NHL Draft Ranking 2023, by Simon St-L.

Here is my personal ranking for the 2023 NHL Draft.I am extremely proud to present this book on which I have worked very hard all season. In total, 38 players will be analyzed in depth, offering unique observations on these prospects.

French version:

Classement final de Simon St-Lau

Brief analysis of the 2023 draft:

The 2023 draft has been expected for several years now, led by generational player Connor Bedard, the Adam Fantilli, Matvei Michkov and others have also been on the radar for a long time already. Analyzing a draft is always a bit tricky. There are several factors that come into play. Often, draft picks are erroneously assigned labels, based on the few players that sit at the top. A handful of players cannot determine the quality of an entire crop. Year after year, the quality of the drafts seems grossly overrated. Despite the presence of exceptional players, the draft of 2023 is no exception to this observation. During the season, I was able to read several statements like this;

– «There are three generational players in the 2023 draft».
– «There are a dozen players in this draft who could have gone at number one last year».
– «There is about twenty players who are worthy of a top 10 selection».

For me, when I first updated my ranking in the fall, there were 17 players whom I had given an ‘A’ prospect rating. Which means a first-round pick, no matter the quality/depth of his draft. Despite the appearance of unexpected players in my ranking in the second half of the season, it is a statement that I still stand by. Obviously, the top of the draft is as strong, if not better, than any other draft. The teams that finished at the bottom will have the assurance of picking up a very solid player who will contribute for the years to come for them.

– The top 10 is quite solid and I give a good appreciation to the players who find themselves in this contingent. Even if, for me, starting at 4, the players begin to present certain risks.

– What made me take a more divisive position towards this draft is that, for me, after the 13th rank, I do not really see players with the potential to play on the first 2 lines of a formation. I mainly see 3rd line players. Which, in itself, is far from being bad! Some players confined to this role can be players I love! However, it is not the case with players 13-20 in this draft. I would argue that this ‘range’ of players is rather low when compared to these same ranks from previous drafts.

– Personally, there are very few players I like. I do want to make it clear, though, that generally I like about 15-20 players in a draft year. Not being in love doesn’t take anything away from the players and sometimes doesn’t necessarily reflect in my ranking. For example, Alexander Holtz in 2020 was a player I didn’t necessarily like.

– The problem is mainly that after the top 10-12, the players I like a little more find themselves slightly further away and do not come without risk. There are a good number of players inside my top 20 that, quite frankly, I wouldn’t have much interest in drafting. Not after a whole year of work .

– Ironically, despite a disappointing second half of the first round, there is a good legion of players who could easily fit in between 25 and 40 which would represent wise bets.

*** A final note: I know that navigating through my list can be a little difficult since it is a long analysis, but for the moment, I prefer to work like this. It is a subject that fascinates me enormously and I dare to hope that those who read me are just as passionate about it as I am. For me, it’s like a Christmas present that I unwrap when I was young. I want to take my time and discover every little corner little by little. There is always the possibility to use the ‘CTRL + F’ function to search for a player if you want to find a specific player. ***

Without further ado, here are the fruits of my labor.

1. Connor Bedard

The young Vancouver-born prodigy needs no introduction. After rewriting the record books everywhere he went, whether in the WHL or with Team Canada, Bedard is ready to go on to establish himself as one of the biggest headliners the NHL has had this millennium.  Recognized for his trademark shot and his flair for dramatic moments, the Regina Pats player is simply above his competition in many ways. It’s hard to do justice to such a talent with words, but here’s my best attempt to try to describe what makes Bedard such a special player. Unless you live under a rock, you probably know Bedard’s shot is his best weapon. We are not just talking about an elite shot, but rather a revolutionary shot. At the moment he’ll step on an NHL ice, only a handful of players could hope to match the quality of his wrist shot. He shoots hard and puts everything he got behind his shot, at every one of them. He doesn’t just put pucks on the net, he shoots with the intention of scoring at every opportunity. He can literally change the outcome of a game in the blink of an eye.

To explain how special Bedard’s shot is, it’s impossible to blame him for poor shot selection, because ALL of his shots are dangerous and a good option. Not only is the quickness with which the puck leaves his stick mind-boggling, but his precision is equally absurd. Sometimes he’ll skate by the right side of the ice and if he can’t beat the defenseman with speed, he can fire a shot from the corner/goal line. Believe it or not, coming from Bedard, it’s a dangerous shot, he only needs the goalkeeper to drop a knee on the ice and he will put the puck over his shoulder. He can place the puck wherever he wants, regardless of how his body is positioned.

One of the things that makes his shooting so elite is how he manages to change his angles. It is recognized as a subtlety mastered by the best shooters on the planet, the first example that comes to mind is Auston Matthews with his famous little ‘Toe Drag’ before shooting. What is curious in the case of Bedard is that he covers a lateral distance with the puck on the ice before shooting that I have never seen before. And we’re talking about a 5’10 player. Even though he uses a relatively long stick for his size, he still doesn’t have the reach of a 6’3 guy like Matthews. His puck handling is also elite and this allows him to place the puck where he wants before firing his shots. In conjunction with this ability, Bedard has this phenomenal ability to use defensemen as a screen. Those who have read me for a while now know that I am not someone who easily falls into the use of hyperbole, but I sincerely believe that there is no player on the entire planet currently who is as good as Bedard to shoot under the stick of the defenders who seek to poke check him or deflect his shot. It must be a terrifying sight for them, they know what’s coming, but they just can’t stop it.

Something that isn’t often mentioned enough is how Bedard’s backhand shot is in its own right just as elite as his wrist shot. Sidney Crosby’s has more velocity than anyone else’s, Patrick Kane is a magician and he can get the puck over the goalie’s shoulder better than anyone, but I haven’t seen a player be able to beat goalies from as far away as Bedard. His goal against Russia U18s in the final in 2021 still gives me chills just thinking about it!

What about Bedard’s playmaking skills? After all, young players are frequently observed constantly relying on their predominant quality at lower levels and failing to expand their offensive repertoire because of it. In Bedard’s case, make no mistake, he’s a fantastic playmaker, and he’s developed that side of his game to a level that I didn’t envisioned him reaching at the start of the season.

Since we’ve ended up talking about his shooting by mentioning his backhand, it’s only appropriate to start talking about his passing skills by mentioning his propensity to set the table for his teammates from his backhand. Which is arguably his greatest strength in this facet. These are the same aspects that make his backhand passes such a distinct quality as his shooting; the dexterity of his hands, but also the distance and precision with which he will execute such passes in the offensive zone.

Bedard has a remarkable level of creativity and his level of talent allows him to try just about anything he wants on the ice, he can dangle players at will before passing the puck. The fact that he’s still a threat to shoot as well opens up a lot of options for him. His recognition of openings for a pass is just as fast as his ability to release his shots, he only needs a fraction of a second to make his decision whether to shoot or not. His playmaking skills are something that has improved this season and for me the biggest difference is in the way Bedard plays East to West in the offensive zone, especially when he enters it. He played a more linear style in the past and that opened up the game less for his teammates.

One aspect that is very important to address in Bedard’s case is his compete-level and his desire to be the best and make a difference on the ice. He is a born competitor and he battles hard every night. He is probably the most marked hockey player on the planet and despite that, he manages very well the fate that his opposition throws at him night after night; he plays with his head held high to protect himself, he remains in control of his emotions, but above all, he does not allow his opponents to impose shits on him, he retaliates blow for blow and can even end his evening with a few good hits.

You can’t contain his talent, and you can’t match his desire to win. It’s a lethal combination. I have a small example to share, it may seem trivial, and I could very well have put it when I was talking about his shooting, but for me it perfectly encapsulates what I am trying to illustrate when I say you can’t contain Bedard. We see him in a 2 on 1 situation, he is in excellent position to take a one-timer. The defender in charge of covering him is slightly behind so since he cannot play Bedard’s body, he neutralizes his stick with his by pinning it against the ice (left in the image).

Bedard only needed a split second to counter his rival’s strategy. He moved his stick away from the defender by bringing it behind him and passing it completely over him afterwards, in a very fluid motion, he finishes with his stick on the ice without having to deal with the one of the defensemen. He was able to take a good shot without being bothered. It’s subtle as a play, but it testifies not only to his shooting skills, but also to the great adaptability of his brain and above all, to his great desire to make a difference. And that cannot be taught. You’re born with it and only the great players predestined to excellence have it.

As for his skating, it’s the only thing that wasn’t elite in Bedard’s toolbox (other than his size) before the start of the season and we can now say that all doubts are dispelled. He’s not an elite skate, but he’s still well above average. He has good acceleration and separation speed. It’s not only useful for him while carrying the puck, but also in smaller spaces, for example, in the offensive zone after having dangled a player, he can explode in a short distance to improve the location from which he will release his shot.

The Regina Pats player is also very agile on the ice. He has great changes of direction. His feet stay in motion and he constantly sells wrong directions to his opponents. What makes him effective in fakes like this is that he puts a lot of weight on one leg to really sell his direction. On top of that, his balance is top-notch too. You probably won’t be able to take the puck away from him and if you try to push him, his balance is so good that he will still manage to regain a proper body position to execute the play he had in mind. To achieve such results on the ice, Bedard must be very strong muscularly speaking. Even on one leg while being pushed, he maintains his balance. His skating is largely responsible for his puck protection game.

As for his defensive game, Bedard isn’t perfect, but honestly, that doesn’t change anything. It is adequate and, in the circumstances, it is quite sufficient. He is offense-oriented and you can see it when the opposing team leaves their zone. As a center player, he is not going to be low enough and he is going to try to intercept the pass to get back on the attack rather than to backcheck. He will be taken on the wrong foot a few times, but we cannot blame such an offensive talent and such a desire to win for playing like this, especially in the juniors. I have no concerns that he will fix this in the NHL.

Moreover, this same desire to make a difference offensively is also his greatest defensive quality. His positioning will not be perfect, but his commitment is of a very high level. He will dive across the rink with his stick extended to cut passing lanes. When is the last time a junior player averaging more than 2.5 pts per game made this kind of play? This may lead to one of the only debates surrounding Bedard: will he be a center or a winger in the NHL? Personally, I see him on the wing and it doesn’t affect the impact the player will have on the ice whatsoever. I would give him all the latitude possible to exploit his talent.

Numbers of games watched : 17

2. Leo Carlsson

Leo Carlsson is my favorite prospect of this draft (I consider it unfair to name Connor Bedard). He spent the entire season at number 2 on my list, and for me, no player came close to dislodging him from this position. He is as alone in the 2^nd spot as Bedard is in 1st place as far as I am concerned. Having played in the SHL, he was the author of an historic season, appearing among the 5 best campaigns in the history of this league for a draft-eligible player.

He is a hyper-talented player who demonstrates advanced IQ. It is the decisive factor which comes to decide between him and Adam Fantilli, even if it was not a debate for me. The intelligence of the two players simply do not compare. The two players generally operate very differently on the ice. If Fantilli is all power and looking to force his way through his opponents, Carlsson shows more maturity with the puck by slowing down to wait for his teammates. However, he masters nuances to this kind of play where not a whole lot of players would manage to gain time so effectively. The tall Swede is sensational when it comes to influencing the positioning of his opponents with sudden and successive changes of direction. It’s something you can see when he grabs a loose puck in the neutral zone when the play seems jammed on one side, he always manages to find a solution to complex situations. For similar game situations, we find a component of IQ in Carlsson’s game that is not found with Fantilli’s. This is also reflected in his positioning in the offensive zone as well as in each decision-making. His game in puck support for his teammates is fantastic, they always have an option with him if ever they are bothered by opponents.

Another place where the Swede has an advantage over his Canadian rival is in his way of gaining the center in the offensive zone. Carlsson does it with more discretion and more finesse while Fantilli is too predictable in his approaches (to read in the player analysis). Carlsson has golden hands that allow him to easily get rid of an opponent but it is mainly by selling his opponents the wrong directions with a ‘deceptive‘ posture that he catches them off guard (ironically since he doesn’t have the athletic abilities of the Michigan Center). When he cuts in the middle, he always keeps his gaze directed straight ahead, leaving no clue as to the direction he is going to take with his skates, thus selling the wrong lane to the defenders.

Another thing that demonstrates a particular offensive intelligence in him is his ability to read his opponents’ body alignments. He knows how to recognize those who are in a vulnerable position, how to exploit a player who is in retreat and who skates forward rather than backwards and make them pivot as he pleases to gain a better position to shoot from the slot. That’s what great offensive players do, they see the flaws in their opponents’ game and exploit them.

Offensively, Carlsson is primarily a playmaker. Which is a bit ironic because in my first 4 viewing of him this season (under 20 international games) I thought he had more of a goal-scorer profile and his playmaking skills were going to determine my opinion of him, since he had a strong propensity to pass in high-danger areas, with a mixed success rate. And then the season started in the SHL and he established himself as a very solid playmaker, and I would even say that’s his defining trait as an offensive player. His vision is of a very high level, allowing him to spot passing lanes that do not seem to exist at first glance. The reason that allows him to take advantage of those passing lanes is that he passes the puck with such finesse that he can take advantage of the smallest opening, like good scorers do with goaltenders. The softness of his hands also allows him to perform saucer passes through multiple sticks easily.

He loves leaving doubt in the minds of his opponents as he often lets various options show, buying time from himself as well as his teammates. This is how he manages to freeze defensemen and goalkeepers while he is in the right circle before passing at the goalmouth to a teammate. It is possibly his favorite play selection and he finds a good success rate.

One of the strongest aspects of Carlsson’s game, and it’s extremely rare for this quality to shine as much as a forward, is his puck-retrieval game along the boards. It’s something that is usually mentioned in defensemen’s game but that I find in Carlsson’s in his way of selling one direction before going to the other. His footwork is excellent.

I was amazed to see at different points in the season how good his game along the boards was. It’s a sign of maturity, and considering he was playing against men, I’m not just referring to physical maturity. To excel in these places, there are nuances to master in terms of timing and body positioning. It is an ability like any other more basic ability. It is not for nothing that players manage to carve out positions in the NHL or to extend their careers only, because they distinguish themselves with this ability. It is not within reach of all players. Carlsson shines so much there thanks to the aforementioned qualities (Timing and understanding of body alignment). When waiting for a pass from those spots (or from behind the net), he will start to turn his body before even receiving the puck cleanly, so the defender can’t fully play Carlsson’s body to pin him down along the board. He also positions his body as so he always has an exit door, as he’s in a position to use his skating.

His intelligence can also be seen in defensive situations. It might not be something that people know so well, but in my eyes he is the best defensive forward in the draft. Even being employed on the left wing in the SHL, his way of working defensively screamed that he is a center at the next level. His positioning is very good and his defensive coverage on the backcheck are very impressive. He works very well with his body and his stick to extract the puck from his opponent without ever compromising the center of the ice.

His off-puck reads are excellent. Even in the offensive zone, while the other team is in possession of the puck. I’m not necessarily talking about relentless forechecking to force his opposition to make turnovers, but rather, again, through subtle plays. Whether it’s by going to close a space along the boards, where a defender planned to clear the puck, by going to cover a forward who came to support his defenseman to erase a backup option, to cut passing lanes, etc.

If so far the portrait of this great Swedish player has mainly been drawn up according to his intelligence and the nuances of the game he grasps, don’t get me wrong! His game is not devoid of flashes! He has sensational hands. Possibly the softest hands in the entire draft. His creativity is mind-blowing and he has made several of the plays that have excited me the most this season. He has the dexterity to attack defensemen in a one-on-one situation and make a joke out of them. He also has the quickness to avoid a pokecheck as he speeds into the zone or receives a pass in a dangerous area.

He loves to use his puck handling to win the center of the slot. Another aspect that I also like about his hands is that he never seems to show any panic. He has the poise that great players have: grabs a loose puck in the crease and the pressure comes on him, he doesn’t rush his shot, he brings the puck on his backhand and he puts it past the goaltender. Even with his body stuck between the boards and an opponent, I saw him maintain control of the puck and make plays and even dangles players.

His skating is an interesting facet of his game to analyze. I consider his top speed to be above average even though he’s not necessarily the most athletic player. Interestingly, Carlsson grew 6 inches in a single summer not too long ago. Being under 200 lbs on a 6’03 frame, there is still a lot of room for development at the physical level. I believe he could reach another level or two in his acceleration.

What is interesting with him is that he is surprisingly agile and evasive, he can chain a succession of pivots on himself to get rid of a player along the boards or in the corners (as mentioned earlier) . I believe that at his peak he could dominate in these facets as Leon Draisaitl does (Carlsson has better feet at the same age and is not as advanced in his physical development as Draisaitl at the same stage). Another player who gives defensemen a lot of trouble with his changes of direction despite not being the best athlete.

His footwork is very advanced, he can use sharp pivots on himself and he manages to beat many players in transition as he charges into them before making a subtle change in his angle of attack. I talked about it earlier, but Carlsson is an expert in the art of reading his opponents and personally, I don’t think I’ve seen a prospect since I started making rankings be able to influence the pivots and skating position of defensemen so well.

He also demonstrates very good coordination with his feet and hands in combination. For example, he goes into a 2 on 1 situation on his strong side and he sells the shot, not only with his hands, but also with his skates by letting his foot drag behind as if he were loading his weight on his front leg to take his shot. The moment the defenseman compromises to block the oncoming shot, Carlsson changes his direction in a split second and cuts through the middle instead. He influences his opponents so well.

He will never be a ‘Volume Shooter’, preferring to hand the puck to his teammates, but it’s an offensive weapon he would benefit from using more often. He has a good shot, and above all, that would make him more diverse and dangerous. He has an obvious scoring touch, he can lift the puck over the goalie’s shoulder when he’s at full speed and he doesn’t have much space to unleash.

Personally, I think that he projects perfectly as a center in the NHL. He would be an easy choice for me if I were the Anaheim Ducks. He’d be my pick at 2^nd overall. You end up with a ‘1-2 Punch’ at center with center Mason MacTavish who excels at both ends of the rink (MacTavish also brings this gritty and tough to play against style) and you can place Trevor Zegras on the wing and give him all the latitude desired offensively.

Number of games watched : 18

3. Adam Fantilli

Adam Fantilli is an imposing Canadian center player with a DNA designed to be the player coveted by all NHL teams in preparation for the playoffs. Big, fast, rough and talented, he has a toolbox to make many salivate. At the top of the list of his attributes probably come his physical qualities. At 6’2, 187 lbs, he is one of the most powerful skaters I have ever watched. His top speed as well as his acceleration are excellent, what captures my attention the most is how powerful Fantilli’s hip flexors are in the way he brings his thighs forward after each stride. There are the fast skaters who seem to glide on the ice at a higher speed than the others, and there are the powerful players who seem to ‘break’ the ice with each stride, Fantilli is from this cloth, just like the Ilya Kovalchuk and Nathan MacKinnon of this world.

The Michigan Wolverines Center is not only a strong skater in linear direction, he also displays a lot of power in his lateral movements. To be frank, I have rarely seen a player generate so much power in his side steps. With such speed, he is dangerous for the defensemen as much when he has the puck as when he does not have it, on the forecheck. Especially given his size and his propensity for physical play, he is a real threat to anyone who goes to retrieve a loose puck.

This is also one of the most characteristic traits of Fantilli: his intensity and his physical play. This is something most people will have observed during the WJC when he was employed more as an energy player, but the role he was given should not be thought of as a diminutive, as it is indeed how he plays every game. He completes the vast majority of his checks and on top of that, he hits hard!

However, it is not only in pursuit of the puck that Fantilli uses his physique. While this is praiseworthy, any headless chicken can perform this. Fantilli uses his physique in concrete plays, for example, imposing himself aggressively to ensure that he wins proper body positioning against his opponent to recover a loose puck.

His desire to compete is also fully displayed within this facet. During a sequence, Fantilli was out of breath, at the end of a shift, when he obtained a partial breakaway from the blue line. He is quickly caught up by the defenders (who had just jumped on the ice), no question of shooting from afar for Fantilli! He will find a way to push back the defenders and attack the goaltender to make his life more difficult.

Fantilli’s shooting is also one of his qualities which ranks very high among his rivals and which makes him a very high-end prospect. The range of qualities in his shooting is quite wide, which in itself is a very good achievement. For starters, his shot while skating at full speed is very dangerous. I haven’t seen many players able to get such a rising shot while skating like that. These are very difficult pucks for goalies to control. If the initial stop has been made. His shots are very powerful, even in unorthodox positions, the velocity of his shots is not diminished. His one-timer is also violent.

From a more technical point of view, Fantilli has a good ‘Catch and Release’. This occurs when a player receives a puck on the same side as their laterality. For example, Fantilli is left-handed, so when he is on the left, he grabs the puck, while receiving it on his strong side and will manage to catch it and shoot in a single motion, allowing him to waste no time, but by improving accuracy versus if he had tried to one-time it on his off-side.

If you compare him to Bedard (and I understand it’s unfair to compare anyone’s shooting to Bedard, but he’s the Gold-Standard in that facet), Fantilli doesn’t have the same ability to dodge sticks from defenders with his ‘Drag and Release’ nor to manage to use the defenders as a screen. However, I believe that Fantilli has the upper hand in his way of moving laterally with a powerful side-step to move out of the way of the defenseman before shooting, while Bedard will prefer to compose with a static defender before releasing. They are different in this respect.

Despite what was presented, Fantilli’s physical attributes, and what comes with it (skating, shooting, intensity, etc.), is not what stood out to me the most in my viewing. Indeed, what was the focus of my attention on his game was the analysis of his IQ. And for me, this is a significant hole in his game. I decided to talk about it a little later in my portrait so that I can start with more positive things.

This is a facet that can be difficult to assess, especially in players with such talent, because one wonder: are they taking risks with the puck, because they can afford it? Or is it simply because they don’t spot the right options? In the case of Fantilli, I lean towards the 2nd option. I would even say that of all the players at the top of the last few drafts, it is quite obvious to me that his IQ is lower than the other top prospects. To give you an indication, in the first 3 games I’ve watched of Fantilli I took 800 words of notes and 500 of those were about questions I had raised about his intelligence; lots of odd passes, bad routes picked while carrying the puck, etc.

One player trying to do too much for me is Logan Cooley. It wasn’t uncommon to see him circle the offensive zone twice last year before he made a pass, and it wasn’t because he didn’t see his options, it was because he believed that it was the best play to do and he was able to do it. Despite my critics, I never downgraded his intelligence, because he had shown me to be able to play, a simpler game, focused on quick one-touch passes, etc. Fantilli, on the other hand, is not a player who keeps the puck on his stick for long, he just makes bad decisions.

This flaw seems to be explained (at least, from my observations) by 3 constants;

For one, Fantilli’s selection of passes leaves a lot to be desired. We can cover a little more when it comes to his talents as a playmaker, but to list a few examples, I saw Fantilli carrying the puck and when he reached the opposing blue-line, he just threw a very crisp backhand saucer pass laterally to a teammate, which was impossible to handle.

We have an example here of Fantilli’s poor pass selection, he gains the zone with speed and brakes hard on his way in, it’s not something he does that often, but it’s a play I like , he attacks his opposition with speed to push them back and brakes to give himself and his teammates space.

We can see Fantilli in blue along the board looking in the direction of his defenders who arrive to support him, the problem is that we can see very well that the 3 opposing forwards are oriented towards them.

He still decides to try a pass, which is easily intercepted.

 Two, his recognition of his teammates on the ice as well as the situation inside the game is lacking. Several sequences have proven this point, for example, trying to dangle a defender at his own blue line on the penalty-kill, while his team is protecting a slim lead late in the game. But in a more nuanced example, Fantilli has the puck on the power play, along the boards. All players of his team are on the right side of the rink; him at the boards, one player at the goal line, one in the crease, one defender on top of him along the boards and another player who has fallen. Fantilli forces a very lively pass at the goal-mouth, no one touches the puck, so it stops to the left side of the offensive zone, where no Michigan player is, an opponent grabs it and spring one of his teammates on a shorthanded breakaway

 And finally, if it’s not with his tools (skating, physique, etc.), he has difficulty beating his opponents. This is mostly seen when he carries the puck in the neutral zone. If he is not at full speed and the opposing defense is well established in the neutral zone, we can see the limits of his IQ by the trajectories he will choose or by the passes he will make to his teammates. This is also one of the big differences between him and Leo Carlsson, Carlsson plays much more structured and collective hockey.

If we look at his talents as a playmaker, I don’t think Fantilli is a natural in this facet. Of course, we’re talking about a very high caliber prospect, so don’t be surprised if you see him making great cross passes during the power play. He is not completely devoid of skills in this facet, far from it. But I don’t think that’s a strong point with him.

There are obviously the forced passes that I mentioned earlier that resulted in turnovers, but beyond that there are other limits. Fantilli struggles to feed his teammates on his backhand. Every time he enters the zone from the right side with speed, he will have to turn his hips almost with his back to the opposing net and pass from his forehand to a player in the top of the slot or to a defender at the blue line rather than feeding on his backhand. Also, at the moment, there aren’t many elements of ‘deceptiveness’ to his passing skills; sell the shot and go for a pass instead, look at one pass option, but switch to another (Off Looks), etc.

As for his handling of the puck, it is much more brilliant even if there are also limitations. On the positive side, his hands are very good. The most frequent example where he demonstrates this is when he comes on the right side (he is left-handed) and pretends to take the inside and then come back outside, passing the puck under his opponent’s stick and bringing it to his backhand, he then leans his shoulder to attack the net. It’s a game that works really well for him because he has the power with his skating to create separation from the defender when they pivot, and he also has the physical strength to protect the puck with his body. It is a pre-planned move by Fantilli, however, the NCAA defenders eventually adapted.

The dexterity of his hands is very impressive, was a sequence where he was passed the puck in the neutral zone while he was in full acceleration, a defender seemed in perfect position to pokecheck the puck before Fantilli took full control. He deftly chipped the puck over the defender’s stick and regained possession in one motion and was able to get a very good shot on goal from that play.

The combination of Fantilli’s hands and skating is truly an exceptional combination. However, I believe that this may have represented a sort of ‘poisoned gift’ in his case since it prevented him from developing certain nuances in his way of using his two tools together. Being a good tier higher than his opposition, he was able to get away with using these moves because they must have worked the vast majority of the time, which no longer remains the case at a higher level. During that time, Fantilli didn’t felt the need to develop any subtleties to his puck handling.

He attacks defenders with such speed and he covers so much space when he changes direction that he is likely to beat the defender with his first (and only) deke. However, it often happens that this does not work, because Fantilli does not sell a bad route to the defenseman beforehand. For example, if he enters from the left and wants to win the center, he will simply attack the center. Rather than slightly approaching the center, come back to the left to attract the defender and then perform a move to win the inside. He lacks ‘deception’ and is too predictable in his approach.

I will finish this aspect by saying that his repertoire of dekes is a bit limited and his way of using his hands is mainly to allow him to attack the net. There will be an adjustment period for him to do in the NHL, because the defensemen will be bigger and stronger, and they will play the body rather than play the puck. If he can’t win his battles against them, his puck handling will lose its primary justification.

As for his projection, part of me believes Fantilli could become a winger in the NHL. It’s not an opinion that seems very shared, but when I look at his identity as a hockey player, I see a very fast power forward, who likes to hit and is definitely more of a shooter than a playmaker . He also shared several games in Michigan between the center and the wing. Where it’s not so easy to determine is that if he does not play center, he loses one of his main strengths which is his game in transition. Fantilli is a formidable weapon while carrying the puck, and we have seen that his game in the neutral zone is relatively weak if he is not at full speed.

So there are pros and cons to each position. That being said, if I draft Fantilli, I do everything in my power to make him a center, because the reality is, there is no player like him who plays this position in the NHL! The best current comparable would perhaps be Pierre-Luc Dubois. Fantilli’s talent far exceeds that of the Jets’ center at the same age. It might not be the most exciting comparable for some, but I still have Dubois’ playoffs in the Bubble in 2020 in my mind and he was a real horse! All teams dream of such a player, and with good reason. I also believe that with the right development staff, Fantilli can improve certain facets that I alluded to during my report.

And in the event that Fantilli does not establish himself at the center in the NHL? We’re talking about a power forward who will be able to focus his full attention on scoring goals, getting to the net and finishing his checks, a bit in the mold of Rick Nash. Like what it would be very far from being a drama if ever, he is to become a winger.

Number of games watched: 20

4. Zach Benson

A dynamic and fiery 5’10 winger, Benson ended his season with 98 pts in 60 games. He finished first in scoring for his team, the Winnipeg ICE, even ahead of Matthew Savoie and Conor Geekie who were two high selections in the 2022 draft. Winnipeg was one of the best teams in the WHL and this was in large part thanks to Benson.

He has this ability to make everyone around him better and this is mostly expressed through his skills as a playmaker. His range of ways in which he shines as a passer is very wide.

What impresses me the most is how fast his brain thinks and how consistently he manages to identify the best passing option even when heavily guarded and how his execution never falters in such circumstances. Even coming in full speed and having to deal with a bouncing puck, he has the hand dexterity to handle the puck without having to lower his sight and he can spot the best option in a fraction of a second. He manages to make very difficult passes as if they were routine plays for him.

He’s not afraid to draw pressure on himself and that’s why he’s such a good passer from behind the net. He has the poise, the dynamism and the ability to escape to allow him to gain time for his teammates, while managing the opposing pressure.

His ability to make decisions quickly is matched by an execution that is just as fast. On the power play, he has a great ability to pass the puck through the defensive box and he often does it with one-time passes, creating a lot of confusion for the opposing team.

In addition to executing plays quickly, Benson demonstrates great refinement in his vision of the game and he manages to identify the open-ice areas where a teammate can jump into play to grab the puck (Area-Passes). There is not only ‘flash’ with his passes, but also a lot of substance as he will often make good short passes under the opponent’s stick coverage which demonstrates good intelligence and also a strong level of talent.

To complete, his hands allow him to be very comfortable to pass the puck on his backhand, and he is possibly the best player in the draft to perform saucer passes, allowing him to reach teammates who would not otherwise be accessible.

In 2nd position of the things I like the most about him, there is simply the way he approaches each shift on the ice. Benson leaves absolutely nothing in his tank every time he hits the ice. He competes extremely hard, definitely having one of the best work ethics in the entire draft. In other words, he is a ‘Gamer’!

There are some nuances between ‘working hard’ and ‘competing’. Not all hard-working players compete. In Benson’s case, it leaves no doubt. He will never back down from physical contact, heck, he even seems to enjoy it, he will never hesitate to fight back during skirmishes. His dedication to his team is immense, he’s not afraid to sacrifice himself and he’ll even go the extra mile you just don’t see other players doing, for example, diving and stretching his stick all the way in the offensive zone to prevent an opposing player from clearing the puck. His love for the game transpires in this kind of play. He is ready to give the little 10% extra that the others do not.

His tenacity in forechecking (or simply chasing the puck) is remarkable! He wants the puck more than anyone on the ice and he works very well with his stick to steal it from his opponents.

With or without the puck, Benson is not afraid to attack the net, even at full speed.

And what I like the most about his approach to the game is the way he thinks proactively on the ice. Benson is always a step ahead of his opponents and that’s because you can watch his brain working at full throttle on the ice. He is always readjusting his position on the ice according to the movements around him. At the slightest blunder by the opponent, he will be in the best possible place to make them pay. His offensive positioning is simply one of the highest I have had the chance to observe in a prospect.

Personally, if I have any reservations about a small player, I will have them about Matvei Michkov long before Benson.

When a player combines superior intelligence with Benson-like intensity, it usually leads to accomplish defensive players. It’s very rare to see a 17-year-old show such maturity without the puck, even more so when talking about a player who has accumulated the statistics that Benson has accumulated with the Winnipeg ICE.

His hard work in pursuit of the puck or on the puck carrier is obviously one of the reasons that propel his defensive game to a high level.

But what is possibly the reason why I say so much about him is his level of vigilance on the ice. Somewhat in the same line of thought as his way of getting open offensively, Benson is very mindful of every little variable that is influenced on the ice and he reacts accordingly. That’s one of the reasons I’m able to see him as a guy who can play on the PK in the NHL. His dedication means that he puts a lot of pressure on the puck carrier, but the quality of his defensive reads and his engine ensure that he immediately regains a suitable position on the ice following a puck movement by the opposing team. With these qualities, no player stays uncovered for too long.

He excels so much because he understands very fine subtleties that are only mastered by very high defensive IQ. For example, in the neutral zone, when the other team is counter-attacking, he knows how to influence the puck carrier towards the boards, but without compromising the center of the ice. It closes the play extremely well.

Speaking of play along the boards, Benson is doing very well despite his diminutive size. He shows ingenuity thanks to the quality of his hands and his agility on his skates. He also knows when to deliver the puck at the right time to a teammate, never holding it for too long.

His size will always be a limitation for him, but he shows a lot of combativeness. He puts his body in a favorable position by lowering his center of gravity and proactively seeking to push his opponent back. In addition, he keeps his feet moving to create distance with his coverer and he manages to attack the net as well.

Even in puck recovery, not the biggest or the fastest, but he will manage to put his body in front of the other player to make sure he gets to the puck first.

Other than his size, if there was one place where people seemed to have reservations about Benson it is about his skating. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not too worried.

From the outset, I do not consider his speed to be below average. And if people think it’s not enough for a player of his size, I think he makes up for it more than enough with his level of vigilance on the ice and his engine. His feet are also always in movement, so that mitigates some of the risks that could be attached to it.

He is playing at a pace that is only matched by a handful of players in this draft. Thanks to his intensity and his play readings, he is very often first on the loose pucks. These situations are often races for the puck, which means the pressure is imminent. Luckily for him, Benson is a player who moves the puck quickly, so he doesn’t get neutralized along the boards.

As I was saying, for me, Benson is all in all a pretty good skater, and that shows in his game in transition. He can arrive at full speed with the puck, hand it to a teammate and continue his route in acceleration to get the puck back while having eliminated one or two opposing players at the same time. These are plays that require a high level of execution and these are plays that for me are characterized as ‘fast’ even though some may argue about his skating. A faster player who does not have the same processing speed and hand dexterity will not be able to ‘play’ at that speed.

We also observe in his game in transition his great intelligence and his way of using his teammates in his plays. He is very good at influencing the position of his opponents and he can use this quality by slowing down and deflecting his trajectory to one side to open up the ice, and then join a teammate with a magnificent saucer pass in open space.

While he definitely has more of a pass-first mentality, Benson demonstrates some scoring instincts as well.

He understands the open spaces on the ice extremely well and he’s scored quite a few of his goals close to the net. He knows where to go to score. He also knows how to exploit the movements of goalkeepers to his advantage, waiting for them to move in one way just to open up the other side of the net. It’s a fairly underrated facet of his game. He has a good shot, and more importantly, a good shooting range. His one-timer is surprising and he is able to take shots quickly as he skates at full speed.

For my part, I have no worries towards Benson, and I am someone who will never hide to admit that I have a certain bias against small players. He does a lot of things very well on the ice, and the way he does them leaves me in no doubt as to whether it’s going to translate in the NHL or not. He is probably the most projectable player of all the small players in the past few drafts.

He is a player who makes everyone around him better, and not just through his level of talent, but also through his work ethic. He is the kind of player who makes the tempo of practices faster and all the other players around him feel the need to do more. His impact transcends what he does on the ice. A lot of people laugh at the comments of NHL GMs who talks about the importance of building a good ‘culture‘, and well to me, Benson is a ‘culture‘ player.

Number of games watched : 22

5. Will Smith

American center Will Smith had a campaign that was as spectacular on the ice as it was on the scoresheet. He is one of the most electrifying players of this draft, and even, of the last few seasons.

He presents himself first and foremost as a playmaker. This quality appears so high in his skillset that it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to express the opinion that he is the best in this draft, including Connor Bedard. What is also impressive in his case is that even if it was his strong identity trait at the start of the season, the quality and diversity that he presented in this regard has nothing to compare with what he’s currently offering. The two words that best represented his early season playmaking skills were ‘Inconsistent’ and ‘Work in progress’. His execution didn’t always work and he was quite one-dimensional in the way he created, winning the middle of the slot by getting out of the ‘Cycling’ with a dangle and then handing it to a teammate.

It was often also with very impressive plays, which put him at a little risk of committing a turnover or which will have a lower success rate in the NHL. For example, by skillfully dangling players and advancing from his backhand in front of the goalkeeper before passing to one of his wingers.

On top of that, he sometimes missed routine passes, despite all the flashes he could provide.

And then, one thing leading to another, his execution was flawless and he began to complete phenomenal passes, for example, from the right point, diagonally, to the goalmouth on the left.

His playmaking repertoire has seen added nuance throughout the season. If at the beginning of the year, he worked mainly thanks to his excellent hands and his unparalleled creativity, he began to adequately use short passes to players stationed in the ‘Bumper’ as well as one-touch passes, demonstrating the same efficiency as before, without having to keep the puck for too long.

Smith is one of the most deceptive passers in this draft. His opposition can never guess what his intentions are. He has a very strong propensity to use ‘Off-Looks’ looking in a direction other than where he is going to pass the puck. He is also exceptionally deceptive with his posture as he suggests he is going to take a shot or look to get around a defender before catching the opposing defense off guard with a pass.

An interesting thing with him as a passer is that he doesn’t fall into the trap of being predictable and always looking for the pass, he doesn’t hesitate to take shots even in odd-man rushes situations.

The second predominant aspect of his game, which goes hand in hand with his passing skills, is his puck handling. He is gifted with unprecedented creativity in this draft and his hands allow him to execute any fantasy he has in mind. Smith isn’t an extremely dynamic skater who will make defensemen back down before attacking them with his hands, but he remains so unpredictable with his posture that he can let false intentions show through a change of direction and bring the puck skillfully to the other side.

There are, of course, elements in this facet of his game which showed a certain immaturity at the start of the season. A player of his caliber has the latitude to experiment on the ice, especially at the USHL level. These players can sometimes find themselves guilty of bringing flashes of talent that are devoid of any substance. That was the case for Smith early in the schedule, but that’s excused with the additions he’s made in the campaign to use passes following short puck possessions.

Also, Smith uses his hands in high-danger areas, which does not make him a ‘shallow’ player. He is possibly the best puck handler when it comes to winning the slot along Matvei Michkov. He also shows a good panic threshold and a certain bravery by being able to demonstrate good hands by recovering pucks near the net or in the crease. He is not afraid of getting hit in such situations.

It was mentioned a bit in the description of his passing skills, Smith is not a player who shy away from taking shots on net. He usually plays at the right point on the power play and takes a lot of wrist shots from that position. He particularly likes low shots glove side.

Smith is a unique shooter as he has the ability to unleash very quick shots as the puck is in front of him. Goaltenders are often unresponsive to these shots since they have no information on whether Smith is going to shoot or not.

Finally, the quality of his puck handling makes him an extremely dangerous shooter from high-danger areas, because he has no difficulty getting rid of tight defensive coverage.

The thing that leaves the most to be desired about him is his defensive play. He is quite erratic as far as I am concerned in his own zone. His desire to compete and commitment is lacking. On his line, it was Ryan Leonard who took on all the big defensive responsibilities, whether it was emergency backchecks, board battles in the corners, fighting behind the net, etc.

This is possibly the main reason why I project Smith as a winger, and not a center in the NHL.

In addition to a lack of commitment, he tends to leave his zone quickly during breakout and to cheat offensively.

Also, even his offensive game seems better served on the wing than in the center. I’ve spoken a few times about his propensity to win the slot. Even though he finishes those plays in the center of the offensive zone, he takes them from the boards, which he could maximize by playing on the wing.

He’s expected to play center on one of the top two lines at Boston College in the NCAA next year, so it’ll be interesting to see if he makes progress there. Every year, it’s pretty much the same bad habits that emerge among the NTDP players. It’s that this team is a bit of an all-star formation. They are so above their competition in the USHL that players still manage to get away with all their cheating. However, it is not impossible that he could change completely at this level. For example, one of my favorite prospects at the time, Nick Schmaltz, had a similar style of play and abandoned his defensive game almost entirely. And then he went to the University of North Dakota and he developed a superb 2-way game. He is even currently one of the best in the NHL to steal the puck from his opponents.

Smith will also have the opportunity to keep the same two line partners, as Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault will follow him to Boston College.

Number of games watched : 22

6. Matvei Michkov

Having been able to compete with Connor Bedard on the international stage in recent seasons, Matvei Michkov entered the season as the closest pursuer of the young Vancouver prodigy. Unable to carve out a regular position with the formation of SKA St-Petersburg, he divided his season between the VHL circuit (the equivalent of the AHL in Russia) as well as with Sochi, the worst club in the KHL.

This Russian sensation is an innate talent that we don’t get to see often. We see it right away when he has the puck on his stick. He exudes that aura that only world-class players project.

What makes him so exceptional in this department is that he manages to bring a good amount of substance to a facet that is too often reserved for superficial players. While several talented young players make spectacular but ineffective plays, Michkov manages to maneuver through heavy traffic and uses his hands to gain the slot area like very few players I’ve seen before. No matter how many layers of defense he has to go through, he is able to attack the center of the offensive zone. He can create scoring chances out of thin air. This is what happens when you combine skill and determination.

Even in zone entries, it is remarkable to see him compose in front of a wall of 4 static opponents on the blue line who are waiting for him resolutely. One of the reasons he’s so good at handling the puck in heavy traffic is because he knows where to place the puck to keep it out of the reach of opposing defensemen’s sticks. Michkov has a wide skating base and he likes to keep the puck close to it, allowing him to fend off the stick of defenders with his wide leg if necessary.

The list of young prospects I’ve seen displaying their hands without knowing what concrete play was going to come from their exhibition is rather exhaustive. With Michkov, I don’t find this kind of immaturity in his game. Each time he makes a play like this, there is a bigger objective behind it ; simply to save time by avoiding a poke check while gaining the zone or along the boards, or to get rid of a player to open a passing lane to a teammate, he is always a play or two ahead in his head.

Just like his Canadian rival, Michkov is a very high-level shooter. However, he operates differently. Bedard can beat goalkeepers from afar with violent wrist shots, Michkov will rely more on technical plays to deceive his opponents and sneakily take advantage of the slightest opening. He can still beat goaltenders mid-range with surgical precision, but if he takes shots from that distance, he’s going to be at his most threatening when the play is already set up in the offensive zone, for example, in one of the circles during a power play. Because unlike Bedard, he does not have the speed necessary to push defenders back and be able to maximize his shot from this distance during counter-attacks.

He is particularly good at taking sneaky shots as well as taking shots in unorthodox positions. He has the dexterity of his hands and the balance on his skates to delay his shot by a second, distance the puck from his opponent’s stick and manage to take a dangerous shot despite not seeming to be in an advantageous position.

He has the gift of detecting the slightest opening in the technique of a goalkeeper.

To top it all off, he not only has the shot to score a lot of goals, but also the instinct and determination of any good scorer as he follows his puck to the net after snapping to grab a rebound.

As a playmaker, there are some similarities to his shooting abilities, that is, the ability to execute plays, even when covered. He spots holes in defensive coverage as well as in goalie position and can skillfully pass the puck on offensive cycling.

What makes him unique to me as a passer is his ability to see scoring chances that don’t appear to be there at first. It’s a bit hard to explain, but being an expert at getting out of cover in dangerous areas himself, Michkov knows when a teammate has the minimum amount of space and time to maneuver in those moments and he hands them the puck. It’s not something that would work with lower caliber players, but one would expect Michkov to play with the cream of the crop in the NHL. It’s like he knows what he would do in his teammate’s position, and when he plays with a player of very high-level talent, that leads to scoring chances. For example, when he played with Dimitri Buchelnikov in international events against Belarus this year.

I don’t see any limitations in his ability to make plays, but I don’t believe his playmaking ranks that high among his peers. It’s an aspect of his game where I disagree a bit when I see it being rise to a very high level in the evaluation some people makes of him.

Other aspects of his game, however, leave room for a bit of skepticism. His skating is not optimal for a player of his size. More specifically, it is his top speed that is not.

Regarding his agility as well as his balance on the ice, it is of a very high level. He is even unique in some ways, for example, he is going to use a 10-2 (heel to heel) technique, but instead of facing the play, he is going to do it with his back to his coverer and is going to use a wide base of skate to distance his opponent from the puck. He will look over his shoulder and still be able to make plays on his backhand. Viktor Neuchev, another Russian prospect, executed in the same way last year.

At his size, doubts will always persist about the physical game. However, he seeks to remedy this shortcoming by going himself to initiate contacts. Even when he has the puck, he will proactively engage the body with an opponent who comes to pin him along the boards. He will have to continue to gain physical strength because it is an aspect that left a slightly sour taste in my mouth at different points in the season.

He is not a peripheral player, however. His game is very center-oriented in the offensive zone, both with and without the puck. He’s attracted to high-danger areas.

The best place to blame him is in the defensive zone. You can see some shred of quality here or there because he’s an elite offensive brain himself, so he understands his opponents’ intentions with the puck better than anyone. However, his commitment to his zone is greatly lacking. I would even go so far as to say that his defensive involvement in the VHL circuit was practically non-existent.

Another small criticism I would make of him is that there is a notable difference between his offensive contribution at 5-on-5 and on the power play (I’m not talking about production here, but rather the number of chances generated).

We could pass these criticisms on the back of maturity, because it is clearly not a lack of will on the part of the player. Michkov possesses a desire to make a difference in the offensive zone that few other players possess. He is starving. And I don’t believe it was because he doesn’t give a shit either, as I saw him jump into a skirmish after one of his teammates was hit hard.

I also have some fears about Michkov because in some ways I feel like I’m seeing the same player I saw 3 years ago. I still wonder how much development there is in him. He remains an electrifying talent, but for me, his name no longer has a place alongside Connor Bedard. The idea of ​​seeing slip down in the draft seemed to create a kind of enthusiasm among fans of different teams. The main argument being made is that at the U-18 tournament in Texas in 2021, he competed with Bedard throughout the tournament and even put up better numbers. That’s all well and good, but the problem is that this tournament took place two years ago. Things have since progressed. When I look at Bedard, I see a player who has improved his speed, who has become stronger physically, I see a player who has made dazzling improvements in his playmaking skills, I see a player who has varied his offensive approaches, and many more. In the case of Michkov, I don’t see the variety in terms of passing skills, I don’t see a change in terms of physicality, nor in terms of speed, I also see a player who doesn’t have such a big impact at even strength and needs a center who does a lot of the work for him. In Russia, on bigger ices, defensive systems are usually structured to ‘collapse’ into the crease, grouping players together to protect dangerous areas, giving opposing players more time and space to maneuver from the boards to the center of the zone. On a regular ice like in North America, defensive systems are more prone to apply pressure and push opposing players towards the boards. With his current lack of strength, I believe that NHL defensemen will adapt to him and will be able to muzzle him effectively. As I say, he remains a very talented prospect, but it is wrong to believe that his passport is the sole reason that makes him go down the lists.

However, I had the chance to observe him closely for 3 years already. I saw his first steps in MHL, in VHL, in KHL as well as on the international scene at different levels, and one of his greatest qualities (and that cannot be measured on the ice) is his adaptability. He is a player who thinks and analyzes the game at an elite level. I remember seeing him start in the MHL at 15 and watching his first 2 games and thinking that he was quite a talent, but it looked like he was 15 in his decision-making and by the kind of play he would attempt on the ice, but guess what? The game after he no longer repeated those mistakes and completely dominated the ice.

As for his future, I don’t know if that’s a controversial opinion, but I believe that being signed to Russia for the next 3 seasons is actually a blessing in disguise. These days, some elite prospects take a year, if not two, to perfect themselves at different levels before making the jump to the NHL. Michkov, who still has maturity to acquire physically as well as on both sides of the ice, will be able to develop at his own pace. I am also of the opinion that a player should dominate at a lower level before taking the next step. So far, Michkov has failed to carve out a permanent position with a strong KHL team (he was loaned to one of the worst clubs). He will be able to establish himself with the SKA next year, and over the years, climb the club’s hierarchy and aim to dominate the scoring column in his last year of contract.

Number of games watched : 21

7. Dmitri Simashev

A 6’4 Russian (left-handed) defenseman, Simashev was 5th on my list back in October. He is, in my opinion, the best defenseman in the draft and there was no debate for me during the season. Excellent defensively, his offensive skills shouldn’t be taken lightly even if his offensive output suggests otherwise.

The first thing that jumps out when you look at him is the ease with which he moves around the ice. He has a very good top speed and can easily bypass opposing defensemen when carrying the puck. He covers a lot of space with only a few strides, which makes it much easier for him defensively to close the distance on an opponent in a short time.

His mobility in the 4 directions is excellent. He has superb agility for a player of his size, on the offensive blue line, he can easily get rid of a forward rushing at him by skating backwards or laterally.

What makes him so exceptional is not the ice he covers and his fluidity when moving, rather it is the way he misleads his opponents. By the powers bestowed on me (!), I grant him the title of the King of Weight-Shift. A player of his size is not supposed to be able to transfer all his weight from one direction to another in succession with such ease. It requires a very good core/balance and also demonstrate having the necessary physiological profile that any good athlete has, and this is to have an advantageous ratio of fast fibers to be explosive from his first strides. The number of players he has embarrassed over the course of the season with weight-shift is simply mind-boggling. He combines this wonderfully with false information transmitted with his eyes by looking in the opposite direction from that which he adopts with his body.

Another place where Simashev is remarkable for manipulating his opponents at will is during his puck recoveries along the boards or in the corners of the rink. A multitude of factors explain his dominance in such situations.

The first would simply be the presence of mind he has to look both ways for better information.

The second would be the posture he adopts in order to deceive his opponents. He’ll really lean to one side by tilting his shoulder and leaning on his back leg, he’ll even lower his center of gravity and keep a good degree of bend in his knees to sell that he’s about to push off in that direction and at the last second, he will change direction.

The third and last point that illustrates this unique aspect of his game; his footwork. He demonstrates what a remarkable athlete he is. Players of his size aren’t supposed to be that fast in their footwork in situations like this.

Immediately after getting rid of his opponent, Simashev returns to a dynamic posture by placing his body in front of his opponent, and also leaning against him to push him away and he manages to maintain his skating frequency to get away.

The other predominant aspect of Simashev’s game is his excellence in the defensive zone.

It is an aspect where he exudes confidence and where he does not hesitate to impose himself, directing his forwards in KHL where to position themselves on the ice, all that, being only 17 years old!

Big defensemen will always have the edge over smaller ones. Even if this statement shocks some people, it is simply a reality. One of the necessities for a defender is to be able to protect the front of his net well and this is an aspect very well mastered by Simashev. He uses very good positioning as well as his body and his stick to appear as a great security-net for his goalkeeper. He does not hesitate to crosscheck his opponents in front of the net and make their life difficult.

During counter-attacks, he defends the zone entries wonderfully. Helped by his great mobility and also by an active stick.

In his zone, he stands out by demonstrating great efficiency in neutralizing the shots of an opponent who has plenty of time and space to shoot, as well as multiple passing options at his disposal. In those situations, a lot of defensemen will hesitate and at the end, won’t close the space for the shooter and won’t cover the passing options. Simashev does not have this hesitation, he will assume his decision and close the space in a very incisive way.

Just like with his puck retrieval in the offensive zone, the dynamic posture adopted by Simashev will do him a great service when he defends. He will always position his body so as not to compromise himself. If the forward decides not to take a shot and instead send the puck to a teammate, he will immediately be placed in position to generate a pushover with his skates in the right direction.

In addition, he demonstrates a unique ingenuity in his way of defending. For example, by defending the front of his net (to block a pass cross-crease), he will place one knee on the ice to block the passing-lane, but he will still find a way to push with his extended leg to follow the puck-carrier in his movement and prevent the latter from opening a passing-lane himself.

In his defense foundation, he masters subtleties that we shouldn’t see in 17-year-old defenders.

We have an example here: the player thinks he has the possibility of making a pass between the skates of Simashev (in red) to join his teammate in the slot for an excellent scoring chance.

But watch how Simashev manages to close that space in the moments that follow. Little reminder that he is 6’4.

I’ve seen players try to beat him in every way this season, whether with skillful pivots and changes of direction, speed, or players bigger than him who have tried to beat him with their size and their reach. Either way, it didn’t work. He has this innate instinct where he just knows how to adapt to each situation and defend adequately according to it.

In addition, in his own zone, when he has the puck, he handles the pressure very well. He has the calm as well as the skills to get rid of his coverers without difficulty.

Offensively, the tall Russian also has a lot to offer. This is not an assertion that seems to be validated by his offensive production, but for me, it is only a statistical aberration. The tools as well as the instincts let us anticipate an eventual breakout to come.

There is, from the outset, everything that has been mentioned in the analysis of his skating. He is a master in the art of getting rid of his coverers with his changes of direction and with the intentions that he sells to his opponents with his posture.

From his 6’4, we see him calmly patrolling the offensive zone with his head held high to take all the information available. Which means that he will never rush a play.

Just like defensively, he is very incisive in his decisions. Here, it will be during his ‘Pinchs’. He will be aggressive and his timing will always be excellent. He thereby demonstrates a quick-wittedness. We find this same mental acuity in subtle ‘Give and Go’ with teammates to eliminate an opponent and at the same time, receiving a pass in a more dangerous place.

His puck distribution is very good. Not only can he open passing lanes with his skating, but he is also very ‘deceptive’ to his opponents, as he never makes eye contact with his passing target. He manages to create scoring chances on his own for his teammates. He is not just a player showing up and connecting simple plays, he can be an offensive force for his team.

Several times during the season, obvious similarities appeared to me between him and Owen Pickering (12th on my list last year); the size, the fluidity in their movement, the way they go down low on the left side in the offensive zone before sending the puck in front of the net, etc.

The difference (and it’s something that still weighed a lot in my assessment of Pickering at the end of the season) is that when Simashev carries the puck, he will continue his actions and he will attack the defensemen with his puck-handling skills, unlike Pickering who preferred to dump the puck in the corner and then go get it back.

Much like the Swift Current Broncos defenseman, the Russian’s shooting is something he will need to improve substantially because at the moment it’s not a threat.

Puck handling is one of the many qualities added to the Russian’s resume.

He has very good hands that allow him to easily dangle players in one-on-one situations, and also, by gaining the offensive zone when there’s a load of opponents in front of him at the blue line.

What makes his puck handling so good is that he can integrate other qualities as well as elements of deceptions inside of it; skating moves, weight shifting, selling intentions with ‘Off-Looks’, etc.

He also manages to integrate his body and his puck protection into it all if the pressure ever closes on him.

He is, in my eyes, the only defenseman in this draft who has a chance to play one day on a first pair in the NHL, which is what earned him such a high position in my ranking. In addition, he offers the luxury of being able to play on the right side even if he is left-handed.

Some will argue that his modest offensive production should put him a few ranks lower on my list. However, by virtue of everything I have explained in his profile, I believe there is latent offensive potential in him. And also, I strongly believe that the offensive aspect of the defensemen occupies too much place in the evaluation of people when it comes to prospects. I had done the exercise at the start of the season to look at the two waves of power play of all NHL teams, and often there is a forward at the point of BOTH waves. The number of defensemen running a PP unit is pretty slim, even more so when it comes to the first unit. To add to that, it often also happens that the defensemen who hold such positions in the NHL are not the ones who are given the big defensive responsibilities. For me, I give more importance to a player like Simashev and that’s why I had him 5th from the start of the season.

Number of games watched : 15

8. David Reinbacher

Austrian defender who played against adults in the Swiss league this season, Reinbacher is a prospect who has shown strong and constant progress throughout the season. Showing a very good defensive maturity as well as physical qualities already on point, he is one of the players of this draft who is the closest to making the leap into the NHL.

He stands out for his great efficiency in his territory. From day 1, that was what his identity was based on. Where he excels the most defensively is in one-on-one battles as well as along the boards. He shows a lot of will and determination in these situations. Defeat is not an option, he will manage at all costs to emerge victorious from each confrontation in which he is involved. Along with working hard, he works smart about positioning his body properly in such scenarios, making sure to gain leverage over his opponents. People might be tempted to downgrade that if it’s what he mostly brings to the table, however, defenders who advocate such a style of play is starting to become very rare. In the last 4 drafts, there are only 5 defensemen called in the first round who played similarly in the one-on-one situations; Moritz Seider, Kaiden Guhle, Braden Schneider, David Jiricek and Lian Bichsel. NHL teams are willing to pay a hefty price to acquire such players. It may seem retrograde to some as hockey becomes increasingly spectacular and fast-paced, but the ‘Hard Skills’ (winning battles along the boards, blocking shots, locking the front of the net, hitting, etc.) are just as important as ‘Soft Skills’ (pivoting in tight spaces, handling the puck skillfully, etc.). The argument that individual skills can’t be taught has a lot of sense, however, I’ve been looking closely at around 80-90 prospects per season for a few years now and I can say that the prospects who play ‘tough ‘ are very rare and it is not something you can learn just like that either. Going back to Reinbacher, his desire to compete is extremely high and the number of one-on-one battles he has won in the season, against men, is staggering. During the NHL playoffs, I had heard Dallas Eakins, head-coach of the Anaheim Ducks last season, mention that his coaching staff had done business with an advanced-stats firm and that one of the things that came out was that in a game, the puck ends up 3 feet or less from one of the boards 80% of the time. It is enormous ! And this is precisely where Reinbacher is most useful. It is in these aspects that you win games, which is even more true in series 4 of 7.

The Austrian defender showed to me he was a ‘Gamer’ when I saw him agree to pay the price for the good of his team. This sequence shows it very well.

He recovers a puck behind his net and two opposing forwards charge at him at full speed. He could easily hand the puck over to his partner in defense, but the latter dropped his stick.

Instead of sending the puck along the boards and possibly putting one of his teammates in a tough situation, Reinbacher positions himself to absorb the shock of his opponent’s impending check, and at the very last second, gets rid of him with a pivot (still absorbing a good part of the collision) and then protects the puck against the other forward.

For the rest of his defensive game, he showed very good progress. At the start of the season, he shone when time came to defend and he was close to the puck carrier, able to engage the body, but when he had to cover the zone and monitor passing lanes, things got tough a little. He was guilty of following the puck too much with his eyes and forgetting his covers. Things have improved, he now shows better environmental awareness and he nullifies passing lanes with an active stick.

Also, his recognition of situations as well as his location on the ice is very good. In my viewing, he made a very impressive number of opportunistic interventions to ‘pinch’ and also in puck support to a teammate.

Reinbacher is helped by a good skating foundation that prevents him from being outpaced by opposing forwards. He is an excellent straight-line skater. His top speed is very good and more importantly, his acceleration is just as good. This allows him to close spaces very quickly against opponents who thought they could have more time to make a play. It also allows him to skate the puck out of danger himself rather than blindly clearing it and risking making a turnover. I saw him during certain sequences taking control of the puck in a static position in his own zone, and from a few strides only, being able to get rid of his coverer.

Offensively, the Austrian defender has shown progress throughout the year. Mainly in his handling of the puck, which could have been considered as a certain shortcoming in him earlier in the year. He is now able to react to the poke check of his opponents with good dexterity in his hands.

His puck distribution game is pretty solid overall. Without showing big flashes, he is able to execute surprisingly delicate passes by passing the puck under the stick of his opponents to reach a teammate. On power plays, he can also use effectively the player inside the ‘Bumper’ position from the blue line, rather than just delegating to the player along the boards or his partner at the blue line. A certain audacity started to show up towards the end of the season when I saw him make cross-ice passes after faking a slap shot.

His slap shot is quite heavy, but the greatest value surrounding his shot is that he manages to reach the net for the vast majority of the time.

Finally, much like his game without the puck, Reinbacher has good situational awareness and understanding of free space as he chooses the right moments to advance deep into the offensive zone.

He projects himself as a player who can eat big minutes and who can face the best elements of the opposing team. It is especially in the playoffs that his importance will be felt and that his coach will be able to rely on him. His offensive game may have one more level to reach as we saw him start to play with more audacity towards the end of the season. He could take on the duties of a second wave on the power play.

Number of games watched : 16

9. Ryan Leonard

Ryan Leonard is the prototype modern power forward sought by NHL teams. Following Adam Fantilli, he is the player who presents the best balance between high-level individual skills and a physical aspect that bring us back Old School Hockey. At 5’11, he’s no giant, but don’t take him lightly, he’s built like a tank.

Modern prospects who exhibit a leaning towards rugged hockey while contributing offensively have become such a rarity that their profiles alone make them highly in-demand players. This is what the identity of Ryan Leonard is based on.

He advocates physical play and loves to complete his checks. Even in games against NCAA teams (against players much older than him) he simply looked like a bulldozer, blasting through his opponents. His opposition has an interest in trying to avoid him when he arrives, because he will stop at nothing. He also likes to play with a certain ‘Edge‘ and likes to bother after the whistles.

Something I like about him is that his opponents have to be wary of him at all times when he’s on the ice. From the outset, advocating this style of play has its repercussions on the body and it is difficult to bring this physical aspect all season long. Many such players won’t be able to be so abrasive and rough all the time. Leonard, yes! Also, forwards will tend to mostly complete their hits on the forecheck but will not be as feared in the other two areas. This is something that Leonard does remarkably well. With a keen defensive awareness and unparalleled dedication to his team, Leonard is always the first to backcheck hard defensively. It is during these situations that he takes the opportunity to deliver huge check as his opponents didn’t expect him and were in a vulnerable position.

This is also an aspect of his game that goes a little under silence, but his defensive game is very advanced. This mostly stems from the fact that his compete-level is remarkably high and that he does everything he can to help his team win games, which includes stepping up in front of shots, sacrificing offense and getting involved in battles for loose pucks in his zone.

On his line that he formed with Will Smith and Gabe Perreault, Leonard is the one who performed all the ‘Heavy-Lifting’. All the dirty work, defensive responsibilities, winning puck battles, getting in front of the net, into the corners of the rink, etc.

I also watched games of his two acolytes in the season when they were without Leonard on their line and their efficiency took a toll ! He really is the so-called ‘Glue-Guy’ on this line, the player who makes everything stick together and work.

His offensive game is very solid overall as well. The power-forward presents quite a varied toolbox. His wrist shot is very heavy and possibly his best weapon. Goaltenders always seem to have a hard time controlling their rebound when the puck comes off Leonard’s stick.

He is a dangerous scorer since he demonstrates good intelligence on the ice and he knows how to take advantage of open spaces on the ice.

Something that makes him a good scorer is that he has quick hands and he is able, in a single move, to receive a pass and position himself to release the puck quickly. It is for this reason that he has been employed in the ‘Bumper’ position during the power play this season.

The only small reservation I have is that in some games, it took him a lot of scoring-chances before he was able to put the puck in the back of the net.

Inside his puck handling, Leonard demonstrates some very appealing qualities. At the top of the list, I would say what he does best, and that’s a huge bonus for his teammates, is that you just can’t give him a bad pass. He always finds a way to make every puck handed to him profitable, even if the pass is bad. For example, in the ‘Bumper‘ position that I mentioned during the power play, I saw him catch passes behind him skillfully by passing the puck between his skates and directly shooting a shot afterwards, in the same fluid motion. I also saw him catch a pass in his skates and directly put the puck in position to shoot.

He seems to be at his best when in heavy traffic or near the net. There are occasions when you think he’s handcuffed by the lack of space and he manages to make a play in front of the goalkeeper, whether by bringing the puck on his backhand or by bringing the puck close to him. He has a wide array of tricks in front of the goalkeeper.

Ironically, his hands have some limitations when he’s in more open space, he’s not necessarily the player who will beat defensemen in a one-on-one situation.

In terms of his passing skills, Leonard shows more intelligence than he is given credit for. With the style of play he advocates, he doesn’t have to be a super creative player on the ice, but I think he has shown (especially early in the season) to have slightly above average vision.

He made a few plays in the season that showed a good offensive flair. For example, by winning the center and immobilizing the opposing defense with the threat of a shot before handing it to a teammate at the goalmouth for an easy goal.

He also made a few passes behind his back to counter the defensive scheme of his opponents when no option seemed open to him. What I liked about his play selections was that there was a real purpose to those plays and on top of that Leonard didn’t make the mistake that young players regularly make which is to stare at his pass and risk being crushed with an open-ice hit. Instead, he kept his gaze forward.

In terms of his skating, the American has quite solid mechanics, but would benefit from working on his explosion a bit.

It is especially in transition that this is observed. Since he’s not the most explosive skater, he keeps the puck in front of him with one hand, which means he can’t fool his opponents with changes of direction or with a deke. It forces him to use a more linear approach that doesn’t always work. To his defense, his pass selections in the neutral zone are excellent and his execution is flawless. But if he can gain in acceleration, he would become much more threatening offensively.

Leonard is a player that every team that aspires to a championship must have. He has one of the best work ethics in the entire draft, he brings a very rare aspect of toughness and makes sure he wins every confrontation on the ice, whether it’s a race for a loose puck, providing a defensive backcheck from one of the members of his line to neutralize an odd-man rushes, to intimidate his opponents after the whistles, etc. He is a player you need to win hockey games. For me, he can become a scorer of 30 goals and 60 pts.

Number of games watched : 24

10. Daniil But

Daniil But is a giant-sized Russian forward, listed at 6’05 and 203 lbs. He is one of the hidden cards in the first round of the 2023 draft. His profile and the qualities he offers are unique and should make him a player for whom teams are lining up to acquire his services. However, there is the geopolitical situation of Russia which makes it difficult to project at what rank he will come out in the draft and there is also the fact that he has shown some inconsistencies within his abilities throughout the season.

Among the things that make him such an attractive player, one simply cannot ignore the advantages that his size gives him. Players in this format who have good individual skills represent real unicorns for NHL teams. The key to this statement is ‘individual skills’. While I tend to be wary of smaller players a bit, I wouldn’t rank players who are more physically advanced just for the purpose of drafting ‘size‘. Knowing how to use these attributes effectively reveals talent.

In But’s case, he uses his size very well in the corners for puck battles. He often adopts more dynamic postures that we see smaller players adopt by lowering their center of gravity by bending the knees and leaning the shoulder. Several times in the season, I saw him win battles and come out of the corner with the puck with such ease that I couldn’t help myself but laugh. He is impossible to contain when he breaks free from defensive coverage. What also helps is that of all the players in this draft who have a long reach (Nate Danielson, Calum Ritchie, Matthew Wood, David Edstrom, etc.), But has the best dexterity when it comes to handling puck and who makes the best use of that said reach.

He blends his hands very effectively with his size and reach. He excels at keeping the puck out of reach of his opponents. On his own, he manages to extend many of his team’s shift in the offensive zone, even when under pressure. He also demonstrates an impressive arsenal of dangles in 1-on-1 situations, something we wouldn’t normally expect from a 6’05 player.

Without the puck, the Russian forward once again proves to be a major task for his opponents to contain when he’s driving the center-lane. He manages to create a lot of space for his teammates.

It is through this same physical threat that But brings a very interesting defensive capital. When the play is set up in his zone, some defensive-read can be a little more difficult, but when he’s on the backcheck or has a mandate to harass the puck-carrier, he becomes fantastic. A player of his size who skates very well and who takes the intensity up a notch and who does everything in his power to grab the puck, that’s impressive. It’s like a force of nature, you can’t really contain it, only be a spectator of the devastation it can cause.

This mentality of taking control of the game has increased throughout the season and was at its most notable during the playoffs. There was also a game in the season against Krasnaya Armiya Moskva that made an impression on me. This team is one of the best in the league (last year’s champion team), but above all, it is one of the biggest! But decided to play very physical hockey against them, but what I liked the most was that he seemed to consistently target the bigger players on the other team, especially 6’6 forward Kirill Dolzhenkov (Columbus 4^th round pick last year). Throughout the game, it was But who initiated contact and increased the intensity. He did not behave in such a way in response to blows that would have been dealt to him beforehand. It is as if he had given himself the challenge, the mandate to impose himself on the ice and to bring order. It’s with players who have such an approach to big matchups whom you want to go to war with. Reminds me of Lian Bichsel last year in the games against Frolunda where he was constantly trying to show Elmer Soderblom (6’6, also played for Detroit this season) who was the sheriff in town!

Still in line with athletic abilities, But is a good skater. He skates with his trunk inclined to take advantage of the gravitational force in his acceleration and his strides are very long, maximizing his push to the maximum. He also has very good fluidity and can demonstrate impressive technical plays by opening the hips and skating heel to heel in the offensive zone.

Having seen him at different points in the season last year, I can say that there has been significant progress in terms of his skating. And when I look at all the leeway he still has in terms of physical development, I think he can get an extra level or two in his skating.

There are a few small points to fix too, but nothing major. His pivots and agility can occasionally handcuff him in the corners of the rink and along the boards. His size and his hands allow him to get out of trouble, but it is an aspect that he will have to work on, in my opinion. He is also sometimes too much on the tip of his toes when he skates and this causes loss of balance.

And finally, when he skates while backchecking, he often has both hands on his stick, which prevents him from pushing with his arms and which also leads to a lot of rotation at the thoracic level.

These remain rather minor criticisms, which, for the most part, are easily corrected.

On the offensive level, But is a player who has a violent wrist shot.

At the moment, he’s not the most diverse shooter. He’s at his best when he’s in a static position inside one of the two circles, where he can unleash lasers that beat the goaltenders.

The biggest problem with But is that he’s very predictable in his windup to shoot when he’s on the counterattack, or just while moving. He cuffs himself a bit by indicating in advance what will be his play-selection by his body alignments. His hips are going to be angled towards the boards in front of him rather than facing the net, making his motion telegraph.

Another example of his predictability here;

That’s kind of what I was referring to when I was talking about inconsistency in his game. It’s not because he’s great one night and doesn’t show up the next. It is rather within his individual abilities that we detect the very good and the less good.

His passing skills perfectly illustrate these inconsistencies. He demonstrated at various points in the season all the possible ways to set the table for his teammates, the problem is that none of those ways came up often enough in his game to say that was his identity as a playmaker.

At the start of the season, he showed very good delay plays in possession of the puck as well as quick decision-making and one-touch passes inside other sequences. However, these kinds of plays did not necessarily come up often.

Some limitations were also observed in the fact that But did not seem instinctive enough in the way he passed the puck. It has long been said that good offensive players are often 2 or 3 moves ahead of their opponents, which I completely agree with. On the other hand, there are situations where it is better to improvise. In fact, the term improvisation is rather inadequate, I rather speak of « reacting » to the opponent’s response.

We have an excellent example to illustrate everything here. During a counterattack, But come from the right with the puck and slows down to wait for a teammate who arrives in 2^nd wave in the slot.

His original intention worked as the defender backed up to the far post to cover the wing option. On the other hand, this is where But made the mistake of remaining too stuck to his idea of ​​​​the start. He was left with the slot completely uncovered to himself, but instead of exploiting what the opposing defense conceded to him, he stuck to his idea of ​​passing to the player who was joining the rush.

You can see better here all the space he was given and how he could have brought the puck to the net.

One aspect that surfaced later in the season regarding his passing skills was the ability to deceive defensive coverage using ‘Off-Looks’. That is, intentionally looking at a pass option that will not be used to sell false information to the opposing team. What I liked the most about these sequences, other than the creative and deceptive aspect, was that But use those kinds of plays ‘Down-Low’. With his size and reach, it’s realistic to think he can dominate in those spots in the NHL and be able to make high-level plays from that spot. Which adds a lot of value to his projection to the next level.

In the season, some concerns have been aired in various places about his  Hockey-IQ, and while he’s not the most creative player or the player who’s going to see plays take shape in advance, he showed me some flashes of a very good IQ which gives me a glimpse of an even greater offensive breakout than what we have seen this season. For me, a player’s passing skills and vision are a good barometer for intelligence and I’ve seen some But’s passes showing me superior intelligence. For example, by seizing the puck along the boards, he goes up to the offensive blue line towards the center, his defender on the right sees him coming in his direction so he advances towards the right circle, But gives him the puck with a saucer-pass through two opposing sticks while he was under pressure from another player. Also note that this was at high-pace.

He also uses the ‘Give-N-Go’ quite well and he knows how to position himself well after making a pass, he follows the game well and his positioning in offensive zone is good, in addition to staying in motion.

If his development goes well, But has the potential to be a very rare player in the league. What is most fascinating about him is that he still has a lot of physical maturity to gain. He is rather light for his size and in addition, when you look at him, he still has the face of a baby! The finished product could be monstrous. Although his final position in my ranking is not much different from that of October (12th at this time), there is still a good progression that has been observed during the playoffs.

Number of games watched : 21

11. Colby Barlow

With an impressive 46 goals in 59 OHL games, Colby Barlow is a 6’1, 187 lbs power forward. It is with a lot of variation that we have seen his name appear in the public rankings this season and not without reason! Barlow has been a rather inconsistent player in my viewing this season and there is a good gap between his best performances and his quieter performances.

His best quality is without a shadow of a doubt, not only his shooting, but his ability to score goals.

In his repertoire, it is his one-timer that is the most dangerous. What makes it such an elite shot isn’t just the velocity at which the puck leaves the stick, but, to me, what’s most impressive is how well Barlow manages to maximize each of his shots even though the pass is not perfectly positioned in his ‘wheelhouse’. Whether the puck is slightly too far forward or too far back, it doesn’t matter, it won’t affect the quality of the shot Barlow will be able to take. He doesn’t need a lot of luck to score.

Following my first viewing, I was rather skeptical as to whether he was going to be able to use his best asset since he is not a player who will create scoring opportunities by himself (we will speak about that a little later), but I made a 180 degrees on this subject since the young Ontarian excels in freeing himself for his teammates to pass him the puck. Those who have read me over the past few years know very well that I am not one to use hyperbole or shocking statements, but I firmly believe that Colby Barlow is the best player I have seen in terms of getting open actively in the high slot.

There are two ways goal scorers manage to get open; there are those who keep a low profile on the ice and quietly fade away near the net, a very good example of that would be Arthur Kaliyev. And on the other side of the spectrum are the players who fight hard for every inch on the ice and who are always going to stay in movement at the top of the slot and won’t let their opponent cover them. Barlow is of this fabric. He always goes to high-danger areas and no one can get open like him and with what was said about his shooting earlier, we have a winning recipe for a player who can bring with him his ability to score goals in the NHL.

Whenever I had doubts about how his skills would translate to the NHL, he surprised me by constantly finding ways to score near the net. He’s not just a ‘One-Trick Pony’. Even when well covered at the top of the slot, he is very good at deflecting pucks from shots that come from the blue line.

The criticisms I have of his scoring skills are that he’s not a very creative player and he doesn’t have a lot of deception elements in his shot. He also sometimes has some difficulty finding a shooting-lane when he is off the rush.

And as is often the case with young players who possess such a dominant trait, they were often able to get away with questionable use of this quality at a younger age, because it worked almost every time. For some very fast players, this will manifest as difficulty playing at different tempos and slowing down the game to their advantage. In the case of Barlow and his shooting, this is expressed in poor shot selection at times. We have two examples here.

The other most prevalent quality in Barlow’s game over the season was, for me, his play without the puck. I’m not talking about defensive positioning here, but more forechecking and harassing opponents and stealing the puck from them. This was unfortunately one aspect in which he was a little inconsistent, but at his best in this facet he simply looks like a man on a mission, single-handedly carrying out the work of a five-man unit. I saw him several times alone on the forecheck before extracting the puck from an opponent and dominating possession of the puck for an extended period against 3 or 4 opponents at a time.

In some games he was simply exceptional without the puck, his intensity was A+, he made many opportunistic interventions to come and make life difficult for an opponent, whether to hit him, come and take the puck from him, come and interfere with his reception pass or put pressure on him to make the player rush his play and cause a turnover. Even some defensive reads were quite advanced.

His skating is also something above average, but has been inconsistent throughout the season. In his defense, it must be said that hockey seasons are very long and that fatigue can accumulate at times and you may lose your explosiveness at some point during the year. But having an overall portrait of his season, I can qualify his skating as being good. It is especially when he keeps a good engine and plays with intensity that he manages to get the most out of it.

In the less stellar aspects, Barlow’s passing skills are rather weak. This is an aspect that has seen improvements this season in terms of selections as well as his passing accuracy, but some small brain cramps return from time to time.

His problem has more to do with a lack of creativity than a lack of execution. He does well on simpler plays, but there were times where a player deemed to go out so early in the draft should have been able to find a way to pass to a teammate where Barlow couldn’t.

I noted several of these examples in a 2-on-1 situation where Barlow failed to create a passing-lane. In one of these, Barlow was on his strong side to take a shot. However an opponent caught up quickly and he was forced to take a shot from long distance. However, a good puck handler and playmaker would have brought the puck to his backhand to place it out of reach of the backchecking player and could have pass to his teammate on the other side afterwards.

It’s a tool he lacks in his toolbox at the moment, but I’m wary of being overly critical, as I’ve seen him make delicate passes under his opponents’ stick at times in tight spots that impressed me. He demonstrated a certain level of intelligence and finesse in some plays. I do not close the door to him taking good steps in this direction in the years to come.

Another criticism that can be made to him is about his puck handling. His hands per se aren’t bad, he can do a few neutral zone rushes on occasion and get past opponents, but often he looks like he doesn’t want to keep the puck on his stick for too long.

We have a good example here: he receives the puck in the corner of the ice, he has no pressure on him, but he did not take care to raise his head and take the information close to him.

He finally turned around and moved the puck down the boards, to his defender at the blue line on the opposite side. He had plenty of time and space to make a play.

The variation of his rank in the various lists is not so incomprehensible, at his best it is more than justifiable to rank him in the top 10, but during his worst performances one could wonder what he is doing in a top 20.

As far as I’m concerned, here’s how I explain his position in my list.

I will admit that I will be the first to like and prioritize players who are said to be ‘Well-Rounded’, that is to say, players who can beat you in many ways and who have all the tools at their disposal, even if none of them is elite. Players who can score close to the net or from middle distance, who can set the table for their teammate by slowing down the play as well as executing quick one-touch passes, who can beat you with speed as well as protect their puck, etc. In the case of the Owen Sound captain, I don’t think the fact that he lacks tools will limit him in the NHL, because he doesn’t need all those tools to play his game and be effective. What he does well, he does very well and I think that will carry over to the NHL.

I was able to read some criticisms of the player that I myself found a little harsh (surprising!) and even a little dishonest.

One of them was that Barlow only dominates because he is more physically developed than his peers, however, he is 6’1 and 187 lbs, we are not talking about a giant here or someone who dominates mainly thanks to his size, like Julien Gauthier at the time. And his production is explained more by a proactive work to get open rather than to take advantage of players weaker than him.

Some people have criticized him for not being the one to ‘Drive’ the play on his line. Sure that’s what you’re looking for from a high draft pick, however, Barlow is already playing as a complement and that’s going to be his chair in the NHL so that helps his projection, and to be honest, how many players manage to ‘Drive’ an offensive line in the NHL? Very, very few ! And those who do usually have prolific and long careers, so the number of chairs is very limited.

I’ve also seen people criticize him for being a North-South player… At this point I lost touch, it’s true that players who can play from East to West when gaining the zone can create confusion among defenders and create time and space for their teammates, but the latest news is that it is the style of play (North-South) that is advocated during the NHL playoffs.

Number of games watched : 30

12. Quentin Musty :

Of all the prospects of the 2023 draft, none embodies the expression “being capable of the best as well as the worst” as well as Quentin Musty. He is the player who had the biggest jump on my list this season. A sturdy American left-winger, he was the first overall pick in the OHL draft in 2021.

His sheer talent is undeniable, but the biggest challenge with him is properly assessing his intelligence on the ice. I say it often, but to draw the line between an offensive player who experiments on the ice and a player who makes mistakes due to misjudging his situation can be a rather nebulous exercise.

In the case of Musty, I found too many plays in the 2nd category in the first half of the season. When I saw his name in a top 32, I told myself that those people cannot properly judge the hockey-sense of players.

Here is a review of the kinds of problems I had with the player;

In the foreground, there is his decision-making with the puck. On several occasions, a simple play, but with a guarantee of success was offered to him and he preferred to try the spectacular play with a low success coefficient.

We have an example here, David Goyette comes on the left flank and he has a lot of space. Musty is already pushing the defenders back, he could have handed him the puck, continued his run to the net to bring the defenders with him and let Goyette maneuver to take a shot.

Instead, he tries a pass behind his back to a teammate who was already covered and who, anyway, would have had less room to maneuver than Goyette.

It is this kind of example that makes it possible to distinguish between ‘risk management’ and ‘stupid plays’. That was Musty’s biggest problem at the start of the season, there were way too many plays like that.

Along the same lines, Musty missed several A+ scoring chances to, instead, pass the puck to a teammate (sometimes behind him). The worst thing is that it led to several goals in the season and it’s very spectacular to see, but if he makes these kinds of plays in the NHL and his pass are cut while he was alone in front of the goalkeeper, his coach risks making him skip a few shifts…

Here is an example, Musty got rid of two opponents in the crease with a magnificent dangle, he finds himself alone in front of the goalkeeper, brings the puck on his backhand, but makes a pass behind him diagonally to a teammate.

The play resulted in a turnover, when he could very well have lodged the puck in the upper part of the net.

Another aspect that made me doubt his IQ was his environmental awareness. This includes recognizing his position on the ice, as well as that of their teammates and opponents. In Musty’s case, the most worrying thing about this facet was that he was opening the door to getting hit very, very hard. He was lucky on several occasions to evolve in a junior league, because he would have been destroyed if he had been in the NHL. What had to happen happened and he took some hard-hitting checks during the year.

Here is an example that sums it all up nicely. Again, he has a very simple play at his fingertips. He could simply hand the puck off the backhand to one of his defenders so they can execute a breakout pass. Instead, he will seek to sell this option to his coverer, only to then make a sudden change in direction and speed to get rid of him.

In the same sequence, there were two errors. The first was to fail to establish enough separation with his coverer. Second, and most important, he didn’t realize Windsor had a defender waiting for him high up in the neutral zone.

I dropped the image that showed the rest of the sequence (too blurry), but you could see that the first player didn’t bite Musty’s deke at all and was able to come back shoulder to shoulder with him, and the defenseman also came to close the gap, playing the puck. But he could very well have dealt him a heavy check and knocked him out cold.

To continue in Musty’s contextual lack of recognition, his plays didn’t seem planned in the first half of the season. He beat a player with a deke, but did not realize that another opponent was in position to cover him and he found himself in a dead end. All because he misjudged the position of opposing players on the ice.

It comes down to the fact that he constantly favored spectacular plays to the detriment of effective ones.

In my eyes, the puck handling of players is very often misjudged by people. The emphasis is on eye-catching plays where good puck handling should be collateral to good hockey IQ. For example, to manipulate an opponent, to create space, to delay his game, etc. This comes from the fact that the player has seen a possible opening that will only be accessible by eliminating a variable on the ice with his hands. To do this, you have to know how to read the defenders, their body alignments, their movements, their eyes, etc. It’s something he wasn’t doing, or at least he was doing wrong in the first half of the season. He was attempting dekes for the sole purpose of attempting dekes, with no ulterior motive as to what this play was going to bring him.

Another reproach that I addressed to him was concerning his commitment on the ice. His defensive game suffered, even more so when you combine this with issues related to his awareness of the space on the ice. You could also see a certain lack of his desire to compete with the puck in the offensive zone. While he could have fought in a one-on-one situation and protected his puck, he delegated to his defensemen, often putting them in precarious situations on the offensive blue line. He delegated to them responsibilities that he could not assume.

That’s a lot of negative points cast on the player (after all, we’re not talking about a polarizing player for nothing), but if he’s this high on my list, it’s because he’s demonstrated at some point in the season, a growth I’ve never witnessed before when it comes to a player’s intelligence, and to some extent, commitment as well. His sheer talent also reaches absurd levels.

A player’s playmaking skills have always been a good barometer of their intelligence to me. This is possibly Musty’s best quality. At its best, it is easily among the elite of this draft in this department.

There are different ways to be a good playmaker; it can be by slowing down the game, by showing good vision to spot forgotten players, it can be by drawing attention to yourself, it can be by being able to reach teammates when there are a lot of sticks in the passing-lane, etc. In the case of the Sudbury Wolves forward, it is mostly thanks to his great offensive creativity. Several of his passes surprise his opponents, because they do not suspect that he will opt for such a play.

Musty loves to play east to west when entering zones. It’s one of the biggest constants in his game. He’s going to win the offensive zone down the left and he’s going to literally cut down the center near the blue line. I saw him make several passes of this kind which amazed me. One was made from his backhand, between the two defenders, to join a teammate who had gotten open behind them. It was Musty’s crossover entry that allowed his teammate to sneak in there, but to join him with a backhand pass, despite several obstacles in his way and all while being in movement, it is extremely impressive.

Another sequence was originally drawn in the same way, but this time, rather than dialing on his backhand, Musty sold a wrist shot and when the defenders stopped to try to block the shot, he executed a delicately lifted pass over their sticks/legs to join a teammate who had huddled behind them.

His fantastic puck handling coupled with superior game vision led to some of the best plays I’ve seen all season.

What was most impressive was how mature his decision-making had become.

On top of that, he added diversity to his way of reaching his teammates. Before, it was mainly thanks to his creativity, but now he can also delay plays using his size, he can also put the puck near the paint reserved for the goalkeeper after having made a rush at the net, etc.  Not only did he got more diversity, but he also brought a lot of substance to his arsenal.

His hands have been mentioned a few times already and that is definitely one of his greatest assets.

His dexterity is quite exceptional. The consistency that comes up the most with his puck handling is how good he is at faking shots to fool defenders as he pleases. It’s surprising to see a player who can sell his intention to take a shot so well when he’s moving and has already put all his weight on his stick, change his mind at the last second and make a dangle instead.

Was a sequence where he received a pass in the slot and was about to shoot on reception, the defender in front of him knelt to block the shot. Musty just made a small reception of the puck (following his slapshot momentum) to move it 2-3 feet to his left to get into position to shoot without having his shot blocked and he neatly scored over the shoulder of the goaltender.

It is also a place where we were able to see an improvement in his decision-making, and also in the readings of plays that preceded his actions.

One of the reasons he sells his shot so well is that he has a very good one.

His wrist shot is particularly heavy. He can beat goalkeepers from afar and even if they don’t have a screen in front of them.

Like all other aspects of his game, you can see a gain in maturity as he stopped missing shooting opportunities to instead pass the puck (it still happens to him from time to time though).

We also noticed an improvement in his IQ in the way he used his shot in terms of the way he read his teammates; during cross plays, by positioning himself behind a teammate who is carrying the puck to be an option in trailer, etc.

Other than his sometimes very questionable decision-making, Musty’s skating was also an element that could have prevented him from inserting himself higher in the various lists.

His speed has taken a considerable step, and even his agility on his skates too. We now see him in puck protection moving his feet, opening his hips and turning his back on his opponent, which he would not have been able to do earlier in the season.

I wonder if there are some constants in his game that have been influenced by this earlier limitation, for example, most of his zone entries from the left go with him cutting through the middle. It was explained how he uses this game well, but if he can now use his renewed speed to attack defenders looking to bypass them along the boards, it would make him even more dangerous, and more importantly, more unpredictable.

At times in the season, Musty has proven to be a real ‘Pain in the Ass’ to play against. He hit often, and he hit hard. Sometimes even at the limit of legality. He is also a player who likes to disturb on the ice whether after the whistles, or simply by trash-talking. This is something that we have seen since the Hlinka tournament at the start of the season.

There was a point in the season where I believed all the downsides in his game had cleared up and I had done a complete 180 degree on my assessment of him. When he’s at his best, he definitely looks like one of the best players in this draft. On the other hand, some old habits resurfaced during the second half of the season, the famous ‘junior stuff’. On the other hand, in a draft where I don’t like the depth, his talent remains very enticing, and the fact that it has been shown to me, at times, to be able to attenuate these annoying habits, is enough for me to rank him this high. He’s a player you hit the home run on, and he’s shown enough grit and toughness to expand the range of his projection, in the event that he doesn’t develop as expected.

Number of games watched : 25

13. Dalibor Dvorsky :

Dalibor Dvorsky is a 6’1,201 lbs Slovak forward who has been playing in the Swedish system since he was 14 years old. This year, he has divided his time between the under-20 league and that of the 2nd professional division (the Allsvenskan). It is in this men’s league that he spent most of the season, amassing 14 pts in 45 games (if we include the playoffs).

His first quality is his defensive game. It is possible to present arguments to speak of him as the best defensive forward in the entire draft.

He has the maturity to recognize the importance of holding himself accountable defensively. He cares about the little details, backcheck hard at all times and plays low to support his defenders. One of the things that sets him apart from other players his age in this facet is that Dvorsky is not shy about engaging in physical contact against his opponents.

His sense of anticipation is very strong and, accompanying his reading of the game, he is able to determine which passing option will be chosen by his opponent in more complex situations.

We have a small example here of his defensive intelligence. A 3 against 1 is emerging for the opposing team. Dvorsky backcheck with everything he has in the tank (number 15 in white at the top of the screen).

He recognizes that his keeper can handle the threat of the shot and his defender can cut off the option in the middle.

He will therefore ‘leap’ over the player in the center and he will make the option to the far player inaccessible.

It was hard to take a better screenshot than this to illustrate the rest of the sequence, but the puck-carrier attempted a pass to the player on the far side and Dvorsky stretched his stick and deflected the puck out of the way.

Everywhere on the rink, it is in such small details that we observe the superior intelligence of the Slovak.

For example, during an offensive odd-man rushes, Dvorsky has the center of the ice, but without the puck, it is his winger along the boards who is in possession. The opposing defender is between the two of them and moves towards the puck-carrier. Without causing interference, Dvorsky neutralizes the defender’s stick with his own to give his teammate more leeway.

We have a similar play here. There is a loose puck in the corner of the rink. One of Dvorsky’s wingers goes to retrieve it, but an opposing defender will arrive at the same time as him (Dvorsky is number 15 in black).

From behind, Dvorsky will lift the defender’s stick so that his winger can grab the puck without being poked checked.

Offensively, his game is rather ‘vanilla’. This does not, however, prevent him from bringing certain elements to a high level. It was his shot that drew most praise from observers. 

He has a very good wrist shot which poses a threat to goalkeepers. In conjunction with a very good shot, it takes good scoring instincts and good spatial and situational awareness to maximize this asset. Dvorsky isn’t always the most assertive with the puck in the offensive zone, but he quickly recognizes when there’s a breakdown in defensive coverage and he’ll take the space in front of him to step forward before firing his shot.

A little in the same vein, he also recognizes the flaws in the technique of goalkeepers and will challenge those who cheat by dropping one knee on the ice, aiming for the top of the net, even from more restricted angles. He has the talent to elevate the puck even up close.

His one-timer is also above average and he does a great job of finding free spots on the ice to get open.

Otherwise, he will play a style of game that still requires good physical strength. He likes to work with the puck along the boards, he likes to have an opponent on his back when he goes to the net or goes up along his own blue line in the offensive zone. He demonstrates good confidence in his ability to protect the puck.

He also likes to get in front of the goalkeeper, even at 5 on 5.

It makes you wonder if he doesn’t have another level that he can reach offensively, because he is a very good puck handler.

It is especially in the neutral zone that he demonstrates his best puck handling flashes. The problem is that his skating is not very fast and that he is caught after having beat a first player.

In the offensive zone, there is a lack of creativity. For me, this stems from the mentioned lack of speed. He can’t use shifts or changes in direction, which removes an element of unpredictability from his repertoire.

However, he somehow compensates for the lack of distance he creates from his opponents with a very good puck handling technique where he manages to put a lot of weight on his stick, preventing opportunities where someone could steal the puck from him.

This is also the big question mark with Dvorsky, or at least the factor that could come to limit his offensive ceiling: his skating.

As said before, he gets caught when he carries the puck in the neutral zone, and if he has no pressure coming behind him, he still does not have the speed to challenge the defenders in situation of 1-on-1. At least he has the intelligence to slow down the game to his advantage to wait for teammates support.

What doesn’t help to make this a more optimistic projection is that Dvorsky already appears to be physically mature, posting 201 lbs on a 6’1 frame. Will he be able to add more speed with off-ice training? It remains to be seen.

Longer term, his chances of reaching the NHL are more than certain, but questions surrounding his offensive potential persists.

There was a U-20 tournament this fall where Slovakia faced teams such as Switzerland and Denmark. I watched the games, Shift-by-shift fashion of his compatriot Alex Ciernik. During my viewing, I noticed one of his teammates who offered good flashes. I thought I had found, potentially, a hidden card for the draft. I went to see the score sheet to see that it was Dvorsky. Watching those games without knowing which players were involved, I wouldn’t have been able to say that any of those deserved a top 10 selection in the 2023 draft (place where he was placed quite a bit universally Dvorsky).

He demonstrates qualities of a player who can have a noticeable impact defensively, and to some extent in the neutral zone as well. But offensively, he’s a little too vanilla for my taste.

That being said, for many prospects, we’re only one or two things wrong with our assessment. In Dvorsky’s case, it will be a question of whether he can improve his skating and play bolder offensively.

**End of season addition: He was indeed good at the U-18 tournament but I saw much the same Dvorsky as during the season. He was not necessarily dynamic with the puck in the offensive zone. The production seemed a bit inflated when compared to the play on the ice.

Number of games watched : 18

14. Nate Danielson

Captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Danielson is a 6’1 right-handed center. He projects fairly easily into the NHL, without necessarily offering much to sink your teeth into.

Danielson has the identity of being a hard-working and responsible player. He shows good maturity on the ice and never sacrifices his defensive game to the detriment of the offense. He manages to have a positive impact in his zone by the space he covers with his skating as well as his reach. Shorthanded, he closes passing lanes quickly and forces the opposing team to make mistakes with relentless pressure.

He is one of the best skaters in this draft. He has very nice skating mechanics and has a very elegant stride, especially for a player of his size. His acceleration is good.

Unlike some fast players who fail to execute plays when at full speed, the opposite is seen with Danielson. The majority of his best offensive plays come ‘Off the Rush’ as he wins the zone down the right wing at full speed. He can bypass defenders with speed and he also has the reach to keep the puck out of reach of defensemen.

Despite his effectiveness for this kind of play, we can observe certain limits in his transition game. He remains an interesting option all the same, only he has more difficulty operating in the center of the rink as well as in heavy traffic.

One of the reasons is that Danielson is not a very creative player. It is the same observation that we make in the offensive zone. There are certain sequences where he goes up the offensive blue line with a player on his back and it seems impressive at first glance thanks to his skating and his reach, but often it ends in an inoffensive shot from distance.

We could couple that with his puck-handling skills that are decent, but nothing more. He doesn’t necessarily have bad hands, he can get rid of a player on occasion (sometimes even with a good dangle), but the lack of creativity does not allow him to create a scoring chance from nothing. This partly explains why he keeps his transition game very simple and goes through the right side rather than dealing with several variables in front of him in the center of the rink.

Danielson doesn’t seem very comfortable handling the puck on his backhand, which is why he always prioritizes the right side when entering the zone. Also, when he is on this side, he will almost never try to win the center which would lead him to compose on his backhand.

I believe that with a few simple fixes, Danielson could add plays to his zone entry repertoire that would make him much more effective. All he would have to do is skate through the center of the ice, hand it over to a teammate on the wing and head full speed towards the goalkeeper. It is a simple play which, in addition, would take advantage of some of his qualities (skating, size, not to be complex, etc.). He did it a few times as the season progressed and it allowed him to push back defenders and give space to his teammates.

Shooting-wise, Danielson isn’t particularly a naturally gifted player in that department. That’s not to say he doesn’t have a good shot, just that he’s not a player who can maximize the effectiveness of his shot in various situations, and also in more difficult situations. For example, he’s not a player who can take shots at full speed without being predictable for goalkeepers and defenders and he’s not a guy who has the hand dexterity to adjust his shooting angle to avoid opposing sticks, etc.

When it comes to his playmaking skills, I would say the word that comes to mind, like his game in general, is ‘maturity’. We have a perfect example here: he receives a puck at the opposing blue line, one of his teammates has the center of the ice completely free and seems in a position to obtain a breakaway, alone against the goalkeeper.

A very large majority of prospects would have forced this pass, which quickly closed.

Instead, Danielson waited a split second longer for the player on the far side to get open and opted for a harder but more effective pass that led to a very good scoring chance.

The Wheat King’s captain is also able to make excellent use of his long reach by delaying his plays, not only to give an extra second for a teammate to get to the net, but also to avoid the defender’s poke check. He manages to achieve this kind of play at full speed.

Something he also does well is that he always plays with his head held high, so he knows how to take advantage of defensemen who get mesmerized by the puck and lose their coverage.

Which is ironic, because it’s also a foul that Danielson is guilty of in his own zone. In the introduction we talked about the characteristics of his game that make him a responsible player, but he is not flawless defensively. He gets involved in his zone, but he will miss covers where an opposing defender leaves his position.

Also were sequences where he seems mentally absent and didn’t react to the situation. There is an example here, the play is shaping up to be a normal 2v2 except one of Brandon’s defenders loses his footing and falls. We see Danielson at the bottom of the screen (black jersey) who is close to the 2nd forward and could easily have been able to cover him, but he was not focused on the play. The player accelerated and got a breakaway against the goalie.

Another example here, there’s an opponent with a clean look at the center-lane and the goalie, instead of backchecking hard to cover him, Danielson look behind him to see if there isn’t an opposing defenseman who’ll jump into the play.

Here is how the play ended

I still believe that the mistakes he makes defensively can be corrected, however, for a player that I find quite ‘vanilla’ offensively, I would like him to be impeccable in this facet to make himself essential to his team.

Personally, I project Danielson as a 3rd line player. In the context that he’s not a player I see in an offensive role in the NHL, I don’t feel the need to criticize him too harshly, he’s an honest player. He never ‘grabbed’ me during my viewing, but at the same time he never let me down either, he’s a player I know what I can expect in every game that I watch.

Ideally, I would have liked to rank him lower, but in this draft, I didn’t really see who to put in front of him.

Number of games watched: 16

15. Brayden Yager

Having a season of almost 35 goals in the WHL at the age of 16 and having pivoted the first line of the Canadian team during the Hlinka tournament, the expectations placed on the player of the Moose Jaw Warriors were high.

Maybe even too high. His first half of the season did not go as planned. His impact on the scoresheet was unaffected, but the play he offered was unconvincing. When we look at an underperforming top prospect like this, several hypotheses can form; is his whole heart dedicated to his profession? Is he a player who is content to be a passenger within his team? Is he just an inconsistent player? Etc.

In the case of Yager, having seen the contrast with his 2nd half of the season, I simply believe that he is a player who has seen the weight of his draft season weigh heavily on his shoulders. This is just a guess on my part, but I believe that based on what I have observed, I can be confident in this statement.

The reason is that a nervousness in the player was perceptible to the naked eye every time he grabbed a puck. Which was not the case in the previous season or during the Hlinka.

Due to this, he was guilty of many errors and turnovers on the ice. Whenever I saw this kind of play, I thought it was stupid plays that showed a significant deficiency in intelligence, but knowing the player, I knew there was something else behind it all.

The place where this was observed the most was in the neutral zone as well as in the zone entries. The number of bad plays I saw him make under such circumstances was disconcerting. Everything was lacking, both decision-making and execution, but what came back the most was that he didn’t seem to have a very high panic threshold. His plays were forced and he did not show the patience and confidence necessary to attract a player or two to him before handing over to a teammate.

As a center player, he will have no choice but to be more comfortable dictating the play with the puck if he wants to be successful in the NHL, which he did not show.

Another aspect of his game that was affected by this pressure was his playmaking ability. The reason I take the liberty of saying this is that these are the same constants that emerged: he did not seem comfortable with the puck on his stick and was rushing his plays.

There is a nuance between forcing passes and Yager’s rushing plays. In his case, it was because the mistakes he made happened as soon as the pressure came on him. While in many scenarios he would have been able to hold on to the puck, turn on himself, skate in another direction to escape the pressure and perform a simple pass to keep his team in possession of the puck. This is what I found worrying in his case, normally you want to see your best players controlling the puck and wanting to dictate the game, which was far from the case with him.

Yet he had the necessary tools in his toolbox to offer some playmaking flashes during the powerplay. Often playing at the top of the right circles (also being right-handed), Yager had the opportunity to sell the threat of his wrist shot by placing all his weight on his inside leg before executing a cross-ice pass. Shane Wright excelled at this play last year.

Of my first 12 viewing on the player, he was simply bad in the vast majority of those. Then, in the second half of the season, something clicked.

He now seemed much more confident with the puck. Not only were the riskiest aspects of his game corrected, he also found a way to make better use of his strengths.

It is especially in puck transport in the neutral zone that we observe the biggest difference. He uses his speed to push defenders back and no longer shows himself guilty of bad passes. He can now attack the center as he can try to bypass the defenders.

His passing skills also took a big step. We now see him making good cross-ice passes on the power plays and even at 5v5 this play often comes up where he will skate along the left side board at full speed, draw a defender on him and then go backhand to a teammate at the top of the slot. It’s an impressive play that requires very good hand dexterity to make a pass like this at full speed.

There are three aspects of Yager’s game that I haven’t talked about yet. The reason is that these remained strengths in his arsenal, even in these most difficult times.

At the top of the list is his shot. The quality of it in terms of velocity and precision gives him a place among the best shooters of this draft. The strength behind it allows him to surprise goaltenders and he is able to place pucks in the top corner of the net as well as anyone.

What makes his shot unique is the way he releases. He has this unique way of shooting from the right side (he’s right-handed) where he lifts his back leg high in the air and when firing, he kicks his leg down to add gravitational force to his shot. For some reason, it’s particularly pleasing to see.

That being said, I would like to see a bigger arsenal of shot in his case. This shot, which is specific to him, occurs mainly during power plays and occasionally during certain descents on the right flank when the field is open. I wish I could see such a good shot from the left flank and above all, I would like to see him create shooting opportunities on his own. For the moment he depends a little on his teammates or certain circumstances to take advantage of his best asset.

Yager also has what I would rate as above average skating. He is not necessarily a hyper agile player who will beat opponents with pivots or changes of direction, but his acceleration force is very good and allows him to create distance with his rivals.

Defensively, he provides some security for his coach when he jumps onto the ice. Strangely, he reminds me a bit of Brad Lambert defensively last year. It’s good without offering any dominant quality. He has good positioning, a good active stick to cover passing-lanes, he has the skating ability to recover loose pucks, cover his defensemen or to regain position, but at the same time he is not particularly tough to play against and does not demonstrate a superior sense of anticipation.

His projection in the NHL was difficult to establish, especially in the first half of the season, for the reasons explained earlier. Offensively, he’s not a guy who has the psychological makeup to be the one to take charge. Was also a stretch where he only scored 2 goals in 16 games. And he’s not a player who brings a lot of intangibles with him.

With the resurgence he had in the 2nd half of the season and in the playoffs, I think we can talk about a good 3rd line player who can evolve on a 2nd wave of power play and who can play on the PK. Which is good in my rating!

Number of games watched : 22

16. Samuel Honzek

A 6’4 forward from Slovakia, Honzek spent the last season on Canadian soil, playing with the Vancouver Giants in the WHL.

It is difficult to point out with convictions what is his main asset. He does not possess a quality that clearly rises above the others, and he has not demonstrated the expected constancy in what might be his identifying traits. But still, his puck protection is what his foundation in his game is built on.

He has good hands and makes good use of his long reach and wide skate base to keep the puck out of the reach of his opponents. He is very comfortable (and probably at his best) when he dekes and brings the puck to his backhand. His posture is optimal, leaning the shoulder and keeping a good degree of flexion at the knees to be able to maximize his pushes and continue to create separation with his opponent. He can also use his free arm to push his opponent away.

His puck protection improved during the season due to a noticeable improvement in his skating (which will be discussed later), but even when his speed was more problematic and Honzek did not have the force of acceleration to distance himself from his opponent after making a deke, he could still effectively protect the puck with his body and buy himself time to evaluate his options.

Now that he has speed that can complement his possession game, he has had some of the most impressive rushes to the net I have seen this season.

The problem is that this has not proven to be a constant in his game. In fact, I find him quite passive in the offensive zone. He is not the player who necessarily seeks the most to create. It’s a shame, because if he used his assets fully and all the time, he could be a monster in puck-posession.

It’s the same observation that we find in his game without the puck: he shows flashes of dominance, but these are not constant enough for my taste.

During certain sequences, following a loss of the puck, Honzek went into second gear and he imposed himself in front of an opponent to recover the puck. With his size and the qualities mentioned before, he becomes a formidable asset for a team when he plays like this.

We also find this ability to recover pucks like this defensively. He is very good at taking the puck away from his opponents. This has been greatly improved in the season by the progress he has made in his skating. It is mainly thanks to his size that he can take the puck from his opponents. He fends them off with one shoulder and uses his free hand to play the puck with his stick.

Without the puck, in the offensive zone, he is very good at providing support to his teammates. Not necessarily to go and place himself as an option in dangerous scoring areas, but more in subtle places, for example along the boards (in the neutral zone as well).

Defensively, he is sometimes a little too hesitant. I would like to see him more intense on the puck carrier to cause turnovers, much like Nate Danielson does.

If he had shown more consistency and more relentlessness in these facets, he could have moved up a few places on my list. These are qualities that could make him an excellent third-line player who can extend long possession in the offensive zone and tire opposing defenders. Players like that are worth their share of gold when it comes to playoffs.

I say that because, more concretely, his offensive repertoire is rather limited.

He doesn’t demonstrate any distinct quality as a playmaker. In fact, this aspect would be maximized if he took advantage of his brilliance in puck protection more often to expand his possessions and let the movement of his teammates create confusion in the opposing defensive coverage.

Other than that, he demonstrates good efficiency in spotting teammates at the goalmouth. But there are no elements of deception or a knack for dangerous areas in his passing tendencies.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he turned out to be a good finisher. The problem is, his shot is probably his Achilles tendon in his offensive arsenal.

His wrist shot is very weak and his coordination on his one-timer is lacking. His degree of execution is therefore affected. He’ll fend the air or hit the puck partially if the pass isn’t perfect, which isn’t a problem for Colby Barlow.

This is partly explained by the length of the stick he uses. We also see that Honzek is not a naturally-gifted shooter, he does not have the scoring instinct and the 6th sense of how to put himself in an advantageous situation by using his puck handling for this purpose.

His skating was also a big obstacle to allow him to reach another level, but it is something that has improved in the season, to the point where I no longer consider it a limitation for him. Not for the chair I see him destined for in the NHL.

At the start of the season, he lacked speed and he was forced to take a shot from afar, prematurely, because an opposing player was catching up to him.

His puck recovery game along the boards also suffered greatly. Even if he had the right idea in mind to try to sell a direction to his coverer before changing sides abruptly, he was not generating enough power and his coordination was not on point. His feet weren’t fast enough and it was mainly because he wasn’t adopting the right posture on his skates, staying too upright. To perform this kind of play effectively, you have to be low with your center of gravity and keep some knee flexion, it is a technicality that Dmitri Simashev is phenomenal. Honzek has, however, demonstrated the necessary adjustments in this kind of scenario and he now adopts a sufficiently dynamic posture to carry out his intention.

His top speed has seen significant progress made. This allows him to accentuate his strengths like his puck protection as he now has the speed to bypass some defenders and get to the net. The speed at which his feet move has also improved, which helps him further.

Honzek demonstrates good intelligence in the way he maximizes the use of his speed. He will free himself from the pressure by handing over to a teammate, gaining speed when he is not at risk of losing the puck and then offering himself as a passing option to get the puck into offensive territory, with his size, if he has a free path in front of him, he will be extremely difficult to contain.

His 2nd half of the season somewhat displeased me. Following a strong progression before his injury at the WJC, Honzek seemed on his way to establishing himself quite high on my list, but a lack of consistency and combativeness within his greatest assets left me a little disenchanted.  I still believe that he could become a 3rd line player. If he starts playing more aggressively and looking to maximize his strengths, he could be a great playoff asset.

Number of games watched : 21

17. Gabe Perreault

Son of former Montreal Canadiens Yanic and brother of Anaheim Ducks prospect Jacob. Gabe played with the US NTDP this year alongside Will Smith and Ryan Leonard. He broke the all-time record for most points in a single season held by none other than Auston Matthews. I haven’t been a huge fan of his this season, but I have to admit that his accomplishments speak for themselves.

Although his two linemates, Will Smith and Ryan Leonard, are far superior to him, they have, in my opinion, also benefited from the presence of Perreault on their line. His greatest quality for me is his intelligence on the ice, which is expressed by his passing skills as well as his creativity on the ice. For me, he’s been a ‘Play Connector’ all year long. Leonard was doing all the dirty work, Smith was controlling the play, but Leonard was helping them a lot with very quick decision-making and similar execution. When one of his linemates in possession of the puck needed a break, he only needed to hand it to Perreault, free himself and Perreault would get the puck back to him. At this level, he has greatly helped his partners. Perreault perfectly symbolizes the expression ‘being one step ahead of your opponents’. He is probably one of the players who makes plays with the shortest time keeping the puck on his stick. Even before receiving it, he has already identified the best pass option to hand over to.

The precision of his passes is also of a very high level, which allows him to execute plays of great difficulty rather easily. He manages to join teammates even if he has to pass through several players without problems.

Understanding open spaces on the ice is something I like to look at to assess a player’s intelligence and Perreault shines at this level. There were several sequences where we could see him needing only one glance to perfectly grasp where a teammate was heading and he would put the puck in a free space and his teammate would arrive at the right time to grab the puck. He is one of the players in this draft who made the most impressive ‘Area Passes’ this season.

Another key aspect to judge the intelligence of a player is to look at how quickly he manages to adapt to unexpected variables on the ice. This is possibly Perreault’s greatest strength. He adjusts excessively quickly to situations where he has to change the play he had planned.

We have an example here, the best option he has is to pass to his center so that he could benefits from a breakaway against the goalkeeper. But the Swedish defender closes the space on Perreault with a perfect defensive angle and the situation means that Perreault cannot buy time for his teammate because several players from the Swedish team are backchecking.

He will therefore perform a backhand pass behind his back to eliminate the threat of his opponent’s stick.

The level of execution is mind-blowing. This is the kind of play that leaves me mixed on occasion. But in this case, he did not play fancy for the sole purpose of impressing the crowd. It was the only way he had to reach his teammate and it led to a breakaway.

Perreault is a player who has very good hands. He may deke a player before making a play if he deems this to be the best option available to him. He can show great creativity behind the net.

On the other hand, it regularly happens to him to try plays that are too ‘cute’ for nothing.

He will never be recognized as a naturally-gifted goalscorer but his shooting is not bad. He is very precise and he has no difficulty beating goalkeepers from the slot.

But it is above all through his great offensive instinct that he will score his goals, by marauding near the net, using his hands in small spaces, as well as using his teammates to release the pressure from him.

However, there are two aspects of his game that put him at a disadvantage. The first, and the one that has probably been discussed the most, is his skating. Perreault is an average skater, in my opinion. Strangely, that doesn’t bother me as much as some, he certainly won’t be the first player called in the first round who isn’t an exceptional skater and he’s certainly not the only one in this draft. In my eyes, he gets where he needs to be, at the right time. Thanks to his intelligence on the ice, I believe he will be able to overcome this obstacle.

What bothers me the most about him is how he reacts to the physical play. This is the reason why I had judged this player categorically in the first half of the season and that I did not want to insert him in my top 32. He is not a player who will pay the price.

It happened several times that he arrived first on a loose puck in the offensive zone, in the corner, and that he decided to move away from it so as not to be hit. Which took away an offensive possession from his line. Even when he came in 2nd, on the defender, no forecheck resulted. He plays soft.

Behind the net too, I had talked about his offensive creativity in these scenarios, but it is mostly when the game is already installed in the zone, causing his opponents to approach him without great speed and without intentions to play the body. If a player is moving towards him faster and he intends to hit him, Perreault will not look to delay his play to allow a teammate to get open, he will instead force a pass into the slot.

It’s a bit of the same observation with his inclination to attack the net. He can do it if the opposing team’s defensive play is set but it’s not something he’s going to do at full speed for fear of getting hit.

The ‘Compete-Level’ bothers me a lot in this respect and I also find there is a lack of urgency in his game which can be very frustrating. It often happens to him when leaving or entering the zone to brake, and to try a deke instead of rejecting the puck or making a pass. He commits unnecessary turnovers as well and once again he refuses to pay the price for his team.

His intelligence and his passing skills make him a player who could very well compliment talented and more physical players in a top 6, but his reluctance to play a physical game adds a significant downside to his projection. He is a player whose coach could show less leniency.

Number of games watched : 20

18. Oliver Moore

Oliver Moore is a dynamic American forward playing for the NTDP, playing second fiddle to the line of Will Smith, Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault. He was for me one of the most overrated prospects of this draft along with Andrew Cristall and Axel Sandin-Pelikka. Until the second half of the season, I didn’t want to know anything about including this player inside my top 32. On the other hand, since I hardly like any player between 11 and 20, it allowed me to see things in a more rational way. I find the players excessively ‘bland’ in this contingent and Moore, despite the multitude of criticisms I give him, finds a way to make himself useful to a team with an exceptional work ethic. If I anticipate the player in a completely different role than what the other people seem to project with him, the player manages to please me in certain respects.

From the outset, Moore is the best skater in this draft, unequivocally. I would even say that he is easily one of the best skaters I have ever seen among prospects. We are talking about an elite skater among the elite.

His top speed is simply absurd. He will win races for a loose puck when he has 2 or even 3 times more ice to cover than his opponent. He also likes to have the puck on his stick, which makes him a player who can exploit the open spaces available to him.

The place where he uses his skating the most wisely is in his defensive backcheck. It’s pretty spectacular the results you can get when you combine an elite skating with a work ethic to match it. The number of turnovers he has caused in backchecks is phenomenal. An opposing player can’t take too long in transition otherwise Moore will steal the puck from him. He is for me the player in the draft who has caused the most turnovers and who has been the author of the most beautiful defensive backcheck that I have seen.

The problem is that Moore doesn’t know how to use his skating when in possession of the puck. For me, this is linked to a great lack of intelligence on the ice. If he had a very impressive number of defensive backchecks, I can count the same number of times when, offensively, he had the puck and skated in a dead end himself. He also doesn’t know how to use speed changes to his advantage. His acceleration allows him to create great separation with his coverer, but he does not makes the defensemen slows sown before attacking them with speed. He just skates hard all the time. He also does not know how to influence the reaction of opposing defenders by exaggerating his posture in changes of direction or speed. Is it something that can be learned and corrected? Maybe, but by virtue of what I’ve seen of him, I’m very skeptical, as he just doesn’t seem to read the play well in front of him. The problem goes far beyond simple speed changes.

The biggest problem with Oliver Moore is his offensive IQ. I’m not able to see high offensive potential for that simple reason. His decision-making with the puck is often very questionable. On several occasions, it comes up with what was mentioned in his skating; he arrives at full speed with tunnel vision and he does not know how to analyze the game in front of him. He will try to come back on his own steps, turn on himself or brake if the play closes in front of him, but then he does not know what to do, so he throws pucks all over the place, where none of his teammates are.

To me, Moore is a player who the vast majority of the time he demonstrates the extent of his talent, it is during situations that are inconsequential, for example, in small spaces, without those plays bringing anything concrete.

He is a player who does not often seek to win the center of the offensive zone and on top of that, he is relatively easy to neutralize physically. Defenders can push him along the boards without too much difficulty and he tends to be ineffective from there.

I concede to him that he can be difficult for his opponents to face, not because he hits, but rather because his skating and his work ethic ensure that he gives his opponents no time and that they have to constantly rush their play and they have less room to maneuver because he’s always on them. This is an underestimated aspect when talking about a being ‘tough to play against’. We often tend to think only of players finishing their checks and seeking havoc after the whistles, but personally I’ve always found players like Moore to be overly annoying and irritating to play against. This is something I also mentioned last year when talking about Noah Ostlund. The problem (!) is that if Moore is difficult to play against to a certain extent, he is just as, if not more, difficult to play WITH. Some people seek to excuse him since he had several linemates in the year and that could explain why he was not able to develop chemistry with anyone. However, could it be that Moore is the common denominator in all of this? He hasn’t developed chemistry with his linemates simply because they can’t read or anticipate the plays Moore is going to make, as he himself doesn’t know, due to his IQ limitations. In the second half of the season, he even played with super prospects Cole Eiserman (2024) and James Hagen (2025) and they looked much worse than usual. It would be a little harsh to say that Moore was hurting them, but one thing is certain, there is a reason why they looked so much better off without him. He is definitely not the kind of player who makes his teammates better.

There are still some positive things to note in his offensive game, however. His playmaking is something I had been very harsh on in the first half of the season, but he was able to add layers to that aspect as the season progressed.

For starters, there’s definitely a creativity aspect to it. Even if in several scenarios it lacks substance, I have still seen some very impressive plays. For example, in this play on the zone entry, he receives a pass behind his back and without any hesitation, he chips the puck with his backhand to his teammate on the other side for a scoring chance. (Moore wears number 11 in white).

This play still blew me away, considering that Moore’s information gatherings and executions are never at the same speed as he skates, but in this sequence, he showed an ability to solve a complex situation in a brilliant way.

It was in the most recent U-18 tournament that Moore had his best games, and for me there was no other time in the season when it came close. He did several setups for his teammates that I found impressive. That being said, you have to be careful since the tournament took place on European ice. With the ice being wider, Moore had more space along the boards, where he often stays. Also, defensive systems on such surfaces are usually focused on a ‘collapse‘ in the slot where defensive players band together to close the slot. This leaves a lot more room for offensive players to maneuver from the boards to the center. Moore, who tends to charge into dead zones by himself all the time, didn’t have that problem on this surface.

Now, what about his ability to finish plays? For his size, Moore has an extremely heavy wrist shot. He can be very dangerous when given space at the top of the circles during a power play. He is able to make defenders move before unleashing a shot, which accentuates his qualities as a shooter.

But for me, where he is most impressive is when he combines his great tenacity with his athletic ability. I saw two sequences highlighting these assets and I was strongly impressed;

– At full speed he manages to bypass a defender and leans his shoulder to cut in the middle, but the defender manages to make a good pivot and places his stick in a position to annoy Moore. He readjusted his position with the puck, while being in full acceleration and having his shoulder lowered, and manages to fire a Major-League shot in the top of the net.

– This time he bypasses a defender, but the D try to push him off balance, Moore fights to gain his position and manages to take an excellent shot even while falling down.

On the other hand, his play-selections catch up with him, even when it comes to taking shots. We have an example here.

Moore takes a lot of peripheral shots like that.

Defensively, I think he was very overrated too. Ditch the Dylan Larkin comparisons….

I personally view Moore as a player who will nullify the other team’s transition, so yes, he brings value in that department. But his game as such in his own territory, leaves a little to be desired. I find that he often looks a bit lost in his zone and if the players of the opposing team switch positions, he seems in a state of confusion and he no longer knows which player he should cover.

And for such an exceptional skater, I find that it is rather easy to get rid of him for good skaters on the blue line. Here he is in charge of covering the defender at the point, the defender moves laterally towards the center, Moore follows him, but his skates as well as his stick are at an angle that is much too compromised.

The defender then makes a change of direction and Moore finds himself in the dust.

This may seem rather harsh as a portrait of the player and could leave many readers confused as to why he is still ‘high’ in my list. Well, for me, the vast majority of players between 11 and 20 this year leave me very lukewarm and I have no big interests in these players. They’re pretty bland and to me, Moore is a player who, with his elite skating and elite work ethic, can prove himself to be indispensable for his team in a supporting role. And I don’t have the same certainty with the other players. In fact, if we talk about Oliver Moore as a 3rd line winger, who doesn’t have to manage the puck in offensive situations and who is there to bring energy, I don’t have too many problems with the player. And also, we are forced to rank 32 players in our ‘first round’, that does not mean that I would be thrilled to choose him in the first round. I’d rather put him somewhere on my list where I know I wouldn’t have to take him (also by virtue of the players who may still be available that I’ve ranked ahead of him).

Number of games watched : 19

19. Tanner Molendyk

Tanner Molendyk is a 5’11 left-handed defenseman playing for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL. He is probably one of the players who made the strongest first impression on me this season. Although he hasn’t been as good throughout the season as he was in those first games, he has all the qualities in him to secure a spot in the NHL despite a smaller size.

The number one thing that tops the list for defensemen his size to survive in the NHL is great skating, and Molendyk has a simply fantastic one.

In his case, it is really during defensive situations as well as puck recovery that he makes the most use of it. With him, there is no danger that a puck rejected in his territory falls into possession of the opposing hands. Not only does he have excellent speed, but he is Fearless. He’s not going to slow down by going to get the puck in the corner so that the opposing forward can pin him against the boards and wait for reinforcements to arrive, Molendyk is going to get the puck at full speed, which also implies that the opposing forward is going to be at full speed and can hit him hard, however, the Saskatoon defenseman has the skating ability to evade anyone and more importantly, he has the confidence to do so.

His speed allows him to catch players during his defensive backchecks. He manages to cover a lot of space in a short time and was some stretches where he was just all over the ice.

He is also an excellent backwards skater and has no trouble defending against the fastest skaters in the WHL.

On the offensive level, his skating also does him great service. He manages to prevent zone exits not only because he is explosive, but also because he is very alert.

His multidirectional mobility is fabulous. At his best, Molendyk seems to have remarkable offensive confidence: he patrols the blue line, comes forward, makes opponents kneel, retraces his steps, moves laterally, etc. I saw him pivots on himself to get rid of an opponent, another forward came on him to close the direction in which Molendyk was going to finish, he immediately exploded in the other direction and beat 2 opponents at the blue line with disconcerting ease. It’s a shame, because he doesn’t use this ability enough to his advantage.

The second aspect that any defender of his size must have is a solid defensive game and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a box that the Kamloops native ticks easily. Just with his skating, we covered several ways he manages to neutralize his opponents, but the strength of his defensive game is also expressed by two other variables.

The first would be the efficiency with which he defends the zone entries. Molendyk is very difficult to beat on counterattacks and this is due to the fact that he plays with surprisingly a long stick. This gives him better Gap-Control (distance he keeps from the puck carrier) and to add to that, he has an excellent sense of timing to pokecheck his opponents. I feel like he surprises his opponents, a small defenseman with such a long reach who is also a very explosive skater, he manages to close the distance very quickly. He is really solid to defend zone entries on his side.

The other variable that makes him a reliable defenseman is also one of the things I was referring to in the introduction (what little defensemen need to play in the NHL) and that is his physical commitment and his desire to compete.  Molendyk is HYPER competitive. It is an integral part of his identity.

He engages the body at every opportunity it has. Do not expect hard-hitting checks in the middle of the ice, but he will constantly let you know when he’s on the ice. He will constantly push his opponents back, he will physically impose himself on his own blue line, he will clean the front of his net by playing hard and in addition, he uses his 5’11 very well to neutralize his opponents. He will also not hesitate to throw his body to block shots.

Of the three defenders of this size (him, Sandin-Pelikka and Gulyalyev) he is the one who defends the best for me, and by a good margin.

His game in transition is also solid. His passes are precise and full of conviction. He demonstrates an advanced understanding of complex situations while he can very well use the board to reach a teammate. You also see that clarity of mind when he carries the puck as he processes information at high speed and can quickly change direction while keeping all his options open.

If the quality of Molendyk’s defensive game leaves me no doubt as to whether or not he will be able to evolve in the NHL one day, it is his offensive game that will dictate where he will fit into a team.

During my first viewing, it was simply phenomenal! I had even taken a very daring position in relation to him and his ranking. Having to follow around 60 players at this stage of the season, there was a certain time between my first viewing and the following ones concerning Molendyk. When I looked at his stat sheet, his low production seemed more like an anomaly than anything else.

I was disappointed to find that the qualities he showed me in abundance in his early games are actually just a part of his game and they don’t come up so frequently. That’s what explains his offensive record, it’s not that he doesn’t have the talent to produce scoring chances, it’s that he doesn’t generate enough volume of those chances for that to happen. Which reflected more accurately his modest offensive production.

His skating allows him to make very good plays on the blue line with the mobility that we know he has at his disposal. It happened to him on occasion to demonstrate impressive confidence by attacking two opponents at once and skating straight in between. He can leave his position as he sees fit because he knows he can easily come back if the puck changes sides. On the majority of occasions, when his skating was on display in the offensive zone, so was his intelligence. He could come forward with the puck, hand it to a teammate at the goal line and immediately explode to the slot for a ‘Give-N-Go. He was always moving and showed quick thinking.

His puck distribution is quite good, having made impressive passes that not all prospects manage to achieve (saucer passes over sticks to find a teammate in the slot). He is aware on the ice, dictating to his teammates where to send the puck.

His slap shot isn’t bad even if we’re not talking about a potential weapon to employ on a power play.

During his rushes, he often attempted shots from quite a long distance. He definitely has the skating to continue his offensive rushes deeper in the zone, but the long reach he plays with will cuff his puck handling a bit and that will prevent him from beating players in a one-on-one situation.

More and more, his portrait is emerging as a modern defender who plays both ways of the ice without bringing too much offense. I still like the player, and while I’m willing to argue that a substantial offensive output isn’t always needed in defensemen, the story is a bit different in those who are 5’11.

Number of games watched : 18

20. Koehn Ziemmer

A right-handed winger, Ziemmer is a 6’00 player and nearly 200 lbs who finished in the top 10 of the best scorers in the WHL. Having seen him play the last two seasons, I can attest to good progress and an expansion of his toolbox, the problem is that the same questions persist.

Totaling 70 goals in his last two campaigns, Ziemmer’s scoring skills are at the top of his identity traits. His wrist shot is very good, the puck feels heavy and he can put it where he wants.

One of his skills that make him an above average shooter is his ability to reach the net. His shots almost never get blocked, whether ‘Off the Rush’ on the counterattack with a defender in front of him, or in the offensive zone with a kneeling defender or with a stick in front of him looking to pokecheck him, Ziemmer has this ability to get the puck through their body or under their stick.

To facilitate this kind of play, Ziemmer needs a good pair of hands and can frequently be observed handling the puck as he pleases to readjust his shooting position or to avoid an opposing stick before releasing.

To add to this, Ziemmer is not only a player who can score from medium and long distance thanks to his shot, he also has the style of play and the propensity to get in front of the goalkeeper and to stand at the goalmouth. He’s strong on his skates, and while he’s not the most agile, he has good balance thanks to his physical strength and he manages to keep control of the puck close to the net, even when pushed around. I’ve also seen him use a wraparound the net to surprise the goalkeeper a few times this season and I was shocked how well he could execute this play at a high level, staying very close to the net.

For these reasons, Ziemmer is often referenced as a scorer, but to me this is an injustice to the playmaking skills he has developed this season. This is perhaps the thing that has impressed me the most about him this season and while his shooting remains his best asset, I would argue that his passing skills are even more diverse. It wasn’t something we had come to expect from him this season, the best word for his passing skills would be ‘Sneaky’.

Like any good scorer, Ziemmer has the ability to sell a shot option to immobilize the opposing defense before handing it over to a teammate. What is impressive in his case is that he manages to combine several qualities to make a single play. Not only will he sell the shot, he will incorporate his handling of the puck into the game by bringing it back to the inside of his skating base as if performing a ‘Curl and Drag’ before shooting, but then he will bring the puck to his backhand and pass to a teammate who slipped behind the defenders.

In the same aspect, Ziemmer will also demonstrate excellent vision and he will see where his teammates should be placed for a scoring chance. He will attract defenders by delaying his game a little and selling the shot, when a teammate has arrived where he wanted, Ziemmer will manage to gently slide a puck under the defenders’ stick to join his teammate for a scoring chance.

While Ziemmer can freeze defenders with the threat of his, he can’t do the same with his speed (more on that later). What I like, however, is that he demonstrates recognition of the limits of his skating. He’s not going to try to outspeed defenders if he’s the one on his team that gets into the offensive zone with the puck. He will keep his head up, slow down and buy as much time as possible for a teammate to get open or charge at the net, which he will then join with a deft saucer pass.

Still in conjunction with his skating, it was mentioned earlier that Ziemmer is very difficult to dislodge from the puck and it is by using this quality that he can feed his teammates from behind the net.

The last aspect I would touch on in this facet is the right winger’s ability to delay his plays and wait for his teammates during odd-man rushes situations. We might be tempted to believe that a scorer like that would be seduced by all the space and time at his disposal to take a shot, but the Prince George Cougars winger likes to be generous in such situations and the patience he shows, as well as the intelligence to mislead the defender is very impressive.

Inside the analysis of his scoring and passing skills, we quickly realize that Ziemmer has good hands. They are very quick, but what impresses me most about the quality of his hands is his puck placement. Not being the best skater, he manages to put the puck in places out of reach of defenders when skating, allowing him to focus on his feet rather than his hands.

To top it off, Ziemmer is a physical player. He finishes a lot of his hits, and he hits hard, having seen him deliver some of the biggest hits I’ve seen this year by a draft eligible player.

During his best games, Ziemmer has impressed me greatly with the versatility of the functions he can occupy in the offensive zone. He always did what his line needed him to do; he was on the forecheck, finish his checks, go to block the view of the goalie, etc. He even took faceoffs on the right.

There is, however, a considerable limitation in Ziemmer’s game and that is his skating.

Technically, he is really not a good skater. There are several weaknesses at the mechanical level; his pushes do not end in full extension at the hip (minimizing glute complex input) and his knees always seem to remain in flexion, limiting quadriceps involvement. In addition, his back is abnormally round when he skates.

Athletically, Ziemmer just doesn’t seem like a natural. This was often observed when he had to pivot on the ice to get a puck behind him that could be done with a sharp pivot, Ziemmer practically needs to come to a complete stop and then accelerate back again to get it.

Even when skating backwards in the neutral zone, if the puck (or the carrier) goes from one side to another, Ziemmer must stop before starting in the other direction, rather than doing the whole thing in a fluid motion without losing momentum. Already his speed and acceleration leave something to be desired, he cannot afford to lose so much time with his feet if he hopes to one day survive in the NHL.

Lacking the speed to skate up and down the rink, Ziemmer was often absent from the defensive zone, instead trying to anticipate when his team would regain control of the puck.

It’s a shame, because he’s a player I like, but I think the weakness is just too great. In his defense, he has made progress during the season on this.

But above all, he knew how to develop ways of working around his limits, demonstrating great intelligence.

Offensively, he knows how to attack a defender one-on-one even if he doesn’t have optimal speed. His puck handling allows him to attack defensemen’s skating base and keep them on his heels, plus he knows how to incorporate swift body shifts and how to change his angles to use the defenseman’s pivot to his advantage.

For all of these reasons, my ranking of Ziemmer was contentious throughout the season, going from being knocked out of my first round completely, to the top 15 to the end of my first round.

He will have been able to develop a cerebral style of play since his skating does not allow him to cover a lot of ice. The problem is that if he doesn’t hit when he doesn’t have the puck, his contribution in the neutral zone and the defensive zone is practically non-existent. His involvement suffers a lot. The risk of ‘Bust’ is quite high for me and that prevents me from ranking him too high.

He reminds me a bit of Valentin Zykov.

I believe that a formation that really likes Ryan Leonard, but that will not draft high enough to select him, could fall back on Ziemmer at the end of the first round or in the 2nd round, there are still several similarities between the two players.

Number of games watched : 20

21. Eduard Sale

To say that this Czech forward has been one of my biggest disappointments this season would be an understatement. Being inside my top 5 in October, he was given the benefit of the doubt for a while, but by February my patience had worn thin.

In his case, the level of talent is very high, after all there is a reason why he was ranked so high in different places in the first half of the season. His vision is definitely above the average of his rivals.

This vision makes him very good playmaker. It is above all by this quality that his offensive game is characterized. He has the ability to join teammates with cross-ice passes through the defensive box with remarkable ease. This makes him a player who can very well be run a power play. He has that aura to control the game and be the main distributor on a PP unit. Some of his passes show offensive ingenuity as he manages to fool everyone on the ice. For example, positioned in the right circle, he rushes to unleash a powerful slap shot on reception, but finally opts for a delicate pass to a player who had freed himself at the goalmouth. He manages to fool the defensemen and the goaltender, leaving only an open net for his teammate.

To compliment his vision, his hand dexterity is also at a higher level, allowing him to perform difficult passes that few players can pull off, even if they have identified the best option on the ice. Sale is one of the good players to perform saucer passes in this draft.

One of the things that makes him a good passer is that he always knows where his teammates are on the ice. This results in him having an astonishing success rate with plays that would be called desperate or last resort in the case of other players. The best example to explain this would be the passes he makes in Spinorama, but where he ends up on his forehand rather than his backhand. He is very effective with this kind of pass which he often makes along the boards. He manages to roll his coverer’s check very well, greatly limiting the impact he takes and being on his forehand rather than his backhand, his head faces the game and he can spot the best possible option. The last prospect I saw using this kind of play routinely was Jacob Perreault with the Sarnia Sting in 2020.

One last thing that I liked a lot about Sale’s passing game is that he showed himself to be an excellent passer in all three zones, and thus to be a positive influence for his team in zone exits as well as in transition. Often, with prospects playing forwards, we tend to look at the quality of their passes in the offensive zone, but to be an effective player in the NHL, you have to demonstrate being an able passer with good decision-making in the other two zones as well. Earlier in the season, I had seen Sale pass across the width of the ice, through multiple obstacles, to join a teammate on the other side in full acceleration. I was very impressed.

Another place where he seemed to have ground against his peers in this draft was in his puck handling. At the start of the season, he was playing with a lot more confidence, and with less worry. He challenged the defenders and he embarrassed many of them with magnificent dangles. He used very nice moves coming out of an offensive ‘Cycling’ to then win the center and venture into the high-danger areas.

One thing I particularly liked was that he could integrate other qualities like his skating skills and his strength in puck protection inside his dekes. For example, he attacks the triangle of a defender and tries to go around him. However, the defender moved laterally and he engaged the body and tried to push Sale off balance, luckily he is a great skater and can cover a lot of ice in one push and he is also very strong on his skates, managing to remain in balance.

Which brings me to one of the aspects of his game that I liked the most at the start of the season: his play in a situation of puck battle.

Subtly, I found him very strong in this facet. The main reason is that he is very strong on his skates. Particularly, on his inside edges, which makes him turn very well on himself and he shines when it comes time to roll off his checks. He plays with a wide skating base and even playing against men he’s hard to push off balance. I was very surprised by how many battles he won along the board playing against men.

Another reason that explains why I liked this facet of him so much is that he is also particularly strong on his stick. He puts a lot of weight on it and it’s very difficult to lift his stick to take the puck away from him. Also, he uses it brilliantly by pushing an opponent’s stick with his own, while he has the puck, to create space and then go in the direction that offers the most space.

Being identified primarily as a playmaker, Sale still has a good shot. His wrist shot is quite heavy and he likes to shoot high, with a puck that has a lot of velocity and gain elevation quickly, it makes it very difficult for goaltenders to control their rebounds. His backhand shot is also an interesting weapon, plus he has the puck handling to make goalies bite at a move just before.

As for the quality of his skating, which has been mentioned a few times already, I admit that it is a quality in him that I overestimated in the first half of the season. His speed remains good and he can be a threat to defenders when he doesn’t have the puck when he likes to huddle behind them. He gets odd-man rushes chances like that, but even if he doesn’t receive the puck, he forces defenders back and that opens up space for his teammates. In the first half of the season, I found that he was really a ‘natural’ skater where this ability just seems innate in him and everything seems easy. Maybe that was a little generous. He has nothing to envy to the average prospect, but he does not elevate himself high above the rest with his skating ability.

What appealed to me the most about his skating ability (I would also include the aspects that were mentioned in his puck protection game earlier) was that he always seemed to demonstrate notions of superior intelligence within his skating. We have an example here, he has a certain lead on the defender, but not enough to make his way to the net, he will then push the defender’s stick away with his leg, while continuing to push with his outside leg to maintain optimal speed and then skillfully make a wraparound and pass in the slot for a scoring chance.

On the other hand, as I mentioned, his speed is not as great as I would have thought at first sight. However, what bothers me the most is that the Czech forward always plays at the same speed. He does not use sudden acceleration and sudden stops to create separation. I hate (!) ultra-fast players who can only play at one speed (Oliver Moore, Isaac Howard to name a few) so it becomes even more of a problem when said player does not have elite speed.

During the season, I showed leniency towards him given that he was playing in a professional league at only 17 years old. However, the games where his involvement was lacking started to get bigger and all of a sudden, the sample was sufficient for the doubts to be well founded. I was looking forward to the 5-Nations tournament in February when I was going to be able to evaluate him against players of his age group. His involvement was very sporadic, not to say derisory. A good way to assess a player’s character is to pay close attention to how he will respond after a bad shift. In a game against Sweden, Sale was at the point on the PP and he couldn’t quite catch a bouncing puck and it left the offensive zone. An opposing forward was coming at full speed into the neutral zone to seize it, Sale, who already had a good head start, backchecked very softly, when he realized that an opponent was coming on him, he tried to protect the puck without too much enthusiasm and he lost possession of it. He returned to the bench, furious, and we could see him shouting a word that begins with the letter ‘F’ and which rhymes with the word ‘Truck’. It was the perfect opportunity to see what he was made of and how aggressively he was going to play on his next shift. However, nothing seemed to change. He even missed a few defensive covers in the next few minutes, and he didn’t went into the corners with more aggressiveness. That’s when I threw in the towel. It may sound dramatic and harsh a bit, but a player’s mental makeup reveals as much genetics as their size or physical strength. And that is a fact! We won’t venture too deep into neuroscience, but it’s been proven that the configuration of people’s brains strongly impacts their behavior and their resistance to stress and challenge. There’s a reason why some people seem like adrenaline junkies, others who know how to take big risks in positions of power, and on the other spectrum, there are more passive and highly organized people. Nowadays, players have access to sports psychologists and mental trainers who help them overcome their mental obstacles, but even if I respect this profession enormously, it still has a limit. Just as, in the same way, physical training cannot make a bad skater the next Pavel Bure. The desire to be the best is something innate. You either have it or you don’t. I am a strength and conditioning coach and with experience, I am able to tell at first-glance who are the people who are going to cheat their training and those who are going to follow what is prescribed to them to the letter.

Those concerns seemed to validate me at the U-18 World Championship where Sale was not an impact player. I still think he’s a great talent and I would sincerely like him to be able to bounce back and become a top 6 forward. His case oddly reminds me of Oskar Olausson back in 2021 : a European forward who performs well against adults at the start of the season, but for whom the lack of involvement and aggressiveness in his work-ethic seems to hold him back from reaching his full potential. I played it safe in Olausson’s case by still ranking him 18th on my list in 2021, and since then I’ve been waiting for the day when he will show the desire to compete on the ice and play at the height of his talent. His stint in the OHL was very disappointing and he is not producing in the AHL.

Number of games watched : 21

22. Oscar Fisker-Molgaard

Oscar Fisker-Molgaard is a Danish player who has been playing in the Swedish hockey system for the past two seasons. He spent most of the 2022-2023 schedule in SHL with the HV71. Players aged 17-18 who earn a recall in SHL or any other professional league in Europe are not that rare and you have to take this information with a grain of salt. On the other hand, the players who spend most of the season there and contribute to the success of the team are more unusual.

The reason Fisker-Molgaard has spent the majority of the season in the SHL is that he is very mature on the ice and has a great defensive IQ. He is, for me, one of the 5 best defensive forwards in this draft.

It is not for nothing that he was given a permanent center position in the SHL at 17. The support he offers to his defenders is excellent. He perfectly recognizes situations where he has to backcheck prematurely, and he will always do so without flinching, demonstrating a good level of maturity. Along the boards too, he is always well positioned to support his defenders.

We have an example here of the kind of play-reading he does defensively. The opposing team is in offensive ‘Cycling’ and the puck returns to the point, one of the defenders of the HV71 went up quite high in the zone, because he was chasing the carrier of the puck. Fisker-Molgaard then covers him by staying close to his goaltender to watch a player in the slot. The defender at the right point decides to send the puck down the board behind the net (on the side where Fisker-Molgaard is). It is at this moment that we observe the young Dane read the play and subsequently make a wise decision in a fraction of a second. He was going to go behind his net to grab the puck, but he assessed that it had enough speed to get to the other side and that he was not sure to intercept it at this time. He therefore withdrew from his momentum and remained in front of the net.

(Fisker is at the right of the screen, in blue)

He let his defenseman go one-on-one for the puck with an opponent on the other side and he stayed with his own player in the slot to cover him. This turned out to be a wise move, as his defender lost his battle to his opponent and there would have been an opposing player completely alone in the slot. It requires very good defensive instincts to have judicious reactions of this kind, whereas we only speak of a tiny fraction of a second to read the situation and react accordingly.

With the puck in his zone, he shows great composure as he never gives in to pressure and uses his good skating skills to get past a player with a pivot before making a breakout or pass to his defenseman.

Another reason he excels both ways is his work ethic. He has the mentality on the ice of never losing a battle for the puck and that’s something you see defensively when he’s chasing the puck and putting pressure on an opponent.

It is with this same attitude that he plays in the offensive zone. He battles very hard to gain his position in the center of the offensive zone as well as in the slot. As much without as with the puck. Were sequences where it was his winger who entered the offensive zone with the puck and we saw Fisker-Molgaard looking to get to the net, but the defenders blocked his way with legal interference, he still worked very hard to go to the net, or at least, to keep his stick on the ice for a possible deflection. It is a constant in his game to always continue his actions at the net.

In his toolbox of individual skills, his skating is his greatest strength. His speed and agility are very good. Which leads to good things when coupled with his intensity as well as his understanding of the game.

His feet are very fast, which makes him excellent at changing his angles of attack and directions when carrying the puck.

He also has a very high level of coordination with his whole body. At full speed in the neutral zone, he receives a pass, but it is behind him, he turns backwards while maintaining his speed, skillfully receives the puck and completes his spinorama in the same and unique motion without losing speed. The most impressive thing is that he made this play when an opponent came to close the gap on him. He made a play of great fluidity while having an imminent threat. He’s really not scared.

The young Dane has good hands that he uses mainly to avoid opposing pressure.

His best asset offensively, however, is his passing skills. This is mainly what characterizes his offensive game. It’s pretty hard to see the offensive tendencies of 17-18 year olds in SHL, unless you’re an exceptional like Leo Carlsson.

What makes him a good playmaker is that he takes advantage of goaltenders movement to create scoring chances. Often it’s the goal scorers who are good at reading the goalies; their posture, their movements, the openings, the tendencies in their game, etc. But Fisker-Molgaard does it as a playmaker. For example, when receiving a cross-ice pass, he will read the lateral movement of the goalkeeper in his net and he will wait for his slide to be completed to return the puck to the other side with a cross-ice pass. Doing so just increases the distance and time it will take for the keeper to return to the other side and gives his teammate a better chance to score.

He shows the same understanding of the position of defenders by waiting for their skates and stick to be turned towards him before passing to a teammate to lessen the risk that they can deflect his pass out of harm’s way.

He also finds a way to create space for his teammates even though he’s not the biggest as he drives into the center of the offensive zone with plenty of speed, push back defenders and leaves the puck to a teammate behind him to a teammate who has the luxury of attacking the center (or not) with plenty of room to take a shot. Fisker-Molgaard continues his journey to the net and brings the defenders with him. It is still quite rare to see a center, who’s physically frail, create space for his teammates. Noah Ostlund was also doing it last year.

At the moment, it is mainly through his playmaking that the Dane can provide offense for his team, because his shot is lackluster.

I still appreciate this player a lot, but the biggest question mark concerning his future rests on his physical development.

He is sorely lacking in physical strength and this is detrimental to his game along the boards, however determined he may be in these situations. And for the moment, he still plays a style of game where he has to use his body; go through the boards at full speed, attack the net, etc. One thing is certain, he will need a few seasons to gain muscle maturity.

Currently, his measurements are listed at 6’0 and 163 lbs, which suggests room for a lot of progress in this area. That being said, it is not something that is guaranteed. Not all players have the ability to gain muscle mass easily in their genetic makeup. Many players in the past on whom I took bold positions presented this kind of profile; as much talent as their pairs, if not more! but they lacked muscle mass and strength, I told myself that over the years, this weakness would disappear and that these players would be able to catch up with their rivals. However, that didn’t happen… (Vladislav Kolyachonok and Brayden Tracey in 2019, Mavrik Bourque and Lukas Reichel in 2020 (who had very good seasons by the way, only the force is still not there ), Julian Lutz and Alexander Perevalov last year (although it is still very early in their case).

That being said, I still believe that Fisker-Molgaard can project himself as a 3rd center in the NHL. His progress since last year is dazzling! While he had collected only 8 pts in 25 games in the under-20 league in Sweden…. This year we are talking about 23 pts in 21 games in this league, and 7 pts in 41 games in SHL. These are not exceptional stats by any means, but they compare favorably to those of Marco Kasper last year! He doesn’t have as much talent or passion, but it’s still worth mentioning.

My comparison for him in the year was kind of a Marcus Johansson, but he didn’t show enough offense for my liking in my later viewing. I remain optimistic all the same and I will follow his development with interest.

Number of games watched : 17

23. David Edstrom

A tall Swedish player playing in the center position, I had watched a few games of his at the start of the winter and despite the fact that I felt a certain appreciation for the player, I had seen fit not to continue my viewing on him, because I did not anticipate finding him a place in my top 32. Doing my homework on Otto Stenberg (Swedish compatriot and also a teammate at Frolunda) who is difficult to assess, because he always seems to look very good in international competition, but failed to dominate in the J20 in Sweden, I went to watch some SHL games to see what he looks like against men in a higher caliber. Surprise, in those games I watched, Edstrom happened to be his center and I was blown away by his play. Not only was he better than Stenberg, he was very good against the caliber of the SHL . It was clear that I needed to expand my sample on this player, so I looked at all 11 games he played in SHL (some of which his ice-time was quite limited). It was a very good context to evaluate him. He’s not the kind of player who will shine in a league like the J20, and if you’ve been reading me for a few years now, you must know my disdain for this league.

At 6’3 and 187 lbs, he is, for me, possibly the best defensive forward in the draft. He always plays on the right side of the puck. His defensive reads are extremely advanced. It not only requires a maturity that is not so common among players of his age, to be ready to sacrifice offense for the good of his team, but it requires a very good overall vision of the game to see where are his teammates on the ice who is caught out of position or who could commit a turnover.

He does not hesitate to play deep in his own zone and he can also clear the front of his own net, being helped by his strong size.

Still without the puck, Edstrom is a threat on the forecheck as well as chasing the puck. He has a great motor and is constantly applying pressure to the puck carrier. He is not content to be a simple passenger, if he is going to apply pressure on a defender and the latter makes a pass before Edstrom takes the puck away from him, he is not going to backcheck quietly since he was the first player on the forecheck, he will immediately move towards the recipient of the pass to annoy him. He influences the game defensively.

Offensively, Edstrom uses his strong puck-retrieval game along the board to win battles and then set the table for a teammate in the slot.

His play in those spots on the ice is very strong, because he is a player who plays with his head held high and who recognizes the pressure that is coming on him. To complement this, he also has a good level of talent that allows him to avoid being pinned against the boards, even if he has to pass the puck to himself by the boards. He is a player who demonstrates good resources in suffocating situations.

His size will always give him an advantage in certain situations, but what Edstrom does well is to incorporate this facet within his individual abilities. For example, by being very strong on his stick when handling the puck to prevent his opponents from lifting his stick and stealing the puck from him. He also has good hands, which makes for an interesting combination. I saw him perform a deke inside a defender’s triangle (area bounded between the base of their skates and their stick) and then skillfully pass his stick under his opponent to prevent the latter from lifting his stick. This requires a very high level of execution and also an understanding of fine subtleties that are very rarely seen in players of this age.

He will always be a hard task for defenders to restrain in front of the net, where he scored many of his goals.

He also has some interesting offensive awareness as I saw him pick up a puck very close to the net, on his backhand, in a rather awkward position. Rather than trying to jam the puck desperately on his backhand behind the goalie, he cleverly turned around after taking possession of the puck and handed it to the other side to a teammate who had the net open, but who missed the target.

He is a player that I see still having potential to be exploited, both physically and in terms of skills. He may not become a Top-6 player, but for me he has the potential to be a very important piece in a secondary role on a championship team. I wouldn’t be surprised if at the end of the day he didn’t have a better impact than several guys ranked ahead of him, even if he’s not a player that will capture people’s attention.

Number of games watched : 13

24. Ethan Gauthier

Playing for the Sherbrooke Phoenix, Ethan Gauthier is the figurehead among QMJHL prospects ahead of the 2023 NHL Draft.

What I like the most about this prospect is the identity he has. This can often be seen derisively when a young player is called a ‘compliment’, but it is quite the contrary of my assessment of him. The qualities I am referring to in a good complementary piece are qualities that are almost on the way out in hockey these days where there is a (sometimes overemphasized) insistence on pure skill, and not enough on understanding of the game.

One of the things I like about this kind of player is also the maturity, the intelligence and the critical sense that the player demonstrates in his self-assessment. As much as it is desirable to see young talents experimenting on the ice (even if it means making occasional mistakes), as much as it is appreciable when players know how to play within their limits.

I am also referring to the physical aspect, which is a quality that is increasingly being lost among young prospects. On several occasions this season, I have seen Gauthier deliver spectacular checks to an opponent who had his head down in possession of the puck.

Gauthier is, in other words, a player who excels in small details. The place where he demonstrates skills well beyond the average is, for me, at the level of his game in puck protection. These are several fine subtleties that bring this aspect of his game to a higher level.

Topping the list would be Gauthier’s proactive way of identifying and acknowledging threats to him on the ice, and then adopting an advantageous body position.

We see him in the example here looking over his shoulder to see a player coming from behind and pushing him away with his free arm.

From a more technical point of view, Gauthier, who is 5’11, 176 lbs, has a perfect understanding of how to use leverages to his advantage.

We have an example here where we see him initiating contact himself by lowering his center of gravity, he pushes the player back with his free arm while distancing the puck out of reach by extending his reach.

One aspect that isn’t mentioned often enough in puck protection is puck placement. It’s not just a matter of physically pushing your opponents back, it’s also about placing the puck in a place that is not accessible to them with their stick. It is possible to prevail in this facet despite not having an imposing size. To do this, the player must keep the puck very close to his skating base. Brad Marchand, Pavel Datsyuk and Mason MacTavish, to name a recent prospect, are all players who have distinguished themselves by this technicality.

We have an example here.

There is a very nice pivot between two players, but what you have to pay attention to is how close he keeps the puck to his skates.

Another more advanced aspect of Gauthier’s puck protection is that he will maintain his skating cadence with his outside leg to maintain his speed and distance himself from his coverer. Few players think of doing it. He’s able to not only buy time for his teammates, but he’s able to create offense on his own with this skill because he stays in motion.

It is really in the open spaces that he excels. Along the boards, he uses his body less and instead looks to beat his coverer with changes of direction and he doesn’t have the ‘evasiveness’ of small, agile players.

With the puck, the Sherbrooke Phoenix player has what I call ‘reactive’ hands. He is not necessarily a player with great offensive creativity who will deliberately manipulate his opponents, but he has the quickness in his hands to avoid a pokecheck at the very last second.

It’s a bit what I mentioned in the introduction with his skills which complement many more talented teammates: he will not be the player who will control the play, but, positioned in the ‘Bumper‘, his hands are sufficiently quick to pick up the puck and place it to set up his shot in one motion.

He showed certain flashes of creativity and audacity during certain sequences where, on zone entries, an opponent quickly closed the gap on him, not having the acceleration force or the speed necessary to beat him, Gauthier braked, and in a static position baited his opponent who rushed at him at full speed, at the last second he passed the puck between the skates and dodged his opponent, leaving in the other direction.

As a passer, there are parallels to be drawn with his puck handling; without being super creative, his decision-making and execution is quick, he can even be seen in the ‘Bumper‘ (sounds familiar) taking the right options quickly while under pressure.

He is often at his best in sequences where he is called upon to make quick plays. He is very comfortable from behind the net as well as from the goal line to deliver to his teammates, he also has no problems passing on his backhand.

Once again, it is in the nuances and subtleties that he will demonstrate what he can do. In the neutral zone, he has the puck and a 2 on 2 is taking shape, but he does not have the speed to go down the wing and attempt a play, he will then drift towards the boards, slowing down subtly to attract a defender on him, he’s going to let his teammate pick up speed and he’s going to send the puck on his backhand with a saucer pass into a free spot so that it becomes a race for a loose puck up the crease (his teammate almost had a one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper). It also demonstrates an understanding of the limitations of his game, which I mentioned earlier.

On a less positive note, I don’t really like his playmaking coming from along the boards. He often tends to make passes by turning on himself, whether off the rush or once the play is set up in the offensive zone. Having a good idea of ​​the portrait of the player, I do not believe that he tries these plays out of fantasy. Often this is his last resort. However, the success rate was really low, and above all, he has other qualities on which he can rely to buy time, for example, his puck protection.

As for his skating, his speed is rather average. He’s still decent, but he lacks a small notch of acceleration, which may explain said passes by turning on himself when he enters the offensive zone along the board.

As for Gauthier’s projection, what’s interesting is that for most prospects, the question is whether they will be able to improve on their weaknesses to reach the NHL or to be successful there, in his case, the question is rather whether he can reach an even higher level in the things he already does well to establish himself as a good complement on a team.

He’s a kind of player I like, the ideal prototype being a Zach Hyman (let’s ignore his production this season). That’s why I had Josh Doan in my top 32 in 2021.

Unfortunately, he does not have the ideal size and speed to excel in this kind of role, which means that I see less flexibility in his projection and that I see him more as a Bottom-6 player.

However, the contribution of this type of player in the playoffs should not be minimized! With his way of playing, a coach will be happy to include him in his lineup.

Number of games watched : 20

25. Gracyn Sawchyn

Gracyn Sawchyn is a 5’11, 165 lbs American forward who plays for the powerhouse Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL. I feel a certain degree of satisfaction to have ranked him in my top 32 in October, but I must admit that I did not expect such good progress from him.

A small player combining both a ‘pest’ side and good individual skill, it is above all his passing skills that amaze me the most. His playmaking is mainly characterized by his extremely fast processing capacity as well as his ability to perform split-second play. Without exaggeration, he is most likely the player who has impressed me the most with One-Touch Passes. I had never seen a player opt for this type of pass to reach a target so far away. I saw him make a pass like this from the offensive blue line on the right to join a teammate at the mouth of the net on the left.

We have a few examples here of his very rapid acquisition of information. He grabs a puck in the neutral zone and a 2-on-1 situation develops. However, the puck makes a funny bounce before he has full control of it and it ends up behind him while he was in full acceleration. He remains in motion and makes a pass behind his back, from the backhand, without losing a single fraction of a second. (Sawchyn is at the bottom of the screen in blue)

He reaches his teammate on the other side who was able to beat the goaltender.

We have another example here, he rushes on a loose puck in the neutral zone and sends it on his backhand, between his legs, to a teammate to facilitate a zone entry.

It is with this kind of ingenious play that he manages to catch the other team off guard and push the tempo of his team when he steps on the ice.

Beyond his alertness, we find a very good quality in terms of his passing accuracy, even through multiple layers of defense. It requires a good level of skill. I saw him pull off a totally absurd diagonal saucer backhand pass (very high) in the neutral zone while the play was congested on his side and the puck fell directly flat on his teammate’s stick.

His passing skills gain in substance due to the fact that he is a player who does not fear physical contact. He can delay his plays along the boards by drawing pressure towards him and then handing it over to his teammate. With the precision of his passes, he manages to reach his target even if he is watched very closely.

His passing game has taken another level as his puck handling has improved over the season, he can now breakdown layers of defense on his own to open up play for his teammates.

This is the second point that prevails the most in his game: Sawchyn is an excellent puck handler. At the start of the season, I didn’t find his hands that soft, and above all, I found that he maneuvered the puck with his head down when he tried to dangle. Barely a month or two later, it was day and night. He has some of the best hands in this draft. He has a good level of creativity in a one-on-one situation in tight spaces, but what also makes him exceptional is that he has the quality of the hands to attack the triangle of the defenders (the space between the skating base and the blade of the stick) and if they try to play the puck, they risk being dangled. But if they try to play the body (which is the thing to do) Sawchyn is SO evasive, agile and combative that he finds ways to move his body, spin or whatever to avoid getting caught.  He has the ability to make fans jump out of their seats.

Another identity aspect of the Thunderbirds player is that he is extremely competitive. He works very hard on the ice, will constantly make his defensive backchecks, always stays in motion in the offensive zone, continues his actions at the net, comes first on loose pucks, etc. But what brings me to his compete-level is that Sawchyn plays with a lot of bite in his game. Despite a less than optimal size, he likes to play physical, and often even, quite borderline. He also has this little agitator side where he disturbs his opponents after the whistle.

However, all is not perfect with Sawchyn. He still has a good wrist shot and he has some scoring traits in him as he takes advantage of the movements of the goalkeepers to shoot in the other direction they’re moving. However, he’s not a guy who takes a lot of shots, and in a strong number of my recent viewing on the player, I haven’t seen him bring a lot of pucks to the net as well as taking shots from dangerous areas.

His skating also leaves me lukewarm. His speed, and especially his agility, took a good step this season. But I still see his skating as an aspect that slightly holds him back from reaching another level. He’s not inherently slow, but his top speed isn’t optimal for a player of his size. Listed at 165 lbs at 5’11, he has plenty of room to add muscle mass as well as power in his stride, but when a player doesn’t look particularly explosive at this stage in their development, it’s harder to envision them adding such a notch in their skating.

Speaking about it, that’s also something I wanted to mention, Sawchyn looks considerably shorter than the 5’11 he’s currently listed at.

In conclusion, he’s a player I’m willing to spend time on and quite like overall. It was a bit difficult to assess him in the season, because he did not always have the best ice-time with his team, but in return, he often played against the weaker elements of the opposing teams. I also had to be careful not to fall into the trap of stopping my opinion following games against weak teams like the Victoria Royals against whom he had sensational games. Sawchyn reminded me a bit of Nick Merkley at certain points during the season. A small player who lacks a bit of speed, who plays much bigger than his size and who is defined offensively above all by his quality as a playmaker. I saw a lot of this player in 2015 since my 2 favorite prospects (Josh Morrissey and Leon Draisaitl) played with the Kelowna Rockets. I had watched every game they had played in the WHL playoffs.

What scares me the most about Sawchyn is that his biggest flashes are all connected to ‘Small Areas Skills’. Every time he pulls off nice dangles or manages to get away from the opposing pressure, that’s all well and good, but often it doesn’t lead to anything concrete. For all the fanfare that may come with his game, I don’t find him responsible for a lot of scoring chances, and he himself doesn’t get that many shots from the slot and high-danger areas. On the other hand, you have to give it to him, he brings a lot of substance with his hard work and his agitator side.

Numbers of games watched : 21

26. Alexander Rykov

A rather unknown name, Rykov is a Russian forward who has spent most of the season in the VHL (the equivalent of the American League (AHL) in Russia), which is not so usual for a young player of 17 years old. (His birthday being July 14, he is one of the young players in the draft). In addition to that, he earned 6 games in the KHL. His production of 11 pts in 20 VHL games represents better numbers than those of Fyodor Svechkov and Nikita Chibrikov, first and second round picks, respectively, in 2021.

Rykov is an excellent skater, he demonstrates both very good top speed and superior agility. He’s one of those players who just looks ‘light‘ on his feets and seems to fly over the rink, even at the pro level.

One of the things that shines a light on his speed is how fearless he is when making a rush at the net. At 5’11 170 lbs, we are not talking about a player with an imposing size, but he still made several of the most impressive rushes to the net I have seen this season. He really isn’t afraid.

He is also helped by the fact that he is quite strong on his skating base. If he ever doesn’t come in with enough speed to bypass the defenseman, he will lower his center of gravity and get under the defender to find a way to get to the net. He shows a lot of combativeness on this kind of sequence.

His agility on skates is also very impressive. He can beat players through successions of pivots and changes of direction. He also has a very high level of coordination. Much like I noted in a sequence involving Oskar Fisker-Molgaard, Rykov can catch passes behind him in transition by turning his back on the game and completing a spinorama on himself without losing speed and securing possession of the puck, which is very impressive.

His handling of the puck is also an aspect of his game that stands very high among his peers. He has one of the best pairs of hands in the draft. He can perform dangle while at full speed, which is a rare quality and certainly not shared by all prospects. He can also pull impressive moves in tight spaces, which adds to his value behind the net as well as along the boards.

Which is, by the way, one of his greatest qualities: His play along the boards. It may seem surprising given his size, but don’t get me wrong, Rykov EXCELS in this facet.

In my eyes, this facet is an individual skill in the same way as skating, shooting or others. This is not just based on the size of the players. There are several subtleties that make a player manage to add value to his game in this aspect. In the case of Rykov, we find several.

To begin with, his level of coordination is simply at a higher level. He manages to manage pucks that are very difficult to control in a confined space by bringing them from his skates to his stick, or vice versa, while remaining in motion. He can chain pivots as said earlier and he is surprisingly strong on his skates. To continue in the surprises, he is also very strong on his stick, both to protect the puck and to lift the stick to his opponents and steal the puck from them.

But what I like the most about Rykov in this facet is the mentality he plays with. He is like a dog on a bone, he will never give up. Even when he is pinned against the boards, he finds a way to free an arm and goes to get the puck, with all his reach and bring the puck back to him.

This mentality follows Rykov everywhere on the ice while his work ethic is beyond reproach. He pounces on each loose puck like a predator waiting for it. He is never late when it is time to apply pressure on his opponents and this is helped by his reads as well as his sense of anticipation.

I mentioned his propensity to attack the net at full speed and that to me is a good indicator of a player’s desire to compete.

In addition, I also saw several sequences which showed me that he plays with a lot of bite in his game. During a game, he was the victim of knee-to-knee contact. He got up painfully following this contact and clearly seemed in pain. The puck came back close to him and the player who hit him was the one who was heading for this loose puck. Rykov waited for him, never played the puck and tried to take revenge on his opponent. It’s something you look for in a prospect. Replicate blow for blow and do not let yourself be given shits. I also saw him give a solid hip check to a defenseman who had left his position.

Going back to the offensive side of things, his shot has some high-level elements. His release is very quick. In his way of setting his shots, he does not need to drag the puck far behind him, he shoots his shots while the puck never leaves his skating base. Even when he’s in movement, he doesn’t give goalies any clues of when he’s going to shoot.

To accompany his shot, Rykov is helped by a good overall understanding of the game and the positions to adopt in the offensive zone. He manages to find soft spaces on the ice to offer himself as a passing option. He stays in motion and he is not a player who stays on the periphery.

His passing skills impressed me more than his ability to finish, where he can show some inconsistency in the quality of his shot.

He has a good level of creativity near the net, and with his prevalence of playing well in small spaces, he can take full advantage of his offensive prowess even when marked closely by his opposition. The softness of his hands also helps him set the table for his teammates as he is one of the good players in this draft to execute saucer passes.

And just like in his shooting skills, recognizing the position of players on the ice is an element that stands out in the Russian’s passing skills. Even in the defensive zone or neutral zone, he spots right away when one of his teammates is cheating a bit and huddles behind defensive coverage, and joins him with a quick one-touch pass.

It’s a shame because Rykov was plagued by injuries in the second half of the season and he hardly played after January. He also spent the season in a relatively high caliber where it is difficult for young players to display their offensive talent. Despite that, Rykov showed me enough to assert himself as a player I would take a chance on. I believe that he will be even better in the years to come when he has gained in muscle mass as well as in muscular strength. Being a relatively unknown player, it will be interesting to see where he will drop.

Number of games watched :15

27. Calum Ritchie

Each season, there is one (or more) player(s) I seem unable to get my head around. Showing up this season: Calum Ritchie. 2nd overall pick in the 2020 OHL draft behind Quentin Musty, I really liked what I saw of him in his 16-year-old OHL season. His season started with a Hlinka tournament where he was pretty ordinary. This is yet another example of how misleading it can be to rely on stats to assess player’s performance, as Ritchie finished first in tournament scoring! He ended his OHL season with a harvest of 59 pts in 59 games. He was difficult for me to evaluate, not because he was very inconsistent in his performance, but rather because he was quite vanilla. After a dozen isolated viewing on the player, I still had a hard time figuring out what the consistency was in his game and where he really stood out from his rivals.

In his primary qualities, his wrist shot is definitely NHL level. His shot is very heavy and his way of releasing makes it difficult for goalkeepers, because he does not show any clues in his momentum. He does not drag the puck behind him before shooting and also does not follow his motion with his stick after the puck has left his blade, limiting the information the goalkeeper can take. He is a dangerous shooter who only needs a fraction of a second to release and he is able to do so even while covered.

His puck placement in his shots is also very good. He prioritizes low shots glove side and he likes to shoot against the movements of the goalkeepers.

Ritchie is at his best, in my opinion, when his puck possessions are short. He’s not a player with great offensive creativity, but he can pull a few interesting move on a few occasions if the puck is handed to him in a dangerous spot and imminent coverage comes at him, pulling off some nice dekes.

However, this is not a consistency in his game, as I consider his puck-handling to lean towards the average side of things.

His ability to prepare plays for his teammates was difficult to assess. First, he played in the ‘Bumper’ position during the power play, so we saw him less in a position to control plays and create offense. To have seen him last year, he regularly moved to one of the circles and often made beautiful cross-ice passes to his teammate Ty Tullio.

I haven’t seen a lot of creativity from him this season and found his vision to be quite limited overall.

Were a few sequences that came to question these assertions as he deftly won the center of the slot before handing to a teammate at the goalmouth.

In terms of his skating, his speed is pretty decent and he won’t have trouble keeping up with the NHL pace. On the other hand, he does not have very good agility when he finds himself in the corners or along the boards. He will not be able to dispose of opponents by himself in situations where the space is rather closed. It’s a reason that adds to the fact that I have difficulty envisioning him on a chair of a significant role in the NHL.

It is difficult to see what he can bring to a team to make himself indispensable. In junior, there were games where I saw him win a lot of battles for the puck along the boards. However, he did it without showing great combativeness. He seemed helped by his advantageous size, without necessarily using it efficiently. This is one of his qualities that I have difficulty projecting with the same rate of effectiveness in the NHL.

I still have trouble knowing how he will develop. He comes with a good pedigree as a prospect, a good size and certain habits (his positioning and his play in the neutral zone, his puck support) which make him a player who could easily be thrown into a Bottom-6 role. But on the other hand, I just find him too bland, and having to advocate for him to my GM, I wouldn’t have many arguments and would just rather take another player.

Number of games watched : 25

28. Axel Sandin-Pelikka

This small size defenseman has been a subject of attention for a good part of the year, after being put at the forefront of the Swedish team during the WJC, as well as being named to the U-18 Tournament All-Star Team. He is unquestionably a good defenseman at the junior level, but I have several reservations about his impact in the NHL, which explains my lower position on him inside my ranking.

He is first and foremost a good skater. It is inside his skating that we see him demonstrating the most confidence, both with and without the puck.

From an offensive perspective, Sandin-Pelikka patrols the blue line well and does not hesitate to use a skillful pivot if the pressure is strong on him. His mobility is very good and he adds to that shoulders and head fakes to beat his opponents at the blue line who advances on him.

His skating gives him some value in transition, but I found during the season that he took advantage of the Olympic rinks a lot, preferring to stay on the outside and stay away from the pressure.

To defend, his skating is of great service to him in his puck recovery game, where he can use his agility to chain a few directional dekes with his ankles to get rid of a forward on the forecheck. He can also close gaps quickly.

He skates very well backwards, on the other hand, it regularly happens to him to be beaten by the outside. His pivots in and of themselves are not slow, but the decision-making that precedes them is. It’s as if he doesn’t recognize the speed with which his opponents are coming and he realizes it a second too late.

He’s been seen primarily as an offensive defender this season, and that’s one aspect of his game that I find on occasion grossly exaggerated.

Of course, he is confident offensively, but for me, the majority of his value in the offensive zone comes from his ‘activation’ which is his propensity to leave his position as a defender to support the attack. This brings an element of unpredictability to opposing defenses and gives his teammates an extra option. On the other hand, it regularly happens to him to ventures too deeply in the offensive zone. Even in the SHL, he was often seen in the slot or in front of the net, without necessarily being free enough for a pass. If the puck falls into opposing hands, you end up with a forward in the position of defending, which is not desired. He also had a tendency to leave his position too quickly during zone exits.

His pinches have also been too aggressive for my taste on several occasions during the season.

In judging more tangible abilities, I still come to the conclusion that he was elevated to a status he should never have enjoyed. It is especially his shot that I have in mind when I make such a statement. He will have scored a few goals in J20 with a one-timer or a shot from the top of the circles, and people will have attributed him, wrongly, an excellent shot among his offensive arsenal. Which is not really the case. His shot is not that powerful, but above all, his execution is very inconsistent; he’ll miss one-timers fending the air, he’ll fire weak shots from the slot, etc.

When it comes to his puck distribution, I do not see anything very shiny. He shows a lot of limits as a puck distributor. On the power play he was used along the ‘Half-Wall’, both in the J20 in Sweden, and with the national team and no flashes worthy of attention were observed. He passes the puck to the player at the goal line or to the defender who is patrolling the blue line. I didn’t see him skillfully use the player in the slot or pass through the defensive box.

I have to admit, I didn’t like the decision to put him there on the power play and would have been better off playing at the point where he can at least maximize his skating skills.

There’s also the fact that several plays he makes offensively strike me as plays that won’t translate so easily to the NHL. For example, his club in J20 has implemented a play in their system where Sandin-Pelikka passes the puck to his defense partner in their own zone, the latter takes his time remaining static and waiting for the pressure, during this time, Sandin-Pelikka skates at full speed by the boards and returned to the blue line of the other team, cuts towards the center, his defender throws a bomb at him and he takes the opportunity to escape alone against the goalkeeper. It’s a game pre-established by his J20 formation (he also did it once or twice during the most recent U-18), but it’s still junior stuff all the same….

His offensive contribution is not high enough to overcome his limitations in his own area.

His game under pressure has been lacking for much of the year. Not because he is too nervous in these situations and fears getting hit, but rather because he seems to lack urgency in his game. This lack of urgency comes back in other defensive aspects as well. For example, he is going to lose a battle in the corner and the player he is responsible for covering is going to move towards the front of the net, he seems to give up on the sequence, does not backcheck on his player and he scores a goal following a pass that came from behind the net.

His play along the boards was also a facet that I found problematic during the season. He is not afraid of physical contact per se, but he has difficulty defending those places adequately. The reason is that he approaches these scenarios with poor technique, going towards the forward with his stick extended at arm’s length rather than keeping his posture aligned with his opponent’s chest. He does not make physical contact to nail his opponent along the boards and in addition, he arrives with a bad angle with his skates, compromising too much towards a given direction and he can be left behind with a simple pivot. It seemed much better in the U-18, but it bothered me a lot at the 5-Nations tournament as well as in the J20. However, it is still something that can easily be worked on with the right coaching staff.

When dealing with smaller defenders, there will always be concessions to be made defensively. One of those things is that they generally have a much shorter reach (with the exception of Tanner Molendyk) and that puts them more at risk of getting beat from the outside in 1v1 situations. In his zone exits, ASP commits errors due to this so-called shorter reach. He’s a defender who’s good at getting off the pressure in tight spaces, but ironically it’s when he has more space that things go wrong. He’ll look to deke a player, but even though he’s a good skater, he’s not a powerful skater, so he won’t be able to cover a lot of ice laterally, and with his short reach, he’s at risk of having the puck stripped from him.

Also note that his positioning in the neutral zone during games in the SHL also displeased me, remaining with a penchant too strong for the offensive, he remains too high, and also too wide, and he was often caught running after the puck if it changed possession.

By virtue of his offensive game which does not compensate for his defensive deficiencies observed in the season at various points, I have difficulty in seeing how he could be essential for a formation and to see him among the top 4 of his team. He was good at the WJC and you have to give it to him, but the masses got too excited about him this season, in part because he played in SHL. We must be careful with this last point, it is not, because a 17-year-old player is awarded games in the professional leagues in Europe that they are necessarily more mature or more developed than the prospects in North America. In fact, I would bet that a very good number of prospects playing in the CHL would also have played a few games in those leagues if they had been of these nationalities. We can look at recent drafted prospect playing D who played amongst men in their draft year like Nils Lundkvist, Victor Sodestrom, Filip Johansson and we could also name Ville Heinola who played in the Liiga in Finland. We are 4-5 years after their draft selection and they are still not established in the NHL.

ASP isn’t bad, but one of my concerns with him is that he mostly demonstrates flashes which are ‘Small Area Skills’ for me, i.e., plays that demonstrate good skills , but only in small spaces and minor facets of the game that have no real impact in a game.

Number of games watched : 26

29. Theo Lindstein

Theo Lindstein is a defender who had a funny season. He started the campaign as a top draft prospect, but after a rather ordinary performance at the Hlinka Tournament, he was sidelined for first-round talks. Personally, I didn’t have time to devote to him after seeing that he couldn’t even produce in the J20 circuit in the fall. But when I watched games of the 5-Nations tournament in February, to my surprise, he was very good. He had also had a much better tournament than Sandin-Pelikka, with whom he was paired on the same defensive duo. His case made me think a bit of that of his compatriot Otto Stenberg where he was seen as a high-level prospect who could bring offense, and following a disappointing start to the season, he reinvented himself as a different player who manages to make an identity among the professionals. I watched a lot of his SHL games and he was very impressed, especially during the month of February. My projection of the player was the same as I do now, but I had somewhat overestimated some of his qualities and he was starting to maraud around 20th on my list. Additional viewing in SHL as well as the U-18 tournament will have allowed me to rectify the situation.

His game relies mainly on his skating, which is the foundation of his effectiveness on the ice. He has a very good top speed as well as good multidirectional mobility and good general fluidity to follow the opposing team forwards, regardless of the attack pattern. He manages to keep up with good SHL skaters in defensive backcheck situations without any problem. His backwards skating is also very good and he will not be bypassed.

In possession of the puck, he manages to get rid of the cover easily and is able to make occasional breakthrough with the puck where he allows himself to attack his opponents with speed and confidence.

One aspect that I like about his skating is that there is no difference in the level of the explosion and his top speed at the beginning of a shift or at the very end of it. He shows a good level of conditioning.

He stands out more for the quality of his defensive game than for his offensive. His skating allows him to cover a lot of space quickly and he can close spaces that have opened up following confusion with partners in his zone, or simply to come and save a teammate who has been caught.

What impressed me about his defensive efficiency was seeing how well he performed in one-on-one battle situations. He works particularly well in the corners of the rink, he makes sure to have physical contact with his opponent by keeping one arm under him, and by working with his free arm with his stick to play the puck, while remaining glued to the player. He also maintains a wide base of skate so that his opponent cannot turn to one side or the other and go around him. He wins a good percentage of his battles along the boards, against men, which is very impressive. He defends the neutral zone very well also with his active stick and good positioning.

He also protects his front of the net well despite ‘Ok’ size (6’0 and 181 lbs). He will proactively place his body in front of the forward to prevent him from blocking his goaltender’s view.

He defends smartly by ensuring proper positioning as he is constantly looking over his shoulder for the location at all times of the player he is supposed to be covering.

Lindstein is a defenseman who facilitates the transition of his team. He exhibits such calm and startling confidence as he is seen communicating to his forwards (some nearly twice his age) where to stand on the ice and where to go. He moves well and can influence the positioning of his opponents so as to open up certain places to simplify the task for his partners. He usually chooses plays with a high success rate.

One thing that greatly increases his effectiveness in this aspect is that he has the ability to distribute the puck skillfully from his backhand during zone exits. It may seem trivial, but it is quite an asset to have in a defender and it is not that common. When we talk about having good hands with a forward, it is above all in the optic of creating plays and offering additional offensive creativity, which is a quality, of course, but it is above all complementary. For a defenseman, I would be ready to argue that having a certain ease in handling the puck is a necessity! Not necessarily to perform cookie-cutter rushes, but rather to know how to get rid of the pressure in your area and avoid being trapped and spending long seconds in your own zone. Having a decent pair of hands and the ability to make a backhand pass to a defender could be the difference between a clean breakout or a costly turnover.

The Swedish defender will not be among the core of his team’s offensive, but he still demonstrates certain qualities. All in all, he moves the puck quite well and he remains alert to situations where he could go deeper to jump on a shot rebound at the top of the slot. He is a player who follows the actions well and who has good positioning, just like defensively. And speaking of shooting, Lindstein is a player who likes to keep his shots low to force rebounds.

It will be interesting to follow with which formation he will line up with next season. In my eyes he did very well in SHL, but his club was relegated to the 2nd division (in Allsvenskan) following their elimination against Malmo. He could be loaned out to an SHL team, as was the case with Adam Engstrom this season.

Like I said in the intro, my projection of the defender is the same as when he was higher on my list. I see a 5th defenseman in the NHL, at best, a 4th. I will admit, however, that I had a little too enthusiastic of a view of his skating and his handling of the puck.

He is a player who has no ‘It factor’. He’s a pretty vanilla player.

Number of games watched : 24

30. Aydar Suniev

Aydar Suniev is a 6’2 Russian forward, playing in the BCHL, British Columbia Junior A circuit. He has been evolving in North America for 4 years already. He was the author of a season of 45 goals and 90 pts in 50 games. He presents a unique profile in this draft, but his strengths do not come without counterparts.

 What I like most about him is the identity he plays with. He has a power forward style and he plays with a relentless work ethic on the forecheck.

He’s probably the player I’ve seen this season who causes the most turnovers on the forecheck and collects the most loose pucks in the offensive zone. As soon as an opposing defenseman thinks he has gotten rid of the pressure, Suniev appears out of nowhere to extract the puck from him. He shows a very solid understanding of the game in his pursuit of pucks, good timing and he is also very strong on his stick, as much to lift his opponents who have the puck, as much as to protect it.

His hard work can also be seen in the neutral zone. He literally harasses the puck carrier until he takes it away. He can single-handedly suppress plays and prove to be an imposing presence for his team.

He takes his intensity to the next level also by being able to deliver very good hits. Whether in forecheck or during backcheck.

The problem is that his greatest quality risks being completely nullified by his greatest weakness, which is: his skating.

There are some players who are difficult to assess, because despite their mechanic’s flaws, they manage to get to the right places at the right times.

It’s pretty much Suniev’s situation, but what complicates the task is that he was playing in a lower caliber so it’s more difficult to judge.

One of his biggest problems is during his recovery phase (when he brings his skates back to the starting position before taking another push), he brings his feet too wide, which limits how well he can push to the sides for full range of motion. His posture is too tilted forward and there is also a lot of rotation in the upper body when he does not have the puck. This could very well be the cause of a lack of core strength in the abdominal chain, which would also explain his occasional loss of balance on the ice.

Despite all this, he still shows great agility, being able to demonstrate good mobility in the hips to adopt the ’10-2′ style in the offensive zone (when a player skates heel to heel).

What’s annoying about him is that while it’s possible his stride could be refined, his speed as such doesn’t bode well for such progress, since he’s already close to full physical maturity as he tips the scales at 205 lbs, on a 6’02 frame.

To come back to the positive aspects, if there is another quality that was demonstrated in each game, and this, at a very high level, it is his ability to pass the puck through the defensive boxes. He’s easily among the best players in this draft for those specific assists, possibly along with Riley Heidt. He performs these plays with great vivacity. Many of those passes are made as he fakes a powerful one-timer shot, make the opposition bites on the fake and takes the opportunity to put it over to the other side, where teammate Bradly Nadeau can take a shot.

Another aspect of his passing skills that stands out is his ability to briefly and subtly extend his actions to allow a teammate to get open. It is especially along the boards that this fact is observed. He demonstrates a good panic threshold while he does not seem in any way bothered by the imminent pressure that is coming upon him.

To complement, Suniev has excellent game vision and he can reach his teammates despite having multiple layers of defense in front of him. He can also join his teammates in small spaces with tricky passes.

The quality of his shooting is just as good and his range is just as wide as his passing skills.

He has a hard one-timer that he uses to terrorize goaltenders (allowing him to freeze defensive coverage when he decides to go for a pass). His wrist shot is just as powerful, as I’ve seen him beat goalkeepers cleanly, from distance and without any screen. You have to take into consideration the caliber of the goalkeepers he faces, but his shot is still very dangerous.

Suniev is also one of the few players to master one-timers on his wrong side. Even at the highest level, few players execute this shot. In a 2-on-1 situation, this makes him lethal, because, in the event that he is the recipient of a pass while he is on the left, the goalkeeper will expect a pass reception before releasing. This decreases his execution time and allows him to beat the goalies before they have made their move.

His handling of the puck is also a strength for him. He integrates his puck handling very well into his puck protection game; he brings it back close to his skates, turns on himself, sells false routes to his opponents, etc.

One of the reasons that makes him a good puck handler is that he observes the openings very well to exploit in his opponents. He notices the bad pivots of the defenders, attacks their support base, can pass the puck under their stick.

Suniev was inside my top 32 at some point in the season, but while I love the profile of the player, I have some concerns about his consistency from game to game and also in relation to his skating. Since he is a ‘late‘, he could not have taken part in the U-18 tournament if Russia had been there. On the other hand, we could have seen him at the WJAC tournament in December, which would have allowed us to evaluate him in a better context. I will be following his development in the coming years with interest as he joins the UMass roster in the NCAA.

*** His weight at the Combine came out at 192 lbs, instead of 205, which offers a totally different perspective if he can improve his speed or not.

Number of games watched : 15

31. Felix Unger-Sorum

Felix Unger-Sorum is a very interesting case. He is a Swedish forward who has posted good statistics in the under-20 league in Sweden (46 pts in 42 games in the season and 9 pts in 7 games in the playoffs). His progress is one of the strongest observed in a prospect this season. I discovered him by watching Oscar Fisker-Molgaard’s playoffs games in J20, where he played against Leksand, Unger-Sorum’s team. He had greatly caught my attention. And then, at the U-18 tournament, he was on Sweden’s first line and he was sensational.

He’s one of the smartest players in the draft and that’s mostly expressed in the very wide range of ways he can set the table for his teammates. Unger-Sorum is one of the most diverse playmakers in the draft.

He is possibly the most ‘deceptive‘ playmaker of the entire 2023 crop. He influences his opposition coverage by selling false intent with different body parts alignment. On a shift, he enters the zone on the right side and has his center rushes to the net. Unger-Sorum begins to move towards the goalmouth and suggests through his head, his shoulders, his hips and his wrists that he will pass to his center who was rushing to the net. Opposing defenders played the sequence as a result of what Unger-Sorum let it show by neutralizing his teammate’s body and stick, however, at the last second Unger-Sorum changed his passing angle to pass it back to a teammate who was coming in trailer in the high slot.

He’s also a master at using ‘Off-Looks’ with his head looking at a pass option that won’t be used to clear space for another teammate. Ironically, on another sequence, it is completely the opposite that took place from the one explained earlier. During this one, still coming from the right, he turned his back at the boards while braking and looked at an option at the top of the offensive zone, during this time his center was able to benefit from a higher defensive coverage to slip behind defenders. Unger-Sorum joined him with a brilliant pass without even looking at him.

He can also take the opposing defenses off guard by making one-touch passes, greatly reducing the time it takes for his opponents to readjust their attention as well as their position.

Unger-Sorum is a very thoughtful and calculated player who will never force passes into dangerous areas if there are no lanes available to him. He will rather slow down, retrace his steps, try to make the opposing defense move before making a play to avoid losing possession of the puck.

This is also something fairly constant in his game: he tends to slow down and wait for a pass option. It’s something that I appreciate in a passer like that, Mavrik Bourque operated in a similar way in 2020. On the other hand, I would like to see him attack defenders with audacity more often, especially in a one-on-one situation.

He also shows signs of very advanced intelligence in his use of passes in open ice. His understanding of space as well as the timing of his teammates is remarkable.

He also has great hand dexterity that allows him to be a good puck distributor even on his backhand.

This is also his second greatest quality, following his passing skills: his handling of the puck.

He has very good hands, but what makes him particularly skilled is that he incorporates his whole body into his play with the puck. His feet move independently of his hands and he also incorporates a lot of fake with his shoulders to sell misdirection to his opponents. He also manages to widen his skate base to fend off his opponents’ sticks, while remaining in motion, demonstrating very good coordination.

The result is quite impressive. He can maneuver through heavy traffic and into the top of the slot as if it were routine plays for him.

Unger-Sorum isn’t the best of skaters, but he does use speed changes to his advantage in one-on-one situations.

His poise in possession of the puck is remarkable, which is what allows him to excel so much in the sequences where he delays his games and draws pressure on him before handing over to a teammate. To do this, he needs excellent puck handling that allows him to dribble the puck out of his pursuer’s reach, without having to lower his head, as he may be able to identify the best possible option.

Even in his own zone, he never seems to be bothered with opposing pressure.

His hands make him a very skilled shooter too, as he has the ability to change his shooting angles in front of defenders. Dealing with tight defensive cover in front of him and managing to find a shooting lane seems innate to him. He is a natural in this department.

Aided by his great vision and intelligence as a passer, he also knows how to influence his opponents’ position on the ice and how to use his teammates to receive the puck in dangerous areas.

The Swede, however, has some work to do on his skating. He is quite agile on his skates and can make good pivots in the corner of the rink but his speed as such is rather average. He would benefit from making this a priority.

It’s a bit of the same observation in terms of his work ethic. He is not lazy on the ice, he shows up in the corners as well as in front of the net, but he does so with no real intention of competing and battling hard. I would like to see him play more aggressively.

What is very interesting in the case of Unger-Sorum and which allows me to insert him in such a position is that in conjunction with his very strong progression in the second half of the season, he is the youngest player of this draft! In fact, he was only one day away from being in the 2024 draft! I feel like he could still have a lot of progress in him. Based on his strengths, I could have placed him even several ranks higher, however, my sampling on him is still quite limited compared to other players, and most importantly, it was condensed into a short period of time , which sometimes influences us to make bad decisions, because we don’t have an overall picture of the player’s season.

Number of games watched : 11

32. Jayden Perron

Jayden Perron is a diminutive 5’09 Canadian forward playing in the USHL with the Chicago Steel.

Having, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best offensive IQ in this draft, it is through his talents as a playmaker that we can most easily see this.

It is a combination of qualities that makes Perron excel in this facet, at the top, the spatial recognition of his teammates on the ice as well as his awareness.

He manages to find his teammates near the net with consistency, no matter where he is on the ice. A sequence perfectly illustrated the speed at which Perron takes in information and executes his plays: he recovers a rebound on his backhand and is slightly with his back to the opposing goalkeeper, with a single motion, he performs a spinorama to finish on his forehand and pass to a teammate on the other side for an easy goal.

The curious thing is that when praising goal scorers, some of the qualities mentioned can also apply to playmakers, and vice versa. In this case, it’s seeing how much he doesn’t need a ton of space and a lot of time to achieve what he wants to do. For example, some shooters will wait too long before releasing their shot and the space will close in front of them. When Perron is going to open a passing-lane by drawing a player on him, he does not have to wait for the defender to be too compromised on him before passing the puck, as soon as his teammate is free, the puck is on his stick. Good scorers only need a split second, and the same can be said of good passers. These days, the defensive systems are so tight that you can’t wait too long in such a situation (draw a defender on you to free a teammate), because another player will immediately come to cover his teammate and close the space on the passing option.

A technicality that demonstrates the intelligence of a good playmaker is what is called ‘Off-Looks’, i.e. looking at a pass option in one direction only to pass to a player who appears to be out of sight. It’s something that’s not only found in the Chicago Steel forward’s game, but he demonstrates it at a very advanced level and in a very creative way. One sequence in particular impressed me a lot, Perron skillfully got rid of a player behind the net with a pivot, going up along the boards, he only had two passing options; both defenders up front. He looked at the one on top of him, but made a diagonal pass to the other defender who came forward in the center of the offensive zone and was able to benefit from a good shot from the top of the slot.

Perron is also an excellent playmaker ‘Off the Rush’ (during counterattacks). He will subtly influence the position of the defender with the route he will choose and thus give more space to his teammate. We will have the chance to talk about it a little later.

In the offensive zone, the Winnipeg native’s intelligence is on full display. I would argue that his understanding of open space is unrivaled in the draft, aided by his agility, hands, quick thoughts-process and vision as a passer, he can very well exploit those spaces himself as he can pass the puck in those spots.

He’s also very patient with the puck, never rushing his plays. We see in these circumstances how quickly he adapts, he has a play in mind, but a defender comes to cut the passing-lane, he does not give in to the pressure, remains in motion by handling the puck and continues to assess his options.

Without the puck there is also an advanced understanding of the game, he is always in the right place at the right time, providing excellent support to his teammates as a lifeline and is constantly in motion to offer himself as a shooter option.

Perron is a very high-level puck handler, he can navigate in heavy traffic with ease. He is very agile with his body, being able to use spinorama between two players who come to close the space on him.

For a small player, Perron does not have the elite speed that is optimal for players of this size, that being said, he shows several qualities inside his skating ability.

Something special about him is that he manages to pick up speed as he goes from inside crossover to outside crossover. This makes him dangerous, because the defender skating backwards has to deal with a change of direction AND a sudden acceleration. In addition, by making this change of speed to the outside, Perron remains on his forehand and does not have to deal with the puck on his backhand when he is at full speed, so he can have the puck forward of him to make plays on his forehand and it’s also easier to create distance to avoid being pokecheck by the defender.

He also excels at this specific play to sell his direction to defenders by exaggerating his posture inside before exploding to the outside. He really keeps defenders on their heels and this play opens up passing lanes for his teammates who charge down the middle.

It is with these kinds of plays that he compensates for his lack of elite speed, constantly changing his trajectories as well as his speeds. You can fully appreciate his intelligence when he executes these plays and can be seen moving his opposition as he pleases, observing and spotting his teammates when an opening is created.

This makes him a good option in transition, but his impact in this facet is not limited only to that. He also has the puck handling and the confidence to push his way through two players. The quality of his passes in transition is also an enabler for his team being able to reach teammates even with diagonal backhand passes while skating. It is very impressive to see.

So far, everything seems to revolve around Perron’s playmaking talents, but he’s also an adept shooter. His wrist shot is very dangerous, he has this ability where you can anticipate his shot, get in the shooting lane and kneel to block the shot, but he will skillfully delay his shot and change the angle. Several times he has demonstrated this skill during the season and to add to that, he has a very quick release.

Defensively, Perron also stands out well. He has very good reads and demonstrates a strong sense of anticipation. His game without the puck was already excellent offensively (support for his teammates), but he shows the same qualities in the other two zones. He knows what the best option is for his opponents and he manages to ‘trick’ them by compromising himself just enough to let them believe there is a passing opportunity and at the last second he cuts them off.

His involvement is also good, he will backcheck hard and finish his checks along the boards regularly. He’s not afraid to take a hit in his zone when he picks up a puck.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that Jayden Perron is a top 20 talent in this draft, that being said, his size prevents him from going out that early. His production this year was a little worrying, even if he played very well, a player of this caliber and this physique must put a lot of points on the board to ensure a selection in the first round.

Numbers of games watched: 20

Here are, in alphabetical order, some players outside my top 32. Some of these players represent bets that I like, others are players that are found inside other top 32 and for whom I do not give any particular appreciation.

Gavin Brindley

Gavin Brindley is a small American winger who spent the most recent season with the mighty University of Michigan Wolverines. He also wore the colors of his country at the WJC where he will have gained a lot of traction in many rankings thanks to his dedication to the team.

This is what makes him a coveted prospect and highly appreciated by some. His style of play and his work ethic is cut out for professionals. He is a player who executes the small details well and who doesn’t cheat from the system implemented by his coach, deserving him of great defensive responsibilities, whether on the PK or at the end of games to protect a lead.

He plays with a lot of intensity and will never give up. You can’t take 2 seconds off if you think you’ve beaten him, he will quickly come back to you to try to steal the puck from you.

He is very good on the penalty kill. He is very alert, stays in motion and reacts to every movement of the puck.

His defensive involvement is also amplified by the quality of his skating. He has a very good speed, coupled with a motor that never stops. This makes it a winning recipe for having a player who is always in the right place at the right time.

In conjunction with his skating, his reads are very good, which means he can spot the right moments to jump on a loose puck or to cover a defenseman.

Offensively, he uses his speed and his explosive and reckless style of play to bring pucks to the net.

He is characterized first and foremost as an energy player, but there is still a certain substance to him offensively.

He has a good wrist shot and he is very good at getting open at the top of the slot.

Without necessarily being creative, he has a certain flair and can show patience to feed his teammates.

We have an example here, Brindley has the puck at the goal line and two of his teammates are in the goal crease. Many prospects would have forced a pass to one of them.

Instead, Brindley held on to the puck, moved up the circle, gave a teammate time to get open on the other side, and joined him with a nice cross-ice pass that led to a goal.

His style of play lends itself very well to the NHL and very few risks are attached to his projection. The problem is that we are talking about a 5’9 energy player. Even if he plays bigger than his size indicates and he is not shy from physical contact, it regularly happens that stronger opponents can push him away easily.

He was never a big points producer too. He finished the season with 38 pts in 41 games, which is great for a freshman in the NCAA! However, it must be contextualized that he was playing for an offensive powerhouse. The previous season was 51 pts in 66 games in the USHL.

Number of games watched : 8

Andrew Cristall :

Cristall is quite possibly one of the greatest enigmas of the entire 2023 draft. Appearing inside several top 5 throughout the season, he was also ranked towards the end of the first round by an equivalent number of people. If his talent does not leave anyone perplexed, his efficiency on the ice, leaves many uncertain.

Cristall is first and foremost an offensive player who advocates a spectacular and ‘Fancy’ style of play. His puck handling is excellent and easily rivals the best in this draft. That being said, he too often fell for me into the category of players who bring flash, but lack substance. I detect in him a certain lack of maturity in this regard when he tries to display all his abilities, without necessarily choosing the opportune moments.

It happens regularly to see Cristall bait the first player towards him and manage to beat him with a deke, the problem is that he will skate directly into the 2nd player and lose the puck. Although his handling of the puck is excellent, his plays often do not materialize.

Often within a quality, one can observe other attributes of the player that come to work in conjunction with the primary asset. In the case of Cristall, I have not often seen in his handling of the puck an ability to adapt to the pressure that has arisen on him. The vast majority of the time, he will take advantage of junior defensemen who will play the puck rather than the body. For me, he doesn’t have the explosion in his lateral skating stride to avoid the big defensemen in the NHL who will play the body instead.

When I talk about inefficiency and profusion of turnovers, here is an example:

In overtime, Kelowna has a power play (4 against 3), Cristall is at the top of the left circles with the puck.

He will look to fake a shot, change his angle to the outside and maraud with the puck, all that to end up nailed in the corner of the rink by the defender.

All this while he had all the space and time in the world !

Cristall’s playmaking talents are often sold as the main draw of his offensive game, yet that’s not what I’ve observed over the season.

Of course, he shows good vision and is able to orchestrate some good offensive sequences, but for me, the frequency of these plays does not manage to compensate for the number of turnovers he commits.

He is dangerous on the power plays when he moves in possession of the puck since he can shoot from anywhere, he draws defensive coverage on him.

Similar to what was apparent with his puck handling, Cristall sometimes has difficulty properly gauging when the pressure is closing on his passing options, it has happened time and time again to see him pass to a teammate he believed to be alone to finally see that he wasn’t.

I personally find him more dangerous as a shooter. His wrist shot is quite impressive. The puck hits the target with great velocity.

The quality of his hands comes out a lot in the way he uses his shot, he is able to raise the puck from the backhand, even being very close to the goalkeeper. It remains, however, when he wins the center of the ice that he is at his most dangerous. It is mainly on the powerplay that he will be able to take advantage of a static defensive coverage, we see him exuding confidence and challenging his opponents. He has the puck handling as well as the passing options at his disposal to sell his intentions to his opponents and that’s why he is so dangerous.

Unfortunately, Cristall was playing on the left on the power play, being left-handed himself, he did not have the luxury of being able to win the center of the offensive zone on his forehand. He has, however, developed a kind of shot all his own, as he will sell the wrist shot from the left side, then change the angle to the outside, step to the side and unleash a shot without having the defenseman in front of him to block the shot. What is impressive is how good the shot is despite the fact that he is far from an ideal body position to make such a shot. Cristall’s balance on his skates is still impressive.

He uses this kind of shot quite regularly, the problem is that even if it’s impressive, he changes his angle to go outside rather than to attack inside and also, in the train of thought that with his hands, when it works, it’s taking advantage of a cheating junior goaltender. I highly doubt that will work in the NHL.

Cristall’s decision-making seems to be a constant that emerges within each of his individual abilities. I’ve scratched my head several times seeing some of his plays, not to mention some execution errors on a few trivial plays.

He is the typical case of a player who tries to do too much and mismanages his risk-taking, for example, going in front of his net with the puck when he already has a player chasing him. He plays quite individually.

One thing that constantly resurfaces with Cristall as well is that he constantly needs to slow down the play when he wins the offensive zone. This causes some concerns as to whether he can be as good offensively when the game is played at a high pace. Also, he doesn’t have the physical strength to protect the puck and he doesn’t have the acceleration in his skating to draw a player in one direction and explode in another.

Not only does Cristall have to slow down the game, he also has this annoying habit of constantly turning his back to the play when he has the puck. He does this kind of play to assess if he doesn’t have any options that come up in the 2nd wave, but the number of times that translates into a turnover….

We have an example here

(Cristall is in white at the top of the screen, in possession of the puck)

The worst thing is that just before, he had a clean look to send his teammate on a breakaway !

It is a play that he performs several times per game!

Even in the neutral zone when he has the puck with the other team backchecking hard, he has to slow down the play, navigate, handle the puck, to finally pass it out of reach to a teammate or send the puck in an open-space in the offensive zone while his teammates had to slow down to avoid being offside. The worst thing is that it happened several times to see Cristall do this kind of play and stop skating afterwards.

This is also an aspect of his game in which he has been very inconsistent and which also raises concerns, his involvement and his work ethic.

At his best, he plays with a chip on his shoulder, looks hungry, backcheck and finishes his checks. But on other nights, his compete-level is just appalling. He’s nowhere to be found in the defensive zone, cheats offensively and if you give him a pass that’s a little out of reach, he doesn’t even skate to chase the puck. His defensive game is often non-existent.

It is not only defensively that Cristall’s involvement left something to be desired during the season, his desire to engage the body was also one.

There is an example here: the opposing team loses control of the puck in the neutral zone and one of Cristall’s teammate goes to recover the puck. Cristall has the center of the ice and he has an advantageous position on the defenseman. The interior is conceded to him and he could get a very good chance to score.

Instead, he looks right away to get to the other side behind the defender.

He could have physically competed for a chance, but he didn’t. Of course going to huddle behind the defender for a 2 on 1 was not a bad idea, it even shows the player’s awareness of his own weaknesses (acceleration and physical strength), which I myself consider to be a quality. But in this case, the play closed on him and he was never a viable passing option, and this is just one of many examples of similar plays.

It’s very common that when he skates to the corner with the puck, he just sends the puck towards the net, simply losing possession for his team.

As for his skating, Cristall moves well overall, but for a player of his size, he lacks separation speed.

I don’t really like to see him as an option in transition since he doesn’t have that necessary speed and also because he slows down the game too often and plays in an individualistic way.

Cristall demonstrates good agility on the ice, we often see him using the ’10-2′ technique where he skates heel-to-heel to make space and to mask his intentions. The problem is that in junior he is given more space than he will get in the NHL and he does not have the physical strength to protect the puck with his body.

The analysis may seem quite scathing to some, but it should be noted that I have no personal agenda, I only share what I observe in my viewing. I agree that Cristall has quite a talent and he definitely has the ability to make those who rank him too low look bad. That being said, by virtue of all the questions I have about his game, I can hardly see myself recommending his selection to my general manager. A player’s faults are to be taken into consideration, and in the case of Cristall, we are not at a single flaw to determine his eventual success in the NHL or not, there is simply too much variable in the equation to make me rank him too high.

Numbers of games watched: 28

Noah Dower-Nilsson

Noah Dower-Nilsson is a relatively complex case to assess. He dominated the under 20 league in Sweden and posted statistics that compare favorably with other recent first-round picks who played in this league during their draft season. He was one of my favorites in this draft and I had him as high as 12th in the first half of the season! He remained very good in this league all season, however, when it came time to play against better competition (i.e. international tournaments against the best of his age), we only observed a few flashes of all his talent and his involvement began to look problematic. For a few seasons, I have been in a vendetta against the J20 league in Sweden, which is, for me, a much lower caliber than the MHL in Russia. For a few seasons,  I’ve been caught really liking a player from this league only to watch him fail to replicate his prowess at a higher caliber. The best example is Oskar Olausson. I had him in my top 5 in the first half of the season in 2021, and that’s something that was shared by multiple NHL scouts! Must say that in his case, he had also demonstrated superb things in the SHL, so it was not a product only of the J20. To some extent, Alexander Suzdalev last year presented the same narrative as Dower-Nilsson, he looked like a  sensational talent in the J20, but only managed to demonstrate a few thin flashes in international tournaments only against weak teams like Switzerland.

What I liked the most about Dower-Nilsson is that he presents a complete offensive skill ‘package’, and you can spot a ton of nuance within each of his skills. The best example of this is in his skills as a playmaker. He has all the elements found in excellent playmakers.

At the top of the list, the young Swede is excellent at passing the puck through the opposing defensive box. This is a skill that should be found in any good playmaker. To lead to scoring chances, you have to force the goalkeeper to move. Dower-Nilsson excels at this, as he deceives his opponents with his posture that remains lined up with the opponent’s net, as if his intention was to shoot. He does not hint at the possibility of making a pass. The number of such passes he has been able to complete this season is truly impressive. He’s also had a good rate of hitting teammates in the crease, and even from less-than-obvious positions, like along the boards.

Also, his information gathering is done excessively quickly. From the moment he recovers a loose puck, he can join a teammate in a dangerous place, or even to send one of his teammates on a breakaway if this is done in the defensive or neutral zone. Even though passing isn’t his first option, he has the quickness of mind to adapt his play selection at the last second. For example, he goes down to the left circle to fire a wrist shot, the puck makes a funny bounce and he fends the air, without any panic, he recovers the puck, raises his head and spots a teammate at the goalmouth.

We also have an excellent example here. He receives a puck at the left circle and has already spotted a teammate heading into the slot. His decision is made BEFORE he touches the puck. (Dower-Nilsson is in white at the far left)

The processing of information is very impressive and the execution on this pass is spectacular. It’s a one-touch pass when he is not on his strong side, and on top of that, he does it while he is skating backwards, against the grain.

In his ability to make decisions quickly, there are also several quality short passes that demonstrate good offensive intelligence, minimizing the risk of turnovers while facilitating the play for his team.

Being a very skilled player offensively, he manages to join teammates in several impressive ways. Even on the counterattack, he can fire full-ice-width passes while at full speed. He can also take advantage of his talent to exploit his creativity, I saw him during certain sequences attract two players on him behind the net and allow a teammate to free himself in the slot before giving him the puck.

His puck handling is excellent. He has a very good pair of hands that allowed him to pull off some of the best dangles I’ve seen this season. He plays very boldly and likes to confront defensemen. Generally, when he performs a dangle, a concrete intention hides behind it. He does not fall into the trap of making spectacular plays, but which lead to nothing, he seeks to attack the center of the ice. He also shows signs of intelligence with his puck placement inside his dangles, making sure it stays close to his skating base so it’s out of defensemen’s reach. He integrates his puck handling well inside his puck protection.

It’s an underrated aspect of his game, mostly because he doesn’t rely on it enough, but Dower-Nilsson has a good shot. His wrist shot is heavy and quickly gains elevation, becoming difficult for goalkeepers to control. He didn’t take a lot of one-timers, but when he did I was surprised at how good it was.

Where questions arise with the Frolunda player is, first, with his skating

He’s not the fastest skater. His acceleration, and on occasion, his balance on ice are lacking. For the moment, he is listed at 6’0 and 183 lbs, which suggests, if we are optimistic, an improvement in his speed by adding muscle mass as well as strength.

He nevertheless demonstrates an awareness of his limits. He will not try to outspeed defensemen from the outside. And he knows how to exploit what he is given on the ice.

He is quite skilled on his skates and navigates very well through heavy traffic. His changes of direction in front of defensemen are very good as he integrates his puck handling perfectly and moves his shoulders simultaneously.

My biggest worry is about the ‘pace’ he is playing at. In international tournaments, he was not able to exploit his qualities to full capacity and one of the reasons is that he did not have the same latitude of execution as in the J20 in Sweden.

His skating seemed slower at times and a large part of that was because he seemed to be playing with no sense of urgency whatsoever.

His intensity is something that has been difficult to gauge this season. I saw him demonstrate excellent skills in stealing the puck from his opponents during backcheck, even applying some good hits.

But at other times, there was no compete-level in him. It’s pretty rare to see him involved in board battles.

He is the player who has dropped the most on my list this season, but despite that, a part of me has not yet totally thrown the towel. Just that I wouldn’t draft him as high as I would have in the first half of the season. He showed some interesting flashes at the U-18 and that gives me hope that he will, over time, be able to show the extent of his talent against better opposition. Personally, I would try to bring him in Canadian next year. He dominated the under-20 league in Sweden, and I don’t think he’s ready to face the rigors of the SHL, mainly because of the lack of ‘pace’ in his game. If he joins the ranks of the CHL, he would have the opportunity to work on his biggest weaknesses which are this last aspect, as well as his involvement along the boards. The transition has served his compatriot Alexander Suzdalev well this season. I believe Dower-Nilsson might just need more time to develop, still a nice project to get your hands on.

Number of games watched : 30

Mikhail Gulyayev

Gulyayev is a 5’10, 170 lbs left-handed Russian defenseman. He posted very good numbers in the MHL, ending the campaign with over PPG! (25 pts in 22 games. 2 goals and 23 assists). He also played a total of 25 games in the professional ranks (12 in VHL and 13 in KHL).

He is first and foremost a defender who has good offensive attributes. It is above all his offensive intelligence that allows him to distinguish himself in the opposing zone. He is a player who analyzes the game in a proactive way and who recognizes good opportunities to jump into the rush. He’s  very opportunistic in his selection of moments to leave his position, thanks to a good recognition of his environment. He is very sneaky in the way he goes below the face-off circle in the offensive zone to offer himself as a pass target for a one-timer.

He’s a defenseman who moves the puck very well. In fact, he is definitely one of the best defensemen in this category for the 2023 draft. I even believe quite strongly that he is better in this facet than Axel Sandin-Pelikka. He is faster in his decision-making as well as in his execution and he is also better at hiding his intentions. He’s a smart passer, you won’t see him commit turnovers in any zone.

He’s not a defender with a big shot, on the other hand, he fires a good volume of shots which makes his offensive game more diversified. He has some value in this department as the overwhelming majority of his shots hit the net. He’s very good at opening shooting lanes. He is also very good at using low shots that his teammates can deflect.

His skating was an aspect that I had some difficulties to adequately assess during the season. His speed seemed to improve several times in the season, which caused me to change the grade I give him in this aspect more than once. I would say as of today that he is probably slightly above average. Obviously, for a defender of this size I would like to see him faster, but overall, he uses his skating skills well in several spheres. He’s a defender who is very comfortable getting rid of pressure in his own zone.

His acceleration is very acceptable on its own. It is especially in smaller areas that one can observe the usefulness of his skating. He is generally very good at jumping on loose pucks, which is essential for any defender. He also does this in the offensive zone as he is very assertive in his ‘Pinchs’.

Surprisingly, for a small, mobile defenseman, he’s not necessarily the kind of player who’s going to patrol the blue line up and down and move around a lot in the offensive zone with the puck.

His renewed speed in the second half of the season greatly accentuated his game in transition when he can now be dangerous in puck-carrying. He also demonstrates self-confidence and a certain audacity in these situations. He’s not content to just go through the outside, he uses center ice and isn’t afraid to challenge his opponents.

His transition game was already quite solid overall. He mainly chooses the right passing options and he manages to complete some tougher passes. But in general, he mostly prioritizes short passes.

Defensively, he brings some rather surprising value. He has a good stick as well as a good sense of anticipation (especially in the neutral zone). But it is above all through an aggressive game that he represents a positive factor for his team. He is not afraid to defend the front of his net. Obviously, he won’t be able to overpower his opponents given the limits of his size, but he knows the limits of his body and will instead focus on neutralizing his opponents’ sticks. He also has the dedication to his team where he will play fearlessly to get pucks in the corner, even if a bigger player comes in to hit him, he won’t slow down. He also closes his gaps aggressively and it is the same observation that we will realize when he has to cut passing lanes, where he will not hesitate to lay down on the ice to block the pass, a play where he finds success more often than not.

He also demonstrates certain athletic qualities and quick thinking in a one-on-one defensive situation where a player tries to dangle him by passing the puck between his skates. Rather than letting the puck go between his feet and then turning to try to catch the player, he will simply close the opening by bringing one of his skates towards the center to block the puck. He shows some sneakiness defensively.

He is assertive on the ice and plays without hesitation. He plays with intention. He also began to demonstrate over the season a certain ‘edge’ to his game where he did not hesitate to answer the bell when opponents came to push him. He also started to be a bit of a disturber after the whistle, challenging opposing players.

With his experience at the professional level in Russia, I wonder what kind of performance he would have put on with Russia at the WJC… (I believe he would have carved out a place for himself in the roster). It’s not crazy to believe that he could have delivered performances similar to those of Sandin-Pelikka. His popularity on social media would probably have exploded as a result of this tournament.

He’s a little hard to project because when I watch him he’s mostly a positive factor on the ice for his team and makes an impressive number of good decisions on the ice. For me, his contribution on the ice is greater than the sum of his attributes.

On the other hand, he remains a small-size defenseman who does not have elite quality in his game and it is difficult to project this kind of player high enough in a lineup.

Number of games watched : 15

Kasper Halttunen :

Halttunen is an imposing 6’03 Finnish winger. Following very good performances on the international scene last year, he began the season as a strong contender for the top 15, even top 10 of this draft. His season didn’t go as planned and this resulted in him dropping out of most top 32. Halttunen is still an interesting project and could reinvent himself to help a team in a different role than we anticipated it at the start of the season.

Without saying it’s his bread and butter, the quality of the big Finn’s shot is remarkable and is easily his main asset. His wrist shot is excessively heavy and he also possesses good precision, he can beat the goalkeepers on the far side with disconcerting ease. His one-timer is also incredibly violent.

Several things make him a good shooter, one of them is his ability to take shots in difficult positions. A sequence really impressed me on this subject. Halttunen, a right-handed winger comes in from the right side, without the puck. He is in full acceleration to catch up with his center player who entered the offensive zone. The latter hands him the puck, but it is a little behind Halttunen rather than being directly on his tape or slightly in front of him. He was in a bit of a precarious position and had to adjust his stick position.

In one motion, he was able to catch the puck and take a quick wrist shot without making any extra move, all within his skating stride.

He has a very high level of execution on his shot.

Another reason that elevates his shooting skills is the impressive diversity he has in his repertoire. His backhand shots are also very good. Similar to the example shown earlier, Halttunen is capable of taking very good backhand shots while he’s moving. He does this as he comes down from the left side leaning his shoulder to protect the puck, while continuing to move his feet. It won’t necessarily be shots that will beat goalies cleanly based on where he is on the ice and with his angle of attack, but a backhand shot is always unpredictable and difficult for goalies to read. Halttunen manages to have very good velocity as well as good elevation on those shots. These are sneaky shots that goaltenders have a hard time controlling their rebounds and it can lead to a scoring opportunity for his teammates.

Within this kind of play, we observe in the Finn a very good game in puck protection.

He has also developed a technique specific to him where when he enters on the right side, he will engage the shoulder to push his opponent back and during this time, he will bring his right hand (the lower one on his stick) towards his upper hand to be able to extend his reach and distance the puck from the defensemen.

He is also very, very strong on his stick, he puts all his weight on it, and even in the Liiga, we see opponents much older and more physically mature than him being unable to dislodge him from the puck.

He also has good tenacity on the puck, even after falling on the ice along the boards, he looks for any means to protect the puck or to seize it.

His puck handling is also a more than interesting tool at Halttunen. He can pull off some very impressive dangles, and a lot of the ones I’ve seen have been done in tight spaces.

Something that makes his handling of the puck attractive is that he has the possibility of using his size later on to compensate for his lack of acceleration to subsequently create distance with his opponent. He can bait a player while he is in a static position, undress him in this same position and then rest on his puck protection to avoid losing the puck.

He is also very good at deking after selling the threat of a wrist shot. At the second as the defenseman stretches his stick to deflect the shot or drops to his knees to block it, Halttunen pulls off a magnificent dangle.

I also like his desire to compete. He completes an awful lot of his hits and plays with a disruptive side on the ice.

There are a few places where things get tough for him though.

First, his skating has been lacking for most of the season.

His top speed is average, at best. Luckily for him, he still has decent agility and can perform effective pivots in the corners of the rink or behind the net. But the big question is: will he manage to survive at a higher level? Because in his games in the Liiga he looked like a player in survival mode, and it is far from being the fastest league….

However, I noticed a fairly large improvement in this regard at the end of the season.

His offensive intelligence isn’t the highest either. His playmaking skills are almost non-existent, not having an element in his game that stands out in this facet.

My biggest issue with Halttunen this season was that he advocated a style of play that relied almost entirely on his shooting skills. He played like a ‘Pure Sniper’ waiting patiently at the top of the circles to receive a pass to take a shot. He has a very good one, yes, but his game would be more beneficial to his team if he developed as a player who excels around the goal line; he has the hands to dangle, his pivots are pretty good and he has the size to protect the puck. From what I’ve observed this season, Halttunen needs to touch the puck often to gain confidence in a game. It is by playing in those areas that he could have more puck possession time and more puck touches, rather than waiting for a shooting opportunity.

His Canadian Junior Hockey rights belong to the London Knights and there were rumors that he was considering coming to play in Canada after the holidays if he was unhappy with his ice time in the Liiga. It was a transition that I was strongly considering. After all, I had watched several games in Liiga where he just didn’t seem to be of the caliber. He decided to stay in his native Finland, and I was ready to throw in the towel, but I saw a glimmer of hope.

Sometimes the toolbox of young players is not as good as they think. After hitting a wall, they must reinvent themselves, and to do this, nothing better than going to play in a higher caliber. That’s what I saw with Halttunen, instead of waiting to receive his passes, we now saw him fighting for each puck possession. He was also employed in the ‘Bumper’ rather than high at the top of the circles, which meant that he had to be much more active to get open.

I still believe that it would have been preferable for him to come in the OHL, but I believe that he nevertheless came out with an apprenticeship in the Liiga which will help him in his development, but especially in his quest to forge a identify. I doubt he can become a formidable scorer as we hoped for at the start of the season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he could carve out a position as a power forward on a 3rd line that completes his checks.

Number of games watched : 21

Riley Heidt

Riley Heidt is a superbly talented center who plays for the Prince George Cougars. He will have done a lot of damage in the WHL with his teammate Koehn Ziemmer throughout the season.

His offensive game is primarily characterized by his playmaking skills.

He is creative, intelligent and he perfectly embodies the expression of thinking ahead of his opponents. A sequence perfectly illustrated this quality when Heidt grabbed a puck at the top of the slot. The goalkeeper came out far to challenge him, to the right of the goalkeeper there is absolutely no one, Heidt sends a pass into that free space anyway, because one of his teammates was behind the net and was heading there, he ends up by catching the puck and got an excellent chance to score at the goalmouth.

The other aspect that stands out the most in his passing skills is his ability to complete passes through the opposing defensive box, during the power play. He’s easily one of the best in the entire draft to make that kind of play. To score goals in the NHL you have no choice but to make the goaltender moves laterally, and with that kind of pass, Heidt excels at creating things offensively.

He also demonstrates good elements of deception with his passing, looking for an option at the top of the slot before handing it to a teammate through the blue paint reserved for the keeper.

Heidt has really good hands and he likes to have the puck on his stick and dictate the play. He navigates the ice really well and it’s fascinating to see how easily he manages to get through two players in transition, as well as in zone entries.

He has a very good speed as well as an excellent fluidity on the ice allowing him to enhance his handling of the puck.

It was interesting this season to see the Heidt and Ziemmer duo. The reason is that they each have their own unique attributes (in Ziemmer’s case, scoring goals, and Heidt, making plays), but they both demonstrate surprising qualities in the other’s department.  Which brings me to tell you about Heidt’s scoring skills.

The best word to describe it would be ‘sneaky’. His one-timer is very, very quick. WHL goaltenders are well aware of his tendencies to keep the puck on his stick before making a play, but if they have the misfortune to cheat their movement by anticipating a subsequent pass, the puck will quickly land in the back of their net.

A more technical aspect that adds to his ability to surprise goalkeepers is his great thoracic rotation mobility. He manages to take slap shots turning around while in unorthodox positions.

To return to the parallels between him and Ziemmer, to add to the irony, the strengths of one are the weaknesses of the other. In this case, it’s about the physical play. If Ziemmer has fairly good size and loves to hit, Heidt is a little more frail and does not have the same penchant for this kind of game.

In fact, during the season, Heidt showed a greater inclination to finish his hits, the problem is mainly that he avoids receiving hits. For a guy so comfortable with the puck on his stick in the neutral zone and in the offensive zone, he rushes his plays in his own zone because he fears getting hit. Sounds like a red flag to me about his desire to compete.

This point connects directly with the defensive play of the center, which, for me, is rather weak. Mainly due to this lack of physical commitment, general involvement and also due to the fact that he often gets hypnotized by the puck in such situations.

When it comes to this player projection, I side with the pessimists. Although in terms of pure talent, he possibly ranks among the top 15 of his draft, I find him too ‘Boom or Bust‘ in my eyes. His weak defensive game and his refusal to accept hits make me believe that he will have a very difficult time establishing himself as a center in the NHL, and I have a very difficult time seeing him as a winger in the NHL. In addition, he is a player who stands a lot on the periphery in the offensive zone.

Number of games watched : 28

Closing time: I would like to thank you for taking the time to read me. Even if I never pretend to introduce myself as a scout, it is something that I am deeply passionate about and on which I invest a lot (too much) of my free time. This is an area where things are constantly changing with the trend of the day in the NHL. It is inevitable that we will make our share of mistakes, but this only represents an opportunity to learn from them.

You can join me at @19Simon19 on Twitter, I can’t wait to read your comments.