Quinton Byfield tore up the Canadiens’ defense like the great power forwards of the National League like to do, Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
At 21, Byfield, the second overall pick in 2020, is finally coming into his own. His three points against CH bring his total to 21 points, including 8 goals, in 23 games, on the left wing of the first line of the Los Angeles Kings.
Byfield took three years to unlock. While other players from this vintage stood out. Fortunately for him, this 6-foot-5, 221-pound Ontarian was playing in a quieter market. His confidence, and the ego of the Kings recruiters, would have been greatly affected during these three seasons!
Born on August 19, Byfield, 82 points, including 32 goals, in just 45 games for the Sudbury Wolves in his draft-eligible year, was one of the youngest of his crop. He gave almost a year to Alexis Lafrenière, born on October 11, a little less than a month after the September 15 deadline. It was therefore necessary to take his age into consideration.
Let’s see the evolution of the main hopes of this vintage over the last few seasons.
The pandemic allows Byfield to make the jump to the American League since the Ontario Junior League has ceased operations. He had mixed success with 20 points, including only 8 goals, in 32 games, but finished strong and merited a call-up at the end of the season. He has an assist in six games with the Kings.
Alexis Lafrenière and Tim Stützle play a full season in the National League. Lafrenière had 21 points, including 12 goals, in 56 games with the Rangers, Stützle did even better in Ottawa with 29 points in 53 games. Defenseman Jamie Drysdale, sixth overall pick, is retained by the Ducks. This offensive defenseman played 24 games in the NHL and 14 in the American League.
The season is off to a bad start for Byfield. He fractured his ankle during one of the last preparatory games of training camp. He began his season again in the American League, upon his return to play in December, where he obtained 6 points in 11 games, before being recalled by the Kings. His production was modest in Los Angeles: 10 points, including 5 goals, in 40 games.
Lafrenière increased his production slightly with 31 points, including 19 goals, in 79 games, but Stützle exploded with 58 points, including 22 goals. Drysdale spent the season with the Ducks and broke the 30-point mark. The eighth overall pick, Jack Quinn, played only two games in Buffalo, but he was outrageously dominating in the American League with 61 points in just 45 games.
Anton Lundell is having a breakout debut season at center on the Florida Panthers’ third line with 44 points in just 65 games, an output of 55 points in a full season. Seth Jarvis also reached the NHL, with the Hurricanes, and had 40 points in 68 games, 48 points prorated from an 82-game season. We are already starting to hear whispers about the choice of the Kings…
A difficult year for Byfield’s pride. In his third season, Stützle reached the 90-point mark. Lucas Raymond joins the Red Wings after his two seasons in Frölunda in Sweden. This small-sized winger is a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the outstanding rookie with an astonishing 57 points season.
In his first season in Ottawa, after two years at North Dakota in the NCAA, defenseman Jake Sanderson established himself in Ottawa and played on average almost 22 minutes per game. Jack Quinn established himself full-time in the NHL and had 37 points, as did Cole Perfetti in Winnipeg, 30 points in 57 games. Dawson Mercer, the 18th overall pick, had 56 points, including 27 goals, in New Jersey.
Byfield begins the season in the NHL, but he contracts a virus and loses around thirty pounds. Another hard blow. He was sent to the American League upon his return to play, in his third professional season, and recorded 15 points in 16 games, before being called up.
He will now play on the left wing, in the first trio with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. He doesn’t produce like Stützle, Raymond, Mercer and company, but his 22 points in 53 games mark progress, despite only three goals. His four points in six playoff games last spring will also boost his confidence.
After getting just one point in his first five games, Byfield has 20 in his last 18. Lafrenière also seems to be taking off in New York, after three lackluster seasons. He has 16 points in 24 games, five fewer than Byfield. The Kings winger is approaching the production of Stützle, who has a record of 25 points in 21 games.
Lucas Raymond is finding his rhythm again this year, after a drop in production last year. Jamie Drysdale and Jack Quinn are sidelined due to injuries. Lundell seems to be stuck at center on the Panthers’ third line. He has 10 points in 25 games, after a 33-point season last year.
Seth Jarvis no longer produces as in his first season, but remains an essential element within one of the Hurricanes’ offensive trios. Mercer has only 10 points in 24 games after his stellar season last year.
Marco Rossi finally reached the NHL after a few difficult years, affected by long COVID. He now plays center on the Wild’s first line. Cole Perfetti’s performance, 19 points in 25 games, partly explains the surprising success of the Jets.
Kings coach Todd McLellan summed up the pitfalls in Byfield’s journey well in this interview in November:
“A kid gets drafted in the first round or top 5 because he scored goals at the junior level. And goals can come easily against young men. You get to the NHL and now you have to score against men and it doesn’t work anymore.”
Byfield could physically manhandle half of his opponents in the junior ranks, but better positioning and control of his movements became essential against older and stronger opponents. But how do you do it properly when your body is still transforming?
The Kings’ patience finally seems to be rewarded.
Speaking of the 2020 vintage, the Canadian is not doing too badly, thanks also to Artturi Lehkonen. Kaiden Guhle, 16th overall pick, and Justin Barron, 25th, could form CH’s duo of the future. It wasn’t a great crop of defensemen, with only two drafted in the top 15, Drysdale and Sanderson, and only six in the first round, but the previous administration made the right choice with Guhle and Kent Hughes seems to have banked on the good horse with Barron, obtained for Artturi Lehkonen.
Long a pain in Montreal, Lehkonen exploded with the Avalanche, 51 points in 64 games last year, but in a context of reconstruction, this transaction was easily explained for CH. The Montreal organization also holds a second-round pick in 2024 in this transaction.
Braden Schneider and Shakir Mukhamadullin make up the other two defensemen drafted in the first round. The first plays in the third pair in New York and the second moved to the San Jose Sharks in the Timo Meier trade. He continues his apprenticeship in the American League.
