Beckett Sennecke : In-Depth Scouting Report

Beckett Sennecke is an extremely intriguing player for the 2024 draft. He finally became the player I saw in him at the start of the season, but it wasn’t all Smooth Sailing during the year.

One of the things that makes him so intriguing is that he will have gone from 5’10 to 6’2 over the summer. For many athletes, such an anthropometric change has negative repercussions on the entire kinetic chain. We would have been entitled to expect, following such a metamorphosis, to observe an uncoordinated, clumsy player. However, it is quite the opposite that we see. Not only is Sennecke what I call ‘Slippery‘ (evasive, difficult to catch) but when I look at the players to whom I can attribute such a quality, Sennecke manages to rival them and rise to the top of this draft for this category. Konsta Helenius is, in my opinion, the Gold Standard at this level this year.

The most impressive thing is how he manages to regain his balance even though he is considered beaten. It’s particularly remarkable to see him recover from a position that could only indicate an imminent fall. If his future with hockey doesn’t work out, he can always give a call to Le Cirque du Soleil.

The Oshawa Generals player is an excellent puck handler. And just like with the control of his body despite a major growth spurt, the maneuvers he can perform impress me just as much because last year I saw Sennecke a good number of times as he played regularly with Calum Ritchie, and to be honest, at that point he was a pretty ‘Vanilla‘ player. Just like with his ‘Slippery’ side, not only is this something relatively new for him, but the moment he started displaying this quality, he immediately was among the elite of his draft cohort. When I saw this at the start of the season, I said to myself that we were dealing with a player who was just beginning to touch the full extent of his talent.

What makes him unique is the level of audacity and creativity that goes into his play selections.

He is also very good in one-on-one situations.

Sennecke has one of the best wrists shot in the entire draft. Every shot is taken with the intent to score, he doesn’t just put the puck on net, he looks to beat the goalies. He also manages to impressively load his shot even when he’s in quite the quirky position.

What makes him so dangerous as a shooter is that he is an expert in the art of readjusting his stance before releasing his shots. His puck control allows him to optimize his touches while he is favorably positioned but for the most part, it is not the technical aspect that holds my attention the most but above all his innate ‘Poise‘ of using little delays and waiting for a fraction of a second more.

A rather overlooked aspect of the player is that he is a much better playmaker than he gets credit for. His skills and his creativity with the puck make him able to complete plays reserved for the elites but there are three unique variables that characterize him in this aspect.

Firstly, Sennecke frequently opts for very long-distance passes. Players who seem on the outside suddenly become players to watch. This also allows him to find a solution while the first options are being covered. The ability to spot these options and the confidence to execute such passes is noteworthy.

Secondly, the number 45 is one of the most ‘Deceptive‘ players in his approaches that this draft has to offer. He achieves these results mainly by selling the intention to shoot while he stares at the net and appears to start loading weight on his stick, to properly sell the shot. Where Sennecke manages to distinguish himself from other players performing this type of play is that he really emphasizes the exaggeration of his posture.

And finally, he completes a large number of passes from behind the opposing net. This is still intriguing because within a game, it’s not necessarily a place he is inclined to go, but when he is there, he knows how to capitalize on his puck-touches from that location. The most captivating part of this is that we see Sennecke combine several of his qualities within a single play. Many of these passes are long-distance passes as previously mentioned. But most importantly, if we go back to what was mentioned about his escaping ability (Slippery), it’s a quality that allows him to accentuate another facet of his game. Sennecke is very good at escaping an opponent while he is near the boards. Another thing to take into consideration is that he is just beginning to realize the advantages that his size can give him and he is starting to gain physical strength so every reason is provided to believe that his ease behind the net will expand.

This is actually the next point I wanted to address. As the season progressed, Sennecke seemed to have a new interest in the physical game. He realizes that he can hit opponents at full speed and not feel the impact, as would have been the case a year ago. I’m not ready to say that he is the player who brings his teammates into ‘the fight’ but one thing is for sure, when hostilities are on, he finds complacency in physical play and the on effect that it brings to his teammates on the bench and on the ice.

His rise in the rankings at the end of the season doesn’t seem to have convinced everyone. There are certain arguments to justify this position. On the other hand, it is possible to dismantle these same arguments.

As mentioned in the introduction, Sennecke’s progression curve wasn’t all Smooth Sailing. At the start of the second half of the season, he was demoted from his line and his playing time decreased. At times, his time on the power play was even taken away (at least, a good part of it). On the other hand, when you draft a player, it is not based on what he looked like in February. You draft him for the promise he showed at the end of the season and for the future.

It is also true that Sennecke did not have a very productive season offensively. This worried me myself during the year. Especially since I consider that the OHL, overall, is possibly weaker than what we were used to before. Decent players, nothing more, accumulated very inflated statistics at times, and on the other hand, I watched Sennecke, who is much more talented, struggling to have more than a point per game. The big click happened when we paired him with Calum Ritchie. I understand people being concerned based on this fact, however, when we look at Sennecke’s individual skills, we have the right to expect him to be placed with the best offensive elements of his tea, so, in the end, does it really matter if his offensive production wasn’t so good during the regular season?

In terms of stylistics, Sennecke reminds me a lot of Martin Necas. His audacity and his creativity with the puck, how he releases certain shots, but above all, his way of circling the offensive zone in possession of the disc reminds me a lot of the Czech forward from the Carolina Hurricanes.

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