2020 NHL Entry Draft: Profiles. Quinton Byfield

On the other side of the debate as to who should go second after Lafreniere is the left shooting center Quinton Byfield. He is an August birthday so is one of the more younger players in the draft but his combination of size (6’4″) and skill have made him the odds on late-favorite to be the runner-up prize for whomever selects second overall.

After compiling 61 points in 64 games last season as a 16 year-old rookie Byfield exploded for 82 points in 45 games this year in Subury of the OHL. The scoring tear earned him a spot on the Canada World Juniors team as one of five 2020 draft eligible prospects.

Strengths

Speed:

For a big kid, Byfield has tremendous acceleration. Logically due to his size – he can do in one or two strides what it would take his slightly less lankier peers to do in four or five but he doesn’t exactly stick out like a giant among children either. He just gets a lot more power in his movements as compared to those around him. He uses his elite speed to get to loose pucks, force breakaways and break-up odd numbered attacks on the back-check as well as patiently carry the puck around the zone until he spots an open lane. It also helps on the Power Play to have a player with that kind of size and speed that can carry or lead the rush through the neutral zone.

Skill:

Another part of Byfields game that is possibly surprising is his ability to just straight up dangle. A lot of the highlights packages for this past season don’t really do justice to the kind of moves he can make. Corey Pronman has some clips that demonstrate some very nasty inside-out moves on plays that Byfield has made that did not result in goals – but you can see the talent is there. He loves to draw a defender in before shifting around them in one quick motion and the amount of times I saw him do that coming down the right side – it’s amazing he could pull it off every time. It’s that combination of size and speed that allow him that extra amount of time and space to make these moves – with remarkably soft hands (some scouts are quoted as saying the best in the draft) and a long reach; a perfect storm of offensive skill.

Playmaking:

Byfield has all the tools to create his own chances – as demonstrated above; but he can and does look to set up his team-mates when the opportunity presents itself. He often checks to see where line-mates are before going to retrieve a puck or uses his speed to create a rebound opportunity for a trailer. He has great poise and patience with the puck and knows when to wait for a seam or time a pass, his ability to spot a team-mate heading into a soft area is also underrated.

Goal Scoring:

Byfield had an OHL career high 32 goals, three better than his rookie total and on pace to hit 48 over a full tenure. His shot is not the best part of his game – that is most definitely his speed – but he can wire the puck from almost any part of the offensive zone. He possesses a hard and accurate wrist shot but an even better slap shot which is devastating from the mid-slot area.

Weaknesses:

Some knocks on his game from what I have seen and read is he hasn’t shown a consistency in using his size to go to the net or the dirty areas, preferring to use his skill to make plays on the perimeter. A concern but something that can be coached and will become a reality once he gets to the pros.

Another I noticed was a lot (well most) of his goals in the highlights I saw were on the transition, either on outnumbered attacks or where the opposition gave too much space. I worry that any kind of tight man-to-man defense or coaching strategy that gives little to no space for him to utilize his speed will render him ineffective on the attack.

In Conclusion:

Its been widely stated that the best player comparable is Evgeni Malkin and that feels like a pretty accurate assessment. Malkin is a first line star forward in his own right and Byfield has all of the skill set to be that too. The Ducks would be ecstatic to grab him should they luck into the second overall pick as he would provide one half of a prolific one-two punch down the middle much like the Penguins enjoyed during their 2008-2010 Cup runs.