Why would Vancouver do it if it’s one for one? They are happy with Hughes and he’s younger.

The premise of the deal would be to let brothers play together. Aside from any additional chemistry, it’s a marketing opportunity.

I’m not advocating for the deal, but this is what I think it would take to get Vancouver to take it.

Yes, that’s right. On Vancouver radio he said Makar had an extra year to develop. While both played 2 years in college, Hughes played his first year as a draft eligible player. There are some who will prefer Hughes and others Makar. Point is that they’re comprable

Every scout is going to have a different opinion on players, they all have their own biases and reference points. It's normal.

But out of interest, here are the 1998-born forwards on Button's list that played in the AHL this year, along with their ranking, boxcars and p/gp. Ranked in order of p/gp.

1. Dube: 1.05 p/gp, 37, 15-24-39 +7, #48
2. Batherson: 1.04 p/gp, 56, 22-36-58 +15, #23
3. Benson: 0.97 p/gp, 65, 14-49-63 +19, Not Ranked
4. Kyrou: 0.91 p/gp, 47, 16-27-43 +1, #16
5. Kuokkanen: 0.79 p/gp, 48, 12-26-38 +8, #24
6. Jones: 0.70 p/gp, 40, 14-14-28 +10, #50
7. Nylander: 0.63 p/gp, 49, 12-19-31 +11, #49
8. Andersson: 0.56 p/gp, 36, 6-14-20 -24, #28

As an Oilers fan I look at that and wonder why Benson is getting no love. Bias? Maybe - so let's look at 4 defenders all drafted high in the first round in 2018 and all playing in the CHL for confirmation. Again, ranked by p/gp.

1. Smith: 1.21 p/gp, 57, 7-62-69 +5, #35
2. Bouchard: 1.18 p/gp, 45, 16-37-53 +28, Not Ranked
3. Boqvist: 1.11 p/gp, 54, 20-40-60 +12, Not Ranked
4. Dobson: 0.93 p/gp, 56, 15-37-52 +10, #18

Bouchard started the season in Edmonton and was sent back to junior to concentrate on his defensive game. He came up with +28 in 45 games. Smith, on the other hand, increased his scoring rate but went from +44 last year to just +5 this year, cheating for offense. Boqvist and Bouchard play on the same team in the OHL. Dobson had a terrible start to the season (this should have hurt his ranking in the January article you quoted) and finished the season strong only after being traded to a powerhouse team. All his numbers are down this year.

To top it off, 3 of those guys played on the same team at the WJC's this year, for a more direct comparison:

Bouchard: 5, 0-3-3 +6
Smith: 5, 0-3-3 +2
Dobson: 5, 1-0-1 +4

None of them knocked it out of the park, but Bouchard had the most points (tied) and the best +/-. Yet he's not ranked and Dobson is #18... something doesn't add up.

Interesting to compare the CHL players on this list and their playoff scoring (so far). Button couldn't have known this of course, having written his list several months ago. I included their position and draft year too, for reference.

1. Bouchard, RD, 2018: 7, 4-14-18 +8, NOT RANKED
2. Tippett, RW, 2017: 6, 8-6-14 +10, #40
3. Formenton, LW, 2017: 7, 2-12-14 +5, #25
4. Dobson, RD, 2018: 8, 3-9-12 +9, #18
5. Boqvist, RD, 2018: 7, 8-2-10 +1, NOT RANKED
6. Hayton, C, 2018: 7, 4-6-10 +1, #29
7. Frost, C, 2017: 7, 3-7-10 +2, #37
8. Suzuki, C, 2018: 7, 5-4-9 +2, #39
9. McLeod, C, 2018: 6, 3-5-8 +11, NOT RANKED
10. Robertson, LW, 2017: 7, 5-3-8 +3, #21
11. Samorukov, LD, 2017: 7, 3-5-8 +1, NOT RANKED
12. Noel, RW, 2018: 6, 1-4-5 +4, #20
13. Smith, LD, 2018: 7, 1-4-5 +6, #35
14. Thomas, C, 2018: 5, 2-2-4 +0, #44
15. Joseph, LD, 2017: 8, 0-3-3 +3, #47
16. Glass, C, 2017: 1, 1-0-1 +1, #4

Kind of sad that Button missed so badly on some high profile prospects. I don't think McLeod belongs in the top-50 list (I just added his numbers for interest) but Bouchard and Boqvist certainly do. Pretty amazing that a defenseman is leading all of CHL in playoff scoring, to be honest.

Edited to add Dmitri Samorukov. Man do the Oilers have a bright future on defense.

I mean, it's hard to associate playoff scoring as teams can play a different number of games and at times a much weaker opponent. London is absolutely stacked, so Bouchard, Formenton, Boqvist, aren't surprises when it comes to production, especially when the vast majority of their points came on the powerplay.

Bouchard 18 points, 10 powerplay assists
Formenton 14 points, 1 powerplay goal and 6 powerplay assists
Boqvist 10 points, 6 powerplay goals and 2 powerplay assists

You can clearly tell that they have a scheme where Bouchard runs the PP and Boqvist is on his off side just ripping shots

Most of the players listed have played 7 games, it's pretty even.


Oh, for sure. But I added Samorukov for a bit of balance - he's on the Guelph team that is facing London in the 2nd round right now. He's 2-2-4 in 3 games so far, all losses. His team has scored 6 goals and he's in on 4 of them. And Guelph is a pretty good team too, with names like Nick Suzuki, Mackenzie Entwistle, Isaac Ratcliffe and Sean Durzi on the roster. They actually scored more goals in the regular season than London did, and finished just 9 points back with a 40-18-6-4 record. Both teams beat their 1st round opponents 4-0, but Guelph had a greater goal differential.

The cream rises to the top. My point though was that Button's list isn't necessarily complete or accurate.

Which is why I don't think it's logical and the Avs would say no thanks. Pretty sure the Canucks signed one Courtnall brother only to trade the other the next season. It's hockey, not a family love in! If the Avs were looking for a marketing opportunity a better one would have been trading for Slavin, Carlo or Terry by now. Colorado born kids.

Well i mean it's also the top 50 in terms of all propects, do i think there is some movement? of course-- but it's hard because there are many players listed on this list (like Lias Andersson) who can easily be said they doesn't deserve it, but are playing against much harder competition. Points don't mean everything, especially in CHL where they tend to be inflated. CHL VS CHL yes a discussion can be had, but overall, you are comparing apples and oranges from CHL to NCAA to AHL to NHL to KHL to SHL to LIIGA etc etc

... which is why I never made such comparisons. I compared CHL vs CHL, AHL vs AHL and U-20 vs U-20.

Reasonable take. Not saying it’s the right decision, only if that’s the choice they made.