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We let NHL draft prospects read their scouting reports ... and respond

Will Bowen Byram be able to create offense in the NHL in the same ways he has in the past? Alika Jenner/Getty Images

The 2019 NHL draft class is marked with exceptional talent but not a lot of consensus on the board beyond Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko. There are a handful of polarizing prospects who appear all over team, scout and analyst rankings heading into the June 21 draft.

We picked five especially interesting draft-eligible players -- Arthur Kaliyev, Bowen Byram, Dylan Cozens, Nicholas Robertson and Ryan Suzuki -- and asked an anonymous NHL scout for an Eastern Conference team for an honest assessment of their games. Then we gave the players a chance to critique the critiques, and I provided my own analysis to round it out.

Note: Ages are as of the June 21 draft date.

Jump to:
Kaliyev | Byram | Cozens | Robertson | Suzuki

Arthur Kaliyev, RW, Hamilton (OHL)

Age: 17 | Ht: 6-2 | Wt: 190 | Shot: L

Player profile: A projected first-rounder, Kaliyev led the OHL with 51 goals this season and had 102 points, which was good for sixth in the league and most among draft-eligible players in major junior. He is one of the draft's most polarizing prospects, and he ranked No. 12 on my early May board.

What a scout said: "He's an elite goal scorer with size and doesn't need a lot of space to score. He can score from bad angles and doesn't need a perfect pass -- he can shoot from anywhere."

Kaliyev: "I've been working on my shot since I started playing hockey, every day. Before practice, after practice, I practice getting passes. I work on one-timers every time."

Peters: "Kaliyev has the best one-timer in the draft, as far as I'm concerned. He also has incredible net sense, showing he can score from anywhere. He has a shooter's mentality."

Scout: "Skating for him, can he play a high-tempo game? His quickness and his pace need to show up. For a big guy like that, you probably wish he was a little more involved physically and a little grittier. For him, maybe he's looking at us saying I'm not playing a gritty game, and I'm still scoring 50 goals, and I'm big."