Barkey is a fine 3rd rd pick, the kind you gamble on.
He's having a great D+1 season, but I'll remain skeptical until he hits a legitimate 175 lbs.
People think Caufield is small, but he was drafted at 5'7 164. Barkey 5'9 155.
The only comparable size wise was Point, 5'10 160 when drafted, but he's one of the fastest players in the NHL (99th percentile in top speed and 22+ bursts) - does Barkey approach him as a skater?
Now if Barkey ends up a sheltered third line LW who can dominate on PP1, it's great value.
Firstly... Barkey is not 155lbs and was not when drafted. He has been listed at that for ~2 years now and realistically is probably 165lbs.
He really is not the only comparable size wise in terms of guys who later became top 6 drafted later than should have been... not even the only one from CHL. And if expand past the CHL? Something like 70% of fwd steals are guys who are small in draft year with good numbers.
2006 draft: Brad Marchand, #71 overall (when numbers said should have gone in 2nd)
2006 draft: Mathieu Perreault, #177 overall (when numbers said should have gone in 3rd)
2010 draft: Brendan Gallagher, #147 overall (when numbers said should have gone in 2nd)
2011 draft: Vincent Trocheck, #64 overall (should have gone ~10 picks earlier)
2011 draft: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, #96 overall (when numbers said should have gone in 2nd)
2012 draft: Chandler Stephenson, #77 overall (tbf right around where should have gone)
2013 draft: Oliver Bjorkstrand, #89 overall (when numbers said should have gone in 2nd)
2014 draft: Andrew Mangiapane, Undrafted (when numbers said should have gone in 4th)
2014 draft: Conor Garland, Undrafted (when numbers said should have gone in 2nd-3rd)
2016 draft: Alex DeBincat, #39 overall (when should have gone ~#10)
All these guys were 5'11 and under and ~160lbs in draft year. (yes, even Stephenson who is 6'0 now had a late growth spurt and was 5'9-5'10 in draft year!)
So roughly 1 player out of the CHL a year with such a profile becomes a top 6 NHLer... with more to come. And when look at USHL, Europe etc? Lots more. You are talking 2 guys every draft pretty much on average who end up top 6 NHLers when fell due to size, put up good numbers and are ~5'8-5'11 and ~150-170lbs.
If you want the best chance of getting steals in the draft? These are the guys you draft! (mainly as they are the guys who fall most often because for some reason most GMs are size queens.
and that is JUST top six guys off the top of my head.
Nick Cousins, Matt Calvert, Gabriel Bourque, Jordan Weal, Brendan Leipsic... also around that. (~155-170)
Going from ~160 to 175 is just par for the course for every single ~18-21 year old who is athletic/does sport anyway. Who DOESNT put on 15lbs over that age-range?