Anaheim Ducks: Final Ranking of Top 15 2019 NHL Draft Prospects #9-1

5- Alex Turcotte-C-USNTDP

If you were to draw up a prototypical top line center in the NHL, you’re drawing Alex Turcotte. Outside of the top 2, Turcotte is quite possibly the most well rounded forward in the draft. He plays a responsible game leading to being quite possibly the best defensive forward in the draft, paired with incredible vision and top end playmaking ability. Turcotte pairs all of that with a package that also includes great skating ability and phenomenal strength that makes knocking him off the puck nigh-impossible.

When you think about comparisons for Alex Turcotte, and you try to envision what the best case scenario is should he reach his full potential, you come up with two cornerstones on the teams currently duking it out in the Stanley Cup finals. Turcotte has consistently drawn comparisons to Ryan O’Reilly and Patrice Bergeron and that’s some great company to share. Turcotte is the best center in the draft in my opinion.

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4- Vasili Podkolzin-RW-SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)

A reminder, one last time, this is not a mock draft. This is based solely on the player’s ability and potential and based on ability and potential Vasili Podkolzin is not far off from Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko in terms of skill.

A dynamic 6’1 power forward who is leagues ahead of where most power forwards are coming into the draft. He already has good size standing 6’1 and 196lbs and has his skillset is well beyond his years. He has all the tools to be an elite player in the NHL. The only real concerns regarding his tool-set are his play in the few bigger scale games he’s played in.

A question of whether him being relatively invisible at the U18s and U20 championships are due to him not having the “clutch” gene to elevate his game when it matters the most, or simply growing pains for a young player on a bigger stage than they expected.

Podkolzin is one of the most polarizing prospects in quite some time but very little of that is due to his actual playing ability and more to do with other potential roadblocks to him being an everyday NHL player (which I will discuss more in the mock draft coming soon.)

3- Bowen Byram-D-Vancouver(WHL)

Bowen Byram is special. Byram has all the tools to be a top end defender in the NHL someday (likely soon.) Possessing a veritable plethora of skills and traits that make him a future number 1 guy on the blue line of a very lucky team. Byram’s play reminds me a lot more of a Hampus Lindholm than an Erik Karlsson, and that’s not a knock at all.

Both Karlsson and Lindholm do phenomenal things for their teams, Karlsson’s great plays get noticed a lot more because he’s usually the one directly facilitating, be it a home run pass from blue line to blue line, or carrying the puck up the ice and shooting himself. Hampus Lindholm does just as many things right, they’re usually preventing someone else from making a play, or making a play that allows someone else to make another play, equally important, one just doesn’t get the glory of the other.

Don’t get me wrong, Byram has the ability to make those home run plays, he has quite possibly the best shot I’ve seen a defender have entering the draft in the past 5 years, but that’s not his bread and butter. He does it all, and is just as successful as being the guy behind the play cutting off a passing lane or pressuring the puck carrier into a turnover as he generating offense.

Byram has elite skating ability, and I don’t even want to put the label of “puck moving defenseman” on him because that in a way minimizes his defensive capabilities. He is a text-book two-way defenseman who has more offensive upside than most pure “puck moving defenders” and more defensive upside than most “shutdown defenders”. Byram will very likely be someone’s franchise DMan for many years to come.

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