[Mustafa*]

Originally Posted by Mike8

St-Louis did it at University of Vermont, which is pretty miserable quality.

Desharnais put up better stats & performance than Zagrapan, a first rounder ... point is: elite junior stats mean zilch. Fleury and St-Louis were not elite prospects at any time, really, until they made it.

I'm with you in that I'm skeptical on Desharnais, but there's precedence in these two players for young players to become world-beaters out of nowhere.

I haven't seen enough of Desharnais to know, but Fleury compensated for his size with amazingly dirty play in addition to his talent. He was fearsome to skate next to, nevermind check. I went to a game once in Boston ... Fleury was there, and he was a circus by himself. It was similar to watching Ben Eager in junior (and he's tamed a lot): essentially, a realistic view of Slapshot. Fleury would slash everyone on every play, bark at the bench, get penalties and yap at the ref the entire time he was in the box, come out of the box and slewfoot someone way behind the play where the ref (only one at the time) wouldn't see.

Fleury's idea of playing it high and floating at center ice wasn't to get a quick break so much as being out of the referee's line of vision so he could pull off more antics.

St-Louis is a beast in the gym. His legs are monstrous.

Two different approaches with similar results making these two players elite. Desharnais doesn't seem to be a fearful perimeter guy, but he needs to be more than just unafraid.

Great post!