By now, most readers here I suspect are of the opinion that the best way to get value at the draft is to look for small but skilled guys who are underrated at the NHL draft. It’s a model that Dubas clearly has followed in his time running the Leafs’ drafts as GM. The notion is that bigger players are easier to overrate, because they can use their size to dominate much more mixed competition, when they can’t do that once they get to the NHL and everyone is bigger, faster, more skilled, and stronger.
The other issue is that bigger players tend to have more issues skating.