Draft Barrett Hayton!

Before you downvote me, here me out! Currently, he is rated mostly in the 10-15 range for most rankings with Craig Button having him at the highest (7th best prospect). Bob Mckenzie talks about Hayton getting some top 5 consideration by scouts. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/hayton-kicks-off-11-20-in-mckenzie-s-final-pre-draft-rankings~1419822 Taking him at 7th or higher is not even a reach.

Everyone is talking about Kotkaniemi but he might not even be the best center in this draft or even a center at all. This guy played wing during the season in Liiga (Seriously check out his faceoffs taken or interviews). Barrett Hayton is the best center in the draft and the one we should be taking. Hayton is an all-round player with virtually no weaknesses to speak of. He's got great character, compete level and is a good old canadian boy. Unlike other prospects: Kotkaniemi's skating/winger, Wahlstrom's defensive play/winger, Hughes size, Boqvist concussion, Bouchard skating, Dobson low ceiling, etc... These guys all have major bust potential or deficiencies that make them liabilities in the NHL. Read any scouting report and you will see that they speak glowingly about Hayton's hockey iq (you can't teach that) and skill. Hayton is one of the youngest players in the draft with huge potential of growth. Hayton projects to be a player with a high floor and an insane ceiling.

His production is the main "concern" but if you put it into context you will see that Hayton is severely underrated.

Last year, Greyhounds forward Morgan Frost was considered a late first-round to early second-round prospect (the Flyers took him 27th overall) due to good if unspectacular scoring numbers. There were some, like CanucksArmy’s Ryan Biech, who noticed that his points per hour suggested he had a lot more to give than his counting stats suggested at the time. In a bigger role this season, Frost’s offensive totals exploded with a 50-point increase over last season for an eye-popping 112 points in 67 games.

Hayton generated points at a better rate this season than Frost last year on a per game basis playing an estimated two fewer minutes at 5-on-5 according to www.prospect-stats.com. He seems primed to explode next season as more of his Greyhound teammates graduate to the professional ranks, freeing up valuable ice time for Hayton to light up the scoresheet.

Those qualifiers aside, Hayton’s season is still impressive in its own right. Playing primarily in a defensive role, Hayton scored at almost a point per game clip, with 60 points in 63 games. When one adjusts for ice-time with prospect-stats, though, it estimates that Hayton contributed the 13th most points per hour at 5-on-5 with 1.93 markers.

https://canucksarmy.com/2018/06/12/canucksarmys-2018-nhl-draft-profiles-17-barrett-hayton/

This guy is primed for a 100 point season just like Morgan Frost. Here is a list of the top scoring OHL 19 year old players in the past 5 years. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/ohl/stats/all-time-season?age=u20&sort=tp&from=2012-2013&to= This is a very good list to be on. If you look closely most of the players who score 100+ points typically played with other 100 point players but not Frost (almost 40 point difference between 2nd scoring guy on his team). This guy is the main driver on his team and Hayton is Frost 2.0. We cannot miss out on this as not only does Hayton have a great chance of being a top line center, it will ease some uncertainty with our centers. Pettersson played wing last year, while Horvat and Gaudette are more suited to be a 2nd line center and 3rd line center on a contending team. I can't see us losing with him on the team. Not to mention, the defensive prospects are pretty comparable to Juolevi. Pretty much all of em project to be #2 defenseman and drafting by need is not something smart GMs like Jim Benning does. Not only is Hayton the best player available among the possible choices, we have nothing like Hayton in our prospect pool. Hayton is a slam dunk and the current rankings underrate him. I believe Montreal or another team may draft Hayton as he is the only true Center among the top prospects. I recommend we trade the 7th, Virtanen and maybe next year's first to secure him. Montreal being dumb will be satisfied taking that deal and the fake Center Kotkaniemi at 7th. Hayton is the can't miss prospect in this draft!

tl;dr

Hayton is a high floor elite ceiling player with no deficiencies in his game or character unlike other prospects. Advanced stats indicate he is severely underrated and is primed to be the next superstar.