Ranking the top 31 prospects in the 2020 NHL Draft: 3. Quinton Byfield
By Daniel Bruce
2019-2020 Season Recap
2019-2020 Stats
GP: 45 G: 32 A: 50 P: 82 +/-: 26
Byfield was viewed as the consensus second overall pick at the start of the season, before Tim Stützle jumped up draft boards as the year ran its course. The fall out of the second spot by some scouting services had nothing to do with Byfield’s play and more to do with Stützle’s.
While being great in the OHL, the centerman from Sudbury struggled in the world juniors while being demoted to the fourth line during the tournament, and only adding one assist in seven games.
While playing sparingly, its really tough for draft eligible players to thrive in their draft year, other than the Connor McDavid’s of the world.
While with Sudbury, Byfield was dominant in the OHL, finishing fourth among all skaters with 1.82 points per game, only trailing Marco Rossi, Connor McMichael and Nick Robertson. Behind only Rossi in terms of draft eligible players, with the 67’s center having a ton of help playing on the best team in the CHL.
His stats lined up similarly to Lafreniere this season and actually some of his stats are better on a per game basis than what the projected first overall pick did.
That close
— TURP (@JFTurpin) April 10, 2020
U18 CHL season totals
Quinton Byfield (45 GP)
• 32 goals
• 82 points
• 1.82 points-per-game
• 0.71 goals-per-game
• 3.3 shots-per-game
Alexis Lafrenière (61 GP)
• 37 goals
• 105 points
• 1.72 points-per-game
• 0.61 goals-per-game
• 3.4 shots-per-game.
Some people value one tournament too much especially the world juniors, Byfield saw his value take a hit after that similar to that of Yaroslav Askarov after they both had underwhelming performances, which most could attest to age. One tournament shouldn’t define prospects, especially those as talented as Byfield.