With the 17th Pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, the Vegas Golden Knights Have Selected Peyton Krebs From the Kootenay Ice
About Peyton Krebs
An exciting play-maker who gives it his all and then some on every single shift, Peyton Krebs is the ideal winger in the modern day NHL. His combination of effort, hockey-IQ and potential make him a player who appealed to every scout who watched him.
Going through adversity with his team in Kootenay, a team that wasn’t very good during Krebs time with the team, he still managed to post respectable stat-lines that featured 36 goals and 122 points in 131 games over the last two seasons. While that may not be as eye-popping as some of the other players on this list, it’s more due to the circumstances than Krebs actual ability. That much was obvious to anybody who watched him.
THW Prospect Profile Excerpt
“No disrespect to the franchise – which relocated to Winnipeg following the 2018-19 Western Hockey League season – but it was always a bit of a shame that Peyton Krebs ended up with the Kootenay ICE. The first overall selection in the 2016 Bantam Draft left Cranbrook having played zero playoff games and was the team’s best player (by a big margin) for his entire run.
For two seasons, Krebs has been a productive WHL forward. Equal parts fast, intelligent and creative on the ice, he’s been one of the most consistent players in the circuit in terms of generating scoring chances and setting up his linemates for opportunities. He hasn’t had the quality of linemates that his fellow 2019 NHL Draft prospects have – both Kirby Dach (of the Saskatoon Blades) and Dylan Cozens (of the Lethbridge Hurricanes) have had more to work with. Krebs had a hand in 37.5% of ICE goals in 2018-19 and had 15 more points than the next-best player on his team.
That said, Krebs hasn’t let the challenges of playing on a non-playoff club get him down. He plays a ton in every game situation and has visibly grown in confidence despite the ICE’s scoreboard and standings results. In situations where Krebs does get to play with high-end talent – such as the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Under-18 Worlds or Top Prospects Game – he shines; he was a revelation at the Top Prospects Game in Red Deer and had the confidence to attempt showy passes to spring his teammates for scoring chances.
Related: Our Free NHL Draft Guide
Teams will be tempted to select Krebs for two reasons: his intangibles and his potential. He’s a player that has dealt with adversity in major junior – after being a high-end player on high-end teams in bantam and midget – yet hasn’t let it get him down. In terms of potential, the ICE’s move to Winnipeg coincides with the continued maturation of 2017 first round bantam pick Connor McClennon and 2018 first round bantam pick Carson Lambos. If some of their young prospects can take a leap, Krebs may finally have the backup he’s sought since he arrived in the WHL.
Krebs doesn’t have the showy offensive stat lines that the other top forward prospects do in the 2019 NHL Draft class. He played for a team that didn’t win very often and so he’s arguably a bit of a project. But his results with very little sheltering and not a ton of backup have been really encouraging, suggesting that he could break out in a big way as he (and his team) matures.”
Full player profile can be found here
How This Affects the Golden Knights Plans
The Golden Knights are a team who have competed in each of their two first seasons but are already looking at a depleted prospect pool and a poor salary cap situation. It’s the cost of business in the NHL and replenishing their prospect pool is more important now than ever.
Getting Krebs, a potential top-10 pick, with the 17th selection in the 2019 Draft is as big a steal as it gets.