Marek Vanacker : In-Depth Scouting Report

A 6’1 left-handed forward playing for the Brantford Bulldogs, Marek Vanacker is probably my favorite player in the entire draft since January. His season did not end on the best note as he found himself the 13th forward on the Canadian team at the U-18. On the other hand, it seems that he was injured at this tournament. This small sample is not representative of the 82 pts he accumulated in 68 games in the OHL.

The appeal of drafting a guy like Vanacker is that he can play on all lines, while filling a different role on each one wonderfully.

He plays very hard, and even in the scenario where he does not reach a level higher than the 3rd line within the organization chart of the team that drafts him, that does not bother me. I instantly reserve a place for him to fill any role within my team.

What he does well on the ice, he does very well, and in many cases, these are things that your skilled players need on their line. Someone who does the dirty work for them. To better understand the player’s attributes and why I have such great affection for him, let’s get to the heart of the matter.

When I said that Vanacker excels in somewhat niche aspects of the game, the first would be in stealing the puck from his opponents. There is no one better than him in this draft in this aspect. In his case, it goes beyond just a matter of hard work and ‘Timing,’ it’s a real art! As long as he’s on the ice, the chances of his team gaining possession of the puck skyrocket. If you want to allow your best offensive elements to benefit from the puck when they are on the ice, pair them with Vanacker.  Single-handedly, he nullifies many opposing counter-attacks before they even have time to take shape as he takes the disc away from the carrier by raising his stick in the neutral zone during a magnificent backcheck.

Vanacker also excels at disrupting/embarrassing/interrupting the puck carrier. Opposing players can never get too comfortable in possession of the disc. They cannot temper the game in their own way in the face of the incessant pressure from the Bulldogs forward. On backcheck, but also in forecheck, where he stands out.

One of the reasons why Vanacker is so successful in annoying his opponents and making them lose the puck is that despite an ‘OK’ size (6’0 – 6’1), he plays with a relatively very long stick. Although the two players play different positions, it reminds me a lot of Tanner Molendyk last year (5’11 defenseman who was 19th on my list). His reach was much greater than his opponents expected, and before they knew it, the puck had slipped away from their possession and they didn’t know why. He defended ‘Off the Rush’ plays as well as anyone. It’s the same story with Vanacker, his opponents always seem surprised when they lose the disc to him, because they don’t expect his reach to be that long.

Number 78 plays with a very high level of intensity at all times. He jumps on loose pucks even though he knows he will sometimes have to pay the price.

What I like about the moments when he finishes his hits is that he is sneaky (while remaining within the limits of the legality, of course). Just like with his ‘Stick-Lifts,’ his opponents don’t expect it, and it hurts. I also love his fearlessness as on certain hits, he literally propels himself towards his opponent while he is skating at high speed.

I don’t want to indulge in puns by saying that he has that ‘dog‘ in him (he plays for the Bulldogs), but I saw sequences where I said to myself, ‘Goddam does having a guy like him help to unite a team in the locker room and on the ice’. He will be the first to jump into the scrums. One in particular where after scoring a goal himself, a skirmish with a teammate began and without even taking the time to celebrate his goal, he rushed at an opponent like a real maniac. I thought he was going to rip his freaking head off. I take this player on my team every day of the week and twice on Sunday!

An additional thing to love about his game is that when we watch him on the ice, it would be impossible for us to guess what the score is and how much time is left in the game. One sequence in particular stood out to me. With his team leading 7-1 and with just over a minute left in the game, Vanacker was racing down the ice, looking to create turnovers on the penalty kill.

The Delhi, Ontario native is one of the best athletes in the draft. His skating does not seem to be unanimous among various observers, but I consider it very good. Although he seems to expend a lot of energy when skating, he is very explosive and reaches impressive top speeds.

Skating can be a perilous category to analyze. From my experience, if there is one aspect of prospects among which we can observe inconsistencies, it is in this one. In the past I have seen players who flew across the ice during certain games and then struggled to create separation during other games. There are so many factors that come into play; the schedules are long and grueling and fatigue can be felt, a player can be bothered by a minor injury without us knowing it and it impacts his stride, etc.

There is also the fact that a player can be a speed merchant, without this giving him an advantage on the ice. If the player does not have a great work ethic, it will not make him effective without the puck, and if the player does not have great hockey intelligence and his brain does not identify the good corridors to adopt, his speed will be of no use to him in possession of the puck.

In the case of Vanacker, I love how he uses his short-distance explosion to make himself available in the slot by escaping the coverage of his coverer. Not only does his athleticism shine, but I also see a form of intelligence as in just a fraction of a second after handing the puck to a teammate, he spots a gap in the defensive coverage and heads for it immediately. Additionally, I also like how his stick stays on the ice at all times when he accesses these spots.

Additionally, Vanacker is EXTREMELY dangerous from the goal line. He attacks the goalie along that line as well as anyone in this draft. To do this, it is once again his athletic qualities and how he can break away from his coverer with a sudden pivot on himself before exploding towards the goalkeeper. I think we don’t give enough credit to his offensive skills and the way he creates a quality scoring chance from a harmless battle in the corner of the ice is a strong testament to that.

 When I said in the introduction that Vanacker generally does what more skilled line partners need, I also had in mind his play as a player stationed in front of the goalie on the power play. His contribution is not as remarkable as that of Julius Miettinen, but still. Where Vanacker makes a unique contribution is that he is excessively quick to jump on rebounds. His determination also means that he is not afraid to pay the price. In addition, he is not just a simple body that is placed in front of the goalie, he does more than the job of a simple screen, he redirects shots/passes and he leaves his position to recover pucks behind the net thanks to his explosiveness.

One aspect that will seem strangely specific to his game that also deserves praise is the quality of his passing in transition. He joins teammates through several obstacles and the liveliness and precision of his passes over long distances is very impressive.

If we look more in-depth at his individual skills, Vanacker is a player who has relatively good hands. He is able from time to time to come up with a dangle and beat a defender one-on-one.

Generally, players playing with a longer reach will have to deal with some limitations in terms of their puck handling. More specifically, it is along the boards that we can see these players appearing to be handcuffed. Surprisingly, this is a location where Vanacker demonstrates great ingenuity. He sends the puck with his backhand onto the boards, on the other side from where he is, and by turning around he gets rid of his opponent’s coverage.

I would add that this reach benefits Vanacker too much on the ice and it is too integral to his identity so I prefer to see him keep such a long stick.

As for his scoring skills, this is not an aspect of his game where Vanacker demonstrates innate talent. The quality of his shot is decent even if I don’t think he’s a player with a lot of finishing skills, but he will still score his fair share of goals in the NHL. As we have seen, he is very dangerous on the goal line, he is very good at getting to dangerous zones, while keeping his stick on the ice at all times.

Where Vanacker demonstrates a certain ‘Upside’ as a shooter is that he always attacks goalkeepers with a lot of speed. This causes them to move backwards, opening the top of the net.

If there’s one aspect of his game that I think is truly underrated, it’s his passing skills. Vanacker is capable of connecting plays with his teammates in dangerous zones and, having played the majority of the time with offensive elements on his line, they could give him the puck with the confidence that it would come back to them and that the play wasn’t going to die because of him.

Among the things he does well, well, one might be led to believe that for a player who plays with speed and ardor, he rushes to the puck without thinking and circulates it quickly. However, we can observe Vanacker raising his head and collecting information before grabbing the puck, in order to identify the best option he has.

But what impresses me the most is how he is able to thread the needle on difficult passes. I’m talking about long-distance passes, under cover or through multiple obstacles.

Vanacker was a big favorite of mine from my first viewing of the player at the beginning of January. As I mentioned in the introduction, it is possible that he does not reach more than the 3rd line within his team’s hierarchy, but even if that is the case, I want him on my 3rd line. He pushes the tempo of his line when he is on the ice and the range of details he brings is of great help to his teammates and allows them to raise their level. In the playoffs, the Brantford coach reshaped his lines somewhat and this seemed to break pre-existing chemistry within the Top-6. From the moment Vanacker reinserted his usual line, the efficiency of his teammates increased. I was a big fan of JJ Peterka in his draft year (ranked 16th on my list) and I see some similarities between the two players, even if the comparison isn’t that stark. I would like to remind you that the German player did not suggest such good production in the NHL, so we must not close the door to Vanacker and put a cap on his potential.

I would like to end by opening a little discussion about his teammate Jake O’Brien. I think he’s a fantastic player and he’s already my favorite for next year’s draft. Seeing a 16-year-old dictate the play like he did in his rookie year is fascinating. The word with him is efficiency. Everything he does is so well calculated; all his passes reach their target (tremendous playmaker) and his offensive intelligence as well as without the puck is extremely high. There isn’t, of course, much discussion surrounding him ahead of next year’s draft, but from what I see publicly, he is ranked relatively low. I’ve seen him around 10 for the OHL alone. I’m going to throw you what we call a Hot-Take, but he is currently ranked ahead of Michael Misa on my list (beneficiary of exceptional player status in the OHL in 2022). I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets dangerously close to 100 pts next year in his draft season and I believe that from the 2nd half of the season, his name will be well established in the discussions surrounding the selections 6 to 10 for the draft. He is currently 5th for me.

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