Ottawa Senator at limiting chances against, and it’s not particularly close."
 
If AI stays healthy, he will be a serviceable player, last year he had nagging injuries that limited his play, this year I expect the same thing.
 
JMO, but until Byfield gets more solid at FOs and defensive play, I'd use him as a power wing,
and encourage him to go to the net and try to score goals.

It would shore up the team on LW, and help build QB's confidence, as he eventually evolves
into a center over the next couple of years or so.

Anyway, that's how I'd handle QB.

As I recall, Mark Messier started as a power wing and moved to center after a few seasons
as he became more accomplished.

That might work for QB as well.
 
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