Zary and Pelletier are far from NHL ready, and Koekkoek is not a top 4 player

Yeah Koekkoek is not a top 4 dman, I made a mistake

Panthers decline, they already have 4 quality centers.

Zary is at least 1-2 years away and Pelletier is a year away as well. A strong world juniors won't change that. Zary is also ineligible to play in the AHL for at least 2 more years because he's a North American playing major junior.


lol quality isn't even close to the right word, Ryan would probably be their 2nd best centre, florida's centre depth is literally the worst in the league imo, with the possible exception of LA, but I'd honestly still prefer Kopitar and some high-end rookies over Barkov and several 4th liners

Zary is a late birthday so he's the same birth year as Pelletier. I think it's very likely he goes to pro next year rather than play his 20yr old season in Kamloops.

Oh does he have that option? Ngl I just assume any NA player in major junior can't jump to the AHL for 2 years. If he can turn pro in a year I'm sure he will, that would be better for him than dominating the W

Oh sucks, so he going to play in Kamloops? If he does good there could he play in the NHL?

Yeah he'll play there next year. I don't see him playing more than a handful of games in the NHL this season. If he gets any it will be less than 9, they've got too many options imo and Gawdin is the most likely promotion this year. In a year if he has an insane WHL season he might push for a spot but I kinda feel like the best move might be to not rush him (plus Phillips and Pelletier should be ready by then as far as internal development goes).

oh ok

It's a little confusing, but it's all about the birth year. The cutoff for each draft is sometime in September.

The best example of this is Auston Matthews, he's a 97 born in mid Sep, because of that he had to be drafted in 2016 instead of 2015 in the McDavid class.

Zary is the same thing he's a late Sep birthday, if he was a month older, he would have been picked in 19, likely a 1st rounder.

It's not too big an issue because Zary has already outgrown the WHL, he will be ready for pro. Where it becomes interesting is the later round picks. The Flames picked Ryan Francis in the 5th round, he too is an 01 born with the option to turn pro. I think it's more likely you see Zary go pro next year and a later round guy like Francis stay in junior.