Agree or Disagree? Central Scouting’s Final Draft Rankings
By Max Marko
Dylan Strome Over Lawson Crouse
Photo By: Terry Wilson/OHL Images
Throughout the year people have been debating whether Dylan Strome of the OHL’s Erie Otters or Lawson Crouse of the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs is the better prospect. Many knock Strome for his skating and ability to perform without future superstar teammate Connor McDavid. Other say Crouse won’t be a successful NHL player due to his lack of scoring in the OHL.
Central Scouting had Crouse(4) ahead of Strome(5) in their midterm rankings they released in January. This time they changed their mind and put Strome(4) ahead of Crouse(5)
Some of these arguments might be true, others are simply incorrect. As for Strome people seem to call him out on his skating. He may not have the best stride and that could hurt him when he reaches the NHL, but if there is one thing a player can always work on it is their skating. Now Strome certainly doesn’t have the best skating ability among draft prospects, but he doesn’t have the worst either. As for producing without McDavid, that just isn’t true.
Melissa Kania over at Sabre Noise did a great job of explaining that on Twitter.
Dylan Strome had 45 goals (10 assisted by #97). 84 assists (10 on #97 goals). But yeah, he's tooooootally a product of McDavid. *rolls eyes*
— Melissa Burgess (@_MelissaBurgess) April 8, 2015
Most time Strome/McDavid play together = PP. Of Strome's 10 assists on goals by #97, 7 on PP. Of #97's 10 assists on Strome goals, 5 on PP.
— Melissa Burgess (@_MelissaBurgess) April 8, 2015
Strome also had 35 points in 21 games when McDavid was out with World Juniors and injury.
— Melissa Burgess (@_MelissaBurgess) April 8, 2015
Strome and McDavid are a good one-two punch but Strome doesn’t always rely on McDavid in order to get points.
As for Lawson Crouse, he will undoubtedly be an NHL star in the next few years. He has a power forward type of game that doesn’t call for a lot of scoring. He ultimately held his own in the scoring category this year however. He had 28 goals and 21 assists in 54 games compared to league leading scorer, Dylan Strome, who played in 67 games.
Come June, if I’m a team that is in the top 5 I want a guy that is going to be a great player offensively. I think Strome fits that role the best. His skills and brain are the best in Canadian Hockey League and if I have a high draft pick, my team probably needs some help on offense.
Crouse is going to be good but it seems like he won’t catch up when he makes it to the NHL. During the World Juniors Crouse made mistakes that made it seem like he shouldn’t be there. He also received penalties for things that top 5 picks shouldn’t be getting penalties for.
In this scenario Crouse was standing up for a teammate, but why use a two-handed slash? A smarter thing to do would be to drop the gloves and possibly get a game misconduct.
Agree/Disagree: Agree
Next: Pavel Zacha Remains #8 in N.A