The 2022 dataset will be focusing on danger save percentage, glove saves, rebound control and speed / quickness. To access the visuals on Tableau, please click here.
Speed / Quickness Data
My quickness tableau chart shows up/down time and side/side time. Up/down time is an average of how long it takes goaltenders to go from standing to down on the ice. Side/side time is how long it takes goaltenders to go from side to side in net. These times are an average and they were timed using an iPhone stopwatch. To be transparent, in order to be timed, the goaltender had to face a shot. So, I was not timing a goaltender’s side to side movement without a shot on net. Same with up/down time.
Rebound Data
My rebound tableau chart looks at how goaltenders control their rebounds. I have charts showing where goaltenders are pushing the puck (high danger, medium danger and low danger). For high danger rebounds, I also have a chart indicating where those shots came from (high danger, medium danger and low danger).
Glove Save Data
My glove save data is just showing how many glove saves each goaltender is logging on average. For next season, I will add to this and identify the glove save totals on shots coming from high danger, medium danger and low danger.
Danger Save Percentage Data
For the high, medium and low danger save percentage data, I have used the data that InStat provides for all regular season and playoff games that the goaltender appeared in. I didn’t include any international tournament play.
The Sample
The sample of data (excluding danger saver percentage data) is five games worth of data. Five games per goaltender. Next season, I will hopefully expand that to 7-8 games of data.
Raw Data/Requests
If you are interested in looking at the raw data or are interested in looking at a goaltender who is not on my list, please contact me over DM. My Twitter handle is @JoshTessler_.
Last year’s draft could turn out to be a bit of a wild card. It’s difficult to evaluate talent in a season where an entire powerhouse junior league takes a season off; however if you’re a good scout with a good eye, good things will likely come.
I do feel there will be a bit of a correction in this year’s 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Especially in the 2003 age group.
Lots of quality 2003’s missed out on their rookie seasons in the OHL. That’s why I bring you one of the most interesting players, Kitchener Rangers Left Winger Mitchell Martin.
Martin hails from Sudbury, Ontario.
Martin played his minor hockey with the Nickel City Sons AAA program, eventually finishing his minor hockey days with the Sudbury Nickel City Capital Wolves AAA program. In AAA he was a solid contributor putting up a point per game totaling 14 goals, 33 points in 23 games. Thus, leading Mitchell to be selected by the Kitchener Rangers in the fourth round (81st overall).
Mitchells first season removed from AAA and post draft was spent playing Junior A in a nearby suburb of Sudbury, The Rayside-Balfour Canadians of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. Mitchell instantly made an impact putting up 8 points in his first 10 games of Junior hockey and never looked back.
This past year saw Martin’s role gradually increase for the Rangers to the point where he was playing top line minutes in their playoff series. The overager is a developmental project, but perhaps one which could pay dividends to the team that takes a chance on him.
Player Profile
D.O.B – January 6, 2003 Nationality – Canada Draft Eligibility – 2022 Height –6’4″ Weight –209 lbs Position – Left Wing Handedness – Left
Offense
The one part of Mitchell Martin’s game that stands out is how often Martin is able to get off a dangerous shot. He has a superb off-puck game in the offensive zone that allows him to find areas of the ice for his teammates to feed him dangerous chances. While his puck skill isn’t very good; he possesses very quick and correct reads on where to move or take the puck. While he didn’t complete many dangerous pass attempts in my viewings; he wasn’t forcing the issue either. His turnovers in the offensive zone were often trying to make low risk-high reward type plays. Take this play for example:
Working with @SebJackson90 on one of his favorite prospects in the OHL this year: Mitchell Martin.
Like the move to the outside, but the decision to cut to the middle…wish he made the pass to the point at least pic.twitter.com/cuT9zXj5w0
Martin makes a great play to the outside to create space and work below the goal line. He’s not getting much support coming around the net on the half wall and the defense collapses on his high-danger option out front. He doesn’t really scan the front which is a slight concern, but one that he could’ve read easily out of his peripherals. Instead of going low-to-high coming out from behind the net and stretching the defense with a pass to the point; he tries to turn into traffic without protecting the puck and turns the puck over.
Similar turnover issue here:
Similar processing issue for Martin here. I like that he uses his size to get to the middle of the ice, but the lack of puck protection as he moves to the middle of the ice negates the move to the dangerous area of the ice. pic.twitter.com/bZ20BgaG8m
Martin is able to get off the wall and move into a medium-danger part of the ice with a defender on his backside. He has a bit of trouble corralling the puck and never picks his head up to scan what’s going on once he got off the wall. If he did he would’ve noticed two options. The first being a safe option back to the point. However if you pause at the five second mark you see a forward calling for the puck in the bottom right of the screen. Had Martin picked his head up once gaining control of the puck and started turning towards the net he has a pretty easy medium-danger, cross ice pass to an open teammate. Instead he doesn’t protect the puck and ends up turning the puck over to the defender he had just left behind.
In transition he doesn’t possess the skill nor pace to be a consistent carry in/out transition player. However, he was very good at making quick, one-touch passes to move the puck up the ice and through the neutral zone like this.
It's a hell of a touch by 55, but also one of the positives of Martin watching was his one touch passes to get in and out of the zone pic.twitter.com/JSkz7ppipY
The part of Martin’s game that is most intriguing are the brief flashes of skill and high-end processing plays that the big winger possesses. Take this clip for an example.
There are flashes of Martin attempting some advanced puck skill. Loses control here, but also gets slashed down just as he lost control. pic.twitter.com/flbSkQdXQc
Martin toe-drags around the defender and just barely loses control of the puck. In a non-playoff game this is most likely going to lead to a penalty drawn as the inside defender ends up slashing him down just as he lost the puck. These quick glimpses of small area puck skill popped off the screen, but alas it isn’t a consistent part of his game.
Perhaps the area that Martin needs to work on the most is his skating. He is slow off the blocks and is a below average NHL pace straight line skater. He can get a bit heavy footed and his edges and lateral mobility suffer. His initial puck touches really dictate his transition game. When he gets a clean touch he’s a good one-touch transition player. When he gets a bad puck touch defenders are able to get on top of him which causes him to panic and turn the puck over.
Martin's not a great skater, and anything that he's doing in transition is dependent upon his first few touches of the puck. When it doesn't go well…it can go south real quick pic.twitter.com/YSkvnEQr9T
If I had to pick one sequence that would describe the best parts of Mitchell Martin’s game it would be this clip.
However, if you asked me to pick out the best sequence of Martin's offensive game I'd go here. It was a small sample size as Seb and I were tag teaming this, but he had one of the higher rates of HD shot attempts in the draft class. Mostly from plays like this. And that pass😍 pic.twitter.com/kamhxk2w4r
Martin is able to pick up a puck and launch a high-danger shot, and then bring the puck into the zone and feed a high-danger pass for a goal. Martin was very good in my viewings at finding the puck in the dangerous parts of the ice and getting a nice wrist shot on net. There’s a reason he scored seven goals in twelve playoff games this year.
Defense
Martin’s defensive game is pretty simple to summarize: he tries hard on the forecheck, his skating limits his effectiveness but he uses his size well, but he has got to improve his defensive and spatial awareness if he’s going to project to the NHL as too often he will misread plays on the forecheck or in the cycle game and it has lead directly to odd-man scoring chances or dangerous shot attempts. In the clip above where he loses the puck exiting the zone one of my first gripes with the play was the lack of effort to get back on a backcheck. However, as I watched more games it wasn’t really an effort or motor issue but rather sometimes late in a shift Martin runs out of gas. Getting his skating to a level where his effort isn’t entirely on generating pace but rather for duration of shift length will help as well.
Here’s an example of his awareness needing to be better on the forecheck. He’s coming in as the left winger in transition in this clip.
Defensively Martin can get a bit lost in his reads. Here is a situation where he cheats out of the center of the ice to allow the pass that sets up a 3-on-2 pic.twitter.com/l0zGXoF4Qs
You can see here that as the puck drifts towards the boards Martin is caught puck watching and shifting with the puck out of the center of the ice and into the other winger’s lane as #12 crosses in front of him and circles back up the ice. The pass gets through Martin’s area and leads to an odd-man rush going the other way.
This was probably the worst moment Martin had over the course of four games. He doesn’t come onto the screen until the ten second mark where his forward is directing him on where he should be.
This one led directly to a goal against. Martin doesn't appear on the screen until about the 10 second mark, but he comes over to try to take the point away and leaves his side which allows a cross ice, dangerous SAT and goal pic.twitter.com/i9cThWffV4
If you pause it at the ten second mark you can see four blue jerseys supporting the puck and suppressing the dangerous areas out front. Now pause it at 11 seconds. All of a sudden Martin appears but is covering the point. He creates an overload at an unnecessary point in the defensive structure and leaves a cross-ice pass to an open player in a dangerous area. This led directly to a goal.
Projection
Seb has watched the Kitchener Rangers all year and has been a huge proponent of Mitchell Martin’s development throughout the season. Martin has moved up through the lineup to where he was playing in their top 6 in the playoffs and seeing significant power play time. This was reflected in his point production as he was a point per game player with seven goals during Kitchener’s run.
Without a draft year he also doesn’t have the data set nor the film to compare the development between his draft year and his post-draft year season. It’s going to be something that we all look back in hindsight with the OHL and how COVID impacted this class in particular.
I (Austin) see a player that has to get his skating and pace to an NHL level. I do believe he has some versatility to his game to project as a bottom 6 winger, however he’s going to have to improve his defensive zone awareness and skating mechanics to earn an NHL roster spot. I thought the best part of his game was on the penalty kill and how aggressive he was suppressing space and trying to create offense on the PK. He could also find a role in that capacity in the NHL
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Austin Garrett and Sebastian Jackson. If you would like to follow Austin on Twitter, his handle is @BMaster716. If you would like to follow Sebastian on Twitter, his handle is @SebJackson90.
Looking for other scouting reports? Check out the Prospects tab for our other scouting reports.
Need a scouting report on a particular prospect, contact us today!
Matthew Somma and Austin Garrett interview Marcus Nguyen of the Portland Winterhawks (2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect). Nguyen talks about being named after Markus Näslund, growing up watching Patrick Kane, playing with Rieger Lorenz (Okotoks, 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect) and Kent Anderson (Green Bay, 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect) and he gave listeners a scouting report of himself.
If you would like to listen to this episode, you can find an embedded link from SoundCloud below. Our podcast can also be found on iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Julian Lutz is the latest high-end prospect to hail from Germany. 15 to 20 years ago a German as talented as him would be big news in the hockey world, but the fact it is not shows just how far the nation has come in regards to their talent pipeline. Over 14 drafts, from the year 2000 to 2018, there were just three Germans taken inside the first two rounds of the NHL draft, Marcel Goc, Phillip Gogula and Leon Draisaitl. Since 2019? That figure stands at four players, and Lutz has a good chance to be number five in the last four drafts.
However, were it not for a serious injury that he suffered in summer of 2021 then Lutz may have been in contention to go inside the first round. The injury in question was a fatigue fracture of his lumbar spine, resulting in him missing seven months of hockey and only returning in February. Despite the time missed, Lutz jumped straight into the DEL – Germany’s highest tier of pro hockey – and more than held his own from the get go. He then led Germany in scoring with four points in four games as they were eliminated in the Quarter-finals at the u-18 WJC in April.
While there are injury questions, Lutz has been on NHL teams radars for several years already, being the “star” player for both his junior national team at every level since u-16, as well as being the latest high-end player to roll off the Red Bull Hockey Academy production line, following the likes of Noah Dobson, JJ Peterka and Sampo Ranta. So while he may fall in the draft, don’t expect him to fall too far.
So where does the winger from Weingarten “win” when on the ice? And where does he need to improve in order to carve out a career at the highest level of hockey on earth?
Player Profile
D.O.B – February 29, 2004 Nationality – Germany Draft Eligibility – 2022 Height –6’2″ Weight –190 lbs Position – Left Wing Handedness – Left
Lutz’s Style Of Play
Offense
It is worth noting that over his young career so far the big forward has played all three forward positions. However, it is hard to see him being a Center at the highest level. He is more effective at wing, which makes sense given the way he plays.
His offensive game is built around three major aspects of his skill-set. Skating, seam-finding and spunk. The skating will be discusses in greater depth below, but he utilises his skills in this area extremely effectively to create space for himself, using his edges and acceleration to be a menace both on and off the puck in the offensive zone. On the puck he can drive opponents crazy with tight turns combined with great puck-protection to create chances from either the walls or on the cycle, while off the puck he causes defensemen headaches all game long due to his ability to get into passing lanes, as well as capacity to pressure opponents without taking himself out of the play.
In turn, Lutz’s forechecking really is a thing of beauty. His skating is the foundation for it, but it is his heart that is the core reason for its success. Every single shift of the game Lutz attacks the puck like it is the last shift of his career. But not only is he relentless in his puck pursuit, he is smart in regards to the way he approaches applying pressure. He has an intuitive understanding of passing lanes, and his quick active stick at times seems to read what the opposition is going to do before they know. The result is that Lutz often backs defensemen into corners that the struggle to get out of, pressures them into turnovers, or simply pursues them into the boards and turns what could have been a routine outlet into a possession battle.
This tenaciousness also transfers into his ability around the net. Lutz seems to relish being involved is physical battles for position around the crease and slot, and even when outmatched physically does not back down or give up on trying to get loose or goal-side of the defender at the key moment. The result of this is that even in battles that he is seemingly losing he can, from nowhere, get his stick free to deflect a puck on goal or surprise the defenseman and get to the blue-paint just as a puck is fired cross-crease. In turn, Lutz is able to cash in on a lot of rebounds, jam plays or loose pucks in close. Such chance creation often translates well to the higher level on smaller ice.
As one can infer from the abilities that have already been mentioned, IQ is a key aspect of Lutz’s success in the offensive zone. In turn, he has the key ability that most NHL scorers have, the ability to get to high-danger areas of the ice unmarked and into shooting lanes. Off the puck especially he reads the play very well, and in a sport where milli-seconds matter often chooses the perfect moment to make a break into a “soft” area of ice just as a defenseman vacates his post or shifts assignment in zonal coverage. The result is often Lutz with the puck on his stick in close or in the slot. His hockey IQ is also an advantage with the puck on his stick. He is capable of seeing passes that very few players his age can, and is fantastic at drawing opposition players in to create space for his line-mates.
So Lutz is tenacious, fast and has a high IQ, but how to his “skills” stack up? The easy way to put it is that Lutz, in terms of raw skill, is a jack of all trades but a master of none.
His hands? He uses them effectively and can handle a puck at high speed, but he is not the most deceptive or creative with the puck on his stick, and does not excel in using his hands to beat opponents with the puck on his stick, but more his skating, IQ and strength. In the small areas his hands are once again a vehicle for his skating and IQ, and not the other way around, he rarely loses control of the puck, but also rarely does something “special” with it.
His shot? It is certainly above average, and he possesses a decent wrister and a nice one-timer that he uses effectively when on the power-play. But Lutz scores many of his goals on rebounds, in close, or on from tips and deflections, and the majority of his “range” goals are not due to a seeing eye shot that nestles in the top corner, and instead catching a goalie unaware, or capitalising on the moments that a goalie is screened, or when they are committed to a movement and unable to adjust. The impressive technical aspect in relation to his shot is his release, it is not hard, or as quick as others, but he can get the puck off from virtually any position and can coral a puck beautifully from the heel or backhand into the meat of the blade to effect shots that many could not. Again, his IQ is where he wins in relation to his shot as well.
His passing? It is not a technical masterclass full of saucers, one-touch or 100ft stretches to tape… but instead an efficient exercise in awareness and due diligence. Lutz constantly surveys the ice with the puck on his stick, you can see the cogs turning as he evaluates how to break down coverage, where his team-mates will be in a few seconds time, and how to exploit the oppositions weaknesses. The result of this is that several times a game he can spring a line-mate into a dangerous position by simply picking the exact right moment for a pass. His vision also means that from time to time he can make an unbelievable pass that no-one else on ice could have foreseen.
Watching Julian Lutz's first game (Feb 18) in the DEL this year and he had a rather nifty zone exit pass in the second period of play. #2022NHLDraftpic.twitter.com/eoPLjmaqrJ
Overall there is a lot to like about Lutz’s offensive game. He might not have the high-end skills to ever be a star player at the next level, but he is well-rounded and plays in a way that in theory should translate well to the smaller ice.
Defense
You would expect that a winger with such a high level motor alongside a good stick, a high IQ, experience playing center and multiple years of pro hockey experience by the time they reached 18 would be a defensive stalwart for his age. However, with Lutz defense has been something that many prospect watchers have highlighted as something that needs to improve.
Firstly, it is important to note that Lutz, for the most part, has the right intentions defensively. Like in the offensive zone you can never really fault his work ethic, and he is not one to shirk any responsibilities on defense. Furthermore, when play is contracted and he has to drop deeper in a more condensed zonal set-up, covering men around the circles and slot, he is very effective, able to use his high IQ to strip pucks and block lanes, and his physical ability to engage puck-carriers and disrupt the play.
His issues on defense, however, come most often when play is stretched on the cycle and the puck is moving D-to-D or high-to-low. In such situations Lutz has a tendency to be too aggressive. You can see him itching to try and regain the puck and send play the other way. This in itself is not an issue. But Lutz needs to pick his spots better. Too often he misses on an aggressive play and the result is a point-man able to walk in 30ft from the blue-line with Lutz hung out to dry. Furthermore, in the defensive zone he does not seem to anticipate plays quite as well as he does in the offensive zone. In turn it seems like he spends more time reacting to what has happened and trying to catch up than being a step ahead.
The result is that there are moments, especially at the pro level, where one poor – but not back-breaking – play defensively from Lutz can compound into something far worse and results in a high percentage chance against. Some of this will certainly improve as he matures, and realises that against men he cannot make the same plays he can against his peers. Given his high IQ you would expect the young German to make the necessary adjustments over time to become at very worst an average or above average defensive winger.
There is, however, some real nuance to criticisms of his defense. Over the last two seasons, of the 61 games he has played at club level, just four have come at the junior level. The rest have been split between the DEL, the ICEHL, and the Alps Hockey League, all professional leagues where the majority of competitors are men with years of experience under their belts. While the leagues are not at the level of the KHL, SHL, Liiga or NLA, it is still a lofty expectation for a 16-18 year old to be a plus defensive player, even if they do have good size and a high IQ. This fact, alongside being “solid” defensively this year at the highest level he has ever played at – the DEL – despite being thrown into the league for the first time ever right off the back off a long-term, serious injury, means it is reasonable to expect that Lutz will continue to improve in the defensive zone simply with time.
Skating
As previously touched on, skating is one of Lutz’s strengths. However, there are still aspects in this area that he needs to work on to fulfill his potential.
First, for the good. For an 18 year old playing vs men his strength on his skates is exceptional. He is rarely knocked off the puck and utilises his sharp edge work to excel in the small areas of ice. His feet are constantly moving in such situations and he can make far more experienced players look silly in multiple ways, either by getting low and out-muscling them, or dummying or duking them with the knowledge that few will be able to match him for agility. It is not just on the puck that he uses this aspect of his skating with aplomb. His ability to get to the “soft” areas of ice unmarked is also predicated mainly on his edge work. He loves to lure defenders in to a false sense of security when off the puck, before picking his moment, usually inside the circles, to make a quick move to engage a pick play and get to the slot or net, or to kick out wide and then cut back under the defenseman to get to high danger areas.
In addition to the impressive lower-body strength and clean, crisp edge-work, Lutz can create chances or recover back into plays due to his acceleration. From a virtual standing start he can get to his top speed in a short span of time. Furthermore, as soon as he sees a gap on the cycle he can explode past defenders and turn an oppositions defensive scheme on its head and cause them to scramble to pick up new assignments. This ability to change the pace of the game in a moment, especially when established in the offensive zone, is something that many effective offense-oriented NHL wingers can do. If a defenseman switches off for a second when covering him then it is virtually certain an opportunity will come for his team.
Lutz also carries the puck very well at speed, and is confident in stride with the puck on his stick. In fact, there is virtually no difference in pace for him with or without possession. He uses this confidence alongside his edge-work and acceleration to be effective in transition, and a real threat when bearing down on defenders 1v1, as he can either change up a gear and go past them, or change down a gear, lure them in, then finesse past them with puck-control and lateral skating ability.
In terms of where Lutz can get better, his top-speed, while certainly not an issue, could really improve and make him an even more dangerous player. He has a solid, long, stride without any real technical flaws, something only to be expected from a Red Bull Academy product, with them being known across Europe for their high-end skating development. However, while he gets up to speed quickly at times it seems as though he is effectively “stuck” in fourth gear, and incapable of getting up to where you would expect in full stride, given the high-end nature of the rest of his skating. This sometimes means that he will blast past a player over a 20ft space in the defensive or neutral zone, before being reeled back in up ice. Now, this rarely causes any issues for Lutz, but potentially with more added strength as he matures he could further improve his top-speed and mean a close to spotless skating resume.
Projection
Realistically, given his talent level, skill-set and development so far, it is likely that Lutz high-end upside is that of a good second line winger, who year on year could produce in the range of 50 points. In terms of floor? It is hard to see Lutz becoming less than a very good AHL player. Lutz is also the kind of forward who if he does not reach his ceiling he could still provide real value at the NHL level in a bottom six role given the tenacity he plays with alongside his well-rounded base skill-set.
Latest Update
June 16, 2022
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Alex Appleyard If you would like to follow Alex on Twitter, his handle is @avappleyard.
Looking for other scouting reports? Check out the Prospects tab for our other scouting reports.
Need a scouting report on a particular prospect, contact us today!
The USNTDP was a force to be reckoned with this year. Every game there was a new player I was making a note about, going back to watch shifts of, and honestly having a hard time ranking forwards and defensemen within the program let alone against the 2022 draft. One of the players that played a lot on the third and fourth lines this past year that continually caught my eye was Devin Kaplan.
Devin Kaplan hails from Bridgewater, NJ and played for the North Jersey Avalanche AAA program before joining the USNTDP program. He’s played primarily with Charlie Stramel and Rutger McGroarty in the games I’ve watched.
There are a few players I’ve profiled that I really enjoy watching, but when it comes to the player I think will far outperform their draft position in the 2022 draft I’d be betting on Devin Kaplan.
Player Profile
D.O.B – January 10, 2004 Nationality – USA Draft Eligibility – 2022 Height –6’3″ Weight –198 lbs Position – Right Wing Handedness – Right
Kaplan’s Style Of Play
Offense
Devin Kaplan’s strength is his transition game. He has very good small area puck handling ability and good edges to maneuver through the neutral zone. He was the catalyst for transition on the McGroarty/Stramel line for the games that I tracked which included two games against Big 10 NCAA teams and two USHL games. During those games he was a part of 51% of all successful transitions for his line which is an astounding percentage of involvement. Even crazier: he was successful on almost 83% of those transitions. It is rare for Devin Kaplan to have an opportunity to enter/exit the zone and for the USNTDP to not do it with possession.
Let’s take this clip below as a perfect example of Devin Kaplan’s offensive game:
I could watch Devin Kaplan play hockey all day. Transition king.
Here's my best 16 second clip to summarize Kaplan (21…makes the hit on the board at the beginning of the clip) pic.twitter.com/QX0uFi81fO
You see first that Kaplan loses the puck on a touch and then backchecks at the blue line and is part of the turnover that occurs as 27 in blue retrieves the puck in the defensive zone. Kaplan gets a puck in his skates and is able to maintain control on a soft forecheck coming at him at the defensive blue line with a quick move. Then the hallmark of Kaplan’s transition game occurs with one quick deceptive fake on #56 in white and he’s now created a 3-on-2 entering the offensive blue line. After gaining the zone he sees he’s on a 2-on-2 with #13 dropping back and #28 not really a passing option on the wing, so he drops it back and #13 take a low danger shot attempt.
This isn’t just a one off type of event for Kaplan. He is consistently gaining the zone and then dropping the puck back to trailing forwards or defensemen, or making a move himself to get into dangerous areas of the ice. His hands for being 6’3 are top-end in this draft
Kaplan reads the defenseman’s pass as he tries to go d-to-d behind the net and turns the puck over on his forecheck. Going into the corner he picks his head up to scan his outlet as he has two players coming in to pressure him and gets the puck out to the point for a low-to-high cycle start. A bad pass/first touch back to him and he still is able to feed #24 behind the net who is then setting up #10 for a high danger shot. Kaplan then supports the forecheck across the ice, picks up loose puck, and feeds a beautiful high danger pass for USA’s first goal in the Gold medal game.
He has the ability to forecheck hard as the F1, is smart on the wall as the F2, and possesses the brain and the hand-eye coordination to really excel as an F3 forechecker as well. His speed allows him to suffocate space and he’s not afraid to use his size and physicality to separate players off the puck.
Another example of his amazing ability to turnover a puck on the forecheck and then the beautiful backhand pass to #5 for him to activate off the wall.
Kaplan’s offensive data just screams a player that needs more opportunities with the elite players on the NTDP and we’d be talking about a mid-late first round pick. He completed 77% of all of his passing attempts including 57% of his dangerous pass attempts in the offensive zone. He shoots from dangerous areas of the ice almost 70% of the time and scored on 12.5% of his shot attempts. There’s a lot of good processing indicators from his passing decisions to his shot selection to his success rate in transition.
Offensively I think there are two areas of improvement that could be a catalyst for him breaking out as a scoring winger in the NHL. The first is working on accuracy with his wrist shot and getting more power behind it so he can beat goalies from distance. His shot really wasn’t a weapon, especially from outside high dangerous areas of the ice. The second area is just a more aggressive nature when he enters the offensive zone with the puck. I think he was too deferential, playing a low-to-high type structure and not attacking as much as he could have off the rush. He’s great at keeping plays moving, but sometimes I wish he’d have looked to make a more risky play that would’ve had a higher reward if he connected than the safer plays of chipping it behind the net or sending it back to the point.
Defense and Skating
Kaplan shows very good effort in his pursuit of the puck, especially as a primary forechecker. While he is often successful using his size, other times he can turn completely to the side trying to pin a guy on the boards and get out maneuvered by his opponents. He is better using his stick first when being physical to try to break up the puck, and when playing just the body can put himself into low-leverage positions to not be able to stop an oncoming forward. However, when he is able to get on top of a player he is able to turn the puck over with ease and is exceptionally dangerous at taking loose pucks off the forecheck and creating opportunities offensively for his team which is why this was mentioned often in the offensive section.
As a winger Kaplan shows exceptional awareness and closing speed to mitigate pressure from the points in the defensive zone. He scans constantly and earned a role as a penalty kill defender as well on the USNTDP. Rarely is he caught out of position and has a very good motor in puck pursuit and backchecking. More than a couple of times he’s chased people down after being caught deep in the offensive zone in my viewings.
Kaplan can be caught scanning the ice without moving his feet and engaging in what he’s reading. Sometimes he’s looking at multiple scans/options and doesn’t commit to a space or player and can have a puck move past him. Other times, since he’s the team’s primary transition option at forward on his line, he can fly out of the zone a little too early and if the first pass doesn’t connect or get out of the zone he can create an odd-man situation on the turnover. This is a rare occurrence.
He moves well up and down the ice for being a 6’3 forward. His north/south speed is above average and his lateral mobility is superb compared to a lot of players his size. I don’t see any real concerns about his mobility projecting him to the NHL, and at times I thought he was among the best skaters on the ice against good competition.
Projection
We have Devin Kaplan ranked 36th overall and I’d honestly pound the table to push him higher if I could. I know we’re probably amongst the highest on him in the scouting community, and in my opinion this is THE player in North America who has the ability to way outperform their draft position due to a lack of opportunity in playing time/role in the 2022 draft.
I say this because, for instance, let’s take the eye test: he’s 6’3, moves well, has a motor defensively, has really good puck skill/transitional ability/passing ability, has a great brain, and uses his size to be physical. I would describe him, without data, as the type of player I’d expect administrators in the NHL to drool over. With data? My goodness is Kaplan just screaming upside. So many great indicators outside of his point total including shot differentials, work rates, passing data, transition data, and defensive blue line data in my data set. Even better microstats with some of the public sphere scouts who have tracked Kaplan as well.
I’m not going to sit here and promise he’s going to be a top-6 winger. However, if it happens I’m not going to be shocked at all. I think Kaplan projects conservatively as a middle-six, transitional winger who will be hard on pucks and a great facilitator at starting or managing chain-linked plays in the offensive zone for an NHL club. I think an aggressive projection would be a top 6 winger who can carry the puck and feed pucks to your scorers as well as score around the net. If he is able to develop a shot that can beat goalies from medium distance; we might be talking about a top 10-15 player in a redraft in 5 years.
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Austin Garrett. If you would like to follow Austin on Twitter, his handle is @BMaster716.
Looking for other scouting reports? Check out the Prospects tab for our other scouting reports.
Need a scouting report on a particular prospect, contact us today!
Smaht Scouting’s Matthew Somma and Austin Garrett talk about the mock draft that our team completed a few weeks back. In addition, they provide in-depth analysis on a few North American prospects including Reid Schaefer (Seattle), Devin Kaplan (USNTDP), Matthew Seminoff (Kamloops), Mikey Milne (Winnipeg), Jace Weir (Red Deer) and Cole Knuble (Fargo).
If you would like to listen to this episode, you can find an embedded link from SoundCloud below. Our podcast can also be found on iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Paul Ludwinski is a 2022 NHL draft-eligible prospect who plays for the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League. Ludwinski and fellow draft-eligible teammate Shane Wright have combined to make Kingston a must-watch team for those interested in the NHL draft. At times throughout the season, they have even been paired up as linemates forming a high-end duo of draft-aged prospects for those in the scouting world to enjoy.
If you’re looking for a mix of high energy and puck skills, you’ve come to the right place as Paul Ludwinski is all gas, no brakes. His non-stop energy sets him apart from the pack as he’s constantly motoring around the ice every shift. He applies relentless pursuit and routinely catches the puck carrier, forces a turnover, and begins the transition in the other direction. Ludwinski also has solid puck skills and a strong ability to detect open space and time into that opening as a passing option. His work rate and skills make him an intriguing prospect that offers a safe floor and the upside to be more than just an energy player.
Player Profile
D.O.B – April 23, 2004 Nationality – Canada Draft Eligibility – 2022 Height –5’1 Weight –183 lbs Position – Center/Left Wing Handedness – Left
Style of Play
Every shift, game after game, the re-occurring theme with Ludwinski is non-stop energy. He’s constantly applying pressure to puck carriers to take away time and space all over the ice. You will often notice Ludwinski as the F1 on the forecheck, causing problems for the opposition attempting to regroup and exit their defensive zone. You will also quickly see how often he completes a back check and deny opportunities from materializing for the opposition. He isn’t one to throw a devastating hit, but he certainly isn’t afraid to use his body which works in tandem with his relentless pressure to dispossess opponents. Some nights it can even be tiring to watch him zip around the ice endlessly.
At the root of his effectiveness in this department is his skating. Ludwinski has a quick first few steps that allow him to gain separation from defenders or close down gaps between the puck carrier in no time. He can reach and maintain high speeds while appearing almost effortless. I don’t rely much on in-person viewings, but my one key takeaway from a live viewing this year of Ludwinski was just how quick he was. He was the fastest player on the ice every shift, and at times it can be tough to decipher just how fast he was relative to other people through video viewings, so this in-person viewing truly put things into perspective.
Unfortunately, with many players who fit the description of a good skater and high work rate, the list of what else they bring to the table can be limited. Relying on speed and an up-tempo play style is not attractive enough to be considered a high-end prospect in and of itself. As players progress to higher levels, the speed that was once a tremendous asset will slowly be less valuable as the competition will now be faster as you climb the hockey ladder. Fortunately, Ludwinski has a set of tools that stack on top of his constant work rate and skating ability that all work together to make him an intriguing prospect.
Ludwinski isn’t a flashy player by any means, but he possesses practical puck skills that he frequently uses to beat a defender or open up a passing lane to exploit. In addition, his hands and speed cause him to be a difficult player to defend off the rush and in one-on-one situations. This skill set allows him to be effective off a turnover on the forecheck and in small areas to corral a loose puck and make a play with the puck.
Ludwinski’s ability to find open space and be a target for a dangerous pass is one of his many noteworthy traits. He constantly rotates into space during offensive zone possessions to be a passing outlet for a teammate. This understanding of rotations allows him to be a positive contributor off the cycle and keep the possession alive for his team as he is putting himself in the right spots to be an option for a teammate under trouble. On rush sequences, he is exceptional at timing his routes to maintain a passing angle and put himself in a threatening shooting position. He’ll frequently come to a complete stop to find the soft spot in the defense and catch a defender off guard who thinks he’s going to drive the net.
The cherry on top is his versatility. Ludwinski is a player any coach would love to have on their bench as an option for any game situation, which is evident in his usage this season. Throughout the season, he has played center and wing, power play and penalty kill, defending a lead and when they need a goal. For example, midway through games where they were trailing, you could count on Ludwinski to be called to move up the lineup onto Wright’s wing in an attempt to score a late equalizer. Of course, a coach’s usage of a player isn’t always an accurate representation of their talent level, but it conveys how they view that player. In Ludwinski’s case, this sentiment towards Ludwinski is most definitely unanimous among anyone who has or will coach him. When Ludwinski jumps over the boards, a coach knows what they will get from him every shift.
If you were to watch one of Ludwinski’s games, you might think he was snake-bitten that night as he was buzzing around the offensive zone and had multiple scoring chances but no results. Every game, he has numerous high-danger opportunities that he can’t seem to find the back of the net. The more you watch him play, the more it becomes a re-occurring theme that his ability to finish the high-danger chances may be a genuine concern.
There certainly is a risk of a bias at play here. As noted above, Ludwinski is exceptional at finding open space and putting himself in a prime position for a high-danger pass resulting in a scoring opportunity. However, the sheer amount of high-danger shots he creates for himself may work against him in that even if he converts on them at the same rate as other prospects, this will result in the “wasted” opportunities to add up. With the data available in the CHL, it is challenging to decipher whether it is a valid concern or noise that we should ignore. Regardless of whether it’s a bias or his finishing talent is suspect, Ludwinski creates so many chances through his awareness that there is an opportunity for him to rack up the goals if he can convert on the chances he gets.
Projection
A reasonable projection for Paul Ludwinski is a middle-six winger who can fill the puck retriever / F1 role on a line with more offensive-leaning players. He excels at applying pressure, creating turnovers, and retrieving/maintaining puck possession. In addition, he has solid puck skills and a good sense of spacing in the offensive zone that will allow him to find holes and be available for a high-danger pass. This combination of skills and habits makes him a great candidate to complement the game and generate excellent results paired with highly skilled players.
He could fill a depth center role as he is defensively engaged and a strong transition player. However, this complimentary winger archetype described above will likely be the role that allows him to offer the best value to his team. Whether he is used as a winger or center regularly, he is a player that can be called upon to move up or around the lineup when injuries happen or the game state changes. He truly is a Swiss army knife type of player that offers plenty of options to his team.
Latest Update
June 12, 2022
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Jordan Malette. If you would like to follow Jordan on Twitter, his handle is @jordanmalette.
Looking for other scouting reports? Check out the Prospects tab for our other scouting reports.
Need a scouting report on a particular prospect, contact us today!
Isaiah George is a 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect, who hails from Oakville, Ontario. Before making his debut as a London Knight, he played U15 AAA and U16 AAA hockey for the Toronto Marlboros. During his time with the Marlboros, he played alongside a few 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospects including Paul Ludwinski (Kingston Frontenacs) and Kaiden Muir (USNTDP). In addition to playing for the Marlboros, he also had a very short stint with the OJHL’s Oakville Blades. George played in one 2019-2020 regular season game for the Blades and one game in the playoffs.
George was drafted by the London Knights in the 2020 OHL Priority Selection Draft at pick #68 in round four. He was also selected at #76th overall (sixth round) in the 2020 USHL Futures Draft by the Tri-City Storm, but he preferred to play for London.
Since the OHL’s 2020-2021 season didn’t take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, George made his Knights debut this season. In 67 games played this season, he recorded six goals and 17 assists. The majority of his assists were secondary 5v5 assists.
Player Profile
D.O.B – February 15, 2004 Nationality – Canada Draft Eligibility – 2022 Height –6’1″ Weight –194 lbs Position – Defense Handedness – Left
George’s Style Of Play
Offense
If you asked me to describe Isaiah George’s offensive game in two words, it would be “conservative creativity”. Throughout the course of my viewings, I noticed that George wants to be far more involved offensively and he wants to utilize his mobility to get himself space down low in the slot. But, George seems very cautious about pinching up and trying to work the cycle. In every shift that you see George carry or pass the puck to the slot to key up high and medium danger chances, there are two to three shifts in which he has a more relaxed approach.
Not only does George like to weave through the opposition with his mobility, but he will also pinch up along the boards, push past traffic with his upper body strength and feather passes to the slot from the corner. George’s ability to drive down low is in large part due to his stick-handling reach. He has a solid wingspan that allows him to take up a lot of space with puck on his stick. His hands are quick too. George has the ability to move the puck quickly when facing pressure at the point, use his upper body to push past multiple attackers along the half-wall boards while at the same time extending his stick blade further out to ensure than an attacker won’t be able to catch up easily.
You can also expect George to pinch up for pucks rolling around the corner boards.
From a positional standpoint, George checks the boxes. George will move up to the perimeter line when he’s got a teammate behind the red line. He offers an open passing option. In situations in which the F1 gets stuck due to an aggressive backcheck and there is no one else around for support, George skates in at centered ice to provide his teammate with a passing option.
When he has possession of the puck and is passing from the point, he likes to use bounce passes along the half-wall to a winger. That is rather effective as you can get the puck around an attacker if you don’t have a clean tape to tape lane to exploit when he is closing in on you. But, George does need to be more selective on when he uses bounce passes in the offensive zone. For instance, if there isn’t a ton of pressure and he can utilize his mobility / shiftiness to navigate away from the pressure, he shouldn’t look to complete a bounce pass. By bouncing the pass in situations in which George didn’t have traffic immediately in front of him, he slows the puck movement down. George is also giving away the passing route and that allows the attacker to skate up to the puck and trap possession.
George does need to work on shot selection. When George has possession of the puck, but doesn’t feel like he has the confidence to shift around pressure and bring the puck up towards the perimeter and/or the slot, he will fire a shot on net from the point and it will be an easy save for the net-minder. The thing is I know that he has the ability to shift out and be dangerous with the puck on his stick. He has the tools.
While his shot selection needs more refinement, he does have a solid shot from range. Check out this clip against Kitchener. George pinches up towards the perimeter, gets into a jam with four Kitchener Rangers looking to box him in and he fires a quick shot low post. He knows that with multiple attackers closing in on him that he has to shoot low not high. If he shoots high, the shot might re-direct off the attacker’s stick if they are skating at the same pace.
George’s defensive positioning is quite good. When defending down low against non puck carrying attackers who are looking to net open ice in high and medium danger, he does a good job of staying aligned and standing in front of the attacker to ensure that a teammate behind the red line can’t pass to the attacker. He is a smart interior defender.
When looking to take away space for an oppositional puck carrier, he is quick to coverage. Stays aligned with him as he skates with attacker in low danger. George lowers and widens himself to take up more space and then will use his reach to completely trap the attacker.
Working on an Isaiah George scouting report and I will be talking about his quality gap control and excellent reach.
Another awesome clip of Isaiah George trapping an attacker with support his teammate, netting possession and then driving the rush up the ice. But, this time around, you can see how he can leverage his mobility and stick-handling to navigate around multiple attackers to create space for himself to skate.
Got another fun Isaiah George defensive clip to check out. Does an excellent job of limiting space for opponents, grabbing possession and using his stick-handling to get away from the forecheck and get the puck in the hands of his forwards.#2022NHLDraftpic.twitter.com/Zbq5nkbhYa
George uses his upper body strength well when defending. Does a good job of leaning into the puck carrying attacker with his shoulder in the corner and then he pokechecks to grab control of the puck. Behind the red line, George will look to shoulder check his opponents to cause puck disruption.
George does need to work on where he should be when defending in 2-on-1s. He will give up slightly too much space for the non-puck carrying attackers. George struggles with identifying the best spot to be at when countering against the 2-on-1. Since he isn’t in a true centered position that allows for the non-puck carrying attacker to start to drift away more and get quality separation.
Defensive puck recoveries are no issue for George. If George needs to adjust to rapid changes in puck movement, he leverages his crossovers to get the necessary acceleration to get in front of the attacker and net possession of the puck. He has the foot speed to pick up pucks routinely.
When he has control of the puck, he typically looks to make a pass to a teammates in the neutral zone instead of bringing the puck up the ice himself. Just like in the offensive zone, he loves to utilize bounce passes. George will look to complete bounce passes off the boards to teammates who are further up along the boards when he has the forecheck right in front of him and no other passing lane. But, he tends to over use his bounce pass. My belief is that he doesn’t feel too confident in his long range passes as they typically are too powerful for his teammates to trap and a bounce pass will start to slow down after it makes contact with the boards.
When facing oncoming pressure and he is stuck behind the red line, he has shown that he can quickly get the puck out of his hands and up the boards to a winger. George will also look to utilize his upper body strength to push off of attackers when they are coming towards at speed. He pushes them with his shoulder and with the other arm he will complete one handed shovel passes to teammates further up the boards.
Transitional Play
When defending against the rush, George uses an active stick to take away space for the puck carrying attacker and force the attacker to dump the puck into the London zone. Yet, he doesn’t just use an active stick to take away space for puck carrying attackers. George will use his active stick to take away an opponent as a potential target for an opponent who has possession for the puck to pass towards. So, when he has to defend against multiple attackers in the neutral zone, he is well-aligned with the non-puck carrying attacker and puts pressure on him from the get-go. He also has an eye on the puck carrying attacker but he knows that the presence of his defensive partner will be enough to force the puck carrying attacker to dump the puck.
Isaiah George's defensive work in the neutral zone is quite good. Check out this clip. His positioning on the non-puck carrier allows him to slow down the attacker and be quicker to puck in his own zone.#2022NHLDraftpic.twitter.com/zcRuYNLedh
Given his preference to complete a zone exit pass and get the puck out of his hands, he isn’t often carrying the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone. But, when he does carry the puck up the ice, he can rely on mobility and edges to dance around attackers. He will use his reach to push the puck away from attackers and keep it as secure as possible.
When he doesn’t have possession of the puck but his teammates do, he has shown a desire to go jump into the neutral zone and look for open ice to establish passing lanes. But, he picks his moments. Usually it’s when his teammates don’t seem to be providing his puck carrying teammate with passing lanes to move the puck up the ice. That’s when George comes to the rescue.
George will communicate with his defensive partners and let them know if they have a quality lane to use to get the puck into the offensive zone. For instance, I noticed in a game against the Barrie Colts the his defensive partner wasn’t aware of a bad Barrie line change after doubling back in the neutral zone. George noticed the bad line change and told his defensive partner to pass the puck to the open London winger at the offensive zone blue line. While George wasn’t in control of the puck in that situation, he is being a good on-ice leader and supporting his teammates with real-time feedback so that they can look to generate an odd man rush while the attackers are completing a line change.
Skating
Throughout the scouting report, I’ve mentioned how George does a good job of leveraging his crossovers to net quality acceleration, but I haven’t done him enough justice. There is more to go. When looking to toe the blue line, he has quality lateral crossovers that allow him to shift from the boards to center ice at a quick pace. He does an excellent job of activating his speed right after completing a turn by deploying a few crossovers. When he looks to skate in a straight line, that is when he looks to integrate quality stride extensions. But, for the most part, he looks to keep himself moving with crossovers.
From a posture perspective, George maintains solid posture when deploying stride extensions, edges and crossovers. He keeps his knees bent, good ankle flexion (knee aligned with the toe of his skate) and he is in a crouch position. Doesn’t hunch over. When completing turns, he leans on his edges to retain speed and then quickly looks to implement crossovers to build up the speed. George’s posture also allows him to be as mobile as possible and the bending of his knees nets him a lot of power in his initial skate push after completing a turn.
Projection
Isaiah George has second pairing upside at the NHL level, but in order to get that point, he needs to push play more and more in the offensive zone. When pressure seems to be building up, George needs to use his mobility to buy himself separation and skate towards the slot. Sometimes he does it. Sometimes he doesn’t and instead opts to put a low danger shot on net. NHL teams are going to want more offensive creativity and he has the tools to give them the creativity that they desire. Ideally, we will see George continue to become confident in his ability to push play and run the cycle even more so in his DY+1.
Latest Update
June 8, 2022
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Josh Tessler. If you would like to follow Josh on Twitter, his handle is @JoshTessler_.
Looking for other scouting reports? Check out the Prospects tab for our other scouting reports.
Need a scouting report on a particular prospect, contact us today!
Please Note: The draft order might be slightly different today towards the back end of the draft. That is because used the draft order as of May 24, 2022 for this mock. We didn’t have a time limit per pick since we are all working full time. For instance, the Edmonton Oilers are now drafting at #30th (as of June 5, 2022).
For Reference: Our Final Rankings can be found here.
“A reasonable projection for Wright would be in the range of a low-end 1st line to a high-end 2nd line center, which to some may sound pessimistic in the context of 1st overall. Still, it is an essential piece to have on a successful team and is not easy to acquire. In addition, Shane will likely benefit from being paired with skilled wingers, who can allow Shane to focus on pushing play up ice to the offensive zone where his linemates can flourish. Finally, with his shot, he will surely be a continual threat on the powerplay, where he has consistently shown he can score from many angles and distances.” – Jordan Malette
#2 – New Jersey Devils – Logan Cooley (Center, USNTDP) – Drafted By Josh Tessler
“Cooley’s overall hockey IQ is ridiculously impressive, as he reads the game so well in all three zones of the ice, and can anticipate where the play is currently at, as well as where it’s headed with little to no difficulty. That trait proves to be invaluable when it comes to his playmaking ability, as he’s able to deliver passes where most of the other players on the ice cannot.” – Paul Zuk
#3 – Arizona Coyotes – Juraj Slafkovsky (Forward, TPS) – Drafted By Austin Garrett
“Slafkovsky can be a menace at the NHL level. His stick-handling reach and his play on the cycle makes him a threat down low. If he can broaden his game by working on his long range shot, that allows him to become a dual threat. But, even if he doesn’t become that dual threat offensively, he has the physicality and the reach to net pucks in puck battles and set up teammates in the slot. With that said, I can envision him being a top six contributor at the NHL level.” – Josh Tessler
#4 – Seattle Kraken – Matthew Savoie (Center, Winnipeg) – Drafted By Sebastian Jackson
“Savoie will be able to keep pace on any line and slow down or speed up his game to adjust to the play style of his linemates. His timing on passes and positioning makes him one of the stronger offensive players in this draft class and a potent scorer and playmaker whenever he’s on the ice.” – Matthew Somma
#5 – Philadelphia Flyers – David Jiříček (Right Handed Defense, HC Plzeñ) – Drafted By Alexander Appleyard
“He can be very aggressive and shove attackers down to the ice at net-front. Loves to play a physical game and deliver booming hits. He is well-rounded with his physicality. You will see him be physical at open ice, the half-wall and the corners. He won’t sit and wait till the perimeter. Instead, he will opt to play bumper car hockey near the blue line.” – Josh Tessler
#6 – Columbus Blue Jackets (via Chicago) – Šimon Nemec (Right Handed Defense, HK Nitra) – Drafted By Alexander Appleyard
“When you watch Nemec, you notice just how dominant he is on the offensive blue-line. Nemec does a good job of toeing the line on the power play. He completes soft swift passes when distributing the puck at 5v5 or on the power play. Nemec uses deception to his advantage when distributing the puck. He likes to be deceptive and use body language. You will notice him raise his stick like he’s appearing to try a one-timer at the blue-line, but instead he distributes a pass and fools the attack. When looking to pass to the slot from the point, he’ll try to be deceptive and make the attackers believe he is looking to complete a wrist shot instead. He will sell it by using a wrist shot wind up.” – Josh Tessler
#7 – Ottawa Senators – Brad Lambert (Center, Lahti) – Drafted By Jordan Malette
“When it comes to puck movement, Lambert thinks two moves ahead. He will complete behind the back passes as he cuts to centered ice and a teammate comes rushing up the left half-wall. If he collects the puck off of a pass when he’s near the corner facing the blue line, he’ll skate towards the blue line, button hook, and throw a pass back to the corner. That brings the defender with him and opens up ice down low in the corner. Lambert is aware that with his excellent puck skills that he can lure defenders to him and open up lanes for his teammates.” – Josh Tessler
#8 – Detroit Red Wings – Cutter Gauthier (Left Wing, USNTDP) – Drafted By Paul Zuk
“If you’re an NHL Scout or Front Office member and you’re looking for players who play a complete 200-foot game and be extremely effective regardless of where they slot into the lineup, look no further than NTDP forward Cutter Gauthier.” – Paul Zuk
#9 – Buffalo Sabres – Frank Nazar (Right Wing, USNTDP) – Drafted By Austin Garrett
“Nazar is very creative with the puck on his stick, regardless of which zone the play is in. Defensively, he’s able to elude opponents by chipping the puck into open ice and working around the attacker to retrieve it. Alternatively, he’s quite good at utilizing bank passes to himself to keep the puck out of danger when under pressure. Offensively, Nazar can seemingly make something out of nothing with the puck on his stick. It’s not uncommon for him to have the puck with a man on him and dole out an accurate pass to a teammate cross-ice for a shot on goal.” – Paul Zuk
“Kemell’s shot is his calling card and he seems to find the most success when shooting one-timers. He’s had quite a few highlight reel one-timer goals to start the season. His one-timer can be electric from both distance and from up close. Kemell can generate height on his one-timer from up close and will look to bend his knee and have the other knee lying down on the ice to provide enough power to generate one-timer top shelf goals in medium danger.” – Josh Tessler
#11 – San Jose Sharks – Jonathan Lekkerimäki (Right Wing, Djurgården) – Drafted By Josh Tessler
“He can be slippery and deceptive with his puck control when facing pressure. When he encounters traffic, he can be deceptive and quick by identifying teammates that are coming from behind him and then completing a quick drop pass. The goal is to get the puck into the hands of a teammate who is open and skating in his lane so the change in possession is seamless.” – Josh Tessler
#12 – Columbus Blue Jackets – Danila Yurov (Right Wing, Magnitogorsk) – Drafted By Alex Appleyard
“Yurov will skate up the slot and looks to create openings for passing opportunities. He will present his stick blade out to indicate that he has identified a quality passing lane and that he is ready to receive possession of the puck. For the most part, Yurov loves to skate into the slot as he looks to key up scoring chances. When a forward takes his spot on the right side, he’ll skate up centered ice and crash the net looking for rebounds.” – Josh Tessler
#13 – New York Islanders – Noah Östlund (Center, Djurgården) – Drafted By Sebastian Jackson
“There is a lot to like about Östlund. His speed, playmaking and mobility makes him dangerous. Even when he doesn’t have the speed to get around attackers when defending, he has still found ways to cause plenty of disruption and kill rush attempts. But, the one area that I love is how deceptive he can be with his playmaking ability and his ability to make use of extremely tight passing lanes. He has a hunger for the puck and knows that he needs to get the puck to high danger areas to win. I’m confident that he will be a top six forward at the NHL level and the path to get there isn’t a very long one for Östlund given his skill-set.” – Josh Tessler
#14 – Winnipeg Jets – Conor Geekie (Center, Winnipeg) – Drafted By Alex Appleyard
“Give Geekie space and he’ll make you pay. Take away a shooting lane and he’ll find a way to get the puck to his teammates for a goal. Geekie doesn’t always carry the puck in transition, nor is he the primary shooting option for Winnipeg. He has carved out a nice role for himself on the Ice that sees him receiving the puck upon entering the zone and making a play happen shortly afterwards.” – Matthew Somma
#15 – Vancouver Canucks – Kevin Korchinski (Left Handed Defense, Seattle) – Drafted By Matthew Somma
“Korchinski’s puck carrying is one of his biggest strengths. He’s one of two high end offensive defensemen in the WHL that are eligible for the draft, with the other being Denton Mateychuk. Whereas Mateychuk is an all out offensive defenseman that has to make the offense flow through him, Korchinski is more grounded and stable. He’s not going to be a fourth forward, but he’s a player that can help keep the offense going and open up space for both himself and his teammates. He’s a general when he’s on the ice. Korchinski will dictate the pace of play and assess every opportunity, choosing the best one. He’ll keep the cycle going and walk the blue line with a Joni Pitkanen level of smoothness. Over the course of the year, Korchinski’s puck playing has developed and has made him one of the best defensemen in the league in the offensive zone. He’s a gifted skater, and when you combine that with his puck skills, you get a defender that can consistently create space and offense.” – Matthew Somma
#16 – Buffalo Sabres (via Vegas) – Filip Mešár (RW, Poprad) – Drafted By Austin Garrett
“His puck manipulation skills allows him to rather deceptive as well. Mešár has many deceptive tactics in his tool box. He will manipulate you by playing the puck out in front of you, the attacker decides to attempt to extend his stick blade out and secure the puck, Mešár knows that he is looking for the puck in that spot, so he moves the puck towards him and slows down the attack. His puck manipulation allows him to net open ice and pass.”– Josh Tessler
#17 – Nashville Predators – Gleb Trikozov (Center/Right Wing, Omsk) – Drafted By Jordan Malette
“When I watch Trikozov, I come away entertained after each and every game. He reminds me so much of San Jose Sharks prospect Daniil Gushchin. Will he blow you away with his defensive play? There are times, but it’s not consistent. But, where he does shine is in the neutral and offensive zones. His stick-handling ability will improve and he will be a pain in the rear for attackers who struggle to defend against flashy stick-handling. Trikozov can carry his own line and has proven at the MHL level that he is slightly under matched. There are games where he doesn’t exert aggression and play tight to the vest hockey on the forecheck, but has shown that he has the speed and the capability to do so at the VHL level. ” – Josh Tessler
#18 – Dallas Stars – Denton Mateychuk (Left Handed Defense, Moose Jaw) – Drafted By Paul Zuk
“The hallmarks of Mateychuk’s offensive game are his hyper aggressive nature, passing vision and creativity, and ability to work himself off-the-puck into dangerous areas of the ice. He is able to identify his forwards quickly and then jump into the play to make himself an option to receive a pass for a controlled entry. Oftentimes he’s continuing to push play into the dangerous areas of the ice himself to generate a wrist shot or passing lane to find a teammate for a scoring chance.” – Austin Garrett
#19 – Los Angeles Kings – Issac Howard (Left Wing, USNTDP) – Drafted By Sebastian Jackson
“Howard has a lot of the fundamentals that I love and cherish. His speed is excellent and he can play a high-tempo competitive game, especially behind the red line and the corners. In addition, he does a great job of finding open ice in the slot and keeps himself well aligned with puck movement.” – Josh Tessler
#20 – Washington Capitals – Calle Odelius (Left Handed Defense, Djurgården) – Drafted By Matthew Somma
“In my opinion, Odelius’ floor is a second pairing defenseman at the NHL level. With his tool-set, he has proven that he can be a challenge in every zone with his vision and scanning abilities. As mentioned earlier, he reads puck movement well and knows just how many stride extensions it will take to get himself in position to defend. He can dictate what attackers do with the puck with his active stick. He can rely on his puck manipulation to garner enough space for him to escape pressure and net himself enough open ice to key up a quality passing lane leading to scoring opportunities. There is just so much in his game that will make him an asset at the next level.” – Josh Tessler
#21 – Pittsburgh Penguins – Ivan Miroshnichenko (Left Wing, Omsk) – Drafted By Alex Appleyard
“From the perimeter, he will score top shelf wrist shot goals and will look to go blocker side. Since he is normally skating up the left side of the ice, he will look to go blocker side on most goaltenders (assuming that he is a facing a left handed goaltender or a right handed goaltender who gloves with his left hand). If he is looking to complete a one-timer, he will look to establish ice near net-front and go down on one knee to generate power for his shot.” – Josh Tessler
#22 – Edmonton Oilers – Rutger McGroarty (Center, USNTDP) – Drafted By Matthew Somma
“The true definition of a power forward, McGroarty can utilize his large, powerful frame to muscle defenders off the puck, while at the same time regain possession and dish the puck off to a teammate. He is quite talented at making defenders commit turnovers in their own zone and has the skill and knowledge to make them pay the price for it.” – Paul Zuk
“In terms of projection, Öhgren’s tool-kit will allow him to be impactful no matter what line he is on. He is a Swiss Army Knife. You can plug him on the top lines and use him to hunt pucks down low on the forecheck. He will get those pucks and wire passes to the slot to drive production. In certain situations, you could plug him in a third line checking role, but I do believe that will slow down his offensive production as the forwards that he is with more than likely won’t be capitalizing at the same rate as the forwards on the top two lines.” – Josh Tessler
#24 – St. Louis Blues – Jiří Kulich (Center, Karlovy Vary) – Drafted By Matthew Somma
“Honestly, the sky is the limit with Kulich. If he can become a far stronger skater and acquire a power stride, he can be even more dangerous. But, his ability to create ice for himself in all three zones makes him a true intriguing prospect at the draft. I could see second line upside as a center in the NHL or he could be deployed as a winger with an excellent playmaker on the top line. It just depends on how his development goes.” – Josh Tessler
#25 – New York Rangers – Marco Kasper (Center, Rögle) – Drafted By Paul Zuk
“He has everything that you want in a power forward. The grit, the decision making and the speed. Kasper has the potential to be a top six forward in the NHL and his grit will intrigue plenty of teams. If a NHL team is looking to obtain a well-rounded power forward who can be annoying in high danger situations with his reach, Kasper is the guy.” – Josh Tessler
#26 – Minnesota Wild – Pavel Mintyukov (Left Handed Defense, Saginaw) – Drafted By Paul Zuk
“With Pavel Mintyukov’s size, raw tools (including puck skill and passing ability), four-way agility, and deceptive maneuvering around the blue line: it’s hard not to see a lottery selection on that assessment alone. There are not many players in this draft class that have the ability to operate in the offensive zone from the backend like Mintyukov can. Add in his ability to suffocate space and his mobility to keep a tight gap: he’s an attractive asset in the 2022 draft.”– Austin Garrett
#27 – Toronto Maple Leafs – Seamus Casey (Right Handed Defense, USNTDP) – Drafted By Sebastian Jackson
“There’s so much to work with from his skill, intelligence, and ability to use lateral and deceptive motions to create space and get by defenders. With Casey going to Michigan in 2022 and the graduation of Blankenburg and the exodus of Owen Power it’s going to open up a PP2 role behind Luke Hughes. Given Mel Pearson’s history of leaning into the strengths of is defenders and Casey getting 2-3 years of developing in a system that will adhere to his strengths: Casey is poised to flourish.” – Austin Garrett
“Firkus can be an effective top six forward in the NHL and will be a valued asset on special teams. With his shot release and range, he can score goals will ease and snag top shelf snipes. He does a great job of creating dangerous chances in the slot. With that said, you are getting quality production from him. His play in the defensive zone is not as robust as it is in the offensive zone, but if you pair him with the right defensive-minded forwards, he can be rather effective at the next level.” – Josh Tessler
#29 – Tampa Bay Lightning – Vladimir Grudinin (Left Handed Defense, CSKA Moscow) – Drafted By Matthew Somma
“Vladimir Grudinin is a reliable two-way defender, who will need to continue to build up upper body muscle to contend against tougher opponents in the VHL and KHL. He will also need to work on being more assertive and quicker to pucks, but he has shown at the KHL level that he can be a pain to get around. Grudinin will also need to work on developing a stronger inside game, but that might only come when he comes to North America. Even though there are areas which need continued development, I think there is a really good defensive prospect here in Grudinin. There is a smart (sorry… “Smaht”) defenseman in Grudinin who can use excellent skating and mobility to get open ice to facilitate puck movement and key up scoring chances. If things go right with his development, he should be a solid second pairing defenseman at the NHL level.” – Josh Tessler
“Mattias Hävelid’s offensive tool-kit and his shiftiness is an excellent combination. Hävelid is a great cycle facilitator and will look to pinch up with the puck to work the half-wall boards and see if he can net a seam pass to a teammate. His shot is solid and has had success with it from the point. But, it’s his mobility and shiftiness that make him very intriguing. He can shift and activate quickly to buy open ice in danger areas.” – Josh Tessler
#31 – Arizona Coyotes (via Carolina) – Sam Rinzel (Right Handed Defense, Chaska) – Drafted by Austin Garrett
“Sam Rinzel’s frame and wingspan allows him to be rather aggressive with his reach. He can utilize his reach to take away a lot of space and thus he can trap attackers with ease. When he has control of the puck, he will use his reach to push the puck up the ice at quality speed. He does need more refinement on his mobility to become slightly more shifty with his puck movement, but he can move well especially for his size.” – Josh Tessler
#32 – Arizona Coyotes (via Colorado) – Jimmy Snuggerud (Right Wing, USNTDP – Drafted by Austin Garrett
“Jimmy Snuggerud may not necessarily be talked about among the cream of the crop for NTDP forewards, but don’t let that fool you. Snuggerud is the son of former Sabres and Sharks forward Dave Snuggerud, and possesses one incredibly quick shot release. He has the ability to shoot from various ranges with lethal quickness and accuracy. He’s developed his two-way game immensely this season and it’s paying dividends. Snuggerud’s offensive abilities coupled with his steadily improving defensive and transitional play will make him a popular guy when the draft rolls around in July.” – Paul Zuk
Alexander Suzdalev is a 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect and he plays for HV71. Suzdalev was born in Khabarovsk, Russia and moved to Sweden when his father Anatoly Suzdalev had signed a bandy contract with Swedish bandy club, Vetlanda Bandyklubb. Per a 2015 post on Laget.se, Anatoly had been playing for Yenisei (a Russian club) and left for Vetlanda before the 2011-2012 season. Suzdalev was seven years old when his father signed with Vetlanda.
In his youth, Suzdalev played for Boro-Vetlanda HC. He played for them at the U16, J18 and J20 levels before joining HV71’s system in 2019-2020. This past season, he played the majority of the season at the J20 level, but did appear in five games for HV71 in the Allsvenskan.
While born in Russia, Suzdalev holds dual citizenship (Swedish and Russian citizenship). Suzdalev has represented Sweden at the international level and was part of the Swedish U18 championship team at the 2022 IIHF U18 World Championships in Germany / Deutschland.
Suzdalev’s CHL rights are owned by the Regina Pats. The Pats had selected Suzdalev in the 2021 CHL Import Draft at pick #95 in the second round.
Player Profile
D.O.B – March 5, 2004 Nationality – Sweden & Russia Draft Eligibility – 2022 Height –6’2″ Weight –172 lbs Position – Left Wing Handedness – Left
Suzdalev’s Style Of Play
Offense
Suzdalev typically enters into the offensive zone as the F2 or the F3. As we will discuss later on in the transitional play section, his straight line speed prohibits him from moving the puck up the ice. There are shifts in which he does pick up right near the offensive blue line and complete a controlled zone entry, but it’s not consistent.
When he doesn’t have possession of the puck in the offensive zone, Suzdalev alternates from supporting his center in the left corner when he is facing tight pressure from the attack and grabbing open ice at net-front.
Earlier on in the season, when on the forecheck, he would be more passive than assertive. He waited for the puck carrier to come to him before he cut in front of the puck carrier to disrupt puck movement. He wouldn’t go hunt in the dirty areas very often. But, over time throughout the season, he started to show that he was up for being slightly more aggressive on the forecheck. Towards the end of the season, he was skating to the corners and was highly effective at cutting inside and getting around defenders to loose pucks behind the red line.
Given his straight line speed issues, it’s apparent that he didn’t feel comfortable skating down low to the corners because the attacker would have plenty of time and space to collect the puck and navigate around him. At that point, Suzdalev would be out of position to defend against the rush. So, he took more of a passive role on the forecheck.
After adopting a more aggressive style of forechecking, Suzdalev showed that he can leverage his reach to poke check especially in situations when he is slightly further back from the attacker. He can use his reach to stick lift and force the attacker to lose possession of the puck. Suzdalev also showed that he can be physical and would lean in with a shoulder check when he was well-aligned to an attacker. Even though Suzdalev has shown that he can effective at being aggressive on the forecheck, his skating will limit his effectiveness at the NHL level and thus he needs to develop a true power stride to be truly effective at forechecking. With a power stride, he could be far more aggressive in the corners and be a pain for opposing puck moving defenders.
Suzdalev’s stick-handling allows him to net quality separation as he has great reach and can extend the puck well past the attacker’s stick blade. The only thing missing is his speed. I know that some fans feel that Suzdalev does not possess a strong interior game with the puck on his stick. At the moment, that is true, but if he develop a power stride, that will change quickly. In situations in which he has the puck in low danger, used his reach to navigate around the attacker, he struggles to keep enough separation from the attacker to drive inside. If he had the speed, he’d be able to truly separate from the attacker.
In the below clip, you will see Suzdalev quickly shift the puck around the attacker when the attacker shifts over to him. While Suzdalev doesn’t have a lot of speed, he is very quick from a reactionary stand point. After doing so, you can see him struggle to net separation and thus he doesn’t try to continue to skate towards the slot. He deviates and ends up behind the red line. If he had the speed to create separation, he could create a give and go opportunity by passing behind the red line to his teammate, drive towards the slot and then collect a pass from his teammate after establishing open ice down low. Or he could leverage that speed to drive right past the attacker and then use his stick-handling reach to swing the puck around the defender at net-front.
Alexander Suzdalev's stick-handling is 🔥.
Look at how he evades pressure. As soon as the attacker comes to him, he shifts the puck over. He's got great reach. Allows him to net quality separation. #2022NHLDraftpic.twitter.com/UcgifeN9fW
When Suzdalev is behind the net and in possession of the puck, he will look to pass to the slot to an an open teammate. If he is in low danger along the half-wall boards and he struggles to get enough separation with his reach, he will look to complete tight passes underneath the attacker’s stick blade when he sees a teammate almost at net front. But, if he can get quality separation with his reach, he has shown that he can wire passes to teammates in the slot with ease.
Suzdalev has shown on a consistent basis that if he can’t manufacture passing lanes to exploit and pressure becomes far too intimidating that he will double back. He won’t force the puck in. Since he doesn’t have the raw speed to get around pressure, he has to be far more conservative with the puck on his stick.
When it comes to manufacturing scoring opportunities for himself and he doesn’t have possession of the puck, he looks to establish open ice in the slot when the attack is busy behind their own net. Suzdalev quietly sneaks into medium danger and provides his teammate at the red line an open passing option. After gaining possession of the puck off of a quality tape-to-tape pass, he doesn’t hold the puck on his stick for too long. Suzdalev has a quick release, good weight transfer as he shifts his chest above the knee for maximum power and has an open stick blade. With his shooting mechanics, he can generate height and power to be lethal in all shooting situations.
Defense
In the defensive zone, Suzdalev typically positions himself along the boards to collect an outlet pass from behind his net and then looks for a teammate skating towards the blue line. Then he quickly completes a pass to them. Given some of the speed issues that we talked about earlier on, Suzdalev’s approach is to retrieve the puck but quickly get the puck out of his hands to a teammate who is driving up the ice with speed.
While he does have a lot of success with his outlet passing, he does needs to be a bit more cautious when looking to complete a pass with an attacker maintaining stride for stride positioning. He will have an attacker right on him and fail to identify a quality lane to use and gives the puck right to the attacker in front of him. It’s a depth perception issue. He will try to pass between the legs when there is really no room at all. Suzdalev needs to work on identifying quality lanes to use when he starts to run out of space. Since he can’t manufacture separation with speed, he has to be more selective with his passing and thus he needs to be cautious about putting the puck in an area in which the attacker can easily swallow up possession of the puck.
In the rare situations in which Suzdalev is driving the bus and bringing the puck up the ice, he can use his reach to get by an attacker coming at him as he swings the puck around the attacker and it’s far enough that the attacker can’t get his stick blade in range.
Suzdalev’s defensive pressure can be very inconsistent. There are shifts in which he is implementing good pressure along the boards on a vulnerable attacker who has his back turned to Suzdalev. But, isn’t always engaged and putting up tight pressure along the half-wall boards. Given his speed issues, he can get beat by faster attackers as they will manage to use their speed to get quality separation. He needs to leverage his reach more and more to take away time and space when defending along the boards. At the point, he does use his reach to trap opposing defenders. As the season progressed, he started using more and more of an active stick to take away space for puck carrying attackers along the blue line.
Transitional Play
In the neutral zone, Suzdalev is stronger with the puck on the stick versus when he is defending against oppositional puck movement. Given that Suzdalev has become slightly more aggressive with his forechecking and his skating stride hasn’t improved much over the course of the year, you will see Suzdalev often skating behind the rush. Even though he usually is skating behind the rush, he can leverage his reach when in range to stick lift and cause puck disruption.
When in control of the puck, if he collects possession of the puck before vacating the defensive zone and completes a zone exit or collects the puck off of a pass right near the defensive zone blue line in the neutral zone, Suzdalev has shown that he can complete excellent diagonal feed from the left side to his open right winger near the offensive zone blue line. He constantly looks to move the puck quickly after receiving the puck as he doesn’t have the separation speed.
Similar to his approach in the offensive zone when he is in control of the puck and looking to push the puck up himself, should pressure become far too intimidating, he takes the safe approach by doubling back in the neutral zone. He button hooks and then looks for an open teammate on the other side of the zone, who has a better shot of bringing the puck into the offensive zone unharmed and then passes.
Skating
As I’ve mentioned throughout this report, the one thing holding Suzdalev back from being a dominant winger up and down the ice is his speed. When Suzdalev is in stride, his skate extensions are rather short and he doesn’t have great posture. Suzdalev isn’t hunched over, but at the same time, he isn’t lowering his chest and bending his knees. There are many shifts in which Suzdalev will look to carry himself up the ice with his extensions and then he will decide to start gliding. Unfortunately, he already doesn’t have much power to drive himself up the ice and gliding eliminates whatever acceleration he was able to create. Ideally, Suzdalev will adopt a power stride and cut down on his gliding. If he can do so, you will see Suzdalev truly reach his potential of being a dominant power forward. He will be able to forecheck aggressively and use physical play to shut down the cycle in his own zone.
It’s not just his straight line speed that needs to be improved upon though. His crossovers and edges need a bit more refinement too. His crossovers like his stride extensions are rather short and they simply don’t net good acceleration. So, when he deploy his edges, he can’t rely on his crossovers for activation after changing directions.
Projection
Suzdalev has top six potential written all over him. He just needs to develop that power stride to get to the NHL level. If he doesn’t, I don’t believe he will make much of an impact at the NHL level as he speed will hinder his ability to bring the puck inside. He can leverage his quick decision making and excellent passing ability to get the puck out of his hands, but for Suzdalev to be an impact player, his speed will need far more refinement. While this might seem rather negative, it isn’t. There are plenty of prospects in this class that are very similar to Suzdalev. Luca Del Bel Belluz and Devin Kaplan come to mind. Both are prospects who are not the fastest skaters, but can be highly efficient at getting the puck to the teammate with more separation and more speed. Should all three prospects improve their speed, all three could be impact power forwards at the NHL level. So, the lesson is don’t sleep on Suzdalev nor Del Bel Belluz or Kaplan. The potential is there.
Latest Update
June 4, 2022
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Josh Tessler. If you would like to follow Josh on Twitter, his handle is @JoshTessler_.
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