Nothing is going well for Quinton Byfield.
After signing a colossal 5-year contract worth $31.25 million, the Los Angeles Kings center has become a real burden for his team.
The stats speak for themselves: including the playoffs, Byfield has only scored 2 goals in his last 45 games, despite getting a lot of playing time.
The first of these two goals actually came in the last game of the previous season, when the Kings did everything they could to help him reach his bonus for scoring 20 goals in a season.
With an average annual salary of $6.25 million, expectations were high for this 22-year-old talent. Patience is starting to wear thin among fans, who hoped to see him take a step forward this season.
The Kings could even consider trade offers for Byfield, but only in exchange for a player with similar characteristics.
An irony for certain fans who, last season, made fun of Juraj Slafkovsky, the promising Slovak of the Montreal Canadiens. Today, many of them would happily trade Byfield for Slafkovsky.
Byfield, for his part, responded to the Slafkovsky comparisons by saying last season:
“Stop comparing me to Juraj Slafkovsky. I am a far superior raw talent. »
With his elegant moves for a power forward, he wanted to prove that he brings a more refined and creative style of play compared to the more direct power forward Slafkovsky.
Indeed, Byfield has a unique finesse of play for a player of his stature, while Slafkovsky is seen as a future “Tage Thompson in the making”, a power forward in every sense of the word, but without finesse.
Comparisons between the two remain relevant due to their size, high draft pick status, and gradual development.
However, their styles remain fundamentally different.
While Byfield displays a certain elegance in his finesse play, Slafkovsky positions himself as a more physical forward, determined to make his place in the NHL as a true power forward.
For both, the future is still to be written, but the patience of Kings fans is wearing thin.
2 goals in his last 45 matches…an unprecedented shame…
