NHL Draft War Room: Gavin Bayreuther

June 19th, 2014

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by Eldon MacDonald (edited by @ChrisRalphTHW)

Gavin Bayreuther

THW’s NHL Draft War Room Rankings – Jun-14: #59

Gavin Bayreuther

Gavin Bayreuther (Photo: Dan Hickling)

 

  • Hashtag: #MrBigShot
  • Team: #7, St. Lawrence, ECAC
  • Position: Defense
  • Shoots: Left
  • Height: 6’1
  • Weight: 195 lb.
  • Born: New Canaan, NH, 12-May-94
  • Twitter: @Gavinbay18

 

Stats

Other Rankings

  • 61 – NHL Combined – Final, Apr-14

Worth Retweeting

Profiles

Interview

Quotable

  • Quote 1: NHL.com– David Gregory of NHL Central Scouting, “From seeing him as a high school player [at Holderness School in New Hampshire] and his progression, he’s always had a great sense of the whole game in front of him. He really manages the ice well all the time. You add to that his skating ability with and without the puck and you have a solid prospect. He’s an excellent passer and can quarterback the power play.”
  • Quote 2: RidertownUSA.com– Mark Carlson, Cedar Rapids’ Head Coach, “The sky’s the limit. (Kids like Bayreuther) are the thing that excites me the most about scouting. When we see a three-sport athlete like him, we get really excited. I love to see it. I wish there was more of it in the United States of America. Kids should play two or three sports growing up and not specialize until as late as possible.”

From the THW War Room

Eldon MacDonald, THW:  A few words on Gavin Bayreuther:

  • Mr. Big Shot – It’s all about the shot, baby. Gavin’s team’s power play was over 30% and he was one of the biggest reasons for its success. It’s safe to say that league goalies are not singing Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”. He is this year’s Josh Godfrey, a late-blooming, overage defenseman who has a great shot. Scouts will have a hard time passing up on again. While Josh Godfrey didn’t make it to the bigs, I wouldn’t count this guy out.
  • Offense – Gavin could be that power play quarterback your team is looking for at a relatively low cost draft choice. He has the shot, the passing, the vision, the smoothness in skating that give him a good chance of being successful at the NHL level in spite of his relatively modest size (6’1, 195).
  • Awards and Achievements – Awards and achievements, there were a few.
    • ECAC Hockey Co-Rookie of the Year – Voting by the league’s coaches
    • Second-team All ECAC choice
    • All Rookie Team
    • Top scoring ECAC defensemen (36 points in 38 games)
  • Improvements to make – The most critical area that Gavin needs to work on is improving his strength to be able to defend at the top level.
  • Draft placement – NHL General Managers are such copycats. This year they caught a glimpse of how good Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect Shayne Gostisbehere could be when he led Union College to the NCAA championship (Shayne was thefrozen four’s MVP). I am betting that one of those GM’s will be placing their Gostisbehere-like power play quarterback bet in the second round on one Mr. Gavin Bayreuther.
Shayne Gostisbehere Gavin Bayreuther

Is Gavin Bayreuther the Shayne Gostisbehere of the 2014 NHL Draft Class? (Photo: Marilyn Zube)

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