Quoting: draft_em_sign_em_trade_em
I'll throw the question back to you, what makes Amirov a better player selection. Talented winger prospects are dime a dozen, hardly anything special, the 5th best LW'er Drafted can be equal as the 20th Lw'er Drafted. Dman on the other hand, escpecially RH'd ones are truly a diamond in the rough, rare find.
Amirov might have been a 18 year old playing in a men's League, but the majority of scouts still forecast his Nhl development would take 3-5 years after being Drafted. Which turned out to be true.
Schneider, being a western Canadian raised and trained prospect, had a much shorter path to the Nhl. Which turned out to be true.
I thought this wasn't about Amirov. There's no way for us to know who is a better selection at this time or who would have been the better selection had Amirov not been inflicted with cancer. Hopefully, he recovers and is able to resume his career but he's going to have lost a lot of time.
The Leafs are in need of a top 6 winger more so than a top 4 D. Sure, at that draft it might have been the other way around but as I said the D-core is fine without Schneider, so it did work out. Sandin and Liljegren are doing well, and they were drafted before Schneider so perhaps there was never a need for him in particular unless your focus is just his size/physicality. Plus, they did draft a RHD in Niemela that draft in the 3rd round, and he looks to be promising at the least if his game can transfer to the NHL.
You weren't satisfied with my original reply and I elaborated to contribute to the discussion. I hope you can return the courtesy by actually answering the questions that I had:
1) Do you wish they took Schneider because their's an aspect of his game that you like (guessing it's mostly to do with his size) or are you just a fan of his because he's good?
2) If it's the former, who are guys that could be targeted in a trade that can do the same thing?