NHL Draft Ranking 2024, by Simon St-L.

It is with immense relief that I can finally reveal to you the fruit of intensive and sustained work which spanned a period of 9 and a half months. 32 players will be presented within a unique ranking which respects my vision of things.I take a lot of pride in the work I accomplish year after year and even if the time I devote to it may seem inconceivable to some, for me it is the only possible way to proceed. When I am passionate about something, there are no other possible alternatives for me than to do things with my complete devotion.

For all TSLH Prospect content (profiles, rankings and scouting reports):
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This season, I even pushed my limits by imposing a new challenge on myself which was to produce video analysis on players. It was the next logical step to allow you to see the players from my perspective. In total, there are 23 players on whom I took part in the exercise of analyzing in this new way. You can watch these videos for yourself on my YouTube channel here;

https://www.youtube.com/@SimonSt-L-Scouting

Analysis of the 2024 draft;

The 2024 draft promises to be very exciting for the sole reason that from 2nd place onwards, there seems to be no consensus. These are generally the same names found among the first 11 to 14 players, but the order fluctuates wildly.

– For my part, I have a certain affection for the first seven players on my list. I believe that the teams who finished at the bottom of the league will be rewarded by getting their hands on one of those players.

– From eight to eleven, I consider these prospects to be good players, on the other hand, they are players who leave me rather indifferent. The tenth-ranked player represents the one I’m most afraid of being wrong about.

– Then, I would say that even if I do not consider this draft to be that deep, strangely, I have players that I like who we are likely to find at almost every point during the first two rounds.

– – There is a substantial drop in quality following the 24^th spot.

What’s difficult about making a list is finding the right balance between rationality and authenticity. In life, I am an idealist, and the draft is what fascinates me. So, when I put myself in the shoes of a scout, I see the draft as the perfect opportunity to build a team in my image. We are currently seeing it with the playoffs, big stars in the regular season becomes non-factors in the playoffs and on the other hand, less glamourous names during the season are suddenly worth their weight in gold in the playoffs. This explains some of my ranks where, although I concede that certain players could well prove to be productive in the NHL, I am not ready to want them in my lineup for the playoffs. So, I have favorably ranked players who will perhaps, ultimately, stop at a 3rd line or a 4th defenseman role, but who I feel can make a unique contribution.

In recent years I have been asked whether I have any established ‘Tiers‘ on my list. The answer is: not really.

Why? Well, at some point you have to be able to decide. I have a bit of a hard time when I see lists that have Tier of a dozen players. I don’t really like the message this sends. If your Head-Scout or your General Manager asks you for your opinion, you can’t just throw him a list of ten names and tell him they’re basically al the same. And I come back to what I said earlier, I am an idealistic person in life, so I either love something or I don’t. Consequently, there will be players for whom I would advocate strongly, and others for whom it would be the opposite.

To be transparent, there are a few ranks on my list where, indeed, my colleagues could easily persuade me to put a player higher or lower on my list.

The ‘Tiers’ for me are more of a tool to use during the season to help me decide between certain players. However, you must be careful that these boundaries become too rigid on your list. Players can easily move from one Tier to another when there is enough thought.

When I have Tiers, it rarely exceeds three or four players.

Rather than using Tiers, I prefer to see things in a more fluid way where it is more a question of Spectrum for each player. Example, the range of possibility of a player on my list may be 14 to 16, but I can see a player with similar potential in a spectrum of 12 to 20 if for his part, the risks attached to him are larger.

This may seem complicated to you, to which I answer: Welcome to my head!

PS: I added the number of games viewed on each player, but games in international competition where there were several players to watch are not compiled among these views.

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

1. Macklin Celebrini

Macklin Celebrini is the newest prodigy coming out of North Vancouver. He became only the 4th player to win the prestigious Hobey-Baker Trophy as a Freshman, and out of all the previous winners, he is the youngest to achieve the feat. I have had the privilege of observing Celebrini up close over the last two seasons at different calibers; USHL, U-18, NCAA, WJC. And there were three certainties every time he stepped on the ice: He was going to be the most skilled player on the ice, the smartest player on the ice and the hardest-working player on the ice.

It’s a little difficult to properly explain Celebrini’s game by dissecting his qualities one by one, as it doesn’t do justice to his overall game and doesn’t give a fair idea of what a typical Celebrini shift on the ice looks like. But here’s what a typical shift from him looks like: he’ll cause a turnover thanks to his speed and work ethic, then go to cover the position of one of his teammates, receive the disc, execute a very high-level play to set up a scoring chance and then be the first to backcheck defensively.

His intelligence can be seen in the speed with which he can plan a play after intercepting a puck. His subsequent pass is always well calculated and as soon as the puck has left the blade of his stick, his feet start moving and he positions himself in a place where he can land a hand for a teammate.

This is also another strong point in terms of his intelligence: his spatial recognition. The support he offers his teammates is remarkable. He always represents a good passing option, and often arrives at the opportune moment to offer them an escape.

The Terriers’ color bearer is characterized first and foremost as a player who thrives on his dynamism on the ice. He is the highest pace player in the entire draft. In fact, probably even in recent years. Celebrini feast Off-the-Rush. Even if the opposing team puts up a wall of 4 players at the blue line, he uses his outside-speed to solve the problem. All he needs is a teammate to rush to the net with his stick on the ice and a scoring chance has just materialized out of nothing.

Although he is not the type to slow down the game, that does not make him an unmethodical player. It’s just that he likes to cut up opposing defenses and force them to adapt to him. Rather than studying what openings there are on the ice, he creates them thanks to his dynamism.

He is a powerful skater who reaches impressive top speeds but what I like most about this aspect is how strong he is on his skates. It is very difficult to push him off balance. He demonstrates great muscular strength as well as he manages to remain standing even when an opponent grabs him and pulls him down with the full weight of his body. This sequence particularly impressed me.

Celebrini regularly uses powerful weight-shift to get rid of a coverer. He manages to explode with a single push using his edges.

His edgework are also very good.

Having rolled at a rate of almost a goal per game in the USHL at 16 years old as well as in the NCAA at 17 years old, Celebrini is an excellent goal scorer. He has an excellent shot. His shot is heavy and has a lot of velocity. Regardless of his location, he is a threat to goaltenders. One of the places where goalies should be wary of him is very close to the net, as he has a particular ability to lodge the puck in the top of the net.

What I find particularly interesting is that Celebrini has added another string to his bow this season. Last year, he didn’t have a one-timer as good as he has this year and he used it much less regularly. This is mainly due to the fact that BU’s offense is very thin after Celebrini and there aren’t really any players who could have taken on this ‘Trigger-Man’ role on the power play. But all the same, I can only praise a player of his talent who decides to put on the efforts to broaden his range of offensive weapons. We often see young players with elite traits sit on these same qualities until they hit a wall and realize that their toolbox is not sufficient. I believe this is the perfect representation of Celebrini’s passion for the game of hockey.

Despite statistics bordering on the absurd in the NCAA, this may seem like an imprudent comment, but I expect Celebrini to be better in the NHL than what we’ve seen this year. I’m not talking about offensive production, however. What I mean by that is that the supporting cast he had at Boston University was very thin and some of his attributes couldn’t stand out as much as what we saw in the USHL, at the U-18 and at the WJC. By playing with better teammates and not being forced to be the one to put the finishing touches on plays, we will be able to see strengths in Celebrini that shined less brightly at BU.

An example of this is how Celebrini likes to use short Give-N-Go with a teammate. His explosion on his skate and his quick reads of play makes a perfect combination to eliminate opponents. Already, we have seen these sequences occur at a higher frequency in a few games at WJC than in the entire season at Boston University.

Celebrini is a player who makes others around him better and can display impressive offensive production no matter who he is paired with. But I believe that to get the most out of his potential, it would be better to place players who quickly analyze the game and who executes quickly with him.

I don’t think his playmaking skills were on full display this season in the NCAA. Having watched more than 20 Chicago Steel games in the USHL last season, I firmly believe that we will see more of this in the NHL.

We see the demonstration of his feeds Off-the-Rush while he is at full speed.

Celebrini often favors passes at the goalmouth as attention turns to the danger he poses with his shot, he takes advantage of a teammate breaking free to deflect one of his passes.

What I find particularly interesting is that Celebrini has a certain propensity to make passes on his backhand. Beyond the skills required to make these plays, what piques my attention is that it adds to the comparison with Sidney Crosby.

It is always a perilous exercise to compare a prospect with a player like that. Especially since the parallels between the two are not that striking (Celebrini’s game relies more on dynamism than Crosby’s). But for me, players compare themselves through their love for the Game. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but when I mentioned in the opening that Celebrini is both the most talented and hardest-working player on the ice, it’s something we’ve always seen in the Penguins captain. Both seem to get the same level of satisfaction from blocking a shot or forechecking as they do from scoring a goal. Despite being the most talented players on their roster, they don’t play much different than the 12th forward on their team. Celebrini’s strength on his skates is something that can also draw some comparisons to Crosby.

When I mention that both players don’t take shortcuts on the ice, I’m also referring to Celebrini’s defensive play. His work ethic makes him a player who can annoy his opponents when backchecking, but what most characterizes his defensive game is the support he offers to his defensemen. We see him very regularly as low as behind his own goal line.

Something special about Celebrini this season is that no one mentioned the fact that he had shoulder surgery last summer. Back then, the timeline was that Celebrini was likely to miss the first few games of the year. Even if, in the end, this did not turn out to be the case, it still means that the young prodigy from North Vancouver was not able to benefit from a full summer of training. This is what is frightening about Celebrini’s potential, in such circumstances it would have been completely normal to observe a certain period of adaptation. But he dominated from the start. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, he even added elements to his game! This shows me that he is a young man completely dedicated to being the best version of himself. This is the attitude you look for in the player who will be the face(s) of your franchise for years to come. The team that gets their hands on him will not only have an excellent player, but also an outstanding leader and an excellent model and example to follow for the city he will represent.

Number of games watched : 22

2. Cayden Lindstrom

Cayden Lindstrom has one of the richest profiles we have seen in a prospect in recent years. Standing at 6’4 and playing in the critical position of center, the only way to get your hands on a prototype of this kind is to draft him. Few players can combine finesse and talent with the typical characteristics of a Power-Forward.

Lindstrom’s greatest value on the ice, and what most sets him apart from other prospects, is how well he can dominate the play ‘Down Low’ (anything below the faceoff circles, below the goal line as well as the corners of the rink). The diversity of tools in his arsenal available to him to defeat his opponents is very vast; he has the quality of puck handling, the length of his reach, his ability to escape thanks to his surprising agility, and without forgetting his physical strength conferred by his imposing frame. Not only can he single-handedly extend his line’s offensive sequences by several seconds, he also has the offensive intelligence to create scoring chances from these locations. While it is often the individual skills in open spaces that capture the attention of hockey fans, it is the skills in these ‘Down Low’ areas and in these tight spaces that win hockey games. This is even more true when it comes to a 4 out of 7 playoff series. These long confrontations against a player like Lindstrom take it tolls on defenders and that is when a team can take advantage. Lindstrom himself uses his size to attack the goal line and make a dangerous push towards the goalie to beat them short side.

It’s also from these deep zones that Lindstrom’s puck distribution is most apparent. And this is something that I pay very particular attention to among prospects: Is there a logical sequence, a fit, between the different strengths of a player? Can one quality elevate another quality in his game? If this is not the case, we may end up with ‘outlier‘ skills that will not be able to be exploited at the next level since there is no complementarity with the player’s other attributes. In the case of Lindstrom, he presents possibly the most ‘coherent‘ profile that I have had the chance to see in a prospect. All his skills intertwine in harmony. He uses the aforementioned qualities to free himself from a coverer and buy time to spot a winger and is also seen making one-touch passes to spot a teammate in the slot, without giving the defensive coverage time to react .

Aside from that, Lindstrom may not be the most versatile playmaker, but he’s starting to gain confidence and we’re starting to see some blossoming creativity in his game.

We see an example here when well positioned at the top of the slot, Lindstrom executes a saucer pass over the sticks of the two defenders to reach a teammate who had huddled behind them to find himself alone in front of the goalkeeper . A great softness of the hands is necessary to execute such a delivery.

This is the kind of passes he likes to make as he draws the attention of everyone on the ice by attacking defenders with speed before cutting into the middle.

Another aspect of Lindstrom’s identity is his ability to break out of offensive ‘Cyclings’ with the puck. He can turn a harmless possession into a scoring threat by gaining the slot with his size and long reach, but what’s fascinating about Lindstrom in these situations is how quickly his feet move and how he’s able to create separation. If I said that Lindstrom’s layering of qualities was coherent, there are many times when you watch him execute something and say to yourself that it simply doesn’t make any sense. A player of this size should not normally have such fast feet.

Lindstrom has a surprising lightness on his skates, allowing him to make sudden pivots on himself in confined spaces to get rid of a coverer.

Despite this, his strides are extremely powerful and make him a player who can push back opposing defenders as soon as he gets going, creating plenty of space and room for maneuver for his teammates. And once again, I would like to point out the cadence of his strides which is out of the ordinary for a player with such a size.

It is by using his high speed that Lindstrom most incorporates his shots on goal. Many of his shots come from the wings as a shooting lane opens up after the defender was unable to match his speed.

You don’t produce at a rate of nearly 60 goals per season in the WHL at 17 by chance and Lindstrom let us know that. He is so dangerous as he can score from several places; his wrist shot is very powerful and he manages to beat goalkeepers in the top corner even coming from long distance, it is at the top of the slot that Lindstrom uses his one-timer rather than in faceoff circles, and finally, the Medicine Hat Tigers center scored a large number of goals at the mouth of the net, a place where he is particularly difficult to dislodge and where he can put his quick hands to good use.

Speaking of his puck handling, the British Columbia native once again draws praises. What catches the eye when he dribbles the puck is how swift and decisive his movements seem. Also, despite a very long reach, it is especially when he seems stuck that Lindstrom displays the most finesse, making him a player who on occasion seems simply impossible to contain.

We also saw him gain confidence with his hands as the season progressed, beginning to experiment with delays and Toe-Drag on his shots to change his angles.

As if his individual skills were not enough to seduce you, Lindstrom advocates a robust style of play which is made far too rare among young prospects nowadays. It’s a style that can be difficult to advocate consistently over a season due to all the repercussions it can have on the body. This is even more true when it comes to an impactful offensive player who must avoid getting out of the play or being penalized. Lindstrom likes physical play to the point where he won’t pass up on any chance of delivering a hit. What I like about him is that he won’t hesitate to take a little detour from his route to hit a player. Which makes him a threat at all times and none of his opponents have the luxury of feeling safe when the big number 28 steps on the ice.

The last aspect to address in Lindstrom’s game is his defensive game. This is perhaps the only blemish on his record. It was in his zone that he made the majority of his turnovers, not making the right decisions when pressure was applied to him along the boards. There were also a few sequences where he was a little slow to react in his defensive coverage.

For this reason, I’m not entirely convinced that Lindstrom is a center at the next level. That and also the fact that he draws the maximum of his potential in situations where he would most often find himself on the wing; the play Down-Low in the offensive zone as well as his rush coming from the outside. Which is a bit of a shame, because Lindstrom has a high success rate in faceoff circles.

On the other hand, this in no way influences my perception or my projection of the player. Prospects exhibiting this level of talent in a body like this, and proudly displaying a physical identity that is almost obsolete in modern hockey, are simply too rare. The only way to obtain such a prototype is to draft very high, and again, it is not every year that a player of this type finds himself at the top of the draft.

Number of games watched : 18

3. Ivan Demidov

Ivan Demidov is one of the most exciting raw talents we have seen in recent seasons. Having supplanted Matvei Michkov for a spot with the St. Petersburg SKA at the start of the season and having produced at an historic rate in the MHL, Demidov can accumulate highlights like no other player in this draft can.

What draws attention to him from the outset is his fantastic puck handling. Demidov has one of the best pairs of hands we’ve seen from a prospect in recent years. His puck control when defenders try to take it away from him is very impressive. He manages to maintain dexterity and fine control even when he has to move the puck in slightly more precarious places. He manages to adapt quickly if access is closed to him, because his ease with the puck on his stick is simply unmatched. As a result, he manages to create scoring opportunities out of nothing.

He manages to benefit his teammates since he very well incorporates his offensive creativity with his playmaking talents. He has very good vision and sees passing lanes that do not seem open at first glance. He excels at cross-ice passes through the defensive box. He can also keep his opponents on their heels while the aspect of unpredictability due to his puck handling is always present. To add to this, Demidov began to increasingly incorporate shooting threats to draw attention to himself, before handing it off to a teammate whenever a passing lane opens up.

On the other hand, the most prevalent aspect of Demidov’s playmaking is that he uses a lot of ‘Against the grain’ passes. As he cuts into the center ice on his forehand, he will make passes towards where he is coming from. Once again, the dexterity of his hands is on point as he manages to reach his target as he passes while bringing his arms towards the inside of his body, rather than passing by moving his hands away from the body.

When it comes to his finishing skills, Demidov is not the most proficient goal-scorer. We will have the opportunity to talk about it later, but in terms of the qualities he brings to this facet of the game, his puck placement on his shots is judicious. He seeks to make the goalkeepers work while he prioritizes shots just between the glove and the pad.

I also like the fact that he manages to take good one-timer even if the pass seems too far in front of him.

It is especially when he has enough space one-on-one facing the opposing goalkeeper that he will be able to place the puck in the back of the net. I will not dwell on the dangle that he can pull off, because his hands have already been mentioned, however, he advocates a fairly unique play in front of the goalkeepers where, by attacking the net from the left side, he manages to considerably widens his skate base at the very last second and brings the puck to his backhand. His range with the puck increases drastically in the blink of an eye and the goalies simply doesn’t have an answer for that. Just watch how wide he opens his feet.

This rather unique demonstration leads me to tell you about his skating.

On a technical level, it is, like the rest of his game, very spectacular.

Demidov tackles the famous ’10-2′ with abundance. He uses it at a frequency I’ve never seen in other players.

Although elegant, this technique is rarely used wisely. I have seen time and again prospects use that maneuver without any real purpose behind it.

This is where Demidov stands out from the crowd. He brings a considerable amount of substance to this technique while, rather than using it with his back to the boards as we often see, Demidov uses this style to gain the center of the offensive zone. In addition, this helps him keep the puck further out of the reach of his opponents and he also manages to push their stick away with his front leg.

He also uses this technique in unusual places as he makes zone entries in the center of the ice using the ’10-2′ to gain an aspect of unpredictability.

Demidov also demonstrates remarkable agility. He can pivot in tight spaces at a very high level. What’s most fascinating about him is that he executes such pivots just as skillfully with his outside edges as he does with his inside edges Such pivots with the inside of the blades (also giving the opportunity to work with the forehand rather than being forced to go to the backhand) are very rare.

Since we’re talking about what’s substantial, Demidov’s board play offers a few interesting qualities. His puck control coupled with his sudden pivots in tight spaces make him a difficult player for his opponents to contain.

On the other hand, what I appreciated most of him in this facet is his willingness to arrive first on the puck.

Although it may seem trivial, Demidov regularly performs this play where, near the boards, an opponent comes to hit him, and rather than dumping the puck deep, he quickly ducks down and passes between his opponent (under him) and the board. When I was young, Evgeni Malkin was possibly my favorite player and it was a play he made regularly. I particularly like the determination that emerges from this type of sequence where the desire to make a difference offensively outweighs the fear of getting hit.

Something I liked about Demidov’s play this season is that, following his demotion to a lower league, his level of involvement on the ice remained the same. He showed a good attitude. Although not the most impactful, Demidov finishes a good number of his checks.

Without the puck, there is no reluctance on Demdiov to backcheck defensively. He even works hard to steal the disc from his opponents, which he manages to do with some successful ‘Stick-Lifts’.

Now, as for the weaknesses in Demidov’s game, at the top of the list is an excess of fantasy in his play with the puck. He too often goes for the highlight-reel plays, even if it means having the puck taken away from him. In these situations, you must always know how to correctly weigh the rate of puck losses with the rate of successful plays. In Demidov’s case, even though there are a good number of failures in his attempt to make highlights plays, I believe that the scoring chances made out of nothing compensate enough. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is even something ‘normal.’ When a player has this level of individual skill, he can take risks that others cannot since there is always a chance that something will come of it. Just take a look at the 7 players who committed the most turnovers last year; David Patrnak, Evgeni Malkin, Leon Draisaitl, Artemi Panarin, Erik Karlsson, Nikita Kucherov, Mitch Marner.  And this wasn’t an outlier data. It’s going to be like this every season.

This is something that, in the past, I judged more harshly. Perhaps too harshly even. I have Logan Cooley in mind here. What makes me worry less about the young Russian is that during his time (although the sample is rather thin) in the KHL, he managed to temper his eccentricity with the puck and sported a style of much more mature game.

What worries me the most about him is that at the moment he noticeably lacks physical strength. This carries over into three different aspects within his game;

First, this penalizes him in physical confrontations, having difficulty gaining the upper hand over his opponent along the boards or in the corners.

Second, this lack of strength is also observed in his shot. I briefly touched the subject earlier on, but Demidov’s shot is not strong enough at the moment to threaten the goalkeepers. This could significantly limit his ‘Ceiling’ in terms of point production at the next level.

And finally, most importantly to me, Demidov lacks what we call separation speed. He is not a player who generates a lot of power with each stride and this means that he presents some difficulty getting away from his coverer by creating distance with his acceleration. He is forced to be a one-speed player. (His skating mechanics need a little work too since he skates while being too hunched over.)

In the end, Demidov has the talent to electrify the crowd of the team that will draft him night after night. Although some concerns remain about his physical strength, he has demonstrated an astonishing level of will and desire even while being demoted to a lower caliber. His commitment will never have to be called into question.

Number of games watched : 16

4. Anton Silayev

Anton Silayev is a prospect who has been very polarizing this season. However, this is not because of his game offer inconsistencies, but rather because of philosophical divergence regarding what different people may look for in a player. We often hear about ‘profiles‘ in demand among NHL executives and how Silayev adheres to this archetype. Honestly, I find this reductive for the NHL GM and Scouts, but even more so for the player, who has a lot to offer.  A 6’7 left-handed defender, Silayev has everything to establish himself as an elite talent suppressor; however, many criticize him for his lack of offensive attributes. Despite being 17 years old, he spent the entire season in the KHL, even enjoying good minutes in the top 4 of Torpedo.

To characterize his play on the ice, I would use the word ‘Aggressive’. This is related to 3 very distinct constants. This comes with some good sides and some not so good sides.

First of all, Silayev never misses any opportunity to join the attack and jump into the play. We regularly see him advancing as deep as between the two faceoff circles, and sometimes even finishing his actions at the net. When such a physical specimen heads straight towards the goalie, it will consequently push back opposing defenders, creating all the space necessary to allow his teammate to work as he sees fit with the puck. What I like is that we can tangibly see a 17-year-old trying by all means, with each shift, to have an impact on the ice. He wants to be more than a passenger.

Secondly, Silayev’s aggressive side causes him to make his share of mistakes on the ice. The big Russian defender was often guilty (especially at the start of the season) of errors that I call ‘Overcommitment’. That is to say, he compromises himself on the ice by leaving his assigned position to nullify a play in an area that should not be under his supervision. These errors manifested themselves under three categories;

The first would be on the technical level. Silayev’s approaches on the disc carrier are too aggressive and this appears as a bad angle with his skates.

We have an example here, the forward opens his hips slightly, meaning (presumably), that his next direction will be to take the center, yet, Silayev rushes at him with his skates, his hips and his shoulders oriented towards the boards.

Another example here. As a defenseman, you always want to have eye contact with your opponent’s chest/shoulders. This is how you will be better equipped to defend against unpredictability in changes of direction.  In this sequence, Silayev’s body is oriented towards the corner of the rink. The forward will have been able to perform a ‘Cut-Back’ and get closer to the slot to take his shot.

Over the last few years, Lian Bichsel is quite possibly the defenseman who best masters his angles of approach towards the puck carrier in similar situations.

Still in the ‘Overcommitment’, several errors resulted from poor decision-making. Here we see a banal counterattack, Silayev is on the right at the bottom of the screen.

For no reason, he will leave his position to pokecheck the puck, completely abandoning the player he was responsible for covering.

To finish with this chaotic aspect of Silayev’s game, some of his errors are not simply decision-making in relation to his position, but also in relation to the context of the game.

Here, there is a 2-on-2 battle, nothing threatening behind the net. Silayev protects the front of the net.

He decides to leave his position to help his teammates, but the puck ends up in front of his goalie and he is no longer there to protect him.

The most problematic thing about this sequence is that the score was 4-2 in favor of his team, and there were only four minutes left in the game. It would have been better if he kept a conservative approach in such a situation and stayed with his goalie.

On the other hand, I will partly excuse the gigantic Russian defender. When talking about offensive players, it can be difficult to differentiate between a player who is confident in his abilities and trying to make the difference versus a player who is skilled but has limited intelligence and holds onto the puck too much simply, because he is not able to see the more viable options. I believe it is the same in the case of Silayev, but in a defensive context. He is aware of the elite attributes he has (the ice he can cover, his long reach) so he sometimes overdoes it, and it backfires on him.

Furthermore, these errors disappeared from his lexicon during the season, which reassured me that it was not his hockey intelligence and his reads of the game that were lacking, but rather a certain lack of maturity and his aggressive approach towards the puck-carrier who had to be tamed.

Finally, to return to his aggressive identity, Silayev offers a phenomenal physical game. The resounding impact of the hits he’s dished out this season will make you think twice about whether it’s a good idea to venture over to his side. What I like most about his hitting is that he targets players who are coming at full speed, and he evens out that speed in the opposite direction. He doesn’t just seek to slow down an opponent’s race, he seeks to completely annihilate him. The most frightening thing is that Silayev still has a lot of crusts to eat in order to hope to “fill up” his frame. For the moment, he is not going to overpower his opponents by force in confrontations in front of the net or in other places, which we have the right to expect considering that he is only 17 years old and played in one of the three best leagues in the world (he’s only 207 lbs at 6’7). But after a few summers of training, he will be even more of a dominant presence in his territory, it will be even more difficult to win a battle for a loose puck against him.

As I mentioned, the errors made by number 21 of Torpedo in his reads did not bother me as much as other observers for the reasons I provided earlier. What worried me the most was Silayev’s mixed success rate in his breakout passes. His first-pass was often imprecise; in the skates of his teammates, out of their reach, etc. It was therefore with particular attention that I scrutinized this aspect of his game in my subsequent viewings in the season and my doubts were dissipated.

Defensively, he projects as an ELITE defensive defenseman. One of the greatest strengths a defenseman can have in their arsenal is the amount of territory they can cover. And when you combine skating as good as Silayev’s with a ridiculously long reach, you end up with a defenseman with immeasurable impact in his zone. He can easily push a forward who appears to be in a dangerous position towards the boards before the latter even realizes it. He makes excellent use of his range and prevents a multitude of zone-entries with it. He doesn’t get bypassed thanks to the quality of his backward skating and his pivots (more on that in a few moments), but IF it happens that he gets beaten, the opposing forward will need to create separation quickly, because Silayev literally has a pole as a stick and he will be able to pokecheck the puck at his opponent, even if he seemed beaten at first. He defends zone-entries very well, but I also like how he plays proactively and rushes into the offensive zone while his reach gives him the chance to avoid a zone exit without him having to compromise himself too much.

Silayev also shows great dedication to his team as he does not hesitate to block shots.

While many people like to diminish his attributes, they will have no choice but to face the facts and admit that he is a fantastic skater. Often, we hear that a player is a good skater ‘for his size’. In the case of Silayev, he is simply an excellent skater, no matter his size.

He is fluid on skates, demonstrating very good mechanics as he maximizes the extension of each of his joints. He can even create openings with his hips while he is in possession of the puck.

Even though he is still far from full physical maturity, his strides are powerful. I’ve seen him regularly catch experienced KHL forwards in just a few strides.

The most impressive thing in his case is the quality of his pivots when he transitions from skating backwards to skating forwards. Everything comes together without him losing even a minimum of speed. This is one of the reasons why, for me, Silayev is one of the best skaters in this draft.

Besides, his backward skating is one of the best I have ever seen. The fluidity, the cadence of the feet, how he manages to match the forward skating of the other team’s forward. Frankly remarkable.

On the offensive level, although the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo color carrier does not present a great offensive production, I still consider that there is room for appreciation.

His shot is not very violent, however, he directs a lot of pucks to the net. At one point in the season, he was even at the top among defensemen in shots on goal.

Something worth noting is how quickly Silayev showed improvement in finding the shooting lanes. In his very first games, his windup was predictable and several of his pucks aimed at the net were blocked before reaching their target. In the space of a few games, there have been undeniable improvements in his ability to move the defensive coverage before taking his shots.

What I also like is his honesty about the lack of force behind his shot. He knows that he will not beat the goalkeepers outright so he prefers to keep his shots low to the ice, in order to create rebounds for his teammates.

And quite frankly, I observe a certain hypocrisy towards the criticisms addressed to him regarding his shooting. In previous drafts, when it came to small defensemen with a not very threatening shot (Denton Mateychuk, Lane Hutson, Mikhail Gulyalyev, etc.) they were quickly excused. Well, to be fair, we’re not talking about the same level of offensive prowess as Silayev, but I still believe that this exposes a certain unfavorable bias on the public web towards more defensive players.

As for his puck distribution in the offensive zone, I think more praise should be given to him. His decisions are made quickly, already knowing where he is going to send the disc before even receiving possession. He also demonstrates good vision, spotting passes with a high coefficient of difficulty.

Where I find people are wrong is when defenders like this lose a lot ranks on their list due to lack of offensive potential. For me, defensemen with the potential to play on the first power play unit in the NHL are EXTREMELY rare. I rarely count more than 3 in a draft.

To add to this, fewer and fewer places are reserved for defensemen in these situations. Every season I dedicate myself to the exercise of looking at the 32 team alignments, including the special teams. Almost all teams employ a forward at the point, sometimes even on both waves! Furthermore, it is wrong to believe that the two units share the powerplay time equally. Generally, the first unit will spend almost 1min30, leaving mere seconds for the second wave. Which means that unless they’re simply terrific offensively and project as a potential quarterback, I don’t value defensemen’s offense as much as other public observers. For me, Silayev can play on a second PP wave as much as other defensemen more inclined to the offensive (but who are not elite) so in these scenarios, it is the defensive game that is the deciding factor for me. And in this department, Silayev projects himself to be unique.

I see him as a first pair ‘Shutdown’ defender who could take up a lot of minutes in the playoffs.

Number of games watched : 19

5. Beckett Sennecke

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Number of games watched :  26

6. Carter Yakemchuk

Carter Yakemchuk is a 6’3 right-handed defenseman playing for the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. He is what we could call a ‘Throwback’ reminiscent of the typical physical player of an ancient era. In full disclosure, he is the player who has seen the biggest rise on my list over the course of the year (if I exclude players who made a later appearance). Some improvements were observed, but mainly, it is because I gave too much weight to certain errors, which in the end, didn’t repeat themselves with a frequency high-enough justifying a more severe position towards him.

Yakemchuk set a Hitmen franchise record with 30 goals this season. To reach such a mark, it will come as no surprise to learn that the Canadian defenseman has an absolute cannon of a shot. His slap shot is very powerful and his team’s offensive schemes are definitely geared to feed him. He’s the ‘Trigger-Man’ on the powerplay. His wrist shot also has a lot of velocity. His shots are threatening even from the blue line.

From a technical point of view, it is very interesting to note that Yakemchuk is very skilled at changing his shot angles, showing soft hands. He takes advantage of the fact that his opponents fear his shot to cleverly delay it just enough for an opening to open up to him. It is far from being a common practice among defensemen to manage to change the angles of their shots this way.

This demonstrates intelligence and offensive instincts on an individual basis, but Yakemchuk has a heightened understanding of opposing defensive systems and he manages to turn that to his advantage. His offensive instincts are very good as we regularly see him exploit holes in the opposing coverage by advancing into the slot or low in the offensive zone. Personally, what I like the most is that you can tangibly see Yakemchuk wanting to be the one to put the puck in the net. He wants to be the one who will make the difference.

As said earlier, although the Hitmen’s offensive strategies are designed to feed Yakemchuk, the latter proves to be a good puck distributor.

Once again, I will refer to his offensive instincts as he demonstrates the vision necessary to spot passing lanes that are only accessible if he eliminates a variable at first. These passing lanes lead to excellent scoring chances when they are opened up following a clever move by Yakemchuk. When comparing Yakemchuk to the other defensemen in this draft described as ‘Two-Way’, I didn’t see in them the ability to spot those plays that appear hidden at first glance. I also doubt these defensemen can execute these plays.

The Alberta native also demonstrates ease in feeding his teammates which is equal on both sides, not falling into the trap of demonstrating too strong of a tendency in his game which can become predictable. His execution can be very quick on both sides.

Listed at 6’3 and 194 lbs, Carter Yakemchuk is one of the most physically mature players in the entire draft (he is also one of the oldest having been born on September 29). This is evident as he is one of the most physical players this cohort has to offer.

He distributes very solid checks, especially along the boards.

It would also be important to warn his opponents not to challenge him too much during skirmishes since he has a fairly short fuse! Several players this season probably had to reconsider their actions subsequently because Yakemchuk’s response was fierce.

Yakemchuk has also been involved in several fights during the calendar. It’s very rare to see a player projected this high for the draft drop the gloves.

In the physical aspect, the only thing we can blame him for is that he sometimes lets his emotions get the better of him, leaving his position to go and hit a player.

At the start of the season, I was harsher on him for a few blunders, which, in the end, only turned out to be occasional; inaccurate breakout passes, leaving too much space on the outside for an opponent or lying down prematurely on the ice to cut off a pass.

What worried me the most was Yakemchuk’s foot speed. Some movements in smaller spaces seemed difficult. He also tended to stop moving his feet when in possession of the disc, preventing him from creating the necessary separation.

On the other hand, when he gets moving, Yakemchuk deploys enough power in his strides. It is often more difficult to appreciate the speed of big players since their stride frequency is lower, but Yakemchuk moves well on the ice and there is nothing to worry about.

The only criticism I had on Yakemchuk that has persisted all season is that he is responsible for a lot of puck losses while attempting plays. Strangely, it’s not that Yakemchuk doesn’t have good hands. This was also mentioned previously when talking about his ability to change his shooting angles and to set-up plays for his teammates. The problem is that he thinks his hands are much better than they actually are. Although it bothers me a little, I can understand the plays he’s trying and they serve a purpose. A lack of intelligence is not involved in these attempts.

But in the end, the main task of a defenseman is to defend and Yakemchuk has qualities in his game that make him a player who can earn the trust of his coach.

I particularly like how he closes the lane giving access to his goalkeeper during counterattacks from the opposing team. He prevents his opponents from presenting themselves in dangerous areas to take a rebound, or even to disturb the goalkeeper.

Without the puck, however, his greatest quality remains the number of plays he manages to break. Thanks to a good vision of the game and good anticipation, Yakemchuk interrupts several plays from his opponents by cutting passing lines at the last minute. His positioning on the ice is never an issue, which helps him in this aspect. He also has a good stick defensively.

What’s interesting is that he breaks plays in all three zones. In the neutral zone too, but especially in the offensive zone where his audacity allows him to prevent breakout and thus extend his club’s offensive sequence.

These reasons are enough to make Yakemchuk a highly coveted defender by NHL teams, but to make it all better, he also does great breakout passes.

Personally, I see Yakemchuk as being the most balanced defenseman in this draft. The one where his offensive as well as defensive qualities are at high levels. Parekh and Buium have deficiencies in their defensive play (some of them significant) and Silayev, Dickinson and Levshunov do not have the offensive qualities of Yakemchuk.

Number of games watched : 19

7. Tij Iginla

Tij Iginla needs no introduction, with an impressive offensive harvest and son of the iconic Calgary Flames legend, the color bearer of the Kelowna Rockets fully deserves the enthusiasm given to him as a potential top 10 pick in the 2024 NHL draft.

Although one might be led to believe that the quality of his shot and his ability to score goals is what most distinguishes him as a prospect, I find that there are nuances in his game that prevail more to make him a unique player.

This may seem a little inconsequential, but what I find most defining about Iginla is how strong he is on the puck. Despite an average size (6’0, 185lbs) he is very difficult to dislodge from the puck. He applies a lot of downward force on his stick and, in this way, is never exposed to an opponent taking the puck from him by lifting his stick. Having seen him maintain the disc against several opponents simultaneously, I suspect that he has very good grip strength and I am very curious to know how he will do in this test at the Combine.

 His tenacity in such scenarios is impressive, but for me this aspect is not just about ‘will‘, but also about skill. We often observe in players of a similar size to Iginla who stand out for this skill, an intelligence as to where they place the puck before a confrontation against one or more opponents, keeping the puck closer to their skates to avoid facilitating access to their rivals. We also observe impressive athleticism in Tij as he is very adept at recovering pucks with his skates before redirecting them towards his stick. As soon as he seems out of a confrontation, he finds a way to emerge victorious, with the puck.

Another rather innovative way where Iginla’s strength on the puck comes through is during faceoffs in offensive territory. Jarome’s son played at center at different times during the season and he advocated this play where rather than trying to win the faceoff on his backhand to send it at the point, he pushed the puck forward, getting rid of his opponent and making a pass in the slot.

To enhance this facet, Iginla has very strong hips. During one-on-one battles, he will regularly get under his opponent and lean heavily on his hips to gain his position.

This physical particularity allows him to make sudden and powerful pivots, allowing him to create separation to get rid of a coverer.

It is by using these pivots that Iginla will take advantage of one of the constants in his game, which is to gain the inside of the offensive zone. He is a player who does not find comfort in remaining on the outside, he will try by all means to bring the puck into dangerous areas.

This desire to get the puck to the center of the offensive zone is what most distinguishes his abilities as a playmaker. He is not a spectacular passer, but many of his deliveries demonstrate a strong understanding of the game as well as maturity. He completes a lot of ‘difficult’ passes where he slides the puck under opposing sticks. A pass that stood out to me this season was made with his backhand, diagonally during transition when there were several obstacles between him and his target. He won’t always make the pass that will make your eyes widen and lead directly to a scoring chance, but he makes a lot of ‘Pro’ passes as they allow his team to keep possession of the puck.

This is not to say that Iginla’s passing game is devoid of creativity, far from it. He can spot teammates using cross passes and has particular ease in reaching teammates at the goalmouth. A selection of plays that makes him a resourceful passer is how he lures opponents in a given direction with his skating before passing the other direction to a teammate that had just freed himself.

Iginla is probably recognized primarily for his ability to put the puck in the back of the net. I can only agree with this statement, however, there is a reason why I did not start my analysis with this trait. As much as I appreciate his shot, I think some people got a little too excited about it. Which is not uncommon when it comes to prospects. We are often led to believe that a very good goal-scorer at the junior level will be able to beat NHL goalies clean, from distance, without a screen in front of them.

But hey, there is still a reason why I see Iginla racking up 30-goal seasons in the NHL.

His wrist shot is his favorite weapon. What makes him dangerous is that he does not need any windup to release his shot, and the velocity of the latter is not affected. His release is very quick and he is just as good at shooting while he is in motion.

In my viewing, three unique things stood out, characterizing what sets Iginla apart as a shooter.

First of all, the Kelowna Rockets forward shows patience when he is in the slot. Several players would be inclined to rush their shot, being positioned in a dangerous location. Iginla will instead thrive in front of a defender who kneels to improve his positioning even further.

Secondly, he is particularly sneaky in deceiving goalkeepers who cheat on their near side, anticipating the pass. Even goalkeepers who slow down their movement knowing that Iginla is not on his strong side to take one timer are beaten by a very quick release.

And finally, Jarome’s son draws some traits from his father as he demonstrates a pronounced intelligence as a goal-scorer. There is a notable difference between a player who has a good shot and a good scorer. Nothing can replace an innate instinct to get open, find free areas, have the right timing, read the intention of his teammates and so on. Iginla makes some very interesting plays as he points to his teammates with his stick, where he is heading in order to get fed.

Iginla also has a very good pair of hands. He doesn’t necessarily have the mentality to charge towards an opponent with the intention of dangling them, but it’s very surprising how well he can pull a rabbit out of his hat as the pressure closes in on him. He is particularly a fan of the backhand Toe-Drag, which is never unpleasant to watch.

He also brings a lot of substance to his game without the puck while his pressure on opposing defenders is incessant. This offers added value especially on the PK when defenders who recover the puck behind their own net are forced to move quickly and cannot wait for their teammates to be well positioned to restart the play again. This allows his team to run down the clock during the penalty-kill.

Personally, Iginla reminds me a lot of Brandon Hagel of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is perhaps not the most attractive comparison for a top 10 pick, but I would like to remind you that Hagel has several seasons of 25 to 30 goals and 65 + pts and that he is often one of the good producers of the 5 vs 5  in the league. And after all, the comparisons are mainly used for stylistic purposes, we are often bombarded with comparisons made between prospects and players predestined to land in the Hall of Fame. That will only be a plus if Iginla reaches even greater heights than Hagel. But for me, the strength he shows on the puck despite his average size, the play which is constantly oriented towards the inside, the uninterrupted work without the puck as well as his mature, pro playmaking, being able to complete difficult passes, constantly reminds me of the Lightning’s player.

Number of games watched : 20

8. Sam Dickinson
 

Coming from the powerful London Knights program, Sam Dickinson is a 6’3 left-handed defenseman.  Having collected more than one pts per game in the regular season, he is seen by many as the best defender in the draft.

It’s not an opinion that I share, but there is no doubt that he is one of the best skaters of this cohort.

 His skating ensures that he will not be out skated by forwards trying to beat him from the outside. It also gives him the luxury of advancing into offensive territory, as he can catch up to virtually anyone in the OHL if the puck ever falls into enemy hands.

In his zone, he is a reassuring presence since he can skate with the puck himself and get it out of danger when the pressure gets hot. In fact, in these circumstances, this is the option he will favor the majority of the time: skating with the puck and taking it out of the zone himself, rather than passing it to a teammate. This is something that we also observe regarding his play in transition, he prefers to rush the puck.

He also made spectacular coast-to-coast rushes during the season.

Dickinson is possibly the defenseman with the most Poise in the entire draft. His panic threshold is excellent. It’s like ice is running through his veins. But in his case, it is not only the absence of panic, but also the fact that he is very well equipped to get out of difficult situations: he uses his skating and his size well to protect the puck, but it’s mainly the fact that he has a long reach and all he has to do is move the puck from side to the other and it is immediately out of danger.

He has a very good stick defensively. This allows him to break up plays in all kinds of ways. Top of the list, as I mentioned earlier, in conjunction with his skating when he backcheck defensively. On the other hand, the technical aspect that impressed me the most in the way he uses his stick defensively is inside his pivots when a forward tries to beat him from the outside. He will pivot to go from skating backwards to skating forwards, but during this transition, he will tilt his body towards the forward and extend his reach to make him lose the puck.

The number 3 of the Knights masters certain defensive aspects as if he was already a veteran. How defends 2-on-1 situations is an excellent example. Young defensemen his age tend to find themselves not knowing what to do; they do not want to exert too much pressure on the puck carrier so as not to leave the passing option uncovered, but they do not want to cover the passing option so as not to allocate a lot of open space to the shooter. In the end, they do neither and both options remain viable for the puck carrier. Dickinson plays the opposite of this poor indecision. He will lie down on the ice full length to block the passing option, but he will slide aggressively towards the player holding the puck. He prevents the passing option and he also quickly closes access to the slot and forces the shooter to rush his shit. It’s beautiful.

Offensively, we find the same ‘Poise’ that he shows defensively. He will never waste a puck possession for nothing. Even when we put a lot of pressure on him while he is at the blue line, he is not going to get rid of the puck unnecessarily. He will find a passing lane to his partner in defense or he will make the forward freeze with a series of hesitations.

He is one of the defensemen of this cohort who has a good shot. Both his wrist shot and his slap shot. At the start of the season, he was employed as the primary one-timer option on the first power play unit, often slotting inside the right circle. Dickinson doesn’t have the greatest offensive sense (more on that later) so he lost that position, later being relegated to the 2^nd PP wave. I still like the quality of his shot, on the other hand, he has the annoying habit of taking his shots from way too far. He often takes one-timers with both skates at the blue line, and I’m not talking about simple shots aimed at the net, but shots where he tries to beat the goalies.

His puck distribution game is quite simple. He hasn’t shown any big flashes in this department during the season. It has no primary quality when it comes time to move the puck; he does not use deception, will not spot difficult cross-ice passing lanes, he will not run along the blue line in possession of the puck, etc.

In fact, it is during counterattacks that he executes his best plays. For example, Give-N-Go type sequences. This benefits him because there aren’t many variables in the equation. This allows him to keep things simple by handing it to a teammate at the zone entry, continuing his route to the net thanks to his skating and then, he has the presence of mind to keep his stick on the ice at all times to redirect the puck.

I find that he is quite limited offensively, although he has a powerful shot, he is not a born scorer, he is not the best puck distributor there is and his puck-rushing game, although effective to secure his zone and enter the opposing zone, will not result in a scoring chance. He doesn’t have the flair to take the center, more often than not going in a corridor along the board.

I would like to see him more physical and ‘mean’ in his zone as well. Despite his 6’3 and 203 lbs, he doesn’t give many hits and we never see him give cross-checks in front of his net. He does not have the mentality to punish his opponents.

I don’t want to sound too critical, but somehow Dickinson didn’t entirely live up to the expectations I had for him this season. Over the past summer, I watched a few of his playoff games to familiarize myself with the draft crop for the upcoming season. I was amazed to see a young 16-year-old defender (note that he is young for his draft, having been born in June) have so much presence on the ice at this critical time of the year. It’s not that he’s had difficulties this season, it’s just that I have a fairly large sample of views on him, and in almost all of these games, he’s been ‘Good’ without being ‘Very good’. I only count two or three games where he looked like a real general on the ice. I see a good second-pair defender in him. I must point out, however, that of all the high-profile defenders in this draft, he is possibly the one with the most growth left in his game, by virtue of his date of birth.

Number of games watched : 19

9. Artyom Levshunov

Artyom Levshunov is a Belarusian (right-handed) defenseman who has been playing in the United States for the last two seasons. After spending a year in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers, he made the jump in the NCAA this season with Michigan State University.

Levshunov is one of the defenders that could be described as a ‘Two-Way’ in this draft. He is a calm presence in his territory and particularly when defending counter-attacks. He is never alarmed by a forward coming down at full speed, no matter if he gets attacked head-on or if he has to catch up to the forward. He makes good use of his stick and we see that his skating allows him to cover more territory than one might believe at first glance.

Having finished the season with close to a Point Per Game, Levshunov is a curious case to evaluate offensively. In the offensive zone, he is not the type of player to skate along the blue line with the puck and he is not the most comfortable or creative player with it but he is capable of distributing the puck efficiently all the same. Personally, I prefer defenseman who exudes a certain aura with the puck and who can plant doubts in the heads of their opponents as well as challenge them but although I do not find that in Levshunov and I find him a little simplistic in his approaches offensively, he still made a few plays this season that made me hesitate about the label I was going to give him as a Puck-Mover.

Just like with his puck distribution, the word to describe his shot and the use he makes of it is: Simplicity. He stands out for his ability to place pucks on net even when he is stuck along the boards. It is generally at these moments when the play seems most harmless that the defensive coverage can be more porous and Levshunov’s teammates can go to the net to take the rebounds. Several Michigan State goals have been scored this way this season.

On a technical level, Levshunov has a very ‘Swift’ shot. He releases his shot without gaining momentum beforehand. He doesn’t have to bring the puck back before releasing. This detail ensures that the forward responsible of covering him have no clues as to his intentions to shoot and this can mean that they will not react in time to place themselves in a position to block the shot. This is one of the reasons why Levshunov manages to direct so many pucks to the net. Also, he never continues the forward motion of his stick after the puck has left his blade.

Even on his slap shots, his windup is very short.

To close this aspect of his game, goalkeepers must be wary of him since he does a good job of taking shots while he is in an unorthodox position.

On the other hand, it is not for the projection of his offensive that Levshunov is a coveted prospect. What may very well be his most attractive characteristic is how he can tilt the ice in his team’s favor. His transition game has several strong points.

He offers a quality first pass but what catches my attention the most is that I find nuances that make him a unique player in this department.

We find an element of ‘Deception’ as he happens to look at a player other than his intended target. This is something that we often find in the offensive zone among skilled players but it is not something usual in breakout.

But above all, Levshunov is excellent at making cross-ice passes, from the full width of the ice, to a teammate. We don’t see wing changes like this frequently in hockey. But this allows you to catch a formation that brings a change by surprise and exploit the free side of the ice rink. Some coaching strategies are also to apply increased pressure with more than one player on one side of the ice, Levshunov is the perfect antidote to this.

For me, his greatest quality is how quickly he can move the play from a defensive situation to an offensive situation. There is nothing very flashy when you look closely at how he achieves this, but I will mention once again his efficiency. His defensive qualities allow him to gain control of the puck, whether by winning a physical confrontation or by using his stick. Then the correct pass option is quickly identified and no time is wasted in his execution. I also like that he pursues his actions and jumps into the play following his breakout pass.

This aspect was also one of the biggest strengths in a prospect last year. Another right-handed defender over 6’2: David Reinbacher.

As a French-Canadian, I constantly see comparisons being made to Montreal Canadiens players, or prospects, and quite frankly, I find these comparisons very lazy. They’re often lame and I don’t really see where people are going with them. It’s not like there aren’t other players to draw parallels with.

At the start of the season, the similarities between the two struck me due to this aforementioned ability to move from a defensive scenario to an offensive one in the blink of an eye. It was a bold position at the start of the season, but I maintain my point: I think Reinbacher is superior to Levshunov!

(Reinbacher was generally ranked around 20th in public lists last year).

Where a gap is observed between the two is regarding their Compete-Level. This is the main reason why I prefer Reinbacher.

This is observed in various scenarios. First, Levshunov sometimes jumps into the offensive play and when the puck falls into the enemy’s hands and they begin a counterattack, he does not seem in any hurry to backcheck. During a sequence, a 4 against 2 took shape for the opposing team and it was a forward who assumed the defensive backcheck. Levshunov arrived a few seconds later, sliding down.

The most notable difference between the two, however, is how they will accept contact in order to protect the puck. This was one of the things I loved most of Reinbacher last year. In the case of Levshunov, I saw him get rid of the puck softly because he didn’t want to get hit. This is an integral part of a player’s Compete-Level for me.

I have continually questioned myself with Levshunov this season. At times, I was ready to forgive him for everything I had criticized him for early in the year, but now that I have a portrait of his entire season, I must note that it is a player who is quite inconsistent in his desire to compete.

It’s a shame because when he plays hard, he has the physical strength to bully his opponents and can simply be physically dominant along the boards.

Despite the criticisms I have about him, it’s difficult to label him as ‘disinterested’ on the ice because overall, he’s a very alert player. When you watch him closely, it’s fascinating to see how he actively communicates nonverbally. He is constantly pointing with his hand or his stick to his teammates where to go on the ice, who to cover in an odd-man rush situation, where to send the puck, etc. Sometimes it’s literally like having a coach on the ice.

It’s particularly impressive to see him lead his teammates on the ice despite being the youngest player on his team. Even more so when we take into consideration that there may be a language barrier present in his case.

But above all, it demonstrates an increased understanding of the game in general. During the Combine, NHL executives like to question the prospects by showing them a sequence of play from an NHL game, and pressing pause, they ask them which players would be responsible for covering which players, going where, etc. I have the impression that Levshunov will do well in this, if questioned.

To return to his offensive production, it is a bit hard for me to justify it. As said previously, Levshunov is effective in simple plays but he does not have the hand dexterity nor the level of creativity necessary to make plays worthy of projecting him on a first PP-unit. He quickly finds himself overwhelmed if he tries a little more imaginative plays. I think many people are being fooled by the numbers he has this year in the NCAA.

In fact, this carries over to the other two zones as well. The moment he tries to keep the puck and perform a bolder play, he puts himself in trouble.

Defensively, one of the things I criticize him for is giving too much space to the shooters.

Here he makes a bad decision and instead of following his player behind the net, he brakes and goes to protect the other side.

Levshunov won’t have been one of my favorites this season, but when I look at the projection of his toolbox, I give more importance to the impact he will have defensively than other players can achieve with the puck. He was in his first steps in the NCAA and it remains possible that he will improve in the coming years.

Number of games watched : 18

10. Zeev Buium

Zeev Buium is a left-handed defender who won the hearts of hockey observers during the season. Playing for the University of Denver, we notably saw him carve out an important role with the USA at the WJC.

When you watch him play, it’s not very surprising that he is ranked so high in public lists. Zeev Buium is the most elusive skater in the entire draft. He has excellent agility on his skates which allows him to turn on himself at any given time. He can make changes of direction one after the other until his coverer gives him an opening. This also allows him to buy a considerable amount of time for an option to become available or for a teammate to come to support him.

His confidence in his abilities allows him to take advantage of his agility as he excels at luring players onto him at the blue line and then performing a succession of shoulder movements to leave them in the dust. There is definitely a pattern in his play selections, which is to escape to the right, bringing the puck to his backhand. Although it is true that constantly opting for the same selections of play can be considered a crutch, I believe that this is the best solution that Buium has since his explosion on his skate is not that great (to go his backhand allows him to extend his reach with the puck), but more importantly, he makes excellent use of his free arm to push his opponent away!

Having a rather average size, Buium finds a way to elevate his puck protection with this judicious use of his free arm.

Buium is a prioritized option for his team to carry the puck. He finds success in this facet by very quickly identifying the roads that close in front of him and what other avenues he can take. His effectiveness is also increased by the dekes he makes in front of opponents with his head and shoulders. He sells them false routes and this is how he manages to dangle players on the ice.

Buium is a player who has quite a bit of ‘Bite’. Without necessarily giving big body checks, he battles firmly along the boards and if he can give an opponent a hard time, he will do so.

It’s from here that I have to start talking about the less stellar aspects of his game. Although I appreciate his desire to compete, Buium has a fairly average physique for a defenseman (6’0, 183 lbs) and there is a noticeable lack of physical strength when attempting to push his opponents. They brush him off pretty easily and they manage to complete their play without too much trouble.

This considerably limits his defensive effectiveness and even in possession of the puck, Buium tends to hold onto it too long and he often finds himself in a situation where he has to protect it with his physique, and what nature has provided him is not sufficient. What worries me a little is that his confidence in his abilities in these situations is greater than it should be.

To come back to his skating, I think you have to be careful when analyzing his skating. Yes, his agility on his skates is remarkable and very good things come from it but that is not a good barometer to adequately judge his speed as such. Evaluating a player in movement against static players is rather misleading. When I watch Buium skate in a straight line, I don’t find his speed to be above average.

And when he is called upon to defend rush attacks, it is still quite common to see him get beaten from the outside. His stick is not the best in his situations, already he is not helped by the longest reach.

To come back to his puck possession plays in the offensive zone, I find that the ‘Flashy’ and exciting side that they offer has misled a lot of people as to his real offensive effectiveness and what his potential is. In many of these sequences, Buium seems to have no pre-established idea in mind. There’s a lack of forethought. He finds himself constantly improvising until he runs out of space: he will either lose a battle along the boards or he will have to take a non-threatening shot, from afar, while turning around. These plays are not made with the intention of opening a passing-lane, but more to buy time. Which leads me to believe that his offensive potential is more limited than one might believe at first.

These kinds of plays happened more frequently as the season progressed, which is curious because it also coincides with his rise in the rankings. I believe that the multiplication of these errors is due to too much confidence in his own skills.

In certain sequences, we had the right to wonder if he did not suffer from a lack of vision. Which is not the case. He just needs to learn to play more simply.

His puck distribution game is good, nothing more. I place more value on brief possessions when it comes time to circulate the puck, rather than seeing a player endlessly circling in the offensive zone. Often, when paying attention to the opposing defensive structure, it is much more likely that an opening will be created with a collective passing game than with prolonged puck possession by a single player.

In the first half of the season, I had a big problem with the low volume of plays generated by Buium’s efficient puck circulation. This is now better. In addition, on a technical level, he is good at deceiving opposing forwards as he keeps his gaze on the goalkeeper before making a cross-ice pass. The projection of these games translates well; however, I would like to see more variety in his play selections while he always opts for the same target (player to his right).

As a shooter, Buium doesn’t pose much of a threat. His shot is rather average; however he does a good job of getting close enough (with or without the puck) before taking the shot. The biggest limitation once again comes from a volume that is simply too low. Buium does not send enough pucks to the net. In the NHL, many defensemen manage to amass a lot of points simply by bringing pucks to the net, and Buium doesn’t take enough shots, and I would add that he is not the best at finding shooting-lanes from the blue line.

Historically, Buium has never been a big points producer and this season the University of Denver offense was firing on all cylinders. This leads me to be a little wary of his production which could well be inflated. On the other hand, to be fair, I must point out that Buium finished 3rd in points per game for his team (49 pts in 40 games) and that remains impressive.

If there’s a recurring theme in my evaluation of defensemen over the past few seasons, it’s that they don’t need to be big point producers to get ranked highly on my list. This could excuse Buium from many wrongs, on the other hand, I find his defensive play quite average.

Largely due to his lack of physical strength and the fact that he often gets beat from the outside, as mentioned earlier. But also because his game in a one-on-one situation is not good enough for me.

Some of his reads are deficient, we have an example here.

A Czech forward sends the puck behind the net to get rid of the coverer. The latter sets off to chase the player for whom he is responsible. Buium is responsible for covering the player moving towards the front of the net.

Seeing that his defense partner will not get to the puck first, Buium decides to go behind the net to try to pokecheck the Czech player, freeing another opponent completely alone in the slot. It resulted in a goal against.

I have to say that brain cramps like this aren’t necessarily a common thing for Buium, but the limitations in his defensive game are very real.

From what I’ve seen of Buium, my projection is more of a 2nd pair defender. I think his defensive play is average and the offense is perhaps a little overrated. On the other hand, if there is a player on whom I am afraid of being wrong, it is him. It’s still very impressive what he achieved in the NCAA, and not being a very big fan of Sam Dickinson and Artyom Levshunov, I could be convinced without much resistance to rank him ahead of these two defenders. What makes me dread putting him at that rank is that he plays with a very high level of confidence on the ice, and if there is one thing that can allow a player to reach a higher level, it’s confidence.

Number of games watched : 22

11. Berkly Catton

Berkly Catton is a dynamic offensive forward, having just concluded one of the most prolific seasons in the WHL for a draft-eligible player with his 116 pts in 68 games. He is almost as good as a scorer as he is as a playmaker and that is reflected in his statistical profile as he has amassed 54 goals and 62 assists.

Endowed with great offensive creativity, Catton shines when it comes time to set the table for his teammates.

His passing skills can be analyzed in many ways, but at the top of the list, his ability to connect with his teammates with cross-ice passes is what sets him apart from his peers. He was the player who completed the most of such passes this season. This makes him a formidable playmaker on the power play as he can feed his teammates for one-timers as well as anyone in this draft can. Some of these passes are very impressive as we are under the impression that he is literally threading a needle, passing the puck through multiple opposing sticks.

It is also possible to observe Catton’s natural talent level on his saucer passes. This is another aspect at the forefront of his playmaking. It’s an asset that few players can boast of having up their sleeve. Passing lanes that seem inaccessible suddenly become achievable thanks to excellent hand dexterity giving him the opportunity to make these passes.

The final aspect that distinguishes Catton as a playmaker is his ability to spot his teammates coming in on the second wave. This demonstrates how far his vision of the game is broadened as well as a composure preventing him from forcing passes at the net.

What sets Catton apart, when compared to players of similar stature and style, is that his ability to put the puck in the net is at a level far beyond what one would expect.  His 54 goals this season bear witness to this.

His wrist shot can be a real laser and leaves his stick at astonishing speed.

But beyond that, Catton manages to score so many goals thanks to a superior understanding of the game. His spatial recognition is the perfect demonstration of this. He spots gaps in defensive coverage as well as anyone and his confidence in possession of the puck allows him to attack those areas with all the confidence needed. Despite a less than optimal size, Catton is one of the good players in this draft to win the center of the slot.

His way of treating his environment is also illustrated in his way of using ‘Give N Go’ with a teammate in order to eliminate an opposing defender obstructing his path, and thus gain an advantageous zone to take his shot.

A very interesting way that Catton uses his shot is to perform a ‘Cut Back’ at the last second to avoid imminent pressure from an opponent. He therefore places himself in a more favorable position to take his shot. But beyond the skills required to carry out such a maneuver, I will once again refer to his intelligence to not only identify a possible threat that could prevent him from taking his shot, but also to the intelligence to recognize his own skill register. Catton doesn’t have the speed or physicality to out-skate players or push them away, so he finds another way to get rid of them.

He also has a fairly strong tendency to take shots from restricted angles. It’s okay for a player of his talent to play boldly and try to catch the goalkeepers if they cheat. Early in the season, his usage of such attempts was perhaps too high for my liking. I found that he had his finger on the trigger a little too easily but his use is now more temperate.

The Spokane Chiefs center’s puck handling is a key part of his offensive arsenal, giving him the confidence to create scoring chances from virtually nothing.

His hands make him one of the best players in this draft to carve up opposing defenses when he carries the puck in the neutral zone. He can slip through tight coverage very well and this makes him a preferred option for bringing the puck into opposing territory during important situations such as powerplay or at the end of the game when his team is trying to tie the game.

On the other hand, I must admit that these sequences were somewhat misleading and caused me to misjudge Catton’s skating in the first half of the season. Generally, I think I do a good job of spotting defenders who don’t have as much speed as it seems since they carry the puck in front of immobile defensive core, making it harder to adequately assess their speed.

As I paid closer attention, I noticed that Catton’s skating is somewhat of a weak point for him. Without saying that he is slow, his top speed is not sufficient for a player of his size.

My assessment was more optimistic at the start of the season because I found that he showed good balance on his skate when players tried to push him while he was at full speed.

Sequences where Catton managed to find passing lines for his teammates even when pinned to the boards suggested that he could find ways to counter his physical limitations.

But as with his skating, by enlarging my games sample, I realized that the fears associated with his size are indeed justified. It’s not so much Catton’s height per se that is problematic but rather his weight. And after watching the player in interviews, without his equipment, he is of a rather frail constitution. I have difficulty anticipating that he will be able to add a lot of weight to his frame.

Without the puck, Catton deploys an overall appreciable level of effort, but even if I try, it is difficult for me to find strong points in his defensive game that would allow me to see him as a Center in the NHL. And if we add his lack of physical strength, I have a hard time imagining him lending a hand to his defenders around the net. This is why I have no other choice than to see him play on the wing.

Although I really like his offensive creativity and I can only admire how he led his team throughout the year, both with Canada at the Hlinka and with his team in the WHL, I must remain objective regarding his profile. Wingers who are physically frail and who are not very fast are not what is most in demand among NHL GMs. Realistically, you can only have one position filled by a forward like this, so it’s more understandable when teams pass over this type of player.

Number of games watched : 20

12. Stian Solberg

Coming from a non-traditional hockey market, Stian Solberg represents the brightest prospect to come from Norway in a long time. Having preferred to stay in his native homeland rather than exile elsewhere in Europe, Solberg will still have spent the season in a professional league, which will not have been a lost season for his development. To be honest, I knew nothing about this league and the caliber of play surprised me. The speed of execution and the physical play of this league have nothing to take away from many other better-known leagues on the European continent.

Spotting Solberg on the ice is not difficult, he catches our eye as hard as he hits his opponents. His identity and his contribution to his team rely largely on the quality of his physical game. Two years ago, I declared Lian Bichsel (ranked 13th on my list) as the most physical prospect I had ever seen. By virtue of his play this season, Solberg made a strong sales pitch to claim this title! Watching him destroy adults in Norway bordered on the absurd at times. I could only burst out laughing when I noticed the violence of some of his checks. He is extremely strong on his skates.

What I like about Solberg is that he approaches every game with the same mentality. It’s not the easiest thing to do to assume such a role on the ice and to make himself the number one target of the opposing team, however, he does not shy away from any challenge. Also, I think this shows us what a physical specimen he is. Playing in such a way will inevitably involve musculoskeletal challenges for the one who distributes so many hits. This is also why the aspect of consistency in this facet of the game is rarely checked for players with a similar identity. It’s very hard on the body. However, Solberg turns out to be one of his players with a regenerative ability worthy of the Wolverine. He doesn’t take any evenings off.

Beyond the resounding impact, Solberg delivers a volume of hits that is simply absurd. He never misses any opportunity to make his opponents pay the price. I’m going to conclude this aspect by saying that Don Cherry would only need to watch a Solberg game or two to make a Rock’Em Sock’Em compilation.

I was touching on the subject, but one of the keys for players like this is something we don’t talk about often enough and that’s longevity. Beyond the impacts of hitting, there is a preventive aspect on the ice that the player must be aware of. These players risk seeing a target put on their head in the enemy locker room and they must be extra careful when they jump on the ice. Solberg is often targeted by his opponents, but he is never caught off guard. He firmly waits for the arrival of his enemies and gives them a ‘Reverse Hit’. Hockey executives are now trying to abolish these hits because they are dangerous, but as a Solberg fan, I can’t contain my excitement when I see him destroyed an opponent like this.

The most frightening thing about Solberg is that I believe he still has some muscle and strength to gain. When he is called upon to engage in physical confrontations in a more stationary position, he will not dominate his opponents outrageously as the hits he can gives suggest. I believe gaining upper body strength will help him become more effective in front of the net and in the corners.

What is interesting about the Norwegian is that his physical play does not only serve him to punish his opponents, it is also from this that his defensive game draws its effectiveness.

He uses his body to commit legal interference and thus block the forwards’ path.

I also like the perseverance and tenacity he shows following a check along the boards which fails to completely eliminate his opponent, he will subsequently redouble his effort to trap the forward against the boards, preventing him from putting pressure on Solberg’s defense partner.

What I find unique, however, is how he uses his stick to push his opponents at the hips to cause them to lose balance.

However, not everything is perfect. Number 72 has a few small deficiencies to correct defensively. He has difficulty blocking opposing shots. This is explained by two things.

The first is that he will sometimes bite too hard at an opponent’s shot feint and he will compromise himself, allowing the latter to give himself a better shot location.

The second (and this is something that has persisted throughout the season) is that Solberg doesn’t make himself ‘big’ enough when trying to block shots. Rather than trying to cover as much space as possible, he seems to shy away.

The thing that worried me the most about his game was during a sequence of games during my viewings where he was constantly clearing the puck through the glass. This was very uncharacteristic of him; as we saw previously, he is a player who has no difficulty taking pressure on himself and, normally, he has very good composure. These hasty plays resulted in putting the puck back in the enemy’s hands (or in an Icing call). Despite having many good qualities, it can be these kinds of repeated mistakes that can end up keeping a player out of the lineup.

It was to my bewilderment to observe what was emerging as a very bad tangent in his game, because his ‘Poise‘ was something that I really appreciated about his game. It was clearly not because he was afraid of getting hit that he rushed his actions. Generally, when a player throws the puck like this, it is either because he is afraid of getting hit or because his brain is not processing the information quickly enough, and in a fit of panic, he gets rid of the disk. The first hypothesis does not adhere to Solberg so what about the second?

Well, he has repeatedly demonstrated refinement in his way of operating under pressure.

We see him here having to retrace on his steps, because an opponent is harassing him. The option of sending the puck behind the net is not viable, as one player comes to put pressure on his defense partner on the other side.

He will therefore bring the two forwards with him to the corner of the ice, making sure not to get pinned against the boards with a clever directional fake.

Subsequently, he will wait for the 2nd forward to close the gap on him to cleverly slide the puck between these 2 opposing forward to a supporting teammate in the center, rather than pushing the puck onto the boards. One pass later and a teammate of Solberg got a breakaway and scored a goal.

His ‘Poise‘ is accentuated due to his belief in his athletic abilities. In his case, this is reflected in his ability to use very nice sudden pivots on his skates to get rid of his pursuer.

But also, by his confidence in protecting the puck with his body. What I like is that within certain sequences, the forward chasing him plays wonderfully with his stick and you would be able to believe that Solberg is going to lose the puck, but his desire to triumph is so great that it never comes close to being a possibility.

To come full circle on this aspect, the Norwegian defenseman has a very strong dose of ‘Deception‘ in his game. He excels at luring an opponent in one direction and finally going in the opposite direction. He is, in my eyes, very good at recovering pucks and escaping pressure thanks to this quality.

This aspect of ‘Deception’ leads me to talk about his offensive game. This is an aspect of his contribution that I find very underestimated. There hasn’t been any discussion surrounding his play in the offensive zone and I think people are missing something, there is substance in that aspect of his game.

His puck distribution is really better than the lack of conversation on the public sphere would suggest. He has very good vision and has made a multitude of magnificent cross-ice passes throughout the season.

And his ability to mislead defensive coverage while never making eye contact with his target deserves much more praise. There is definitely room to develop offensively with him.

In terms of his shooting, there is still a certain element of deception, but his value does not stop there.

Firstly, he manages to get his shots to the net, which is a quality in itself. He finds the shooting lanes even when he finds himself stuck to the boards.

But what excites me the most is his ability to open up shooting lanes in his own unique way. He manages to accelerate in a given direction, without even pushing, after stopping and luring an attacker to compromise on him. He then capitalizes on every inch of ice available to him to advance into open space before shooting.

There is no shortage of mentions about Solberg’s athletic profile, but I must mention that he is a powerful skater. He is very strong on his legs and he manages to generate a lot of power behind each of his strides. He also maintains excellent balance on his skates, even when pushed by his opponents while he is at full speed.

Something nice about him is that you watch him play and you’re never able to guess what the score is, he plays with the same enthusiasm, no matter the result. Norway was not a powerhouse at the World Junior Hockey Championship, having suffered several humiliating losses, yet Solberg continued to play with the same intensity. And it didn’t just stop at physical play, during sequences where he was called upon to recover the puck, he showed the same vigilance and the same confidence, showing no sign of discouragement and continuing to give the best of him. To me, this is a solid show of leadership on his part.

Continuing the level of leadership shown by Solberg, during the relegation game against Germany at the WJC, he made a costly mistake which ended up in the back of his net during the game. Right from the next shift, we saw Solberg hungry to make a difference at the other end. How a player bounces back after a difficult shift or such an error says a lot about his character.

Finally, I am very excited about what the future holds for Stian Solberg. He played all his hockey in Norway and until last year, his country had never played against the power-house that we know on the international scene. Which means that until he was 17, he had never really faced a high caliber of competition. And even though he was playing against men this year in Norway, seeing him play at such a high level against NHL players at the World Championship was a striking statement from the young player to close out his draft season.

Next year, he will wear the colors of Farjestad in the SHL and I think it is an excellent decision on his part to move to a higher caliber, while taking his time and not skipping steps.

My projection stops at a 2nd pair defender, but who brings a unique dimension as well as a lot of leadership. A player you need to get through the playoffs. I’m also banking on the fact that there is possibly still a lot of potential to be found with him.

Number of games watched : 23

13. Zayne Parekh

A 6’0 right-handed defender, Zayne Parekh is a prospect who seems to divide scouts. Presenting exceptional qualities offensively, his defensive game presents equally obvious deficiencies.

After scoring 21 goals in 50 games at the age of 16, Parekh finished the season with 33 goals, which represents the highest total from a Draft-Eligible CHL defenseman since many moons.

To have achieved such results, Parekh can rely on the quality of his shot, but we are not talking here about devastating slap shots. Parekh uses this weapon very rarely, relying instead on his wrist shot.

Parekh has a unique way of shooting where he looks very nonchalant, but make no mistake, because the quality of the shot is higher than one would expect.

 He is also difficult to predict when he’ll actually release, because he takes a lot of shots while leaning on his back leg, rather than his front, which is quite unorthodox.

Despite his somewhat nonchalant appearance, the Saginaw defender is very alert to the openings that open up in front of him in the offensive zone. He can explode into one of these open spaces at any time, making him an extremely dangerous player as soon as he touches the puck.

To add to the caution his opponents must have, Parekh is possibly the best defender I have seen among prospects in recent years at placing shots with the intention of one of his teammates deflecting the puck.

The Saginaw defenseman also has solid puck distribution and can run a power play brilliantly. He’s good at making the defensive coverage moves before handing off to a teammate, but he’ll take the play to another level as he skates up and down the blue line, drawing a player onto him. He shows a lot of audacity, but as was mentioned earlier, Parekh has this ability to move explosively in the offensive zone and he also has very good puck handling, so you never feel worried when he tries this kind of play. What I like the most, despite the risk, is that there are no unnecessary movements and that everything is calculated. There is an intention and a real purpose behind each movement and he does not fall into incessant improvisation like Zeev Buium does.

Also, the quality of his passes is flawless: hard, crisp and accurate.

This is an observation that we also observe when it comes to his first-pass.

If Parekh’s portrait seems positive so far, things get much more difficult when it comes to his defensive play.

His game simply lacks commitment. When I mentioned that his distribution of the puck always hides a very specific goal behind each movement, well it is the opposite that we observe from Parekh without the puck. On many occasions, he moves towards a player in possession of the puck, but without intentions. The player has the luxury of making the play he wants since no real pressure is placed on him. Parekh does not force his opponents to rush their decision, instead contenting himself with only making an act of presence.

I frankly don’t like the way he defends when he never engages the body, preferring to extend his reach with one hand. The level of involvement is far from sufficient. Doing so also tends to leave plenty of space for opposing forwards, giving them access to go to the net or the chance to escape Parekh after stringing together a pivot or two.

He is a defender who is not difficult to play against. Not only will he not make you pay the price, but I also saw him commit turnover time and time again because he was unwilling to pay the price by protecting the puck in the corners, preferring to dispose of it limply.

There were also sequences where everything seemed to bode well for him to win a race for a free puck, but fearing to get hit, he left the lane wide open to his opponent.

His positioning is also very erratic, within the same defensive presence, he can find himself high on the right side, only to be low on the left side a few moments later. This causes confusion among his teammates as the players do not know who should cover who on the ice.

An additional gap that stands out in Parekh’s defensive play is that he does not seem aware of what is happening behind him. This is mainly observed on the PK when he constantly leaves one or more players unsupervised in the slot or at the goalmouth.

He also has this unfortunate tendency to think about creating offense while in those situations.

We have an example here of a poor read by Parekh. A turnover has been committed in the offensive zone and the opposing team launches a counterattack. So far, nothing threatening as the situation is shaping up to be a 3v3, or maybe even a 2v3. Parekh is at the bottom of the screen (in white) and is tasked with covering the player who is on the far side.

Instead, he will move towards the puck carrier, leaving the player on the left completely alone.

The sequence resulted in a goal against the Saginaw Spirit.

Parekh also tends to defend in a way that doesn’t seem very serious or professional as he often lays down full length on the ice to block passing lines, but his moments are not always well chosen.

The final aspect that worries me about Parekh’s off-puck game is that he has a certain lack of physical strength and he has a lot of difficulty defending against physicality, even at the OHL level. He was also the victim of several good checks in my viewing and what worried me is that Parekh is so used to not engaging the body, that he does not anticipate that his opponents, on the other hand, are going to do so. At multiple times, he very clearly saw a player moving towards him, but he does not feel the need to protect himself, because he does not believe that the player will complete his check.

However, I saw some improvements throughout the season in his game without the puck. Mainly in the neutral zone where I appreciated several of his interventions to prematurely nullify an opposing counterattack.

For everything that I’ve said regarding his play without the puck, I would have a hard time pushing for him early in the draft. If they are not corrected, his weaknesses will only be exacerbated at the NHL level. Even more so when it comes time for the playoffs!

That being said, I constantly repeat that when you evaluate prospects of this caliber, you must not only question what the player can bring to your organization, but you must also question what your organization can bring to the player so that he can reach another level in his development.

For some, it will be to work with a mental preparation consultant to overcome psychological barriers or collapses in performance at key moments, for others it will be to rely on rigorous training during the off-seasons, to other players, it will be whether if their team has the right complement for them in their lineup. I mentioned it last year with a player like Gabe Perreault who, hyper-talented, was a little afraid of playing in the corners (during his draft season, it’s now much better), a ‘fit ‘ for him would have been to have a center like Roope Hintz who will tend to play like the F1 and be the first player on the forecheck on his line. It’s a bit the same story with Parekh, a team that relies on big defensemen capable of shutting down the opposing offense could be seduced by him.

I see him being able to play as a PP1 QB, so it could be perilous to rank him too low, although I tend to be on the skeptical side with him as a player.

Number of games watched : 15

14. Jett Luchanko

Jett Luchanko is a right-handed center, 5’11 and 187 lbs. His identity was easy to identify, but playing with a moribund team like the Guelph Storm, it was his ceiling that represented a challenge to adequately gauge. He finished first in points on his team with 74 pts in 68 games.

From the start, it was his intelligence without the puck that stood out to me. Part of me is tempted to say that he is the smartest player in the entire draft without the puck.  His reads of the game are of a high level, he always identifies, in complex situations, which player to cover, which of his defenders needs support, the moments to cover a teammate who has had to leave his position, the open-ice that can be used, etc. His work without the puck in the neutral zone is also remarkable in the way he makes the center of the ice a non-viable option for the puck carrier. It’s slightly complicated to explain, but he nullifies the options in the center, while applying enough pressure on the puck carrier to confine him to the outside.

Anywhere and at any time on the ice, he bothers his opponents. They never have time to be able to slow down the game, observe the situation and take a decision as a result of their processing of information. Luchanko’s pressure is still imminent and very strong. He forces them to rush their plays and get rid of the puck.

More importantly, it’s not simply his positioning or his sense of responsibility that I like about Luchanko, but his state of mind from the moment he steps on the ice. During his defensive backcheck, he does not put pressure on the puck carrier with the simple aim of seeing the latter rush his play, he has the clear intention of stealing from him by any means necessary. As if he was going to recover something that belongs to him. He has the mentality of a shark on the ice.

From my first viewing, even if his offensive potential had not yet revealed itself to me, I had no other choice than to insert him in a favorable position on my list. There is no better way to predict the future than to look at the past. We quickly realize by consulting old drafts that players with profiles similar to Luchanko (extremely intelligent, responsible and hardworking) often have a greater chance of establishing themselves in the NHL and producing there (following winning the confidence of the coaches) than many other players whom we had estimated with more potential and upside. Prospects are too often judged based on individual skills and not on their understanding of the game. Just think of a player like Luke Evangelista in the 2020 draft. He is already better established within his team than many prospects selected in the top 20, or even top 10, which in the end risks becoming complementary pieces, even if they had specific qualities which stood out from the crowd at the time.

And then, as I continued to watch him, I quickly realized that Luchanko is a formidable playmaker. Mainly during power plays where he is used at the point, he was the author of several of the most beautiful plays that I saw. He can do the job of a quarterback on the power play as well as many defensemen. If I praised his intelligence without the puck, I must do the same when he is in possession. Watching him lead the PP gives the impression of watching a chess player at work, moving each pawn as he pleases.

His ability to make cross-ice passes is definitely among the elite in this draft. The most fascinating thing is the execution behind these passes. The passes are very lively and precise, but I pay particular attention to how brief the motion of his stick is. We are talking about passes of almost 55 feet distance (or even more) here and he only needs a quick touch to reach a teammate. The information processing that precedes these passes is just as spectacular. It only takes a fraction of a second to spot the openings.

When I realized the offense he could bring, I started to see some parallels with Vincent Trocheck. The comparison is not 100% accurate, because Luchanko is much faster, but I mainly had in mind play creation, two-way responsibility, leadership on the ice and above all, the type of career where he discreetly established himself on a 2nd line and accumulated seasons of 60 pts without anyone really talking about it.

On the other hand, to achieve this type of production, Luchanko will have to improve his goal-scoring ability. In his case, it’s not that his scoring skills are insufficient, it’s more a question of volume. Number 7 of the Guelph Storm takes too few shots on net. For what it’s worth, his shot is pretty average, but he still has the potential to score his share of goals in the NHL.

There are some things he does well as a shooter.

I really like how he uses ‘Pump Fakes’ when used at the point on the power play. He will step forward putting weight on his stick giving the impression that he is loading a shot, as soon as the defenseman kneels in position to block the shot, Luchanko removes his weight from his stick, gains ground and repeats the process until he is happy with his shooting location.

In addition, he demonstrates good scoring instincts when he finds himself alone in front of the goalkeeper. These situations arise when Luchanko is at full speed, having just made an impressive rush to the net. He plays a game of patience with the goalkeeper and lets the latter make the first move (by kneeling or attempting the pokecheck) and Luchanko chips the puck over his shoulder.

Moreover, these rushes at the net are sensational and are an integral part of his play selections. Luchanko is not usually a player who dribbles a lot with the puck, but when the time comes to force his way to the goalie, he can come out with superb dangles. The center player also demonstrates great intelligence in the way he dissects the levers in physical contact with defensemen, lowering his center of gravity to get under his opponent.

It was during his rushes to the net that I realized how fast Luchanko is. Something I didn’t realize immediately. Being a cerebral player, his positioning is always on point so you don’t see him spending energy unnecessarily, but when it comes time to explode, he definitely has one of the best straight-line speeds of all the draft.

The London native also plays with a physical ‘Edge’. He is very competitive and likes to hit his opponents. It is often by arriving at full speed that he will deliver his checks.

He is the player who won the most points at U-18. It wasn’t the easiest thing to evaluate him in Guelph. He didn’t really have offensive support, the team was dysfunctional, in fact, the head coach was fired after their season was over. It was mainly that I had uncertainties about his ceiling. I now believe that the door is open for him to become a 2nd line center also capable of shutting down the best opposing elements.

Number of games watched : 22

15. Marek Vanacker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Number of games watched : 18

16. Liam Greentree

Liam Greentree is a forward playing for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. His 90 pts this season ranks him 12th among scorers in the league, which is very impressive for a player eligible for the draft, even more due to the fact that the offensive support he had was almost non-existent.

Significant changes have occurred in his game over the course of the season, but that hasn’t changed the fact that his game is centered around his puck control. I honestly believe his hands are among the top 5 in this draft.

Standing at 6’2, Greentree maneuvers with a long reach. Generally, this represents a limiting factor in confined spaces, where it becomes more difficult to work. However, in no case does Greentree seem to be affected. This is also one of the assets that his puck handling gives him: his ability to handle the disc in small spaces.

Greentree was never a great skater so he developed his own ways of using his puck handling to his advantage. He preferred to stand still and bait an opponent onto him and then use his dexterity and his reach to eliminate his rivals.

And then, at the turn of December, his skating was vastly improved (it’s still not perfect to this day, but overall, it’s less worrying). This opened the door to new possibilities for Greentree to get rid of opponents. Without going so far as to say that he pushes defenders back, he now has the necessary speed to dare to challenge them by charging directly at them, rather than trying to lure them into a spot before attempting a dangle.

We touched on the subject, but indeed, during the first half of the season, notable progress was observed in his skating. He is now able to exert a certain level of power behind his first few strides and he’s able to accelerate to create distance from a rival, something he was not able to do earlier in the season. At the OHL level, he now has the speed to challenge defenders but he still has a lot of improvement to do before he can replicate that in the NHL. He will never be a speedster at that level, but his long reach and the dexterity of his hands will help him camouflage this shortcoming.

We’ve discussed the ramifications of his improved skating has on the way he operates inside his puck handling, however, that’s not the only aspect of his game that has been affected. The biggest change is that he realized he can cover a lot more ice now. He is not confined to remain in one place for the entirety of his shift. The metamorphosis is striking. No longer afraid of being caught out of position, Greentree has seen his defensive game take a step further since he can now not only keep up with his opponent on a speed basis, but after that he stripped them off the puck, he can jump into the play and be a threat offensively. At the start of the season, his skating would not have allowed him to do that. The biggest change is definitely his mental approach to the game, he now wants to take matters into his own hands and make a difference.

I remain rather skeptical as to whether Greentree will be able to dictate the play in the NHL as he does in the OHL, however, even if he doesn’t succeed, he will remain a dangerous player in the offensive zone due to the quality of his shot. Mainly his wrist shot. He becomes particularly dangerous when he keeps the puck on his stick for a while before shooting. He also has the ability to take good, accurate shots even when he is one-timer coming from his ‘Off-Side’.

As a playmaker, Greentree offers some interesting flashes but he is not the most rounded out passer there is. One of the things I like is that he has the instinct to jump right back into the play after making a pass, he’s not going to stand still and just watch what happens next.

 The majority of the great passes he makes happen on the power play. This is consistent with the fact that, growing up, Greentree was never the fastest skater so he developed as a player who had to slow the game down. This is why he is most comfortable in situations where the play is already installed in the offensive zone.

On the other hand, now that Greentree has developed a level of speed sufficient to challenge defenders in the OHL, whenever he gets the opportunity, he will seek out one-on-one confrontation. Considering these last two points, I believe that this hides a certain deficiency in the ‘Processor’ of the Windsor Spitfires forward. We don’t see him making plays at high speed and that could be a major obstacle to realizing his full potential in the NHL.

Other than his skating, his rather ordinary Hockey-Sens represents the biggest red flag regarding his projection. I believe that given the situation in Windsor (a very weak team in the OHL) this could have hidden many flaws as for Greentree’s hockey intelligence. It’s good to want to take matters into your own hands when your team is devoid of offensive talent other than you, but on several occasions he turned his nose up at obvious passing options and on other occasions he took questionable shots .

Another aspect that bothers me is that despite his advantageous size, I have to count on the fingers of one hand the number of hits I have seen him dish out.

Ultimately, Greentree is a player who has very high potential, but of all the players with a high ceiling in this draft, he is possibly the one with the most uncertainty of one day realizing this potential. My excitement for him was much higher at another point during the season. Despite very interesting progress during the first half of the season, I finished the season much less reassured than I was a few months ago. This reminds me a little of Conor Geekie’s draft season.

Number of games watched : 24

17. Adam Jiricek

Cadet of the Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman, Adam Jiricek is a player in whom I had a lot of hope in anticipation of the 2024 draft. Having seen him play in various international tournaments at 16 (in the under-18 group), I firmly believed that a selection among the first five players called in this draft was possible. It goes without saying that his season did not go as expected. He was forced to miss the entire second half of the season following a nasty injury suffered at the WJC. And let’s be frank, the sampling that he provided us before this injury wasn’t the most convincing.

In many ways he resembles his brother David on the ice. He has a posture that is very similar and opts for a selection of offensive plays that are similar. It is mainly in his puck distribution that the most obvious comparisons between the two are made. Adam is very bold offensively and makes many of his most exciting plays from the right side as he likes to get rid of his coverer with a shoulder fake and then skates along the boards, low in the offensive zone. Last year he managed to make cross-ice passes inside these sequences, which was essentially a carbon copy of what I’ve seen countless times with his brother, but this season his success rate for these plays was not as high so he often opts to keep the puck behind the goaltender’s net. By making these incursions deep into enemy territory, the opposing defense ‘collapses’ as players move down to protect the slot, this opens up considerable space for Jiricek’s teammates who are stationed at the blue line (his D partner as well as a forward covering his departure). Even though these plays have not offered much concrete results this season, I believe that using it properly, his audacity in these situations could pay dividends in the future.

Besides that, Jiricek also demonstrates very interesting flashes as he has a penchant in his game for making cross-ice passes to a player located at the goal-mouth. For a defender, these are difficult passes to make, but if they connect, they become very dangerous. What Jiricek does well is that he never makes eye contact with the intended target, which brings a big aspect of deception and unpredictability to his puck-distribution.

However, his offensive arsenal is reduced due to the weakness of his shot. It’s a shame, because I like the positioning that precedes his shots during the power play. Jiricek knows how to get into advantageous positions, like inside the left circle to use his one-timer. The problem is that he doesn’t have the power to beat goalkeepers. His wrist shots from the blue line are also rarely threatening.

What bothers me most about his shooting is the way he sets it up. I mentioned a certain unpredictability with his distribution of the puck, and it’s quite the opposite when it comes to his shooting.

We see a good example here

Jiricek has the entire center of the offensive zone at his disposal, as well as a passing-option on the left flank.

He will favor shooting in this sequence, but to be comfortable, he must rotate his hips towards the boards, giving the defensive coverage time to adjust. It also becomes predictable for the goalkeeper and he himself has just eliminated the passing option to his left.

More and more, I observe certain particularities among prospects where they will master a subcategory of a skill at a high level, but will present crucial flaws in this same skill. This often occurs in players’ skating. Jiricek does not escape this anomaly.

As far as I’m concerned, the right-handed defender has very good ‘Edge Work’. He manages to use the inside or outside of his skate blades with precision to break away from an opponent’s pressure. I also appreciated a few sequences where, trying to block the path of an opponent who was trying to get around him, Jiricek continued to push with his back skate to keep pace from his rival and to maintain a good gap-control.

On the other hand, although eye-catching, we must not let this distract ourselves from the more important aspects of skating for a defender, which are unfortunately not achieved in the case of Jiricek.

It is particularly when he has to pivot on the offensive blue line that we observe worrying shortcomings in Jiricek’s skating. Not only are his pivots rather slow, but the strides that follow lack a lot of power, which means that an opposing forward can quickly create separation from him. His strides are much too short, while we observe no extension at the hip in his strides, not involving the muscles of the gluteal complex.

I still have some hopes that he will manage to correct this last point to a certain extent, because, at the moment, Jiricek is very raw physically. At 6’2, he currently only weighs 168 lbs.

One of the reasons that keeps me from dropping him too low is that I really like the intensity with which he plays. A personal acquaintance of mine played in the Czech Republic during the 2021-2022 season and I remember a discussion I had with him in the summer about David Jiricek. He told me that every time he faced him, David, barely 18 years old, would run after him on the ice to, I quote him, “rip his head off.” He was highly impressed with the young defender’s level of competition, and for your information, said person is not a small customer either! We’re talking about a player around 6’2 who does very well when he drops the gloves.

It takes a very special DNA to approach each games as if they were a real trench war. Adam is cut from the same cloth as his brother, he loves to hit and play physical.

He presents a particular aggressiveness and approaches each physical confrontation as if defeat was simply not an option. When he plays with his age group, we have seen him dish out some very impactful hits in the center of the ice.

Even if he doesn’t reach the potential that I saw in him last year, I look at what is asked of a defenseman and I believe that Jiricek still offers a lot of substance by winning his battles for the puck and cleaning the front of his net when an opponent ventures there.

On the other hand, I would have difficulty selecting him high in the draft if I did not have another high pick. This is what makes ranking him so difficult. At the start of the season, I wrote an article on players I was wronged about from the last two drafts and when I look at the themes that emerge, they all fit Jiricek…

– A player in whom I have a certain favorable anchoring bias due to his play the season prior.

– A player whose offensive production does not seem representative of the eye-test at first glance.

– And most importantly, a player whose physical projection remains very uncertain.

In the past, I used to rank players with this type of profile (low Body Mass Index and date of birth towards the end of summer, indicating that the player is one of the youngest in his class) very aggressively, believing that when they caught up with their peers in terms of physical development, they would reach an even higher level.

That said, when I look at my past mistakes, many of them involve players who ultimately were never able to progress physically and their weaknesses in their game saw no improvement. To work in the field of Kinesiology, I am well positioned to see that it is naive to believe that making significant progress in the physical department is within everyone’s reach.

Number of games watched : 16

18. Konsta Helenius

Konsta Helenius is a right-handed center, 5’11 and 181 lbs. At the time of being drafted, he will have already accumulated 90 professional games in the Liiga over the last two seasons. He will have been difficult to evaluate this season, because he will have spent the entire year in Liiga, where he collected 36 pts in 51 games. When it comes to international tournaments, he will have aligned himself with the under-20 squad rather than his own age group. It was possible to see him at the U-18s, however, he did not have a great tournament. Some argue that it is because he had his head still with the National adult team, an argument that I find it difficult to swallow since the under-18s took place in his native Finland.

I slipped a word about it into my analysis of Beckett Sennecke, but the Gold Standard of the draft in terms of escape ability is Helenius. No one manages to slip through the fingers of their opponents like he does. He is very agile with his body and excels at pivoting in tight spaces. He accentuates the effectiveness of his pivots by lowering his center of gravity to make himself low, and difficult for his opponents to get their hands on. It is interesting to see him deal with the puck since he shows good patience, never rushing his plays. He will roam the offensive zone and valiantly analyze each of his options. One of the things that helps him is that he manages to gain speed coming out of his pivots so when he goes back to his blue line and decides to go to retrace on his own steps, he manages to create separation from his coverer to get comfortable before making a play. His footwork is also very good and allows him to slip through several opponents at once. I don’t know what animal he compared himself to during the Combine interviews, but a snake would have been a logical answer.

The second aspect that most characterizes the Finnish center is his combativeness. It’s no coincidence that he managed to secure a spot in Liiga last year when he was only 16 years old! He fights for every inch available on the ice and is always the first to initiate contact to create space and grab the puck. This is not what is put forward in the discussions surrounding him, but people would be very surprised to see how well he finishes his checks. Some of these are even quite impactful! He is a proud competitor. He has a very underestimated ‘pest’ side to his game. It’s not just that he shows physical commitment, he really seeks to hurt his opponents and make them lose their mind. I have already seen him go almost face to face with an opponent whom he had just knocked to the ground to taunt him further.

It is this same combativeness that elevates Helenius’ defensive game. The refusal to abdicate and concede victory to rivals during confrontations along the boards. He goes low to lend support to his defensemen and does everything in his power to ensure that his opponents never find comfort in controlling the disc when in his territory.

On the offensive side, Helenius is capable of connecting beautiful passes. He is armed with a certain patience as I mentioned earlier so he is comfortable waiting a fraction of a second longer in possession of the puck before a teammate frees himself. His feet and his evasive abilities also allow him to gain access to privileged areas before making his passes.

On the other hand, as far as I am concerned, it is when he plays ‘Keep Away’ with his opponents that he is at his best to make plays in favor of his teammates. He likes to stay stationary and wait for an opponent to come to him then back up, turn on himself a few times (always with his opponent in pursuit) before passing the puck. This is how his play creation is maximized.

His wrist shot is quite good. His preference is to shoot on the goalkeepers’ blocker side. I would like to see him use his ability to penetrate tight defensive coverage with his agility to take his shot. Something he is capable of doing, but unfortunately, I find that he remains a little too comfortable when it comes time to take his shots, remaining further away from dangerous areas.

Although I like some aspects of his game, Helenius lacks offensive creativity in my eyes. The flashes we see of his creativity arise from his penchant for evading his opponents thanks to his agility. More often than not, this happens close to the boundaries of the offensive zone and does not actually create a scoring chance.

This lack of offensive creativity is observed more concretely during Power Plays. Helenius was employed at the top of the right circle with Jukurit and quickly, his range of play selection at his disposal revealed themselves to not be the best. Either he took a wrist shot from the circles, or he attempted a lateral pass to his teammate located inside the other circle. His opponents quickly picked up on his offensive patterns in these situations and many of these passes were cut off.

I see Helenius as a middle lineup player and while I like his intensity, I don’t see any unique things in him that make me like him more. My ranking of the player may seem harsh, but the reality is that I prefer the players ahead of him and it is very important to me that my ranking reflects my personal assessments. If he only becomes a 3rd line player, like a few players I have in front of him, I will still find that the players who supplant him on my list bring a little something extra. The fact that he has been playing in a professional league for two years already, which, moreover, is not the most offensively oriented league, could have made me diminish his real offensive potential and I don’t rule out the possibility of being wrong. His pedigree as a D-1 (player playing a year before his draft) would merit an earlier selection, but I had the strange impression on a few occasions that he approached his maximum development more quickly than many other players.

Number of games watched :  26

19. Julius Miettinen

Julius Miettinen is a 6’3, 207 lbs Finnish center who played in the WHL this season with the Everett Silvertips. With a harvest slightly higher than one point per game, it is above all his identity and his profile which is attractive to NHL scouts.

His hockey intelligence is very developed and for me, there is no better demonstration in his case than with his sense of anticipation. I would be willing to argue that he has the best anticipation in the entire draft. He always seems to know where the puck is going to end up and he demonstrates flawless timing. For such a big guy, he generates a very good level of power in his first strides and this is what allows him to win his races for the puck over short distances. I have to give an honorable mention about his motor and his commitment on the ice, he doesn’t let any puck leave the opponent’s territory.

It’s truly unique to watch him operate on the ice on occasion, he sometimes skates in the opposite direction of where the play seems to be going and you wonder what he’s doing, but he had perfectly calculated that his teammate was going to win his race for the puck and then sent the puck to him.

This sense of anticipation goes a long way in elevating Miettinen’s defensive game to one of the best of his cohort. He predicts exactly where the puck will end up and makes sure to be first on it. It is particularly behind his own net that we observe him being opportunistic on loose pucks.

The most brilliant aspect of his defensive game is his information gathering and spatial recognition. This is something that can be observed relatively easily in an offensive context, how a player can change his plan of attack when faced with an opening that is closing or simply with the speed of execution. But believe me, it’s beautiful to see Miettinen change his route after having adequately judged the situation and the elements on the ice. I really liked a sequence when there was less than a minute left in the 3rd period and the score was tied. One of Miettinen’s defenseman was in a battle in the corner of the defensive zone and for some reason, the winger assigned to support him seemed to be frozen on the ice. In a single fraction of a second, Miettinen noticed the lack of support from his defender and rushed to support him to prevent the other team from coming out of the corner with the puck.

When we see Miettinen on the ice, he stands out from the other players, his size is truly imposing, and this is not just a question of looks, it is tangibly observed when we watch him work with his stick. He is very good at lifting his opponents’ sticks even if they seem to place a lot of weight on their stick.

To conclude this aspect, the work ethic of the big Finn on backcheck is formidable. He skates fiercely.

Something truly unique about Miettinen is that a lot of his offense originates from defensive play. It is often mentioned that offense starts from offense, but when such a statement is offered, it is generally to highlight the importance of a good breakout pass or transition game from defensemen. This is not referring to forwards making an impact at both ends of the ice in the space of just a few seconds. I won’t spend too much time on how Miettinen manages to get hold of the puck in the defensive zone, but what follows is fascinating. He will throw a bomb to one of his teammates who is stationed two lines further and then, who will come in support to recover a loose puck in the corner? You guessed it, Julius Miettinen himself. Once again, I’m going to allude to his motor, because it’s clearly not something usual to see such an imposing figure never stop moving his feet on the ice. He is regularly the first player of his line on the forecheck and then is the first player of his line in backcheck.

The strongest identity trait of the number 17 is probably the benefits brought to his team by his imposing presence in front of the goalkeepers. He is extremely difficult to dislodge from this location and as soon as the puck falls into the goalie’s blue-paint and the defender looks for the puck, believing he has contained Miettinen, the latter jumps on it, like a predator on his prey, to score. He imposes himself in this critical space and does not budge, no matter how much his opponents try to bully him. He’s definitely not afraid to pay the price. He is very good at following the goalkeeper’s movements and always stays in front of him to obstruct his view. What I like is that he also has the offensive instinct to follow the play, and as soon as the defenseman tasked with covering him lets go of him even for a moment, Miettinen separates from his coverer and offers himself as a passing-option at the goalmouth. He is very dangerous.

Miettinen really makes this place his office. It is by being very close to the net that we notice a large number of his offensive flashes, both when distributing the puck and when trying to score. While stationed at the goalmouth, he can execute one-touch passes in the slot as well as passes to the other side, on his backhand while turning around for a grade A scoring chance. He can also push the defender away with his frame and take a shot, craftly, with the stick between his legs.

One of the things that makes me fall in love with the Helsinki native is how much his opponents hate him. The main reason is, I believe, due to the fact that no one manages to dislodge him from the front of the net, no matter how many crosschecks he receives, and no matter the malice behind these crosschecks. You’d swear he could eat that for breakfast. The lack of reaction on his part seems to make his rivals lose their minds.

At the same time, it’s not the most surprising thing, because Miettinen seems to have a shit-disturber side to him. He is often seen laughing in the faces of opponents who try to bully him, taunting rivals after scoring and even pushing away with his skate the stick that has fallen on the ice of an opposing player who tries to recover it.

The big Finn seems to like it when the intensity of the games reaches an extra level, he who can distribute good hits also.

Each season, the public fascination with the smaller players seems to shine brighter to the point where there seems to be a form of denial towards the unique contribution of the bigger players. Many arguments have already been made regarding Miettinen, but something important when looking at prospects is to pay close attention to their opposition to see if they change their approaches based on these players. In the case of Miettinen this is tangibly observed when the opposing defenders have to go and recover a loose puck in the corner and Miettinen is chasing them. Afraid of being crushed against the boards, they slow down and try to initiate contact with Miettinen prematurely to avoid being hit, this plays to the advantage of the big Finn while he only has to avoid his opponent who seems to ignore the puck to grab it.

As a skater, I believe there is still room for improvement and I am optimistic that there will be progress. He is at his best in acceleration over short distances. I believe there is a good level of power in his strides, but that his top speed could reach a higher level. His upper body moves a lot when he skates without the puck and I believe that with strengthening in the gym he will be able to correct the little things that are holding his skating back.

As for his shooting, there are not many opportunities to observe it, because he doesn’t have a shooter’s mentality, content instead to pass to a teammate and head straight to the net, but at all times he is one to watch because he excels at creating space in the slot or near the net. His release is quick and he wastes no time in shooting.

One subtle thing I like about the rare times we see him take shots from a distance is that he manages to get his shots to the net. Casually, this is a quality.

Much praise has been heaped on his intelligence without the puck, including the speed of his information processing. As a puck distributor, the same observation is being made. The puck is never on his stick for more than a fraction of a second, having already spotted his target beforehand. Like most of his individual skills, I believe there is still potential to be exploited in him, because he demonstrates good vision.

Miettinen’s brief puck possessions lead me to talk about his hands. The rare times he displays it, we can observe a good level of control. He is capable of dangling defensemen in one-on-one situations. He doesn’t yet have the identity of the player to lead the charge in possession, of the puck but if he can gain a little confidence and start to amalgamate all of his qualities together, we could be looking at quite the hockey player.

In conclusion, Miettinen is a player for whom I have a strong appreciation. If I had seen him make more plays with the puck, it’s possible I would have ranked him a few ranks higher. He projects more as a 3rd line player, though, as funny as it may seem, I think he could become a sort of special teams specialist. It’s an outdated concept that I never really believed in, because for me, you can’t give critical tasks to a player who doesn’t see much ice at even strength. But considering Miettinen excels in the faceoff circles and opposing teams have no answers for his presence in net, I firmly believe he could be a power play weapon in this role. Personally, I hope that he will finish his junior internship on Canadian soil and that he will stay two more years with the Silvertips. His robust, high-tempo style of play is designed for North American hockey. Also, he will have more opportunities to develop his individual skills by playing big minutes in junior, rather than finding himself in a professional lineup in Europe.

Number of games watched : 13

20. Cole Eiserman

A prolific American goal-scorer who rewrote the rich record book of NTDP, Eiserman was the subject of numerous debates throughout the season.

You will suspect that with the position at which he appears in my ranking that I am not a big fan of the player. But let’s give Caesar his due. To score this many goals, a player must possess an elite trait, and with Eiserman, his shot is well deserved of this qualitative.

His shot is disarmingly heavy for goalkeepers. He doesn’t need a lot of space and time to take a great shot. Even when forced to release with a rather short momentum, the puck leaves with fascinating velocity. We are talking here about one of the best shots that we will have seen among the prospects of recent years.

His one-timer is just as formidable, if not more so. What I find most impressive is how quickly his thoracic rotation occurs. Even in full swing, the speed at which his stick comes down to hit the ice is incredible.

To close this aspect, Eiserman is also very dangerous to take a shot following a faceoff won by his center. This demonstrates how, with the snap of a finger, he has the ability to put the puck in the back of the net.

Continuing with the positives, Eiserman’s overall involvement has been called into question several times this season and it even seemed to be one of the predominant factors in justifying his downfall. A criticism that I found curious, to say the least, since for my part, Eiserman always presented himself during my viewing and on this aspect, it is difficult to reproach him. He is a player who exhibits a propensity for physical play. He loves to hit his opponents, and he hits to hurt!

The other argument that was used to justify the debacle of the American scorer was his faulty defensive game. This is actually not his strong suit. For me, it is mainly certain reads and decisions that explain this weakness, rather than a simple question of commitment or positioning.

First, Eiserman takes simply unnecessary risks in his zone as he backhands passes between his legs to avoid getting trapped along the boards. He has committed more than one turnover of this kind, and nothing can justify taking such a risk.

We have an example here where the puck landed directly on the stick of an opponent in the slot.

He forced several clearances in his zone as soon as the pressure came to him, one wonders if he is not afraid of being hit. Even during a power play sequence, he was quick to throw the puck back along the boards, yet the other team had only attacked with 2 players, and 4 NTDP players were in his zone. In the end, the opposing team will have taken the opportunity to regain possession of the disc and waste several seconds of the NTDP powerplay.

Several things about Eiserman are lacking on the defensive end and another one of his things is his timing. We have an example here when he kneels in front of a defender to block a shot way too quickly.

The defender then managed to easily access the faceoff circle to take a shot.

Another defensive aspect that Eiserman does not master is that he does not know how to defend against a defenseman footwork with the puck. He tries to play the body, which might be a good idea, but he mismanages his distance and timing, and his feet seem to sink into the concrete when he tries to engage the body. This results in him being sidestepped easily.

I’ll be honest, this year I tried as much as possible to distance myself from everything that is said on prospects in the public square. Despite this, I have still witnessed many popular trends. The incessant debates surrounding Cole Eiserman will not have escaped me. This is where I consider that people were completely off track. You see, it is true that his defensive game is far from being on point, but the fact that this is the main argument that has been put forward and that no concerns have been raised on more preponderant aspects of his game amazes me. It’s as if people didn’t want to miss the parade and to justify their position on the player, they relied on the first argument that was mentioned, which probably was his defensive play.

For me, the most alarming aspect in Eiserman’s case is that I don’t consider his on-ice intelligence to be very high. I don’t see a player able to create offense for himself, nor for his teammates.

Let’s talk about his playmaking. The American goal-scorer remains a young player with a lot of talent, so, of course, in a certain sample of games, we will be able to find some good passes. On the other hand, the biggest constant in this facet is, for me, that he attempts a lot of ‘Hope Plays’. Risky plays where he just sends the puck into a dangerous area and hopes for the best. In his case, a lot of behind the back passes.

He also makes a lot of mistakes when making drop passes. This is explained by three things; his inability to correctly read the trajectory of his teammates as well as the position of his opponents, a timing fault as well as a problem with execution.

Limitations in the playmaking department of a scorer can be excused if, on the other hand, the player can create golden opportunities for himself. Alas, this is not the case for Eiserman. I kept these arguments in reserve when I talked about the quality of his shooting. But for my part, I did not see Eiserman gain the dangerous zones by himself in possession of the puck. The majority of shots that follow a puck possession on his part correspond of shots coming from very far from the outside. No matter how good his shot is, he won’t be able to beat NHL goalies from these places.

Additionally, Eiserman tries to force a lot of pucks through, when there simply is no opening.

For me, he is a goal scorer who is dependent on his teammates and who must be fed by them. On the one hand, it is normal for the player to play within his strengths and to simply park himself in an advantageous position to take advantage of his greatest quality, especially during powerplays. On the other hand, I will take the criticism a little further by saying that at equal strength, Eiserman does not present himself sufficiently in dangerous locations, remaining rather inside one of the face-off circles. I wonder what he will do when the game gets tighter in the playoffs. He is capable of jumping on loose pucks, he just doesn’t do it regularly.

He was one of the players with the highest turnover rate in my viewing this season. This can be explained by his inability to properly read the play in front of him as discussed previously.

However, the bigger problem lies in a lack of intelligence within Eiserman’s finesse game. This may sound odd, but to me, a proper display of puck handling is supposed to also demonstrates intelligence: the player eliminates a variable in order to open up a passing or a shooting lane, the player buys time to wait for teammate reinforcement, etc. More importantly, the player who wants to showcase his talent must be able to read his opponents; their body alignments, their angle of approach, their eyes, etc. In Eiserman’s case, every time he attempts a finesse play, his eyes are glued straight to the puck, not taking any information from his opponent in the process. In Eiserman’s case, there is no purpose and intention intentions behind stickhandling, other than trying to be flashy. As with his shots and passes, the American player does not seem to be able to properly detect openings (or lack thereof). It’s a bit the same thing when he tries to make his way to the net when we observe him leaning on his shoulder prematurely. Also, among junior players, I always like to watch the defender’s play when a dangle was executed. Sometimes a spectacular play is just the result of a defenseman who is not of caliber and the translatability of these plays is simply not possible for the NHL. In Eiserman’s case, every time he tries a dangle and it doesn’t work, I watch the defenders play and it’s astonishing to see how easy it looks for them. There is no manipulation beforehand so they just have to extend their stick to pokechek him.

One aspect that I find to have been overestimated in Eiserman, especially at the start of the season since the criticism against him had not yet started, is his play in the corners and along the boards. The player was presented to us as a scorer who could himself take possession of the disc and who could almost display a certain identity as a power forward. For my part, I have difficulty seeing such an outcome in his case since I do not see a player who wins the majority of his one-on-one battles in the USHL. It is therefore very difficult for me to extrapolate frequent success in the NHL. Also, although Eiserman is a relatively ‘young’ player for his draft, being only two weeks away from being in the 2025 draft, he is already listed at 196 lbs at 6’0. He won’t really be able to add more weight to his frame.

His skating is average for me. He is not a player who has the speed to beat defenders or create openings. One thing he would benefit from working on is his skating without the puck, where we see too much movement at the torso. He wastes energy unnecessarily.

As for his ranking, I gave him leniency at the start of the season, telling myself that in the end, I only need to rank one or two players ahead of him, who I suspect will be drafted later. This avoids having to rank a player too low, and if he ever starts to have success, you can tell yourself that you didn’t have him too low. On the other hand, the more the season progressed, the more his fall in the draft seemed inevitable. The possibility of keeping him at a ‘fair’ rank and having him be the highest player on my list for a given selection was becoming more and more likely, and it was something I was looking to avoid. I will also come back to the importance of authenticity given to my list. The reality is that I am not an admirer of Eiserman. It is possible that he will become a good scorer, but he can score his goals elsewhere. I am an idealistic person and the draft is the perfect opportunity for a scout to build a team in his image and Eiserman does not fit with what I am looking for in a player. We must also take into consideration that the majority of teams already have two, three, maybe four pieces in their offensive organization chart that risk being part of the future of the franchise. There are therefore very few chairs available for the Top-6, and I would prefer to offer them to a player who has more tools. So yes, as surprising as it may seem, I prefer players who might not make it past the 3rd line, but love other aspects of their game than drafting a Top-6 player who might frustrate his coaches as well as his fan base after the Honeymoon is over.

Number of games watched : 21

21. Alfons Freij

Alfons Freij is a left-handed defenseman, from Sweden, 6’1 and 196 lbs (to the eye, I would say that these measurements are somewhat generous). He will have enjoyed success wherever he has spent this season; he amazed me with his offensive prowess in J20, but it was really by distinguishing himself on the international scene that I was able to cement my appreciation of him. In the past, I got caught red-handed with Swedes playing junior in their home Country; Oskar Olausson (to be fair, he had been very impressive in the SHL), Alexander Suzdalev and Noah Dower-Nilsson. What was happening with these players (mainly Suzdalev and Dower-Nilsson) is that they looked to be a big step above the competition, but when they got to a higher level (I mean International Events with their age group) they were not able to reproduce the same high-level of play, with the exception of a few good plays against weak teams, such as Switzerland. I was afraid of getting carried away and then inevitably experiencing disappointment with Freij, but that’s where he managed to stand out from the examples mentioned above: he was excellent in International tournaments. He was the number one defender for his country and collected 31 pts in 28 games if we combine all the tournaments in which he participated.

Freij is at first glance a defenseman with good skating. He has good speed even if he pushes too much to the sides during his strides.

His multi-directional mobility is absolutely beautiful, his crossovers while he is moving backwards are something to behold.

I also like how he uses his pivots proactively when defending counterattacks. Rather than waiting for the forward to create a path along the boards, and risking being beaten by the outside, Freij begins his pivots relatively early to prevent this from happening. I would also like to point out that Freij is excellent at managing the optimal distance from the puck carrier. In addition, his work with his stick is incessant and really bothers his opponent.

The J20 isn’t the best context to evaluate the prospects’ defensive play, but at the U-18 I got to see Freij defend opponents’ rushes at full speed and it was breathtaking how much he seemed in control of the situation.

Offensively, his mobility is observed at the blue line while we often have the impression that he is dancing while handling the puck. His mobility and footwork are at a higher level, but what makes him so effective is how he makes his opponents bite with his postural feints.

Freij is one of the best examples of demonstrating how to manipulate opponents with head and shoulder feints. What I love about him is how much he exaggerates the movement and is 100% committed to his lure.

Also recovering the puck in the corners, he excels at deceiving his opponents with postural feints.

The Vaxjo defenseman demonstrates very good composure as he is particularly comfortable escaping pressure.

But his greatest quality remains the extent to which he can attract this pressure on himself to free up space for his partner in defense before allowing him to make a breakout while not having to deal with an opponent in his pursuit. Freij is what I call a ‘Facilitator’ in defense. The lack of panic in the face of the threat of being hit impresses me. He’s a ‘Gamer’.

Defensively, I’m a big fan of his approach to confrontations. From the outset, he does not concede any space to the puck carrier, he engages the body as soon as possible. Thereafter, he works tirelessly with his one hand on his stick to sweep the puck, and with his free arm, he intentionally pushes his opponent away. This reminds me a lot of Theo Lindstein last year. He has a certain aggressiveness in his game.

Although this comparison was intended as a compliment to Freij, I could not maintain it since the latter shows much more promise offensively. The heart of his offense is definitely his puck-moving game. He is one of the best puck distributors in this draft on the blue line. What’s amazing about Freij is that we’re not just talking about effective puck movement to move the defensive box, but also about fantastic passes that lead directly to a scoring chance.

Something a little unusual in Freij’s case is that he still regularly uses saucer passes, something you don’t see very often from defensemen. His execution is flawless while the puck always falls flat on the blade of his intended pass.

This pass in particular impressed me a lot when put under pressure by two opponents at the blue line, Freij quickly saw a teammate at the top of the slot. Not only spotting the player, but pulling off a highly technical play under pressure deserves praise. I also find that the top of the slot is not used enough as a passing target among young defenders, when I see a prospect being able to get the puck to this location, he gains points in my evaluation.

This sequence helped demonstrate the speed at which Freij’s offensive intellect operates, and this is also evident in the dynamism he exudes offensively as he constantly looks to exploit sequences in ‘Give N Go’.

The biggest limitation in Freij’s arsenal is his shooting. His shot is relatively very weak and what bothers me the most is that he often uses high shots where he tries to beat the goalkeepers in a clean way. I would like to see him be more aware of this weakness and use his shot, not with the intention of scoring, but rather to create rebounds for his teammates.

I would also add that although his footwork allows him to open the play, he is not the best at finding the shooting lanes.

In conclusion, I consider myself a Freij fan. His future is not the most certain, but I see a scenario where he becomes a top 4 defenseman. It has already been announced that he will be loaned to an Allsvenskan team next year, in the Swedish 2nd division. It will then be possible to evaluate him against professionals, something we have not been able to do this season. I like how he defends and I think he has some bite to his game, something that has gone unnoticed this year. When I mentioned that the comparison (defensively) with Theo Lindstein could not hold, because Freij can execute things offensively that the first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues cannot do, well, that has one name: Gustav Forsling. Multi-directional mobility, the ‘In Your Face’ style of defense even if we don’t talk about big physical play, the qualities of puck-mover. Forsling has been IMHO the most underrated player in the NHL for at least 2 years and people are starting to open their eyes to him. Of course, Freij has a long way to go before reaching such a level, but stylistically he is very similar to him.

Number of games watched : 21

22. Jesse Pulkkinen

Each season, lesser-known players emerge during the year and build a resume rich enough to earn consideration for the first round of the draft. No one could have anticipated at the start of the calendar that a 19-year-old Finnish defender (ignored in the last draft) would have taken the hockey world by surprise like this. Having started watching Pulkkinen in November at the 5 Nations Tournament, I admit to being slightly irritated to see him get a leading role for Finland at the WJC, since he would no longer remain a secret in the public eye.

What stands out the most when looking at this 6’6 defenseman is his unwavering confidence with the puck. Having made my first viewing of this player in a U20 caliber (5-Nations), I was amazed to see to what extent he decided to maintain exactly the same bold style of play in his first steps among the professionals, in the Liiga. And I say that on a positive note. Often, the transition to the Pros can be difficult for certain young prospects who must temper their offensive-orientation. In the case of Pulkkinen, he concurred that his know-how with the puck could represent a major asset to his maximum so he decided to exploit his abilities to the maximum, and this, with a lot of errors that can result from it. His coaches seem to be on the same wavelength as him while he benefits from all the latitude possible to express his talent.

His ease with the puck on his stick is remarkable. He can skillfully maneuver and dangle players in one-on-one situations. Where he may stand out from the crowd is that players with a reach as long as him simply don’t have that kind of gracefulness with the disc.

This combination goes perfectly well with his calmness. Even when put under pressure at the offensive blue line, he is never forced to get rid of the puck because with a single maneuver, he can place it out of reach of his opponent.

This composure is also observed in his own zone. Pulkkinen is, alongside with Sam Dickinson of the London Knights, the most ‘Poised’ defenseman in the draft. However, the two operate in different ways. Dickinson will instead use quick information gathering followed by a pivot in the opposite direction from where the pressure is coming from. Pulkkinen, for his part, will capitalize on his dexterity with his hand, as well as his long reach and his imposing size to shield the puck. The biggest difference between the two is that Dickinson matches the speed at which the pressure arrives with his countermovement, Pulkkinen slows down the game to extinguish the opposing forecheck and to reorganize the structure of his team, giving time to his own teammates to come and give him support.

This is an essential quality to have in a defender as far as I am concerned. More than ever, within a game, Momentum can change from one side to the other, and when it is the other team that takes control, it can be difficult to get out of the abyss. Being able to count on a defender who never gives in to panic can be very profitable.

From this strength in Pulkkinen, however, arises some questions. The first is to wonder if Pulkkinen is not a ‘Low Pace’ player. Each year, the collective speed of execution of the teams seems to increase and it is a legitimate doubt to wonder how his way of operating will be perceived by his coaching staff in the NHL. To evaluate everything in the most informed way possible, we must also take into consideration the context in which the player plays. The Liiga is not a generally offensive-oriented league. The team’s patterns are not focused on a pronounced forecheck to force the opponent to make mistakes.

The most important thing to look at during these sequences is the positioning of Pulkkinen’s teammates, to know if one or more passing options had been possible to make the play progress rather than retracing in his steps and slowing down the pace of play. Even if I will always ardently defend ‘Scouting’ through video, I must admit that it also has some limitations and this is one of them: it was often difficult to see the position of all the other players on the ice, therefore, it was more difficult to judge the relevance of Pulkkinen’s selection of plays.

So I tried to pay particular attention to his first pass to find out if he can bring value to his team in transition. Forced to admit, in a very large number of sequences, his breakout pass following a game play he slowed down the pace was flawless! His first pass is a brilliant aspect of his game.

I also looked for sequences where his decision-making and execution happen quickly in a situation of imminent pressure, to know if a possible weakness could arise when he leaves the Liiga. I have seen enough examples to dispel my doubts. I think that’s just how he prefers to play, but that he will be able to adapt his habits in a different climate.

(Note that this ‘Poise’ will also work to its own detriment on a few occasions and that there is still a bit of fine-tuning to be done).

Another aspect of Pulkkinen’s identity is physical play. At 6’6, he fully capitalizes on the advantages that nature has given him. I am ready to say that the Finnish defender is among the 5 most physical players in the entire draft. In terms of quantity, he is one of the players who distributed the most hits in my viewing during the season. Some of these were very impactful.

He plays with a lot of ‘Piss and Vinegar’ in his game. He likes to play hard and make life difficult for his opponents. This has allowed him to win a lot of battles for loose pucks as he goes in it by any means necessary to ensure his team takes back the puck.

What I like about Pulkkinen is that he uses his checks wisely as he regularly uses them to separate the puck carrier from the puck, which above all remains the main goal of a hit.

Another nuance that the Finnish defender master well is how he uses his strong frame proactively to protect the puck when he goes to recover it deep in his own zone. Just before taking possession of the disc, he will put on the brakes and initiate contact with his back so as to catch the forechecking forward off guard. He then finds himself the instigator in a scenario where he is supposed to be the target of the check.

To return to the offensive aspect of his game, Pulkkinen is not the most dangerous shooter from the blue line, but his offensive confidence, the quality of his hands and his long reach still allow him to open up interesting shooting lane.

Watch here how he widens his skating base to push away an opponent’s stick and thus allow himself to gain the slot.

His skating is somewhat difficult to assess. On the one hand, given that he plays a rather slow ‘Pace’, a faster skating ability wouldn’t really give him any additional advantages. When he carries the puck, he seems to move at a satisfying speed. During certain sequences, he demonstrates surprising agility at his height of 6’6.

I would say that for a player like that, given his position and his size, the most important thing is whether the opposing forward can get around him from the outside and in his case, that doesn’t happen.

On the other hand, at the end of a shift it may happen that his first strides are not on point. And also, he sometimes has the annoying habit of making his pivots from the wrong side, fortunately for him, he can recover with his long reach and limit the damage, but as a general rule of thumb, it is usually something that is not forgiving.

It may seem like a perilous exercise to rank a 19-year-old player so favorably, however, there are certain things to clarify with player development and progression: development is never linear. This is as true with prospects as it is in other areas of life. I could draw several parallels with the strength and conditioning field, which is my profession. Starting from very far last year, Pulkkinen will have experienced a development that is simply out of the ordinary and we must evaluate the player as he is as of now. In a field where no one is immune from periods of stagnation or even regression, it could be wise to give value to the assets present in his arsenal that his rivals cannot afford to bid; his size, his physical play, his poise, his audacity with the puck. For the sake of the exercise, we could also evaluate his current game relative to that of the players from the 2023 draft and, for me, I would rank him in roughly the same place as I currently rank him in the 2024 draft.

He is a player for whom I have more arguments to move him up in a list than to move him down.

Number of games watched : 25

23. Igor Chernyshov

Igor Chernyshov is a 6’2, 198 lbs right-danded Russian winger. He is a player who unfortunately did not meet my expectations this season. He is a player that I had seen many times last year with different Russian National teams in friendly games (against Belarus or older Russian teams) as well as in the MHL while I was watching his teammate Egor Rimashevsky (drafted by the San Jose Sharks). At that time, I saw a possible Top 10 selection for Chernyshov. However, this did not materialize. Chernyshov split his season between the MHL and the KHL. He will have experienced ups and downs in each of the two leagues and his identity will have remained unclear for most of the season.

First of all, Chernyshov is a player who has great attention to detail. He strives as much as possible to ensure that each of his passes to his teammates is as clean as possible.

His defensive game shows a lot of maturity, which is not the most usual for Russian players. He already looks like a professional on the ice in the way he carries himself. He excels on the penalty kill because of his alertness on the ice. He is attentive to each movement of the puck and his movements follow those of the puck, not giving his opponents an opening, closing both the shooting and passing lanes. It’s rare to see a player of his nationality put himself in front of shots like this. Additionally, he never hesitates to be the first player on his line to backcheck.

When I was talking about attention to detail, look at how Chernyshov works to place his entire stick on the ice to enlarge the contact surface and thus increase his chances of cutting off his opponent’s pass.

The problem with Chernyshov is that he will not have been able to produce as would have been hoped from him this season. I’m going to ignore his 4 pts in 44 KHL games (including the 10 playoff games he played), because his playing time was often derisory. But he only collected 28 pts in 22 games in the Russian junior league, the MHL, which is largely insufficient for a player of his caliber. We also have to consider the fact that he is one of the oldest players in the squad, having celebrated his 18th birthday in November.

Part of this is explained by a sort of identity crisis. Despite his talent, Chernyshov was never the offensive force of his team and that seemed to confuse him. He didn’t seem comfortable being THE player in his squad who ‘Drives the Bus’.

It’s a shame, because when you look at his individual skills, he’s a guy who has it all. His puck handling is very good and if it wasn’t for his bad season, I think we would talk about it a little more among the good puck handlers in this draft. The thing about Chernyshov though is that his confidence hugely affects the extent of plays he can, or cannot, make with the puck. At the start of the season, and during a certain sequence of games in the KHL, Chernyshov had the audacity to make highly creative and spectacular plays. But when confidence was at its lowest, Chernyshov would attempt certain plays and didn’t appeared to carry a high level of faith in the chances of his plays succeeding.

As for his shot, the most attractive would be his quick release. He shoots his shots very quickly. He takes good shots even if the puck is in front of him, without wasting time bringing it behind him. His release is already of professional caliber.

I like how he uses his teammates, but also, I will again reference his maturity on the ice. If the pressure begins to be suffocating, he will not try to beat his opponents with an individual maneuver, he will make a simple play towards a teammate and immediately break away from his coverer to offer himself as a pass option.

At the start of the season, he demonstrated in a particularly dangerous way how to use his teammates well. Playing at the top of the right circle on the power play, he liked to challenge the opposing defense by coming towards them with speed. As soon as the vigilance of the opposing team increased on him, he handed it over to his teammate located at the goal line. This caused a lot of panic within the defensive coverage as all the players who had gone up to avoid giving Chernsyhov too much space suddenly had to come down to prevent a player from attacking the net. He took advantage of this to ask for the puck again, having ventured to the top of the slot, and was then able to take a shot, benefiting from more space in front of him.

Another thing worth appreciating is that his success rate using a defenseman as a screen is very good. His shots manage to reach the goalkeeper and pass through the defenders. Even in a one-on-one situation.

On the other hand, Chernyshov is not an experienced scorer. Statistically speaking, he was never a great goal scorer and I haven’t seen a player with an indisputable touch to score goals. I think this is due to the fact that his shots are not that accurate. I’m not talking here about shots that don’t hit the target, but rather shots that don’t have the effect of making the goalkeepers work. These are often shots into the goalkeepers’ chest that don’t seem difficult to stop.

As a passer, Chernyshov will never be the greatest playmaker, but as I said in the introduction, I really like how he applies himself to the quality of his passes. It’s the little things like subtle passes slipped under an opponent’s coverage that make him effective as a passer.

Where he stands out the most in getting the puck to his teammates is from along the boards as well as from behind the net. This brings me to talk to you about his time in the KHL and the changes it brought to his game.

In fact, it is not so much a question of ‘changes’ as such, but more that, from that moment on, his identity seemed to become clearer.

The big number 25 began to look more and more like a power forward.

He began to display great efficiency in creating space for his teammates. He also took on difficult tasks such as recovering pucks in the corners.

What characterizes him the most is the ardor with which he attacks the net. He was one of the players this season who completed the most rushes to the net. His top speed has improved significantly over the course of the season and coupled with that, he has the size to gain position against the defender and drag him on his back. I also saw him handle the disc skillfully inside the blue-paint as the goalkeeper tried to pokecheck him.

Without the puck, his compass only points one way and it’s to the net. This helps to push back defenders and create space for teammates.

Chernyshov’s skating is difficult to adequately assess. Even among NHL scouts, some argue that he is still slow and that that holds him back while others consider this aspect to be a strength. One thing is certain, he will have improved this aspect during the season. At the start of the calendar, I found that his power had not followed the development of his frame and even if we could observe a good technique, the results were not there. He is now faster, having even benefited from a few breakaways in the KHL, however, inconsistencies persist in this aspect and he can be annoying to evaluate. He is still quite heavy on his skates, especially considering his age. He will have to make his Off-Ice workout his priority and seek to compensate for the gap between his maturity in terms of muscular strength and that of his pure size. In his case, I believe it is possible that he will become faster over the years to come.

It can sometimes be a perilous exercise to drop too low a player who showed a lot of promise the previous year. After all, player development is not linear and there is also the fact that draft season can represent an additional source of stress for prospects. Looking at Chernyshov’s statistical profile from his draft year and the year before, it compares eerily to Danila Yurov, who right now is making a lot of people regret ranking him too low, myself included. (19th in 2022). On the other hand, Yurov had demonstrated better offensive flair and had a better pedigree at the same stage.

Ultimately, I project Chernyshov as a sort of power forward on a bottom-6.

Number of games watched :  23

24. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is a Norwegian winger who has decided to continue his development in Sweden over the past two years. After spending most of the previous season in the junior league (modest collection of 38 pts in 35 games) he will have made the jump full-time with the professionals in the Allsvenskan. His regular season was rather discreet on the offensive level with a collection of 18 pts in 41 games, but he improved considerably his production with his 10 pts in 12 playoff games.

Brandsegg-Nygard is mainly recognized for the violence of his shot. His wrist shot is among the best this draft has to offer. The velocity behind his shot is devastating, but in terms of execution, the most impressive thing behind the Norwegian’s shot is how comfortable he is taking shots while at full speed. Generally, it is when players are sliding (or even stationary) that they will take their best shots. In the case of Brandsegg-Nygard, his release seems even better when he is within his skating frequency since he can shoot while the puck is in front of him. These lively shots surprise the goalkeepers. For the puck to take off so quickly, he must apply a considerable amount of weight and force downwards with his stick to succeed in taking such shots. When we observe him without his hockey equipment, we better understand why this is possible for him. He’s already a man.

Mora’s color carrier is what is referred to as a ‘Volume Shooter’. He is behind Cole Eiserman the player on whom I have compiled the most shots in my viewing. He is not a player who is going to complicate things unnecessarily offensively so he puts a lot of pucks on net.

On the other hand, I find that people are quick to make the connection between the quality of his shot and a possible increased goal production in the NHL. One does not necessarily equate to the other. Despite the qualities I find in his shooting, I don’t believe that Brandsegg-Nygard has such good scoring instincts. Certainly, on a technical level, his release is excessively fast, but often, he does not maximize the time of his puck possessions and rushes his shot. A player with an innate flair for scoring would be patient and use the free space to advance further.

More than one clue allows me to arrive at this conclusion. I didn’t see the forward show great diversity or ingenuity in the way he beat goalkeepers, or even defenders. I don’t think he has the ‘Poise’ that we see in great scorers where they seem to enjoy being in the spotlight and display a disarming calm when pressure is put on them and they find themselves in a situation of creating offense. This is not something I find in Brandsegg-Nygard as he appears nervous to me when he has the opportunity to go on an excursion and challenge opposing defenders. This will result in a shot that comes from afar, which will not pose a threat to the goalkeepers. Furthermore, I believe that his vision is a relatively important flaw in his game, this is even more apparent when he enters enemy territory in possession of the disc. Several details in his game substantially reduce his offensive ‘Upside’.

The Oslo native already seems to be at full physical maturity. His measurements are 6’1 and 207 lbs (official of the Combine). I don’t think there is much room for improvement here. When I saw him without his gear at the Combine, I thought there was an impostor who had invited himself to this event. As of today, he could easily be confused with an NHL player.

It will therefore not be surprising to learn that he was the player who delivered some of the most impactful hits I have seen this season. My biggest surprise was to see his opponents able to get up following such a collision. This mainly applies to the handful of games he played in the J20.

The only problem I have with this aspect of his game is that the consistency is not always there. It’s not that he lacks commitment in games where he doesn’t hit, but for a player who doesn’t bring a ton of diversity or high-level skill, I’d like to see him look to hurt his opponents with greater frequency.

On the other hand, he demonstrates good awareness on the ice as he always prepares for imminent contact with an opponent when someone comes to hit him. He does not expose himself to getting hurt. Even when he has the disc along the boards, he distances the puck from himself and tilts his body towards the opponent who is coming to hit him, so as to initiate the contact himself.

He plays hard and is very competitive along the boards, looking to get the puck at all costs.

Unlike Igor Chernyshov, who also represents one of the best power forwards in this draft, Brandsegg-Nygard did not have to make up for his strength/explosion on his skate relative to his mature frame. From the start of the season, it was possible to observe a powerful and fluid skating stride. The transition from one leg to the other during his stride is really enjoyable to watch. His recovery phase (the part where the skater brings his extended leg forward, back to his hip line) is one of the best I have seen in a skater in recent years. He must have very strong hip flexor muscles.

What’s encouraging is that while from a physical perspective I don’t really see how Brandsegg-Nygard could significantly improve his skating, from a technical perspective he could gain in efficiency since he tends to overly sit on his hips when skating, limiting his extension.

On the other hand, as soon as we stop focusing on the physical qualities of Brandsegg-Nygard, there are very few arguments to sell his selection. I’m not a huge fan of how he sees the play.

The presence of creativity in his offensive game is very slim. Plays rarely come to anything when he is the player carrying the puck in transition, or even when he is called upon to make zone-entries. Brandsegg-Nygard seems to play with blinders on and he never spots the lateral options. Furthermore, as I explained earlier, he does not have an advanced understanding of how to read openings in his opponents and he is not able to pass through his opponents, whether in one-on-one situations or on a systemic-level. His approaches are very linear and despite the qualities that are recognized for his speed and his protection of the puck, I have not seen him as a highly effective player in the corridors along the boards. I don’t anticipate him driving the game and challenging defenders in those lanes.

His vision of the game when it comes time to pass the puck to his teammates is also lacking. I saw him make passes where he looked like he just didn’t know what to do with the puck. Saucer passes from long distance, with too many obstacles between him and his target. Even for the most finesse passers, this would not have been feasible, but Brandsegg-Nygard clearly does not possess the dexterity necessary to complete such plays. His passes were much too high and too lively.

In addition, he does not show many resources to get rid of his rivals. Each time a defenseman stands in front of him, Brandssegg-Nygard tries to get rid of him by chipping the puck to the left of the defenseman and going around him to the right and then trying to recover the puck. This play proved unsuccessful most of the time.

He still remains able to connect certain plays in the offensive zone, but his ratio of playmaking versus shots on net is very uneven.

My ranking of him is certainly quite harsh. Just because of his physical maturity and work ethic, he could be a few ranks higher if you factor in the risks associated with a few players ahead of him. He is a player who does well along the boards. Not only is he strong and has a good understanding of contact points and rolls his checks well, he also demonstrates a surprising ability to manipulate his opponents with pivots at opportune moments. Just for this side of the game, Brandsegg-Nygard is likely to play in the NHL.

On the other hand, if many see him as a middle-of-the-lineup player, my judgment is more focused on a Bottom-6 player. The lack of creativity and vision as well as the inability to create on his own and beat his opponents in possession makes me doubt too much about seeing him as ‘Finnisher’ on a line. As I said earlier, I don’t think his scoring instincts are that good.

Of course, physically, he could play in the NHL tomorrow. On the other hand, this does not raise his ceiling. For a scout whose position is on the line, I understand the appeal of drafting him and then sleeping peacefully, knowing that you have a player who will fit into an NHL roster. However, in recent seasons we have seen prospects being categorized as ‘Near NHL-Ready’ only to take many years before establishing themselves. It’s not just about physical maturity. I’m thinking of players like Vasili Podkolzin and Dylan Holloway (I’m not comparing the players in any way stylistically). It took them a while to make the roster of their formation (damn, it’s not even a given yet for Podkolzin), but also, their impact is rather marginal. Long story short, I would wait for a team to draft Brandsegg-Nygard before me.

Number of games watched : 25

25. Miguel Marques

Miguel Marques is a Right-Handed Canadian winger, playing for the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. He kinda represents a little pride for me since I mentioned to a few people in mid-November that Marques was going to be a ‘Riser’ in the second half of the season. At this point, he wasn’t on the score sheet with regularity, but it only took two weeks before he caught fire and his name began to circulate in the public sphere. He completed his season with a harvest of 74 pts in 67 games, which gave him first place in scoring with his team.

Marques risks being characterized by his speed on his skates. His top speed is above the average of his rivals. I’ll admit he’s not as fast as I thought he was after getting excited about him, but he’s still a good skater who could easily hold his own in the NHL.

His acceleration is an asset that he possesses as he is able to create separation from a coverer even if there is a profitable distance to his opponent. Strangely, although Marques is not the most proficient defensive player, it is within defensive backchecks that we can fully see and appreciate his great acceleration power.

What sets Marques apart is that his feet are constantly moving. His stride frequency is very high and this is what allows him to beat some of his opponents who are more passive in their information gathering while Marques always has the pedal to the floor and jumps on every opening he has.

Number 14 plays at one of the highest pace in this draft. He continually looks to push defenders back with his speed. We also note that the speed at which he takes information and execute manages to match that of his feet, he is able to use his teammates in the neutral zone with one-touch passes while he is at full speed. Impressive.

On the other hand, I would tend to say that what defines Marques the most are his skills as a playmaker. That’s not what jumped out at me during my first viewing. But when I started compiling the video clips, I took of the games I watched, I was stunned to see the number of good passes he managed to complete. These aren’t necessarily the flashiest of passes or the ones that lead directly to scoring chances, but the volume of play he orchestrates is extremely high. Of all the games I’ve watched this season, Marques is among the very top for the number of plays he was able to complete.

The reason why he manages to reach his teammates at such a high frequency is that he has a very good vision. There is not a passing-lane that Marques does not see. When he has possession of the disc, his defenders can afford to jump into the attack because the chances of him spotting them are very good.

As mentioned earlier, Marques also has a very rapid acquisition of information which transfers in equally quick execution. This allows him to take opposing defenses by surprise and offer quality chances to his teammates.

A very important aspect of Marques’ playmaking is that he completes a very high-volume of passes from the boards to reach a teammate in the center of the offensive zone. While his location on the ice seems very innocuous, he hits his target in a dangerous location. Although his success rate is very high in the WHL, the question remains whether he will find the same effectiveness for this type of pass at the next level. This is what I often refer to when I talk about complementarity in a player’s attributes. To have the same efficiency in the NHL, a player must have particular physical skills, which is not the case for Marques (5’11, 173 lbs) OR a superior escaping ability, and although he has good speed, Marques is not the type of skater with phenomenal agility that is extremely slippery and evasive. On the other hand, he demonstrates combativeness from these locations and his rapid execution could well allow him to remain effective in those places.

If I say that Marques is a volume playmaker, you would have suspected that it’s the opposite when it comes to his shooting. Indeed, Marques is not the one who directs the most pucks to the net. Despite everything, I like the quality of his wrist shot. I initially thought that his shot lacked accuracy, but before I could even consolidate this observation, he began SNIPPING pucks under the crossbar with astonishing speed behind his shot.

Marques has some flaws without the puck, which were more visible in the first half of the season. On occasion, he seemed too observant in front of an opponent in possession of the disc, and waited to see if the latter was going to commit a turnover rather than going to cause these turnovers himself by applying pressure.

On the other hand, his biggest flaw, and this continued until the very end of his season, is that he tends to leave his zone prematurely. Before his defenders can even begin to exit the zone, Marques has already taken off. The problem is that, on many occasions, his defenders are bothered by the opposing forecheck and they are not able to make a proper breakout. His team then finds itself bottled up in its own zone, and Marques is nowhere to come and help.

However, he was able to partially reinvent his defensive game. He now combines his acceleration on skates with anticipation, allowing him to be first on loose pucks to prevent the opponent from leaving their zone.

Marques is also very skilled and sneaky in stealing the puck from the opponent by lifting their stick at the appropriate time.

A very little-known aspect of Marques (although I haven’t heard much talk about him) is that he has a real ‘Shit Disturber’ side to him. He’s not necessarily the player who completes the most hits and that is constantly in his opponents’ faces, but he seems to have a particular gift for irritating his opponents. Before the faceoffs or after the whistles, he is always bothering the opposing players, taunting them, pecking them, etc. He brings a certain emotion inside the games, and that’s something I appreciate.

I see him as a potential middle of the lineup player. Evan Rodrigues would be a fair comparison. He didn’t play for the best teams in the WHL so I remain very curious to see to what extent the intelligence behind his subtle plays could benefit talented players. From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of ‘Off-Ice’ concerns with him, so I wouldn’t be shocked if he drops considerably on Draft Day.

Number of games watched : 18

26. Michael Hage

Michael Hage is a super talented Canadian right-handed center who decided to bring his talent to the United States, opting to continue his development in the NCAA with the excellent Michigan program. He played with the Chicago Steel this season in the USHL. Despite a slightly slower start to the season, he still finished 4^th among the points in the league.

Hage stands out from his rivals on the ice with his very high level of individual skill. His puck handling ranks hands down (shame on me, that pun was fully intended) among the elite in his draft class. He has one of the most attractive repertoires of dangle of his cohort. Few players excel as much as him in one-on-one situations. He can take down a defender at any time when he’s on the ice and that’s what makes him so exciting to watch play. What is interesting is that many of his dangle are done at full speed and he goes inside to head towards the goalkeeper.

One thing that makes Hage such a good player at disposing of an opponent is that he doesn’t just use his hands to achieve his goals. He also incorporates (wonderfully) shoulder movements. He can quickly drop his shoulder to attack his coverer head on and look to get under him and he also uses very good changes of direction to sell a misroute to the player in front of him.

Hage is possibly the player in this draft who takes the most advantage of changing angles on his shot. He uses Toe-Drag as well as anybody. His puck control in these situations where he manages to find a shooting line in front of a kneeling opponent is magnificent.

I would also describe the quality of his shot as being above average. He has good velocity behind his wrist shot and he often takes shots where the puck quickly gains elevation, without losing any of its speed, giving goalkeepers a lot of difficulty in managing their rebound properly.

Another area where Hage demonstrates skills far above his peers is inside his pass receptions. He manages to receive saucer passes where the puck is not quite flat on the ice with remarkable ease. The most prevalent aspect of this facet is during transitions. In the lower levels, like the USHL, not all zone exits goes flawlessly, inaccuracies in defenders’ breakout passes still happen quite frequently. This is where Hage’s talent level comes into play. It’s hard to give him a ‘bad’ pass. He has no problem catching the puck with one hand behind his back, in his skates, whatever.

This also leads me to talk about one of the strong points in his game which is his success rate in transition. He has an apparent ease in carrying the puck into enemy territory. It is with the help of the aforementioned qualities that he manages to achieve such a success in these situations. I would add to that that his skating is also a quality in his game. His speed is above average and he is very comfortable switching from inside crossover to outside crossover if an imponderable arises in front of him.

If we look at his playmaking skills, I would describe them as somewhat average overall. Some passes he manages to make are still quite impressive. The problem lies in the fact that when we watch games of him, there are few sequences where his plays benefit his teammates. Even if we see hints of it, very promising, on occasion, this does not offer a worthy representation of his game, which remains more focused on individual skills.

It is in transition that the majority of his playmaking occur. Which remains consistent with what has been presented about his identity so far. One thing is certain, we can’t blame him for not being able to make plays at full speed. Many of his set-up are made in these situations and this is what determines the effectiveness of these plays. It’s difficult for opposing defenders to cover Hage’s passing targets as they rush in at full speed. Especially if they want to avoid taking a penalty for obstruction.

I’ll admit to having been higher on Hage for the first two thirds of the season. One of the reasons is that I saw certain fragments within his ability to make plays that gave me a glimpse of hope that he had a lot of room to develop in this facet. Even more so due to the fact that he will spend, possibly, at least 3 years with the University of Michigan. Without using any of these nuances in abundance, Hage still demonstrated that these aspects are mastered and that it is possible that he manages to integrate them at a higher frequency; subtle delays before a pass to allow time for a teammate to free himself, elements of ‘Deception’ with his posture and his gaze, leaving no clue as to the identity of his target, and I also particularly liked the way he took information by looking over his shoulder and then making a more informed decision.

As of today, I’m perhaps less optimistic than I was a few months ago about whether or not his playmaking can reach the next level, but even back then I saw it as a project over a few years, so only time will tell.

Another reason why I was full of optimism for Hage is that, although he was far from the archetypal difficult player to play against, he still demonstrated some ‘Hard Skills’. More specifically, a propensity to cut to the net with the puck. He is one of the high-profile forwards who have completed the most net-drive in my viewing. He doesn’t shy away from any opportunity to lean his shoulder and attack the goalkeeper head-on. He is definitely not scared and not all players with his talent are inclined to attack this dangerous area with such speed and ardor. This resulted in several goals for his team during the season.

Moreover, Hage took a lot of shot this season as he leaned his shoulder to get under the defender responsible for covering him. We observe a very high level of intelligence on his part as he perfectly understands how to exploit the defender’s response in these scenarios. Generally, their reflex will be to try to pokecheck the puck by extending their reach with their stick. This has the effect of increasing the size of their triangle (space defined between the base of their skate and their stick). Hage places the puck inside this space to take his shots. Brilliant.

Note that without the puck, Hage continues a lot of action at the net.

An aspect that I find extremely important when evaluating prospects is to see how they react following a mistake, a poor shift or, when challenged physically. This season, there seemed to be some rivalry between Chicago and the Madison Capitols. Hage was hit pretty hard twice during one of these clashes and his on-ice habits haven’t changed; he continued to attack the net, playing boldly with the puck (which can be provocative in the eyes of his opponents). In short, he hasn’t faded at all. This even motivated him to give a few shoulder checks of his own.

Although a marked increase in his offensive production was observed in the second half of the season, the product I anticipated on the ice did not materialize. Hage just doesn’t ‘Drive’ the ‘Bus’ enough for me. The occasions where his talent benefits his teammates are too few for my taste. It must be said that the Chicago Steel is not what it used to be so, not having much support for him, I showed myself more lenient towards him, but little by little, this clemency that I had crumbled. Strangely, my projection of the player is no different than when I was higher on him: there is no real in-between in his case, he will be a 2nd line player in the NHL or he will not establish himself in the league.

In the past, I’ve been caught judging a player based on their flashes and not their overall game, and it came back to bite me in the butt. This is why I had to move Hage down a few ranks following my last viewing.

Number of games watched : 23

27. Andrew Basha

Andrew Basha is a 5’11, 187 lbs left winger. He played on the same line as Cayden Lindstrom while the latter was healthy. He scored 85 pts in 63 games.  I really liked what I saw in the first month of the season, but I wasn’t able to maintain that level of affection for him. He is possibly the player who lost the most spots on my list this season.

It was his skills as a playmaker that initially attracted me. He is a very good passer with a great vision of the game. In his case, the success rate he has with his passes in the slot is very attractive. Few players can boast such a good success rate with such attempts. I would even say that the player located at the top of the slot is his favorite target. Basha is primarily a perimeter player, which usually causes players to lose points in my eyes, but if I pay attention to the results obtained, he still gets the puck into dangerous spots. He uses his dynamism along the boards to chain pivots on himself and draw defensive attention to himself to allow the time necessary for a teammate to position himself.

I particularly like when a player develops plays unique to their own skillset. In Basha’s case, he combines his speed with his creativity to feed his linemates. The two biggest trends in his game are that he always skates at full speed, rarely slowing down the play, and that he sticks more to the perimeter. He uses these two facts when entering the offensive zone to draw attention to himself, and as soon as the defender pivots and looks to pokecheck the puck with his stick, he uses a clever ‘Hook Pass’ (passes where he makes a motion similar to a fishing hook with his stick) to pass to his center at the top of the slot. You could see the chemistry between him and his linemates as it was the other winger who was responsible for bringing the 2nd defenseman to the net, and Cayden Lindstrom just had to wait for the nearside defenseman to pivot away from him to benefit from the top of the slot without the latter being able to cut off the pass with his stick.

Above all, it was the subtlety behind some of his passes that won me over. ‘Hook Passes’, one-touch passes, but above all delicate passes in open spaces.

Here is one of the examples that I liked. Along the board, Basha quickly recognizes that his defenseman is preparing to activate and jump into action. He can’t give him the puck immediately (and it would put him in a precarious position anyway) and if he waits too long, the passing-lane will close.

He will therefore slide the puck gently between the two defenders in a free space, giving his defenseman the necessary time to get there. There are several such examples. We’ll get to talking later, but Basha excels at reading his teammates on the ice, and how he takes into account the activation of his defensemen is an example of that.

Before I can get too carried away with him, he will have scared me with a few bad uses of speed differential. For example, recovering a puck behind his own goal line, Basha did not let the opponent come to him enough before accelerating. The latter benefited from more space (and therefore, time) to adjust to Basha’s speed. Even though the Tigers forward is faster, it was difficult for him to create separation because it was as if his opponent had a head start. This didn’t happen too frequently, I found it very curious to see a player with such a good understanding of free space failing to use it to his advantage in such situations. Plays like this are, for me, synonymous with a deficiency in hockey intelligence. Some will remember how harsh I was with Oliver Moore last year for these reasons.

Basha is able to make judicious use of his speed on the forecheck and to quickly carry the puck from one end to the other. He can also make good rushes to the net, but only when the route is established, he will not try to push the defender to make his way. He doesn’t have the physical skills to do it anyway.

Everything does not remain perfect, however, Basha is found guilty of some small mistakes; he doesn’t play enough with changes of speed, he doesn’t use his teammates enough in transition, causing him to often skate towards dead zones himself and I would like to see him use the center more often.

The Calgary native has an underrated shot. He still threaded the needle 30 times this season. The best way to image his shot is to say that it stings like a bee. I like that his shots always have upward trajectories.

It’s been mentioned before, but one of Basha’s best qualities is how well he reads the intentions of his teammates. He manages to guess where the puck carrier would like him to be. We have an example here. After making a drop-pass, Basha recognizes that there is already a teammate rushing to the net and that one of his defensemen has left his position to support the attack. The four players of the other team also converge to the net.

Basha will therefore readjust his route to take the high-slot in a magnificent Give-N-Go with Gavin McKenna.

In summary, there are a lot of things I like about number 34 of the Tigers. It’s not incorrigible weaknesses in his game that have caused me to move him down on my list, but more the fact that for the large viewing sample I have of him, there have simply been too many games where he was practically invisible to me. You could see him, but he moved a lot of air for nothing. He is also one of the players for whom the gap is the greatest among his good performances versus his other games. He is also a player who played most of the season already aged 18, having been born in November. There’s also the fact that perimeter playmakers aren’t the most attractive profile heading into professional hockey.

On the other hand, he is a hard-working player. He even manages to create good opportunities on the Penalty Kill and he’s overall quite good defensively. I don’t have too many expectations to see him forge a place as an offensive contributor within a top 6 on a contender team, but I believe he is intelligent and mature enough to reinvent himself on a Bottom-6. I have a bit of an image of Sam Steel in my head. The latter had a very similar profile to Basha when he was still a prospect: similar size, good hands, primarily a playmaker (even more striking when we take into consideration that Steel wore number 34 in his debut with the Ducks). After failing to establish himself in a Top 6, Steel established himself as a utility player on a Bottom-6 who can bring some offensive touch. That’s quite a bit of what I see with Basha (note that the latter is also faster than the Dallas Stars player).

Number of games watched : 25

28. Sacha Boisvert

Sacha Boisvert is a Quebecer, originally from Trois-Rivières, who went into exile in the United States in recent years to pursue his career in hockey. Ranked among the top 10 scorers in the USHL, he will be able to count his season as a success.

At the top of his list of qualities, Boisvert is an excellent shooter. He is easily among the upper echelons of shooters in his draft class. He has a very good one-timer that he can use to good effect on the power play. His wrist shot gives goalkeepers a hard time. Due to this quality, Boisvert is a player to watch when he is in the offensive zone. The mechanics behind his wrist shot remind me a lot of Dylan Strome of the Washington Capitals.

Not being the most creative with the puck to penetrate dangerous zones on his own, Boisvert demonstrates a good flair for making himself available in the slot when he is not in possession of the disc. He is definitely not the type of player to run away from dangerous areas. To access these areas at the appropriate time, he demonstrates sufficient understanding of the game to follow his teammates and he also shows good timing.

Boisvert’s playing style will allow him to gain favor with his coach as he always demonstrates a high level of intensity when he is on the ice. Frankly, I would be ready to say that of all the (high profile) forwards in this draft, Boisvert is the one who completed his checks with the most consistency during the season. There are very few games that I have watched where he did not distribute a few hits. I particularly appreciate this consistency since, already this inclination to hit is sadly disappearing among young players, even rarer are those who display this style night after night. Just if I compare him with Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Boisvert cannot boast of having absolutely obliterated opponents like the Norwegian did, that being said, the latter had many sequences of games during the season where I did not see him finishing his checks at all. We will have the chance to talk about it again in this analysis, but Boisvert is far from his full physical maturity at the moment, so we must keep the door open for this quality to increase over the years.

Still on the subject of his intensity on the ice, number 9 from Muskegon is one of the prospects in whom I have observed the most 2nd, even 3rd efforts within his presences. He went past his limits where many other players would have given up. He puts the team first.

Without being the most polished defensive player, the notable sequences on his part for this purpose emerged from this same ardor at work.

When we evaluate Boisvert’s puck handling at the USHL level, he has the toolbox necessary to pull off great dangle and to get rid of his coverer. Projecting him into the NHL, however, I believe that this aspect will be more at the average level. It is always important to clarify here that the NHL average will always come off as a compliment!

 At this age, and especially at this caliber, it is completely normal to see players experiment on the ice and seek to broaden their range of quality and way of beating their opponent, so I don’t make a big case out of the times he lost the puck while trying to play a fancier style of play.

The problem is the number of turnovers he made inside his transition game. He was possibly the forward who was most often guilty of losing the puck in this aspect among the players I observed this season. Although at his league level, he has relatively good skills, the majority of turnovers caused in transition are in sequences where he tries to beat one or more opponents with a dangle. In several cases, it is mainly his reading of the game which precedes his dangle attempt that is inadequate. I don’t think he’s a player who sees the game at a very high level. He often attempts to break through where there are no openings. The involvement of his teammates in these circumstances is also flawed.

At the start of the season, my view of Boisvert was tainted with more optimism and I saw a shooting-center, a bit in the mold of Dylan Strome but this inability to dictate the play and create offense made me rethink my projection of the player. It is now impossible for me to see him as a center in the NHL.

Even on the occasions when he managed to gain the opponent’s territory, the play ended in a shot taken from distance, without posing much of a threat to the opposing goalkeeper. A lack of creativity is definitely observed.

It is not as a playmaker that Boisvert is at his best, which is mainly explained by this lack of creativity and a difficulty in using his teammates at full speed. That said, he is not entirely devoid of substance in this facet. He is still capable of great passes on occasion. However, he operates better in simpler situations where there are fewer variables to deal with, for example, when he is in a more stationary position or to pass to one of his teammates who are heading to the net.

His skating will need refinement in terms of technique, but as far as I’m concerned, his speed in itself is not a problem. The fact that Boisvert is currently listed at 6’2 and 176 lbs should be enough to dispel doubts that some might have in this regard. He still has a lot of room to gain physical strength (which, when properly applied, transfers to the explosion on skates).

It is even possible that he could add new trends to his game over time that at the moment he is not allowed to afford. Among the turnovers seen in his play this season, one constant that emerged was that he lacked the physical strength to gain the center of the offensive zone when an opposing defender engaged the body with him. In his case, I believe that after a few summers in the gym, these kinds of plays will become feasible. It could even significantly increase his offensive potential since he is far from being a player who hesitates to attack dangerous areas.

Boisvert will wear the colors of the University of North Dakota, in the NCAA, starting next year. It’s an avenue that I like for prospects, and in the case of Boisvert, I think it will serve him more because he will benefit from more time in the gym. During the year, I was able to read a few interviews with the young Trois-Rivières native and I really appreciated several of his answers. He already seems to have a plan in place for his future as a hockey player, for several years to come, not just in the short term. From what I have observed this season, he also seems like a player who listens to his coaches. I am personally very intrigued to see what the product that Boisvert represents will look like after 3 or 4 years completed in the NCAA. I don’t rule out the possibility that his offensive game could reach another level. I see in him, for the moment, a 3rd line player who can offer a sought-after dimension for the NHL playoffs.

Number of games watched : 25

29. Harrison Brunicke

Harrison Brunicke is a 6’3 right-handed defenseman playing with the Kamloop Blazers in the WHL. Despite a very modest production of 21 pts in 49 games, he suggests interesting potential. His number of games played was limited due to an injury that ended his season in February. However, he was healthy for the U-18, and he played possibly his best hockey of the season there.

On the surface, Brunicke is a good skater. He has good speed and can easily carry the puck in transition. He is very technically sound, demonstrating excellent skating mechanics inside his crossovers. This is something that the we can also inside his backwards skating.

On the other hand, where he makes the most eyes widen is how he can manipulate opponents with superb changes of direction while he is static at the opposing blue line.

Even in certain puck-carrying sequences, he made some of the best feints I’ve seen this season. This is possible thanks to an advanced understanding of his opponents’ footwork, and how to make them pivot to his advantage.

He is also very mobile with his hips and this allows him to escape opposing pressure in puck recovery situation. Some of his escapes from the immediate arrival of an opponent were simply subliminal.

It was to my great surprise how good he was defensively during the U-18 tournament (my viewing of him before that event was very limited).

Even if he is not the player who is most fond of physical play, he still demonstrates a certain efficiency along the boards by making sure to place his body in front of his opponents to ensure he is first on the puck.

While representing Canada, he repeatedly demonstrated self-abnegation by sacrificing his body for the good of his team in order to block shots. He also played with the energy of desperation as we saw him dives at arm’s length to make an opponent lose the puck.

On the other hand, his best asset defensively is the use of his stick. He is good at cutting off certain passing lanes and as well as pokechecking the puck out of his opponents’ hands. But the most impressive use he makes of it is when he catches up with a player on a breakaway and the latter places the puck out of Brunicke’s reach and he practically jumps onto the ice to land to the other side to be able to raise his stick.

Offensively, his offensive record is not representative of the skills he possesses. It would be easy to dismiss him because of his meager harvest, but he is indeed showing encouraging signs for the future.

As mentioned earlier, Brunicke excels at manipulating his opponents on the blue line. He baits them to the outside and then skillfully slides the puck inside their body and around them. The agility of his feet coupled with his audacity allowed him to create magnificent plays.

As a shooter, Brunicke doesn’t offer a huge variety of shots, but his wrist shot is decent. He is not afraid to jump into action by leaving his position at the blue line to support his forwards already established in the offensive zone.

During my WHL viewing, I found that he fumbled the puck when he tried to make plays that were too complex while carrying the puck. I was amazed at how he changed his angles on some of his shots at the U-18, when he came back from his injury.

He does not demonstrate advanced flashes of vision as a puck distributor, being more comfortable in one-on-one confrontations and during his activation in the play, perhaps this also explains his low offensive production.

It was difficult for me to find 32 players that I found worthy of inclusion in my top 32 this season. I liked the defensive foundation within his game at U-18 and he is a player who, to all appearances, is still very raw, with a lot of potential to develop.

Number of games watched : 13

30. Trevor Connelly

Trevor Connelly has attracted a lot of attention this season, mainly for off-ice reasons, but his play on the ice is just as polarizing. Apart from the controversies, Connelly has produced at each level of play in which he has played this season: best scorer at the Hlinka tied with Berkly Catton, 2nd best at the WJAC tournament, 9 pts in 7 games at the U-18 but above all, the best PPG in the USHL.

Connelly is an electrifying player, there are no better words to describe him. Very few players can carry the puck from one end of the ice to the other like he can. When you combine high puck control with such speed, it’s no wonder defenders struggle to contain him. Despite all the criticism I throw at him, I have to give him nothing but praise for his propensity to attack the net while he is at full speed. You don’t take such risks on the ice if you don’t have a high level of dedication to helping your team win.

In addition to being very fast, Connelly has the unique ability to quickly change direction while already at full speed. The defenders do not have the footwork necessary to adjust their approach and counter him. I have a particular affection for how he uses this technicality to get between two opponents, once again demonstrating his temerity.

Another unique thing about his skating is that not only can he use skillful pivots in tight spaces, but he is able to accelerate out of those pivots and create space for himself.

The Tri-City Storm representative is one of the most exciting puck handlers in this draft. Most impressive is how he manages to maneuver inside the Defenders Triangle.

Offensively, Connelly’s production will always be closely tied to his playmaking skills. I will admit to not having the most favorable bias towards Connelly but he is capable of orchestrating highlights reel plays. He stands out from other passers because of his great generosity when he finds himself near the net. This constitutes a strange paradox given his predisposition to keep the puck too long. Despite a certain selfishness, he will deprive himself of golden opportunities to shoot to instead feed his teammates.

Often, players who stretch their possession of the puck until they lose it are players who don’t have very good vision. This is not the case for Connelly. The American forward is also one of the best in this class at making cross-ice passes. What makes his puck distribution skills so sharp is that he is an adept at making the defensive coverage move before making his play. We could even talk about a certain element of unpredictability because you never know when he will think about passing the puck, him who generally extends his puck possessions.

As a shooter, despite his 31 goals in the USHL this season, I don’t see a ton of Upside as a scorer for Connelly. His shot is not the most powerful and it is also because, apart from his rushes to the net, we don’t see him much in the dangerous areas. Many of his shots come from the outside. And without the puck, he is not the one who lures in heavy traffic.

So far everything seems to indicate that Connelly is a prospect worthy of a high draft selection, so why am I taking such a strong stance on the player? This may seem overly harsh, but for pretty much the entire season, I was describing Connelly as a very talented athlete who doesn’t know how to play hockey, at least not team-oriented, structured hockey.

Right off the bat, Connelly is possibly the player who commits the most turnovers that I have ever seen. I am ready to live with a certain number since, as I explained in my profile on Ivan Demidov, there is a strong correlation between the level of skill of players and the number of turnovers committed by them. You don’t want to prevent your best offensive elements of exploiting their talent, but it’s all a question of Ratio. In Connelly’s case, the number of turnovers is just too hard for me to ignore.

The majority of his possession losses come as a result of individualistic plays but behind that we also observe two other rather alarming details in his game.

First of all, his level of effort to try to repair his mistake is almost non-existent. This is inexcusable.

And secondly, we can observe that Connelly is easily neutralized when defenders engage the body in front of him. He has no way out if his first deke doesn’t work, he will never have the physique or the strength to win a battle for the puck afterwards.

Beyond losing pucks following selfish plays, Connelly commits just as many turnovers throughout his passing.

Generally, when a player has a level of talent clearly above the competition, it would be expected to be easy for his teammates to play with that player; he can create passing openings with a good deke, he can spot difficult passing options, push defenders back with his speed, he won’t miss his chances to put the puck in the net, etc. Unfortunately, it’s HARDER for Connelly’s teammates to play with him. They are used to seeing him hold the puck for far too long the majority of the time he touches it. However, it often happens that when he gives them the puck, they don’t even expect it because it is too unusual in his tendencies.

He often treats his teammates as an option of last resort, an escape route of sorts. Mainly in transition, when the play is closing in on him and he doesn’t see how he could get out of this situation. 

Furthermore, even if these passes reach the target, they still place the recipient in a precarious situation.

In the offensive zone, he is the victim of a lot of turnovers because he attempts very low percentage plays.

One sequence in particular just made me fuming. The play takes place at 3-on-3 in overtime. Connelly holds the puck and after performing a few tricks he momentarily lose the puck as it heads along the boards.

Instead of taking pressure on himself, accepting his rival’s hit and handing it to the defender at his blue line, Connelly was quick to throw the puck behind the net (surprise, a defender from the opposing team gets hold of it) and then returns limply to his team’s bench. The strategies of teams in overtime are now to imperatively keep the puck at all cost, there were still 4 minutes left in the OT period and he sacrificed a possession because he didn’t want to get hit. This is unacceptable, in my opinion.

His game without the puck is very erratic. He can get his feet caught in the cement during opposing counter-attacks if the puck carrier is facing him. Following this, he found himself hypnotized by the puck and forgot to cover his player.

It can also be confusing trying to understand some of his decisions on the ice. Twice, when he was the last player on his team on the ice, his stick broke. An opponent grabbed the puck and only had Connelly, without a stick, able to prevent him from getting to the net on a breakaway. Rather than trying to block his opponent’s path with his body, he went back carelessly to his bench to retrieve another stick, thus giving his opponent a clear route to the net.

When playing on the PK, we could see his immaturity when he only seemed to want to try to create offense, even in a situation short of a man.

Additionally, his positioning in such situations is simply atrocious. He concedes too much space to the players at the point when they have the puck and it is one of his teammates who have to tell him to go put pressure on him. As said previously, he is often hypnotized by the puck so rather than focusing on his assigned zone, he moves to cover the same passing lane that his partner up front is already monitoring.

Regarding this, there are two ways of looking at things. The first would be to say, Connelly won’t play on the penalty kill in the NHL anyway, so why would it matter if he doesn’t excel in that facet in the USHL? To which I respond that this exposes significant deficiencies in his defensive reads and that similar scenarios can also occur at 5-on-5.

In short, following this reading, you now have all the arguments which explain why I place this player so low in my list. As for off-ice stories, I don’t put weight on that in my evaluations. I respect everyone’s opinions on this subject.

Number of games watched : 17

31. Emil Hemming

Emil Hemming is a 6’2 Finnish right-handed winger. After a good start to the season in the under-20 league in his native country, he was recalled to play the bulk of the campaign among the professionals.

Having risen above the competition in his age group, including good offensive production, we could be right to believe that these are the attributes that characterize him best. However, at least as far as I’m concerned, it’s his play without the puck that is his most helpful quality. Early at the start of the season, I saw him make some nice defensive backcheck and I didn’t make much of a fuss about it since, for me, these backchecks were a necessity within the circumstances and the player was only doing the bare minimum that a coach has the right to expect from one of his players. In the past few years, I have repeatedly seen people label certain prospects as ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ defensively, who, to me, were simply ‘Decent‘ enough to say that they are not a liability in their own zone and that their coaches can trust them. This is somewhat how I saw Hemming in my first viewing, but to my surprise, I began to see a player who did more than act out of simple necessity. He is a player who contributes greatly defensively to his team and this aspect of his game represents a real value. This could be explained by three things;

Firstly, the quality of his defensive play is expressed by the fact that he is constantly the first player on his line to backcheck. There is no hesitation in his approach, he backcheck, giving his all, and heads straight for the disc carrier to knock the puck away from him.

Secondly, he makes good reads while he recognizes well the situations where one of his defensemen is about to ‘Pinch’ (regardless of the zone) by immediately going to cover his position.

Finally, he has mastered the subtleties of how to properly ‘clog’ the neutral zone for the puck carrier by putting enough pressure on the latter while blocking a possible passing option.

The Finnish winger’s prowess without the puck doesn’t just stop in a defensive context. He is also very good at applying pressure in various situations on the puck carrier, he provides good support to his teammates during battles in the corners and he works very well in this type of confrontation. For me, this aspect has always been more than a simple question about sheer strength and size, there are several nuances and subtleties to this facet, and for me, Hemming masters them. Just as an example, the way he neutralizes his opponent’s stick with his own, before his rival gets to the puck first, to prevent him from pushing it forward to a teammate, is simply brilliant. He can then engage the body to turn the situation to his advantage.

To conclude with Hemming’s play without the puck, I also appreciate his way of arriving first on loose pucks during races for them. His commitment to place his body in front of that of his opponent, even if it means assuming the risk of being stamped on the board, is a strong testament to his dedication to his team.

Offensively, it is above all for his shooting that Hemming is recognized. It’s rather unusual to describe the quality of a player’s shot as inconsistent, but that’s what I observed with the Finn. In the past, I had somewhat the same observation with Xavier Bourgault, Viktor Neuchev and even Axel Sandin-Pelikka last year.

I was surprised to note while reviewing all the clips that I had extracted from him this season that there is such a huge disparity between the number of shots taken at even strength versus the number of shots taken on the Power-Play. The number of shots at 5v5 is insufficient.

The problem does not only stop with the volume of shots taken, but also with their location. Hemming directs too many pucks to the net from the outside. He does not seek to reach dangerous areas.

The most worrying thing is that, if you take away Hemming’s goal-scoring ability, his offensive game doesn’t have much else to offer. His playmaking skills are very slim. We find the same predisposition to execute plays from the outside. In fact, one of the ways Hemming uses the most to create scoring opportunities for his teammates is to shoot low on the goalie’s pad to create rebounds in the slot.

As for his skating, improvements in his top speed and acceleration were noted throughout the season. I have to admit I only saw two Finland games at the Hlinka Tournament so it’s possible my assessment wasn’t entirely fair then either.

I consider the quality of his skating to be adequate, if this were not the case, he would not manage to be first on the puck on so many occasions.

Particularly at the start of the season, I had a lot of reservations with Hemming’s skating due to a lack of agility. On several occasions, he attempted to break away from an opponent’s coverage with what we call ‘Stutter Steps’. Movements where he makes ‘hesitations’ in opposite directions to sow uncertainty in his coverer as to which direction he will take. The problem is that the times between said hesitations were too slow, so the coverer could easily reorient himself in time and also, Hemming lost speed when going from one direction to another, so he had no chance to get rid of his opponent.

Also, I saw in Hemming an inability to make sudden pivots using his Outside Edges. On several occasions along the boards, he could have used a pivot on himself to break away from his coverer and attack the lower regions of the offensive zone. Instead, he was forced to go in only one possible direction, up towards the offensive blue line, and force a difficult pass to one of his defensemen.

However, this improved during the year.

The Finnish winger has good hands and can exhibit a style of play that is very pleasant to watch. Against his age group, he has a certain aura and he can beat his opponents in a one-on-one situation with superb maneuvering.

However, this poise and confidence faded when he made the transition to the Liiga. It shows a certain maturity on the part of the player to avoid unnecessary risks in possession of the puck and to practice a professional style of play. On the other hand, I wonder if he is maximizing his talent and not showing off enough during his draft season. During several games, I wondered if he was really ready to make the jump to the professionals full time.

As for his projection at the next level, the quality of his defensive game and his overall game without the puck opens a lot of doors for him and allows him to broaden the range of possibilities regarding his predicted seat in the NHL. For an offensive player who exhibited a lot of electrifying flashes with the puck against his age group, the probability of seeing him fill a lesser role on a 3rd line, in the event that his offensive potential does not materialize is very present. And hats off to him. That said, his offensive game is not high enough for me to anticipate seeing him occupy a role in a top-6 NHL; the lack of playmaking, shots coming from outside, etc. So I see a 3rd line player. Which would be very good, but I must add that 3rd line players, coming from Europe, who do not advocate a physical style of play…. This is not what is most in demand among NHL teams. When we look at the lineups of teams that make a deep run in the playoffs, we generally do not find this archetype of players. Although I like certain aspects of his game, for me he is a player who could well be frustrating for his team’s fanbase. Since he kinda looks really appealing when he has the puck on his stick, one could believe that a surge of production will come with him at a certain point, but I don’t think it will happen.

Number of games watched : 24

32. Yegor Surin

Yegor Surin is a Russian left-handed center playing in the Loko Yaroslavl program. He had a relatively productive season with 52 pts in 42 games, but it was particularly during the playoffs that he stood out, leading his team with 23 pts in 19 games.

Surin has a unique identity while he is undoubtedly one of the biggest pests in this draft. Despite his size below 200 lbs, Surin hit without any regard for any form of human life. He takes the expression ‘eliminating an opponent’ in the literary sense. He often plays on the line of legality and has had difficulty remaining disciplined this season as indicated by his 108 penalty minutes, but I love how he targets his opponents and does not deviate from the mission he has given himself to annihilate them. An example of these sometimes-borderline hits is when an opposing defenseman takes a shot from the blue line. Even if the puck has already left his stick, Surin will take a run at him while he’s finishing his shooting motion.

This mentality of establishing himself as the leader of the pack is transposed into each of his actions on the ice. He’s not going to let anyone outworked him. When the pressure closes on him and opposing players try to neutralize him, even if it is by blocking his stick, he redoubles his efforts and simply refuses to lose possession of the puck to someone.

Where discussion is missing surrounding Surin’s play is regarding his passing skills. Right after the intangibles he brings, this is what most characterizes his game. He is one of the good players this year to complete cross-ice passes. He is very cerebral as a passer and dissects the offensive zone with precision.

On the other hand, his offensive arsenal is limited due to a lack of potential as a goal scorer. His wrist shot doesn’t have a lot of velocity and I don’t see any other way he can compensate for this aspect to score his goals differently.

His skating is also something that keeps his game from reaching a higher level. His speed is very average and I don’t really observe any acceleration force in his starts. His skating mechanics aren’t the most refined. His extensions are not complete and this limits the power that can be released.

One aspect that bothered me about him is that often when I watched him, his offense seemed exclusively (or almost) generated on the man advantage. I didn’t see enough flashes of five-on-five playmaking.

Surin was a last-minute addition to my ranking. He is a player who receives a lot of affection in certain places. I don’t share this attachment to him, but I really like his approach where he sees the games as real trench wars. Having difficulty closing my list, I gave a good number of players a second chance and they all had a little something that prevented me from including them in my top 32. In the end, I believe that the things that Surin needs to work on (mainly his skating) to become an NHL player are easier to fix than other players. Additionally, he will be confined to a pest role on a Bottom-6, so his limitations will be much less of a risk to his team than, let’s say, a defenseman who needs to improve his decision-making under pressure.

Number of games watched : 15

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and encourage me in one way or another over the past few seasons. Those who want, you can contact me on Twitter at @19Simon19 where my inbox is always accessible.