>4th. Zach Benson Benson was a super likable player in junior. He dominated the WHL due to his great skill and hockey sense. He wasn’t the biggest or fastest winger you’ll ever see, but his compete jumped out at you. In junior and in the NHL he has displayed the ability to play above his weight class. He wins a ton of battles and is a reliable two-way player despite his athletic limitations. Benson went 13th overall due to those limitations despite some scouts and public sentiment believing he should have gone much earlier. I had him ranked 17th.
>He promptly made the NHL, and has been a regular in Buffalo’s lineup all season as an 18-year-old. He’s made appearances on both special teams and has looked like a legit NHL forward even if his production has tailed off a bit in the second half.
>So where should Benson have gone? I think if you re-did the draft he wouldn’t go 13th, and I had him ranked too low last summer, but I don’t think he’s going sixth like some of his advocates would have you think. Even with his initial NHL success, I think there are some long-term risks on his projection, primarily due to his skating. He would probably go closer to 10th overall. When I look at the players selected immediately ahead of Benson, they have more traditional traits in a top NHL pick and had very good to excellent seasons, albeit not in the NHL. He reminds me a lot stylistically of Marco Rossi, who went 9th and is a center.
1 Comment
>4th. Zach Benson
Benson was a super likable player in junior. He dominated the WHL due to his great skill and hockey sense. He wasn’t the biggest or fastest winger you’ll ever see, but his compete jumped out at you. In junior and in the NHL he has displayed the ability to play above his weight class. He wins a ton of battles and is a reliable two-way player despite his athletic limitations. Benson went 13th overall due to those limitations despite some scouts and public sentiment believing he should have gone much earlier. I had him ranked 17th.
>He promptly made the NHL, and has been a regular in Buffalo’s lineup all season as an 18-year-old. He’s made appearances on both special teams and has looked like a legit NHL forward even if his production has tailed off a bit in the second half.
>So where should Benson have gone? I think if you re-did the draft he wouldn’t go 13th, and I had him ranked too low last summer, but I don’t think he’s going sixth like some of his advocates would have you think. Even with his initial NHL success, I think there are some long-term risks on his projection, primarily due to his skating. He would probably go closer to 10th overall. When I look at the players selected immediately ahead of Benson, they have more traditional traits in a top NHL pick and had very good to excellent seasons, albeit not in the NHL. He reminds me a lot stylistically of Marco Rossi, who went 9th and is a center.