This reminds me of the John Tavares draft year, when Garth Snow refused to divulge whom the Islanders would select with the first-overall pick — the general manager for some reason attempting to inject drama into the 2009 proceedings even though No. 91 was clearly rated ahead of both Matt Duchene and Victor Hedman as No. 1. It was not simply a consensus opinion, but an essentially unanimous one.
Just as it is now with Jack Hughes rated ahead of Kaapo Kakko as the No. 1 prospect despite the precocious Finn’s eye-popping performances at both the World Juniors and World Championships.