Scouting Redefined: For Teams, Scouts, and Fans.
Smaht Scouting’s Matthew Somma and Austin Garrett talk about several under the radar 2022 NHL Draft prospects including Jeremy Hanzel, Jacob Guévin, Zaccharya Wisdom, Ben Hemmerling, David Gucciardi, Marcus Nguyen and Zach Bookman. The duo also talks about their love for southern fast food.
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Photo Credit: Luke Durda/OHL Images
Scouting Report written by Paul Zuk
Danny (Daniil) Zhilkin is one of the top OHL players eligible for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft slated to take place this July in Montreal. Zhilkin is a dual citizen of both Russia and Canada, as he was born in Moscow, but moved to Ontario when he was ten years old. He moved to the Greater Toronto Area and played his youth hockey within the Burlington Minor Hockey Association.
After playing with the Toronto Jr Canadiens AAA program for a few seasons, Zhilkin made the switch to the Toronto Marlboros U16 AAA team which plays in the GTHL. He enjoyed success in his first season with the Marlboros in 2018-19, tallying 43 goals and 37 assists for 80 points in 102 games across all competitions. Playing behind teammates Wyatt Johnston and Jack Beck, Zhilkin managed to catch the eye of the OHL, and was later selected 14th overall by the Guelph Storm in the 2019 OHL Draft.
Zhilkin played his rookie season in the OHL in 2019-20, scoring seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in 60 games, but unfortunately the remainder of his season, as well as the entire 2020-21 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was able to earn a role on Team Canada’s U18 team for the U18 Worlds in Texas, where he played up and down the lineup. He added two assists in seven games on his way to a gold medal, playing for one of the more notable U18 teams to ever play in the tournament.
The 2021-22 season was truly Zhilkin’s first full one in the OHL, and he didn’t seem to disappoint. He started the season on quite a tear, registering 15 points in the first 16 games off the hop. NHL Central Scouting raised his grade from a B to an A on their “Players to Watch” list shortly after. Zhilkin finished the season with 55 points in 65 games, but unfortunately the Storm were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in five games by the Soo Greyhounds, a series in which Zhilkin scored one goal and one assist for two points in 4 games played.
D.O.B – December 19, 2003
Nationality – Canada & Russia
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –6’2″
Weight –183 lbs
Position – Center
Handedness – Left
Zhilkin is a “do-it-all” style of player, meaning he can be relied upon to play in any area of the ice, in basically any situation that is presented. As his game has developed over the past few seasons, Zhilkin’s became much more dominant in all three zones of the ice and can be relied upon to play a 200ft game. One area of his game which scouts fall in love with, is his skillset in transition.
In transition, Zhilkin is just ridiculously talented and just a pleasure to watch, as his deceptiveness and nifty hands make it extremely hard for defenders to anticipate what he’s going to do with the puck. This keeps many defenders on their toes as they’re unsure of his next move. Zhilkin exploits this several times per game by accelerating into the offensive zone and putting his high hockey IQ to use. His zone entry and exit numbers are quite impressive to look at, especially after factoring in the traits in his gameplay mentioned above.
Danny Dangles pulls up and snipes in OT!
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) April 2, 2022
2022 #NHLDraft prospect Danny Zhilkin's 20th brings @Storm_City all the way back from down 5-2 to stun rival Owen Sound 🎥 pic.twitter.com/KEqWU2UUQt
In the clip above, Zhilkin picks up the puck from Luka Profaca at his own blueline and skates up through the neutral zone into the attacking third of the ice. He sees teammate Matthew Papais cutting out wide from the middle lane and uses him to pick off the Attack defender to create space for himself. He’s able to shake off the defender for a step, spin around, and put his quick release to work, firing home the OT winner.
Let’s take a deeper look into the facets of Danny Zhilkin’s game:
While he may not be the most explosive player on the ice for the Storm, Zhilkin’s skating ability is not something to scoff at. The mechanics all seem to be present in his skating, and his long, powerful stride aids him in competing for pucks. He tends to keep a low center of gravity and a wider base to help him generate those powerful strides and can usually reach his maximum speed after just a couple.
Zhilkin can show very impressive bursts of speed when fully engaged in the play. When carrying the puck in transition, he can often burst out wide and fly past the opposing defender. He’s also able to use that built up speed to drive the net and create uncomfortable situations for opposing players and goalies.
Zhilkin does also have some impressive foot speed, which is noticeable when in transition. He can weave in and around defenders with ease and can even squeeze in an extra crossover or two to generate as much speed as possible when entering the offensive zone.
Zhilkin’s edgework is average when compared to other NHL Draft eligibles coming out of the OHL, but he could use some work with his agility. With just a little more evasiveness, it will open up many more opportunities all over the ice for him to exploit opponents using his gifted offensive mind.
One aspect of Zhilkin’s offensive game is he has a knack for perfectly executing no-look plays. It seems as if he’s able to get a shot on net, or a pass directly on his teammate’s tape without looking several times a game. It’s clear that teams respect his offensive skill as he’s able to draw defenders on to himself by simply directing his head towards goal. Zhilkin uses this to his advantage as he can attract as many defenders as possible, then dish a beautiful pass to a teammate for a chance on goal.
No surprise here — Shane Wright (@KingstonFronts) opens the scoring for Team Red at the CHL Top Prospects Game, finishing the 2-on-1 play.
— EP Rinkside (@EPRinkside) March 24, 2022
Danny Zhilkin (@Storm_City) gets the assist on the play.
(🎥: TSN) pic.twitter.com/SKvC5E3q5A
In the clip above from the 2022 CHL TPG, Team Red recovers the puck down low in their own zone and starts the breakout. Shane Wright accepts a pass at their blueline and immediately dishes it off to Zhilkin. Zhilkin uses his powerful skating stride to break out wide to create separation between the defender and Wright by forcing the defender onto his body. Once he gets the defender to pinch over far enough, he’s able to dish a beautiful saucer pass to Wright who taps home the goal. Just awesome playmaking and execution from both players here.
Zhilkin likes to get pucks into high-danger areas, even if there isn’t a direct avenue he’s trying to exploit. He has no issue carrying the puck in the offensive zone and firing it on goal, often looking to generate a rebound in front, or trying to secure an obscure bounce in hopes it ends up in the back of the net.
When executing an offensive zone entry, Zhilkin utilizes his powerful stride and quick feet to catch defenders flat footed. He’s able to either carry the puck out wide with pace, or by cutting between the defenders and into the high slot area. While his shot is nothing to shrug off, he may just be an even better passer of the puck. Zhilkin’s vision on the ice and general hockey IQ is quite impressive and is more than capable of pulling off multiple “How did he see that?!” chances each game.
As mentioned above, Zhilkin does have one hell of a shot. He has an extremely quick release and isn’t afraid to fire the puck from just about anywhere that makes sense in the offensive zone. When he’s shooting from a distance, his main goal seems to be to generate a rebound in tight for his teammates to hopefully tuck home.
While Zhilkin’s defensive zone play isn’t necessarily why he’ll be sought after when the 2022 NHL Draft rolls around, he’s a sound defensive player when he’s on the ice. He’s positionally aware and can assist in covering off for his defensemen when they’re caught up ice, or in a puck battle along the boards.
When hemmed in their own zone either at even strength or on special teams, Zhilkin has zero issues sacrificing his body to block a shot and disrupt the opponent’s offensive zone setup. He’s also quite talented getting his body and stick into many areas to block passing lanes and disrupting the play. As he moves up in his career, Zhilkin’s ability to play in all situations effectively will reward him with more ice time for him to continue to develop.
However, Zhilkin’s overall defensive game could use some work. While he’s capable of winning draws and tying up the opposing center, it’s noticeable he can be caught watching the play at times. It could simply be chalked up to him overthinking in the defensive zone, but it should be something he looks to remove from his game as he transitions to the next level.
Another aspect Zhilkin may look to improve on is his consistency when backchecking and assisting his defenseman when they’re out of position. Zhilkin has showed he is extremely capable of doing this without hesitation, but he’s also shown he can be hit and miss with those abilities. Perhaps some more consistency in this aspect of his defensive zone skillset would benefit him.
While Zhilkin has shown his ability to be dynamic in transition and shoot the puck incredibly well among other strong points of his game, there is still some work to be done to fine tune his game.
Offensively speaking, Zhilkin’s overall game is the most professional-ready area of his game. He has a firm grasp on pretty much every aspect, although, he may look to work on his accuracy when passing the puck in the offensive zone. This isn’t a knock on his passing skills, as mentioned above, they’re quite impressive. It’s more so just a suggestion on sharpening an already solid trait.
Defensively, Zhilkin has made strides in the past season to improve his overall defensive game and transform into a three-zone player. As mentioned above, he may look to work on his consistency when it comes to his ability to cover off for his defensemen, as well as his focus when hemmed in the defensive zone.
With just some minor tweaks in his game, he can certainly develop into a middle six forward who possesses an abundance of offensive skill but can also play that shutdown role that teams definitely covet.
When you look at most prospects in the 2022 NHL Draft coming out of the OHL, it’s clear that the lost season of 2020/21 hurt their development quite a bit. Danny Zhilkin is no exception to that rule. There’s quite a lot to like about the way he plays, but just like everyone else, there are kinks in his game which will need more time for him to work out.
His offensive talent is quite impressive, and for the most part, his vision on the ice and his hockey IQ will allow him to be successful at the next level. However, how successful he could potentially be hinges on how the rest of his game can develop. It seems unfair to call him a project, as it’s not his fault for losing an imperative season of development.
There’s a solid chance that Zhilkin could sneak into the tail end of the first round, depending on if a team falls in love with his game, and if they believe he can round out his overall game to their liking. If that doesn’t become the case, I think his wheelhouse for being selected lies somewhere between 50th and 65th overall in the second round.
May 28, 2022
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Paul Zuk. If you would like to follow Paul on Twitter, his handle is @paulzuk_81.
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Photo Credit: Candice Ward / Calgary Hitmen
Post written by Matthew Somma
Nobody is going to agree wholeheartedly with a site’s draft list. Either a player is too high, too low, or left out entirely. Obviously, scouts are going to view players differently and there’s always going to be some disagreements whenever a list is posted. I had the idea to go through our list, look at all of the WHL (and some Junior A) players we ranked and provide some context for our rankings.
Savoie has some of the highest upside in this class and has shown flashes of brilliance this year. He might be one of the best pure offensive players in this draft class, but I’ve had concerns about his ability to attack the middle of the ice at the NHL level. His game is projectable and he should be a strong NHL player, but other players have risen above Savoie’s level, in my opinion. It’s entirely possible that Savoie becomes one of the top producing players from this draft class. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that he does. He’s a strong skater and has elite hockey sense, playmaking and scoring ability. Savoie commands your attention when he’s on the ice and can maintain his production under any level of pressure.
Early on in the season, I would have laughed if you had told me that this is where I’d be ranking Korchinski. I didn’t like his game at all and was unable to see why scouts liked him so much. Now, I see a player that can run an offense both in transition and on the blue line. Korchinski is an excellent passer and skater that doesn’t sacrifice defensive responsibility. He’s able to dominate a shift better than most other defensemen in the WHL this season, regardless of their age. His game is projectable, and if he can continue to develop physically and defensively, he’s a near sure bet for a team’s top four. I would have been comfortable ranking Korchinski as high as 9th on our list, as I had him on a similar level as Simon Nemec. Ultimately, we went with Nemec and bumped Korchinski down a bit.
I want Mateychuk to be an NHL player so badly. There aren’t many, if any, defensemen that play like he does. He’s a player that constantly seeks out offense and will go all-out every shift. Defense be damned, Mateychuk is going to find a way to turn a routine play into offense. Mateychuk is a unicorn. While most defensemen quarterback but ultimately dish the puck to a teammate, Mateychuk is the catalyst of his team’s offense. It’s almost as if Moose Jaw has a fourth forward on the ice whenever Mateychuk is out there. Mateychuk might be one of the most polarizing players in this draft class, in my opinion. You’re getting a player that is elite offensively, but at the same time, a player that struggles in his own end as well as with decision making when it comes to exit passes and pinches along the boards. Mateychuk could work in a high octane system, but there are very few teams that implement a system that will unlock Mateychuk’s full potential. I felt that ranking Mateychuk 16th is fair because even though his upside is much higher than Korchinski’s, Mateychuk’s game is far less projectable.
Firkus rose up my board rapidly this season. I love his offensive game and he’s one of the more potent goal scorers in this draft. His shot release is lethal and a threat from anywhere in the offensive zone, after all. I’ve seen a much more engaged player than I did early on this year, which has helped him up the draft board. Firkus is now an active forechecker and will pressure players in the defensive zone, something I didn’t see at all back in October. Firkus being the second WHL forward on our rankings may be a bit of a surprise given the fact that Conor Geekie hasn’t been ranked yet, but I see Firkus making more of an impact on a team’s second line than Geekie. Firkus isn’t perfect and will need some time to develop, but I felt that it was a no-brainer to rank him ahead of Geekie, especially given what I saw in the WHL playoffs.
Out of all of the members of the Smaht staff, I might be the one that likes Geekie the most. That’s saying something, because I have major doubts about Geekie’s NHL upside and overall game. He doesn’t attack the middle of the ice, he’s not carrying the puck in transition, his skating is a liability and his defensive zone play is poor. That doesn’t scream top six center to me. I have concerns that Geekie won’t be as effective in the offensive zone once he leaves the WHL, too. He’s able to bully the WHL due to his size and strength, but once he graduates to the pros, that’ll no longer be the case. Yes, there’s a good chance that Geekie is an NHL player after three to four years. I just don’t believe that Geekie is a top six forward at the NHL level. Ultimately, I decided that Geekie was worth a selection in the 25-32 range, and we as a staff settled on 30. You’re likely getting a player that will play NHL games when you pick Geekie, and it’s a fairly safe pick if you’re okay with sacrificing upside.
Pickering is a late bloomer and I’m almost convinced that this ranking will come back to bite me in the future. My biggest concerns with Pickering were his passing and his overall play in transition and the offensive zone. Pickering’s passing is a weak point and he often turns the puck over because he is either unable to execute the pass or he has failed to see the defender in the lane. Pickering’s offensive game and play in transition are limited due to his passing being a weakness. Still, I’ve seen tangible growth from him this season and it’s hard to find a defenseman at his size that’s as smooth of a skater as Pickering is. If his passing ability doesn’t improve as much as I hope it will, Pickering is only going to be a third pairing defenseman at best. If he is able to round out his game, however, we’re looking at another potential top four defenseman at the NHL level. For the sheer potential, I had Pickering in a similar range to Geekie. I could have ranked him 25-35, and I wouldn’t argue if someone put him higher than 33rd.
Lorenz has a great mix of size, speed and two way ability that makes him a solid prospect for this draft. I’ve loved watching Lorenz on the penalty kill this season and I’m seeing a player that could be ready for the NHL as soon as he finishes up at Denver. I’m unsure of Lorenz’s upside since he’s coming from the AJHL, but I could see him as a solid third line center capable of playing in all situations. The depth in this draft tapers off significantly after a while, so I felt that ranking Lorenz 51st would be fair since he has a solid projection as an NHL player.
I like Schaefer and Lorenz roughly the same. Schaefer is a more gifted goal scorer, and Lorenz is a little better defensively. Schaefer rose up my board significantly late in the season and in the WHL playoffs, too. I’ve watched Seattle closely this postseason and he has been one of their most dangerous forwards on a consistent basis. His size and skating make him a threat when he’s on the ice, and his shot release is near perfect. Schaefer has finally come into his own as a player, so I felt that ranking him a little higher than consensus was justified.
Lindgren has a lot of potential as a passer in the offensive zone, and his skating is smooth and effortless, but I don’t like the rest of his game. He’s awful with exit passes and turns the puck over at an alarming rate. Defensively, he’s unable to knock players off of the puck and can’t get in the shooting or passing lanes and disrupt the play. He’s fairly one-dimensional and doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence. I liked Lindgren early on, but as the season went on, it became clear that teams could exploit his weaknesses with little difficulty. Lindgren’s offensive potential makes him worth a swing at this point in the draft, which is why I ranked him here. Lindgren’s upside isn’t as high as that of Korchinski or Mateychuk, and the flaws in his game are easier to exploit. I ranked Lindgren in the 61-80 tier and he wound up at 63 in our final rankings.
Seminoff is a pest to play against and fits the bill of a bottom six energy forward. I see flashes of higher upside in his game, but my brain tells me that Seminoff likely peaks as a 30-35 point NHL player. My heart wants to believe that he can turn into a stronger offensive presence, but I don’t see enough elite skill in his game. He’s dependable, though, and will be an easy player to coach due to how hard he works in all three zones. Seminoff’s tenacity on the forecheck and play below the goal line made me comfortable ranking him anywhere from 60-70 in spite of his lower upside.
This was a ranking where I deferred to Josh and Austin. I like Milne, but I felt that my own personal biases got in the way a bit here. Milne is very close to being a double overage player for this draft, so I felt that at this point in his WHL career, he should be putting up these sorts of totals. Still, Milne’s game fits an NHL style and I could see a team taking him this high in the draft if they’re looking for an immediate boost to their prospect pool. Personally, I would have ranked Milne in the 100-128 range due to his age. No disrespect to the player, I just worry about overage players being a little overhyped in this draft due to a lack of viewings last year.
Gustafson has bounced around on my board this year. He’s another talented goal scorer and is great on the forecheck, but his skating is average and his defensive zone play is shaky. Overall, I think we’re looking at a player with third line upside. I can understand why people are a little higher on Gustafson, especially now that I’ve seen him in the playoffs. Still, I felt that I hadn’t seen enough in my previous viewings of the player to justify a higher ranking.
Brennan is arguably the top goaltender in this draft class and has the potential to become a good 1b or backup at the NHL level. I don’t see him becoming a franchise goaltender due to his inability to truly steal games, but he’s a great technical goaltender with NHL size. This is probably the worst draft for goalies that I can remember, and Brennan hasn’t wowed me this year. Ultimately, I felt that teams could be better off picking Milne or Gustafson ahead of Brennan since it’s not likely that Brennan will be a high end goaltender. We’re splitting hairs with all three players, though, and I wouldn’t have argued if we decided to put Brennan above the other two.
Weir is a player that I’ve liked a lot this season. He’s different from the other WHL defenders on this list thus far in the sense that he’s more of a defensive defenseman who excels at zone exits and board battles. Weir plays a heavier game and uses his long stride to control a breakout and start the play for his teammates. He’s a little raw defensively and his one on one defending could use a lot of work, but there’s potential in his game. When I watch Weir play, I see a player with size, above average skating and hockey sense. He’s great at executing the first pass out of the zone and plays a physical, yet modern, style.
I was a huge advocate for Hemmerling in our draft rankings meeting. He didn’t get a lot of ice time this season since he played on a deep Everett team, but when he got the opportunity, he was able to shine in the spotlight. Hemmerling’s upside is that of a top six forward, and even though he’s raw in a lot of areas, his potential as a playmaker is enticing. Hemmerling sees the ice at an elite level and is an excellent playmaker that can play with a ton of pace. He’s able to adapt on the fly and can make his teammates better. My biggest concern with Hemmerling isn’t his size, however. It’s his scoring. Hemmerling isn’t a finisher and I worry that he won’t be able to score at the NHL level. There are plenty of playmakers in the NHL, but all of them have the ability to put the puck in the net. I haven’t seen that from Hemmerling yet. I pushed for him ahead of one of my other favorites, Marcus Nguyen, because I’ve seen more consistent high-end skill this year.
Jugnauth isn’t a player I’ve watched a ton, and the viewings that I do have of him have all been very different. In our rankings meeting, I deferred judgment to Austin since he has kept up with Jugnauth all year. My take on the player is that I see the skill and skating ability, but I don’t see a player that is always engaged when he’s on the ice.
Marcus Nguyen is my absolute favorite prospect to watch when he’s on his game. Like Hemmerling, Nguyen’s ice time was limited on a deep team, so I had to do some projecting with this player. Watching Nguyen play is fascinating. You see the high end puck skills, playmaking and shooting that could make him a fantastic NHL player. He’s a quick skater that is able to beat you with a quick burst of acceleration right from the get go, making him a pain in transition. Nguyen can pick apart defenses and create turnovers, immediately turning it the other way to create a scoring chance. I feel that with an increase in ice time next year, Nguyen could be one of the top scorers on the Portland Winterhawks. He has a dynamic element that I don’t see in other WHL skaters, but his game is still very raw. Nguyen’s performance in the playoffs was poor to say the least, which doesn’t change how I view the player. It may make some NHL teams hesitant to draft him, though. Still, I’m very high on the player. 84th overall is a bold ranking but I believe that if Nguyen reaches his potential, he could be one of the steals of the draft.
Minten is likely a bottom six forward if he reaches the NHL, but he’s extremely coachable and can be played in a variety of situations. He’s often the product of great passes from Matthew Seminoff, and while he can score at the WHL level, I don’t see him being as much of a scoring threat at the NHL level. In reality, you’re looking at a center that can shut down the opposition. I’m a bit lower on Minten than the consensus, but not by much. I feel that if you’re drafting in the first two or three rounds, you should be drafting for high upside talent. Minten is a safe pick, but you can find a ton of players just like him in free agency.
Credit where credit is due, Schuurman was one of the top players on an awful Victoria team this year. Schuurman’s good games are really good, but his bad games are really bad. He goes from being a dangerous player whenever he steps on the ice to being a liability in all three zones quickly. His play at the U18s wasn’t anything to write home about, but I wonder what he can do with better teammates. It seems that at times, Schuurman was guilty of trying to do too much since he was the best player on his line. I like the potential, but ultimately, I’m unsure of where Schuurman will be drafted.
Thornton is another player with high highs and low lows. He’s dangerous in the offensive zone and a capable quarterback on your power play, but his defensive zone play is atrocious. In all honesty, I’m not sure what to expect from Thornton. I wasn’t a fan in any of my viewings, but it’s hard to deny the offensive potential that he has. If his defensive zone play improves, there’s a good chance that Thornton becomes a top four defenseman based on the fact that he can quarterback a power play.
Lisowsky is another boom or bust player from the WHL. He’s a fantastic goal scorer with a shot that’s a threat from a solid range, but I don’t know if he’s going to be able to score at the NHL level. I felt that this year, Lisowsky was only able to get to the middle on a rush or on the power play, which is a concern.
Filmon frustrates me in so many ways. His effort is inconsistent, he isn’t good defensively, he’s not the strongest player and it takes very little to knock him off the puck. I think there’s some merit in drafting him because when he’s on his game, he’s able to contribute offensively. But right now, this is a player that I haven’t liked at all this year.
Siepmann nearly made it ahead of Filmon, but again, some of the team felt that Filmon was worth including in our rankings. I like Siepmann. There’s some real potential in his game and I feel that he’s worth taking in the later rounds of the draft. I see him more as a third pairing player that could see power play or PK time, but not a defender that I’d put any higher in the lineup. Ward’s ability to create offense from takeaways is impressive and there’s a lot to like about his game on the forecheck. The biggest question is his upside, however, because he hasn’t shown me that he can play at a high level on a consistent basis. There’s potential in his game, but not enough to make me feel comfortable ranking him at this moment.
I hope you all enjoyed reading through these explanations. I’m always available to answer your questions if you have any more about specific players. Feel free to shoot me a message on Twitter if you do have any questions!
Photo Credit: Otto Marand / Djurgården
Scouting Report written by Josh Tessler
Liam Öhgren is a 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect, who hails from Stockholm, Sweden and is in the Djurgården system. Öhgren’s father, Andreas Öhgren had played Division 1 Swedish professional hockey in the 1990s. His brother, Noel Öhgren is a 2024 NHL Draft eligible prospect, who plays for Djurgården’s J18 club. In his youth, he played for Huddinge IK before joining the Djurgården organization in 2019. Since joining Djurgården, he has suited up for the club at the U16, J18, J20 and SHL level.
This season, he split his time between the SHL and J20. He led the J20 club in points and was second in total points for J20 NHL Draft eligible prospects. Frölunda’s Ludwig Persson led all 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospects in J20 play with 61 total points. Three points more than Öhgren.
On the international stage, Öhgren has suited up for Sweden at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and at the U18 World Junior Championships in Germany. His Hlinka Gretzky performance was quite strong and he managed to record four goals and three assists in five tournament games. He was also very impactful for Sweden at the U18s and his nine points in six games helped to secure gold for Sweden.
D.O.B – January 28, 2004
Nationality – Sweden
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –6’1″
Weight –187 lbs
Position – LW
Handedness – Left
Öhgren’s reach is what makes him so good offensively. On the puck and off the puck. When he doesn’t have possession of the puck, he uses his reach well on the forecheck to successfully secure possession of the puck with a well-timed poke check. If he and an attacker are vying for a loose puck, he has the frame and the reach to grab possession of the puck if he is slightly further behind the attacker. It also allows him to get to the puck faster than his attacker. On the flip side, when he has possession of the puck, he uses his reach to swing the puck around attackers to secure the puck when he is trying to skate around an attacker to get to open ice. His reach allows him to stretch out puck placement and thus he can stretch the puck out a bit more when facing heavy pressure.
Not only does he possess excellent reach, but he is also equipped with excellent skating ability as well. I’ll touch on his skating more in the skating section, but it is worth noting that with his straight line speed, he can get to loose pucks at a good pace when going north-south. If he is a slightly behind the attacker on the way to the loose puck, he uses his excellent stride extensions to garner enough speed to get aligned with the attacker.
His straight line speed also allows him to create separation when he has possession of the puck and is looking to generate some passing lanes to utilize, but he has an attacker at his hip. With that speed, he generates quality passing lanes to dangerous areas and quickly makes use of them.
But, he doesn’t just have speed and reach in his tool belt when looking to generate puck separation, he will also use his frame to win possession of the puck. In situations where he doesn’t have clean possession of the puck and he has to go in rather tight quarters due to pressure, he can use his upper body strength to force his way to the puck and push attackers away.
The other tool in his tool kit that makes him extremely intriguing is his body language. Öhgren can use his body language to manufacture skating lanes for himself when in low danger areas. He will play the puck to his side as if he intends to shoot and then quickly cradles the puck from side to side and then skates around the attacker with ease as the attacker is anticipating a shot and not further puck movement. When skating into the slot with possession of the puck, he will use his body language to make it look like he is about to shoot which means that the goaltender is facing him and not Öhgren’s teammate at the backdoor. Then Öhgren will wire passes to the backdoor and look to catch the goaltender off guard.
When in control of the puck, Öhgren is a very quick decision maker. He will generate a lot of one-touch tape to tape feeds. At the NHL level, you need to be quick on your feet. If you aren’t quick on your feet, you will never be able to survive at the NHL level. You have to analyze on the fly. Öhgren analyzes on the fly. He also is quick on his feet. For instance, he when getting himself into position to generate a passing lane, he completed a tight 180 degree turn on a dime. At that point, he threw off the attacker in front of him that didn’t predict that Öhgren was going to turn, so he completed a lateral pass cleanly. Öhgren has a slick backhand pass in his arsenal and has generated many scoring chances using it. Check out the clip of him wiring a backhand feed to Noah Östlund in the slot. It’s quick. I’m telling you he is quick. Plus, he doesn’t need that much space to get the pass off cleanly. Ok, I’ll stop, so you can finally watch the clip.
This was a quality scoring chance manufactured by Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Liam Öhgren the other day against Linköping. Lekkerimäki completes a deceptive drop pass. Öhgren nets the puck and delivers a backhand feed to find Noah Östlund in the slot.#2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/4GVysVQX39
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) January 1, 2022
As mentioned above, he doesn’t need a tremendous amount of room to get a pass off. For instance, he will look to pass until the attacker’s stick shaft (under the triangle) to teammates if he can’t net open ice to get the pass off through a truly open lane. That’s led to assists like the one below.
Got another Liam Öhgren clip to check out. This assist against Mora in Feb was awesome. Öhgren passed to centered ice underneath an attacker's stick and then underneath a second attacker. #2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/M21ijMMwn7
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) May 10, 2022
What makes Öhgren highly intriguing is his ability to net possession of a loose pucks and then quickly wire passes to dangerous areas. He’s shown that his ability on the forecheck can lead to instant success. For instance, I’ve watched him win possession of the puck in the corner and then he completes centered passes that lead to quality one-timer shots down low.
When on the forecheck, he has the speed and the active stick to target puck carriers along the boards. His active stick allows him to dictate where the attack goes with the puck. If he extends his stick to the right side, the attack goes left. He uses that to his advantage as that allows him to figure out what their next move and then he traps them. In situations where Öhgren is following the attacker, he will use his stick to tap the opponent’s stick shaft to intimidate and put pressure on the attacker in an attempt to slow them down. But, Öhgren doesn’t just target puck carrying attackers. He goes after non-puck carrying attackers too. Blindsides them by skating right behind them. When they collect a pass from their defenseman, Öhgren is there to cut them off.
From a goal scoring perspective, he will consistently put himself in a spot to succeed by utilizing his foot speed to generate separation that allow him to create quality passing lanes for his teammates to use. He has had success in low, medium and high danger ares. With attackers right on him, he still finds a lane to attempt wrist shots through. Pivots out and finds space. Just like his passing decision making, he is quick with his shooting decision making as well. Öhgren scans the ice quickly. He has understanding of his options and he doesn’t wait too long before he strikes. Not only is he quick with his shot, but he also has quality weight transfer that allows him to get a lot of power behind his shot. His weight transfer makes his one-timers difficult to stop. At net-front, he leverages his reach to shift the puck around the goaltender’s pad quickly in order to score a tip-in goal. His reach allows him to find a gap quickly.
In the offensive section, I raved about his reach. There is more coming.
His reach defensively makes him a pain to navigate around. His reach allows him to extend his stick out and take up quite a bit of room. Not only does his reach take up a look of room, but he also will use an active stick to manipulate where attackers go with the puck. He gives you the lane that he wants you to use. Öhgren extends his stick out towards center ice to force you to play to the boards.
Working on another Djurgården report. Liam Öhgren.
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) May 10, 2022
Check out this clip of him using his active stick to manipulate the attacker's puck movement direction so that the attacker plays the puck at the boards. That allows Öhgren to throw his weight to try to disturb the cycle. pic.twitter.com/ilmaKKte5a
When he is carrying the puck, facing an attacker head on and he wants to skate around the attacker to the right, but still manage to position the puck away from the attacker when cradling the puck to the new direction, he relies on his excellent reach to position the puck far enough out so that the attacker can’t steal possession. His reach allows him to create space for himself and paves the way for quality zone exits.
His vision and scanning ability comes in handy when he is surveying an attacker who is looking to complete a pass. With his vision, he can see an attacker passing and react to it by skating up to it with excellent lengthy skate extensions to generate quality speed, intercepts possession and then continues to lean on his excellent skate extensions to maintain speed as he brings the puck up the ice.
While he does have excellent vision and reaction timing, there are instances in which he gets caught puck watching and allows attackers to enter the slot when both defensemen are tied up. He should have dropped back to stay on the attacker. Even though there are instances that pop up in which he gets caught puck watching, as long as the attacker isn’t too far away, he can bail himself out with his straight line speed.
The other area in which I would like to see further improvement is his skating activation when looks to ignite the necessary speed to get himself in position to pick up the loose puck. His reaction timing and activation can be slow especially when completing a turn and he has to quickly react to puck movement. Öhgren is far stronger north-south than he is east-west.
Öhgren is excellent with the puck on his stick in the neutral zone. He loves to manipulate attackers by extending the puck towards them and pulling them in closer and closer. When they start to come towards him, he moves the puck in a different direction to catch them off guard. In situations in which the attacker stays glued to him at open ice, he will shift the puck with one hand to avoid traffic in the neutral zone.
In those situations in which he either completely runs out of real estate or he sees a teammate coming into the zone with speed, he will look to move the puck. Öhgren looks to deceptive drop passes to get the puck to his teammate who is coming in with speed.
But, he doesn’t just complete deceptive drop passes that allow Djurgården to maintain possession and keep the transition alive. There have been plenty of sequences in which he sees the zone exit through. For instance, he will skate up and pass to a teammate along the boards when he hits a road block at center ice. After moving the puck to a teammate, the pressure starts to move away from Öhgren and then he will gain separation to create a passing lane that will allow him to collect the puck again off of a pass from his teammate.
Öhgren will utilize his straight line speed consistently to find open ice in the neutral zone and create lateral passing options for his teammates should they get in a situation in which they simply can’t move the puck up the ice. His straight line speed will also pave the way for quality stretch passes from his defensemen.
Öhgren is defensively responsible when facing the rush. He will drop back for a defender playing too far up when there is a change in possession. Öhgren does an excellent job of using his stick to cause puck disruption. If he sees that an attacker is watching the puck as he controls it and seems very vulnerable, that’s when he strikes with a well-timed poke check. While a lot of wingers typically have a wait and see approach with defending the rush, Öhgren is extremely aggressive with his poke checking from the moment he gets into position in the neutral zone. He looks to cancel out oppositional zone exits and he thrives doing so.
Öhgren does an excellent job acquiring speed. He leans on his crossovers to do so. He consistently deploys lengthy crossovers to pick up speed. Öhgren’s crossovers allow him to net the necessary speed to get in position on the forecheck and allows him to generate the necessary speed in all three zones to get to loose pucks. When skating backwards, his crossovers allow him to gain enough acceleration to quickly skate from the defensive zone slot to the blue line to provide an outlet for his puck carrying defenseman.
When you dissect his straight line skating, you will notice that he has an excellent stride length that allows him to hunt for the puck and steal possession and he will use it to net separation when looking to create passing lanes. He maintains good lowered posture and has excellent ankle flexion. But, what I love about Öhgren is that he can spot the puck, determine how far he is and then he processes how many length skate extensions he needs to take before shortening up his extensions. He doesn’t over skate the puck by doing so.
He does a good job of blending crossovers and straight line stride extensions to get up to maximum speed. When activating his stride extensions from a stand still position, he implements a crossover and then gets a good push off of that initial crossover before using skate extensions to get himself to full speed. Even though he used a crossover initially when activating, he still will look to leverage crossovers when he needs a bit more momentum in his stride. With his speed on crossovers and skate extensions, he just needs a few of each in order to get enough space to beat the attacker to loose pucks on the forecheck in J20 play. Once he gets enough speed, he glides in and captures possession.
The area of his skating that needs a bit more refinement is his edges and activating off of a pivot. He does lean on edges to retain speed, but he struggles with adding speed off of the pivot. Ideally, he needs to be quicker when reacting to an attacker pivoting out and changing direction. He ends up completing a delayed turn and the attacker netted separation away from Öhgren. His activation challenges will also hurt his ability to grab a hold of loose pucks when puck movement alters and he has to react to it right after completing a turn.
Former Smaht Scouting Swedish scout, Mikael Holm is a big fan of Öhgren and has said repeatedly that Öhgren reminds him of Zach Hyman. I can definitely see it and he is spot on. Like Hyman, Öhgren plays an excellent two-way game that is translatable at the NHL level. With his speed and skill, I don’t think there will be a long wait before he is playing at the NHL level. He probably needs at least one season in the Allsvenskan before he is ready to make the jump.
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.
May 26, 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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Photo Credit: Robert Lefebvre/OHL Images
Alexander Appleyard, Paul Zuk, Sebastian Jackson, Matthew Somma, Austin Garrett, Jordan Malette and Josh Tessler combined their draft rankings and put together the official Smaht Scouting 2022 NHL Draft Final Rankings.
The rankings are below. We are working on 2022 NHL Draft scouting reports and once they are completed, we will hyperlink the reports on the rankings.
| Ranking | Player | Team | Position | Nationality |
| 1 | Shane Wright | Kingston | C | Canada |
| 2 | Logan Cooley | USNTDP | C | USA |
| 3 | David Jiříček | Plzen | RHD | Czech Republic |
| 4 | Juraj Slafkovsky | TPS | F | Slovakia |
| 5 | Brad Lambert | Lahti | C | Finland |
| 6 | Matthew Savoie | Winnipeg | C | Canada |
| 7 | Frank Nazar | USNTDP | RW | USA |
| 8 | Gleb Trikozov | Omsk | F | Russia |
| 9 | Šimon Nemec | HK Nitra | RHD | Slovakia |
| 10 | Noah Östlund | Djurgården | C | Sweden |
| 11 | Filip Mešár | Poprad | RW | Slovakia |
| 12 | Joakim Kemell | JYP | F | Finland |
| 13 | Kevin Korchinski | Seattle | LHD | Canada |
| 14 | Jonathan Lekkerimäki | Djurgården | RW | Sweden |
| 15 | Jiří Kulich | Karlovy Vary | F | Czech Republic |
| 16 | Denton Mateychuk | Moose Jaw | LHD | Canada |
| 17 | Calle Odelius | Djurgården | LHD | Sweden |
| 18 | Cutter Gauthier | USNTDP | LW | USA |
| 19 | Liam Öhgren | Djurgården | F | Sweden |
| 20 | Rutger McGroarty | USNTDP | C | USA |
| 21 | Jagger Firkus | Moose Jaw | F | Canada |
| 22 | Vladimir Grudinin | CSKA Moscow | LHD | Russia |
| 23 | Issac Howard | USNTDP | LW | USA |
| 24 | Danila Yurov | Magnitogorsk | F | Russia |
| 25 | Seamus Casey | USNTDP | RHD | USA |
| 26 | Pavel Mintyukov | Saginaw | LHD | Russia |
| 27 | Mattias Hävelid | Linköping | RHD | Sweden |
| 28 | Ivan Miroshnichenko | Omsk | LW | Russia |
| 29 | Lane Hutson | USNTDP | LHD | USA |
| 30 | Conor Geekie | Winnipeg | C | Canada |
| 31 | Marco Kasper | Rögle | C | Austria |
| 32 | David Goyette | Sudbury | C | Canada |
| 33 | Owen Pickering | Swift Current | LHD | Canada |
| 34 | Jack Hughes | Northeastern University | F | USA |
| 35 | Ty Nelson | North Bay | RHD | Canada |
| 36 | Devin Kaplan | USNTDP | F | USA |
| 37 | Alexander Suzdalev | HV71 | LW | Sweden |
| 38 | Elias Salomonsson | Skellefteå | RHD | Sweden |
| 39 | Filip Bystedt | Linköping | C | Sweden |
| 40 | Adam Sýkora | Nitra | RW/LW | Slovakia |
| 41 | Owen Beck | Mississauga | C | Canada |
| 42 | Jimmy Snuggerud | USNTDP | F | USA |
| 43 | Sam Rinzel | Chaska (USHS-MN) | RHD | USA |
| 44 | Luca Del Bel Belluz | Mississauga | C | Canada |
| 45 | Paul Ludwinski | Kingston | C | Canada |
| 46 | Joel Jonsson | Mora | RW | Sweden |
| 47 | Lian Bichsel | Leksands | LHD | Switzerland |
| 48 | Jani Nyman | Ilves | LW | Finland |
| 49 | Julian Lutz | München | F | Germany |
| 50 | Matyas Sapovaliv | Saginaw | F | Czech Republic |
| 51 | Rieger Lorenz | Okotoks (AJHL) | C | Canada |
| 52 | Cole Knuble | Fargo | RW | USA |
| 53 | Danny Zhilkin | Guelph | C | Canada / Russia |
| 54 | Dylan James | Sioux City | LW | Canada |
| 55 | Reid Schaefer | Seattle | LW | Canada |
| 56 | Adam Ingram | Youngstown | C | Canada |
| 57 | Christian Kyrou | Erie | RHD | Canada |
| 58 | Nathan Gaucher | Quebec | C | Canada |
| 59 | Isaiah George | London | LHD | Canada |
| 60 | Alexander Pelevin | Novgorod | LHD | Russia |
| 61 | Simon Forsmark | Örebro | LHD | Sweden |
| 62 | Jack Devine | University of Denver | F | USA |
| 63 | Mats Lindgren | Kamloops | LHD | Canada |
| 64 | Ilya Kvochko | Magnitogorsk | C | Russia |
| 65 | Beau Jelsma | Barrie | C | Canada |
| 66 | Brennan Ali | Avon Old Farms (USHS-CT) | C | USA |
| 67 | Matthew Seminoff | Kamloops | RW | Canada |
| 68 | Topi Rönni | Tappara | C | Finland |
| 69 | Ludwig Persson | Frölunda | C/LW | Sweden |
| 70 | Michael Fisher | St. Mark’s School | RHD | USA |
| 71 | Tristan Luneau | Gatineau | RHD | Canada |
| 72 | Ryan Chesley | USNTDP | RHD | USA |
| 73 | Mikey Milne | Winnipeg | LW | Canada |
| 74 | Jordan Gustafson | Seattle | F | Canada |
| 75 | Matthew Poitras | Guelph | C | Canada |
| 76 | Tyler Brennan | Prince George | G | Canada |
| 77 | Quinn Finley | Madison | F | USA |
| 78 | Jace Weir | Red Deer | RHD | Canada |
| 79 | Jere Lassila | JYP | C | Finland |
| 80 | Hunter Haight | Barrie | C | Canada |
| 81 | Ben Hemmerling | Everett | C/LW | Canada |
| 82 | Tyson Jugnauth | West Kelowna | LHD | Canada |
| 83 | Aleksanteri Kaskimäki | HIFK | C | Finland |
| 84 | Marcus Nguyen | Portland | RW | Canada |
| 85 | Connor Kurth | Dubuque | F | USA |
| 86 | Alexis Gendron | Blainville-Boisbriand | C | Canada |
| 87 | Noah Warren | Gatineau | RHD | Canada |
| 88 | Tyler Duke | USNTDP | LHD | USA |
| 89 | Marek Hejduk | USNTDP | F | USA |
| 90 | Cole Spicer | USNTDP | F | USA |
| 91 | Zam Plante | Chicago | F | USA |
| 92 | Fraser Minten | Kamloops | F | Canada |
| 93 | Topias Leinonen | JYP | G | Finland |
| 94 | Jordan Dumais | Halifax | RW | Canada |
| 95 | Gavin Hayes | Flint | RW | USA |
| 96 | Kasper Kulonummi | Jokerit | RHD | Finland |
| 97 | Jake Karabela | Guelph | C | Canada |
| 98 | Lukas Gustafsson | Chicago | LHD | USA |
| 99 | Jeremy Wilmer | Tri-City (USHL) | C | USA |
| 100 | Miko Matikka | Jokerit | RW | Finland |
| 101 | Alexander Perevalov | Yaroslavl | F | Russia |
| 102 | Jakob Norén | MODO | LHD | Sweden |
| 103 | Jiri Tichacek | Kladno | LHD | Czech Republic |
| 104 | Fabian Wagner | Linköping | RW | Sweden |
| 105 | Cruz Lucius | USNTDP | F | USA |
| 106 | Brayden Schuurman | Victoria | C | Canada |
| 107 | Cameron Lund | Green Bay | C | USA |
| 108 | Bryce McConnell-Barker | Sault Ste. Marie | C | Canada |
| 109 | Jérémy Langlois | Cape Breton | LHD | Canada |
| 110 | Domenic DiVincentiis | North Bay | G | Canada |
| 111 | Maveric Lamoureux | Drummondville | RHD | Canada |
| 112 | Nicholas Moldenhauer | Chicago | F | Canada |
| 113 | Ryan Greene | Green Bay | C | Canada |
| 114 | Spencer Sova | Erie | LHD | Canada |
| 115 | Pano Fimis | Niagara | C | Canada |
| 116 | Daniil Davydov | Dynamo Moscow | C | Russia |
| 117 | Mitchell Martin | Kitchener | LW | Canada |
| 118 | Hudson Thornton | Prince George | LHD | Canada |
| 119 | Brandon Lisowsky | Saskatoon | F | Canada |
| 120 | Oskar Asplund | Almtuna | LHD | Sweden |
| 121 | Ryan Healey | Sioux Falls | RHD | USA |
| 122 | Cedrick Guindon | Owen Sound | C | Canada |
| 123 | Niklas Kokko | Kärpät | G | Finland |
| 124 | Josh Filmon | Swift Current | RW | Canada |
| 125 | Jacob Guévin | Muskegon | RHD | Canada |
| 126 | Vinzenz Rohrer | Ottawa | RW | Austria |
| 127 | Servác Petrovsky | Owen Sound | C | Slovakia |
| 128 | Zaccharya Wisdom | Cedar Rapids | RW | Canada |
| HM | David Gucciardi | Michigan State University | LHD | Canada |
| HM | Zach Bookman | Brooks | RHD | USA |
| HM | Otto Hokkanen | SaiPa | C | Finland |
| HM | Filip Nordberg | Södertälje | LHD | Sweden |
| HM | Kocha Delic | Sudbury | C | Canada |
| HM | Alexander Smolin | Magnitogorsk | G | Russia |
| HM | Grayden Siepmann | Calgary | RHD | Canada |
| HM | Matthew Ward | Swift Current | F | Canada |
| HM | Isac Born | Frölunda | C/W | Sweden |
| HM | Jackson Dorrington | Des Moines | LHD | USA |
| HM | Avery Hayes | Hamilton | C/RW | USA |
| HM | Michael Buchinger | Guelph | LHD | Canada |
| HM | Leighton Carruthers | Rouyn-Noranda | C | Canada |
Photo Credit: Otto Marand / Djurgården
Scouting Report written by Josh Tessler
Jonathan Lekkerimäki is a 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect, who plays in the Djurgården system. Lekkerimäki grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Huddinge and played youth hockey for the local club, Flemingsbergs IK. After playing for the local club, he ended up playing U16 hockey for Södertälje SK alongside his current Djurgården teammates, Calle Odelius and Noah Östlund. After his 2018-2019 campaign with Södertälje, he made the move to the Djurgården U16 club. Since joining Djurgården, he has played for them at the U16, J18, J20 and SHL levels.
This season, he made his SHL debut and split his time between the SHL club and J20 club. Lekkerimäki managed to produce very nicely at 5v5 at the SHL and J20 levels. More than half of his points in the SHL were at 5v5 and same can be said for his J20 points.
Not only did he suit up for Djurgården this season, but he also played for Sweden at the international level in multiple tournaments including the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the IIHF U18 World Championships (which Sweden won). At the U18s, he recorded the most assists and points. Lekkerimäki was also named to the U18 WJC All-Star Team alongside fellow 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospects Jiri Kulich, Logan Cooley, Lane Hutson, Tomas Hamara and Hugo Hävelid.
Lekkerimäki recently signed a two year extension with Djurgården and will more than likely suit up for them in the Allsvenskan next season.
D.O.B – July 24, 2004
Nationality – Sweden
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –5’11″
Weight –172 lbs
Position – Right Wing
Handedness – Right
In the offensive zone, Lekkerimäki is very good at finding open space for himself down low in front of the goaltender. He scans the ice and can quickly identify the areas that are not manned. When he gets into position in the slot and has an open passing lane for his teammate with the puck to exploit, Lekkerimäki is vocal and communicates by tapping his stick on the ice multiple times to get the attention of his teammate. Should his position no longer become a viable option for his teammate to exploit with a pass, he rotates his positioning quickly and stays on his toes looking for a new passing lane for his teammate to use.
But, what I really like about Lekkerimäki’s ability to find open ice is that he does a good job of identifying attackers who are puck watching and knows that they are vulnerable to keeping pace with him should he activate and skate from the half-wall to the slot to generate a passing lane. Lekkerimäki takes advantage of the defensive mistake and provides his teammate behind the net with a quality a lane to exploit. Check out the clip below in which he does just that, but later on in the shift he also identifies just how close the pressure is to him along the half-wall when has possession of the puck and managed to navigate out of danger by pushing the puck underneath the attacker’s stick blade.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki is FUN.
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) May 4, 2022
Watch this sequence.
His vision is 🔥. Identifies puck watching attackers that are vulnerable. Gets open ice at net front for a high danger scoring chance. Later, he identifies two attackers and stick-handles around them in tight quarters. pic.twitter.com/OfY7dhH2Y0
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. Take a look at the below clip in which Lekkerimäki encounters traffic as he skates towards the slot and completes deceptive drop pass to Liam Öhgren to get the puck to a teammate who isn’t facing tight pressure. It leads to a Liam Öhgren backhand pass to the slot to find Noah Östlund.
This was a quality scoring chance manufactured by Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Liam Öhgren the other day against Linköping. Lekkerimäki completes a deceptive drop pass. Öhgren nets the puck and delivers a backhand feed to find Noah Östlund in the slot.#2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/4GVysVQX39
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) January 1, 2022
On the subject of generating space from an attacker, when he gets to the boards with possession of the puck and he spots the back check, he positions his body as if he is going to go left towards the blue line, but pivots out quickly to go right towards the corner. Not only does he net separation by confusing the attacker into thinking that he was going to go in certain direction and then goes towards the opposite direction, but he keeps the puck on his stick when pivoting out and doesn’t bobble possession.
He is an underrated forechecker. When most people talk about Lekkerimäki, they immediately rave about his shot and his stick-handling and his forechecking doesn’t get enough attention. He can generate good stride extension length to skate hard after loose pucks. If he sees that his teammate is slightly out of position and an attacker picks up possession and looks to skate into the neutral zone, Lekkerimäki shifts over and uses quality stride extensions to catch up to the attacker. In the corners, you can expect him to get physical. He will hip check in the corner when he sees an attacker controlling the puck who is vulnerable as his back is turned.
Next up, let’s talk about Lekkerimäki’s shot. He has quality mechanics. Good weight transfer. Quick release. Open stick blade. Everything that I look for. But, what makes Lekkerimäki dynamic is his ability to deliver a quick release shot on the rush and gets height on the shot. His shot off the rush is quite good, but he does need to address his accuracy. Lekkerimäki seems to be very in-consistent with his accuracy off the rush. While that might sound like a negative, you shouldn’t take it as one. The fact that he is able to get pucks on net off of the rush and pick corners has been a joy. His accuracy will improve over time and most of the time it has to do with how far the puck is away from Lekkerimäki’s body. But, I just love that he is trying to shoot off the rush especially since he possesses such a quick release. In addition to his quick release and shot off the rush, his stick-handling ability will prove it’s worth in the NHL when he is trying to generate space for himself to shoot. With that said, I do want to see him use stick-handling more and more before attempting shots from distance with an attacker right on him. For instance, there are shifts in which Lekkerimäki felt that he didn’t have any options with an attacker closing in on him, so he took a shot and hoped to get it on net. I just want to see him use his stick-handling with his outstanding vision to identify how much space he has in front of him with the attacker closing in on him and choosing the best moment to pivot out instead of taking a shot. Even though he does need to work on shot selection, if he has an open shooting lane and he is at the border between medium / low danger, but he still has a teammate in the slot at the backdoor, he will look to pass the puck to net front.
In terms of goal production and upside, Lekkerimäki has shown that he score goals in multiple fashions. He can score one-timers in the slot. But, he will also identify teammates struggling to get a shot off down low and who are facing tight pressure quickly, skate towards them and bail them out. Once he identifies them, he has the straight line speed with his skate extensions to get to the doorstep fast. It allows him to get quality tip-in goals. His stick-handling also gives him the ability to draw goaltenders to one side, quickly move the puck to the other side and then score. Also, he has done a great job of getting open ice in the neutral zone at the blue line, netting possession of the puck off of an outlet pass and then score on a breakaway and/or 2 – on – 1s.
He doesn’t produce a lot of primary assists, but he has had some nifty ones this season. When he skates near the net, in medium danger and facing tight traffic, he won’t force a shot. Instead, he looks for a tight gap to exploit. Additionally, if he can’t find a passing lane, he will wrap around the net with the puck and try to see if he can net separation to get a passing lane.
Lekkerimäki keeps good pace on the back-check at the SHL level. His ability to generate quality straight line extensions allows him to muster up enough speed to get vest to vest with the attacker and that has allowed him to shut down attackers in J20 play. But, in the SHL, he will appear to be slightly slower on the back-check. He gets in range of the puck carrying attacker, but is still one step away from putting enough pressure to stop the attacker from moving closer to the net.
Lekkerimäki does implement good pressure along the blue line when defending the point, good active stick, extends his stick blade towards the puck, doesn’t force a change in possession but it is annoying. He can be very mobile. Lekkerimäki can swivel his hips and activate into stride quickly. He will lower and widen himself at the point to take up more space in an effort to force the attacker to dump the puck. In certain situations, Lekkerimäki will position his the shaft of his stick on the ice to take away passing lanes at the point.
While he does do a good job of using his stick to take away opportunities for the attack, he doesn’t have a lot of reach with his stick. With that said, when defending at centered ice in the slot, he will extend out his stick at the perimeter, but he doesn’t take away enough space to keep the attacker out of the slot. Thankfully, Lekkerimäki’s speed and pivots allow him to stay close to the attacker, but if the attacker has the upper body strength to push past him, he doesn’t have to reach to poke-check from a slight distance as a plan B.
He tracks the puck well. Lekkerimäki identifies when attackers are trying to complete passes and he can assess based on the trajectory if he is in range to intercept it. If he spots a pass that he can get his hands on, he does a good job at determining the right moment to skate into the pass in order to disrupt the pass / intercept it.
When looking to get involved in the rush, you can usually find Lekkerimäki in the neutral zone looking for open space at the offensive zone blue line to net so that his teammates can find outlet passes to him. But, if he does net possession of the puck in the defensive zone, in most situations he will collect possession of the puck when he drops to the hashmarks in the face-off circle. He moves to the hashmarks to net possession of pucks when they become loose along the half-wall. When he is in control of the puck, he can struggle with puck security when facing tough pressure as he doesn’t have the necessary reach to navigate the puck around the tight pressure. Lekkerimäki will need to acquire the upper body strength and continue to grow in order to develop his stick-handling reach. In situations in which he has enough open space to work, he can complete long range passes to teammates at center ice including saucer feeds.
Lekkerimäki can be rather reliable in the neutral zone when facing the rush. When at the boards and working against an attacker with a similar frame, Lekkerimäki is able to sandwich the puck carrying attacker. At open ice, Lekkerimäki will implement vest to vest pressure at open ice while the attackers are skating up ice with the puck. But, as we discusses earlier, he doesn’t have the upper body strength in SHL play to contend for bobbled pucks in a tight battle. If he is facing an attacker of bigger size, he will struggle to secure possession of the puck as the attacker’s can leverage their upper body strength to push Lekkerimäki away from the puck.
Earlier I mentioned that Lekkerimäki will look to grab open ice at the offensive blue line to create outlet pass lanes for his defensemen to use and I felt compelled to bring it up again. His ability to create quality stretch pass lanes has been fruitful in creating plenty of scoring chances. His determination to establish open ice in the neutral zone shift-in and shift-out has led to breakaways and quality 2 – on – 1 s.
In situations where he is in control of the puck and not looking to establish open ice for an outlet feed, he has shown that the can stick-handle through rather tight pressure. Lekkerimäki will look to cradle the puck underneath the attacker’s stick (triangle), so that Lekkerimäki can cut around the defender even when there isn’t much room to breath. He will sometimes bobble control of the puck, but I love that in situations where he can’t get any open space that he tries to go underneath the triangle. Even if he bobbles the puck, I like he is using his stick-handling resources to try to navigate around pressure and get into the offensive zone.
Lekkerimäki has excellent ankle flexion as his knee cap is consistently aligned with the toe of his skate. His ankle flexion and his lowered posture (knees bent) allows him to generate quality straight line speed. When he looks to go into stride, he starts off his stride with a crossover. After the initial few lengthy crossovers, he deploys a shortened skate extension, but over time he lengthens his extension. With his excellent skating mechanics, he has shown that he can generate and maintain quality speed through crossovers and straight line speed to ensure that he has the necessary speed to get back into the neutral zone towards the defensive zone blue line when an attacker has the puck on his stick and Lekkerimäki is behind the rush. In tight battles for loose pucks, he can rely on his crossovers to give him some edge if he slightly further back from the attacker (like a DRS boost for those F1 fans). When making turns, he does a good job of leaning on his edges to retain the speed that the had prior to making the turn and he can also add to the speed after completing turn by utilizing quality crossovers and lengthy skate extensions to get into gear.
Given Lekkerimäki’s ability to find open ice in the slot and in the neutral zone to key up passing lanes, he constantly puts himself in the position to succeed offensively. His shot off the rush and shot in a standstill position allows him to capitalize when he has the puck on his stick. There is a lot to like about Lekkerimäki’s offensive game and the fact that he can use utilize quality stick-handling to get out of sticky situations only increases his value.
From a defensive perspective, there are areas that he needs to work on especially with upper body strength to increase his reach and fend off bigger competitors. But, he has the speed to get to loose pucks before his competitors do even in situations where he doesn’t seem to have the upper hand. All-in-all, I feel confident that the NHL team who drafts Lekkerimäki is netting a top six forward, who will be defensively responsible and at the same time generate top six point totals.
After publishing this report, I had been asked by a few people on whether or not I would potentially line Lekkerimäki at center at the next level. I get why teams would try to experiment with him at center, but I have a few issues that I think would prevent him from being a center. His reach. Until he can acquire quality off-puck reach, he will face challenges defending in the slot. Same issue behind the red line. Also, I don’t think his playmaking ability is consistent enough in which I’d feel entirely comfortable with him at center at the NHL level. If he can grow into his size and be a bit more consistent with his playmaking, you could potentially put him at center. But, until we see Lekkerimäki address what I had mentioned above, I would leave him at wing.
May 7, 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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Photo Credit: Otto Marand / Djurgården
Scouting Report written by Josh Tessler
Noah Östlund is a 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect, who plays in the Djurgården system. He grew up slightly west of Stockholm, but still in Stockholm County. The municipality that he grew up in is Nykvarn and is quite close to Södertälje. Östlund played youth hockey for Södertälje SK before making his Djurgården debut in 2019-2020. Since joining Djurgården, he has suited up for the club at the U16, J18, J20 and the SHL levels.
This past season, Östlund played for Djurgården at the J18, J20 and the SHL levels. He also suited up for Sweden at the Hlinka Gretzky and at the U18s in Germany.
Djurgården had a rough season and one in which they lost their spot in the SHL. Even though Djurgården was relegated to the Allsvenskan from the SHL, but they did manage to retain Östlund, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Liam Öhgren, Calle Odelius and Wiktor Nilsson. Per the Djurgården site, they all signed two year contracts. Östlund will more than likely spend a decent amount of time in the Allsvenskan next season.
D.O.B – March 11, 2004
Nationality – Sweden
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –5’11″
Weight –163 lbs
Position – Center
Handedness – Left
When facing tight pressure in the offensive zone, that is when Östlund truly shows what he can bring to the table. Östlund can be very relentless with his pursuit to find tight passing lanes to exploit when he is facing tough vest to vest pressure. While he can be relentless with his pursuit, he doesn’t get frustrated and give up when he can’t find a lane. He doesn’t fire a shot when running out of options unless he absolutely has to. But, when he does find lanes he takes advantage of them right away. Östlund has managed to complete quick tight seam passes to his regular linemates, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Liam Öhgren. Not only does he complete seam passes through tight quarters, but has also shown that he can wire accurate trajectory / route passes when he runs out of space along the half-wall and identifies a teammate skating hard to the slot. There is also quite a bit of William Eklund in Östlund, especially with how he handles pressure with deception. If he is facing traffic while running the cycle and looks to skate behind the net to shake off the pressure, he skates right next to the net behind the red line and can shift the puck from backhand to forehand and pass the puck to the doorstep. By skating behind the net, he is hoping that the attacker splits away from him and skates closer to net front. That allows Östlund to find just the amount of separation that he needs to wire the pass to the doorstep. In addition, like Eklund, Östlund is very good at identifying the best moment in which he can deliver the perfect drop pass when facing intimidating pressure. He will notice the exact moment in which his teammate comes into range and he will place down the puck to try get some separation for the teammate coming behind him who isn’t facing much pressure himself.
Östlund has excellent stick-handling and possesses outstanding reach given his frame. When scouting, you don’t often notice 5’11” / ~165 lbs skaters who have the ability to extend the puck out as far out as Östlund does very often. His reach allows him to take up more space and that can be very beneficial when trying to get separation in situations where he is facing tight defensive pressure. Östlund has shown that he can utilize quick and soft windmill stick-handling to get by defenders, get to net-front and score top shelf backhand goals. The Djurgården prospect can also be very creative when looking to approach the net. In the clip below from the U18 World Championship game against Team USA, you can watch Östlund flip the puck above the two attackers, push past them and then bat the puck in for a goal.
Beautiful work from Noah Östlund. Bats the puck in. 😍 pic.twitter.com/jERty3IsJE
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) May 1, 2022
When Östlund doesn’t have possession of the puck, he stays on his toes and follows his teammate to give his teammate a quality passing lane should his teammate run into a pressure filled situation. Östlund tracks his teammates quite well and maintains similar speed to ensure that he stays well-aligned to his teammates. He does a great job of going to net-front to offer a backdoor passing lane off the rush and when his teammates are cycling the puck. Östlund desire for open ice at net-front has paid off quite well this season for Djurgården at the J20 level. He managed to score multiple backdoor goals after hunting for open high danger passing lanes for his teammates to utilize.
At the beginning of the year in November, when he was at the SHL level, he was still trying to get adjusted to the changes in speed, so he was often slow to loose pucks. But, it just seemed like Östlund was still getting used to the speed of the SHL and thus truly needed the additional time at the J20 level (which he was given). At the J20 level, Östlund’s forechecking was significantly stronger. While he isn’t the most aggressive forechecker, he is usually paired with Liam Öhgren and Öhgren is far stronger at using his body to shut down oppositional puck movement. But, that doesn’t mean that Östlund can’t be impactful on the forecheck. He does a good job of trapping of attacker, lowering his body and extends his stick out to take away space for the attacker to use. That has led to Öhgren and Östlund trapping attackers in the corner as Öhgren will be well-aligned with him but just on the other side of the attacker. Östlund can be quite strong with his stick when hunting and engaging on puck battles. He can be highly disruptive when stick lifting to knock the attacker off the puck when Östlund is slightly behind the attacker. He also shown that he can be an effective poke checker, use his reach and steal possession of pucks when putting pressure attackers along the boards. Östlund’s active stick and poke checking ability has led to situations like the one below in which he stole possession, completed a drop pass to Adam Björklund when the two of them were close in proximity, Östlund skates away to grab an open passing lane and then scores a snap shot when Björklund completes the give and go.
Another great Noah Östlund clip to check out.
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) May 1, 2022
Great work on the forecheck. Stayed aligned to the attacker when the attacker pivots and ended up stealing the puck. At the end of the clip, you see him complete a far side snap shot goal from medium danger. #2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/BDe6r4qDZP
Östlund is not the goal scorer that Lekkerimäki is, but he can get a lot of power on his shot. When he lower his body and utilizes quality weight transfer by pushing his upper body towards his knee, he can get the power he needs to get pucks past goaltenders. Östlund does a good job of skating into pucks and firing medium danger shots for goals. For instance, he netted a goal against Rögle J20 in the semifinals, in which he he skated into the pass, lowered his body to gain maximum power and went top shelf.
While he does have a solid shot and has produced quality goals at the J20 level with his shot, he does need to cautious about having his skates too wide apart when trying shots from range. In those situations, he loses his mobility and plays the puck further out from his body. By positioning the puck further out from his body, that hurts his accuracy and power. It allows the goaltender to make an easy stop.
Östlund is defensively responsible and that is evident on almost every single shift. He does a good job of dropping back and defending the slot when the slot is open and he sees his defender marking up. When his defenders get involved in puck battles along the half-wall or in the corner, he drops back for them incase they lose control of the puck and can’t react to oppositional puck movement in time. But, regardless of his defensemen and where they are in the zone, he generally drops back to the slot and looks for open attackers to backcheck against. He will also to drop down the corners if the attack has possession of the puck in the corners and no one exerting much pressure on them. When he gets neck and neck with the attacker, he will look to complete a shoulder check and knock them off of the puck.
Even when Östlund loses out on an initial loose puck battle, he is still hungry for possession of the puck. He will look to leverage his upper body strength to push past the attacker to capture the puck. Once he gets control of the puck, he has shown to be very effective from a transitional perspective and usually can complete a quality stretch pass to a teammate in the neutral zone like the one in the clip below.
Another excellent clip of Noah Östlund.
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) April 30, 2022
Watch him battle for the puck and use his upper body strength to push past the Skellefteå forward to gain control of the puck. Gains separation and completes a stretch pass to an open Jonathan Lekkerimäki in the neutral zone. pic.twitter.com/58kVTsKFfo
In the offensive section, I talked about how Östlund can rely on stick lifting if he is slightly behind the puck carrying attacker and it also pays off in the defensive zone. For instance, if a puck carrying attacker is skating away from the corner and going towards the blue line and Östlund is skating behind him, he will extend his stick out towards the attacker’s stick blade to try to shake him off the puck. As long as Östlund is in close proximity to the attacker, he can leverage his stick lifting to truly cause puck disruption.
Earlier in the defensive section, I talked about how Östlund will be present in the corners when he looks to pressure on puck carrying attackers who are looking to cycle in the corners, but he will also skate to the corner if he sees his teammates dealing with pressure and they need an outlet lane for a pass. He does an excellent job of always following the puck and Östlund is always an ear shot away to provide a passing option.
When in control of the puck and facing heavy congestion, he can be extremely deceptive. If he is trapped before the defensive zone blue line as he intends to skate into the neutral zone, he will deceptively execute a drop pass for his defenseman. Östlund has also shown the he can uses his pivots well at open ice if he sees that attackers are taking away passing lanes and he wants to look elsewhere in the zone. By pivoting he can either generate enough separation to net a passing lane or he can get enough space to complete a controlled zone exit. It ultimately depends on the speed of the attacker and how much space he can net by pivoting. If the attacker stays on him, but a small gap opens up, Östlund will exploit it. But, he doesn’t just pivot out to get space, he will also double back if he is facing too much pressure, button hook and then identify a new lane to utilize when trying to net a zone exit. Ultimately, Östlund is very smart with the puck on his stick and won’t force puck movement if he simply doesn’t have the space.
Even when he does he open skating lanes in front of him, he will still analyze all of the options that he has at his disposal for moving the puck up the ice. When he gets to the blue line, if he can spot a teammate who is open and further up the ice, he will look to complete a pass to that teammate to try to get the puck up the ice at a faster rate.
In the neutral zone, Östlund is always thinking on his feet and analyzing pressure. If he sees that he is drawing multiple attacker, he will leverage his mobility, shiftiness and pivoting to pivot out on a dime to open up space for himself to complete a pass. Given his deceptive style, he can constantly use these maneuvers to throw off attackers and get enough space to key up passing lanes to get the puck into the offensive zone safely.
Getting a few Noah Östlund games in.
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) April 30, 2022
I love the decision making in this clip against AIK. He knows that he has attackers looking to put pressure on him, so he pivots on a dime to shake off the pressure and then passes to an open teammate. Smart transitional play.#2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/TEj2w1R7ci
Östlund does a good job of looking for open ice in the neutral zone near the offensive zone blue line to create stretch pass lanes for his defensemen to utilize. That has paved the way for quite a few breakaway opportunities and two-on-one opportunities. Östlund will communicate with his defensemen to let them know that he has an open passing lane for them to exploit by banging his stick blade on the ice.
When you look at his defensive play, but at the SHL level, I did notice that Östlund struggled a bit with speed in the neutral zone when defending and couldn’t always close the gap to prevent the rush from moving forward. Since he couldn’t completely close the gap, attackers could force their way past Östlund with ease. In addition, he didn’t have the upper body strength to cut off attackers in the neutral zone and that isn’t too surprising given the competition level in the SHL. Over time, he will gain the upper body strength to compete with more physically intimidating opponents.
In J20 play, his defensive measures in the neutral zone were far more effective and he was able to maintain good alignment with the rush. Even in situations where he was slightly behind the rush, he would stick lift and use the same strategies that he has adopted in the offensive and defensive zone to force puck disruption.
Östlund has quite a bit of speed and lot of that can be credited to his crossover usage. When he blends his crossovers and stride extensions, he can garner the necessary acceleration to chase through the neutral zone, catch up to an attacker in the slot and play man on man. His speed when going north – south makes him a handful because it can be a challenge to get enough separation away from Östlund when the attacker. But, his speed doesn’t just help him defensively. He will also leverage crossovers and stride extensions to keep himself aligned with his puck carrying teammates when they are skating up the ice.
He has good posture and keeps himself lowered with his knees bent. Östlund has quality ankle flexion and his knees align with the toe of his skate. With his quality ankle flexion and lowered posture, it allows him to generate maximum speed on his crossovers and stride extensions.
Aside from his crossover and stride extensions, he leans on his edges to maintain the speed that the had before the turn and generally retains his speed well. But, what I really like about Östlund is his ability to activate additional speed quickly immediately after he completes the turn. Immediately, you will see him leverage his crossovers right after the turn to acquire additional acceleration before he goes into full stride. The amount of speed that the can gain off of those crossovers can make him lethal, especially when you think about how deceptive Östlund is. The fact that he can on a dime, complete a turn, retain speed and add to his speed makes him very dangerous in situations where he is down low in tight and navigating around intense congestion.
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.
May 2, 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.
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Photo Credit: Brian Liesse / Seattle Thunderbirds
Scouting Report written by Matthew Somma
Reid Schaefer has been a steady riser over the course of the season and has creeped into some people’s top 100. He scored 32 goals and had 58 points in 66 games this season after recording just two assists in 18 games last season. That sort of jump in production will put you on more people’s radars, but is it warranted? Over the course of the season, I’ve watched Schaefer develop and benefit from a full WHL season. Sometimes, there will be a lot to like, while other times, I barely notice him. With Schaefer, no two shifts are the same and it has taken more viewings than usual to get a good read on him as a player.
As I’ve watched Schaefer, I’ve been able to see glimpses of his full potential. I see a player that, if developed properly, could be a nice complementary winger for a team. He has the size and strength to be a power forward at the NHL level, after all. His skill set at present is very raw, however, so he’ll be a long-term project for whichever team drafts him. The question I keep coming back to is “will Schaefer be a consistent threat at the NHL level?” In this profile, I’ll be breaking down Schaefer’s game to paint a picture of the player that he is and the player that he could be.
D.O.B –September 21, 2003
Nationality – Canada
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –6’3″
Weight –214 lbs
Position – Left Wing
Handedness – Left
Schaefer is built like a power forward and uses his size and strength to gain separation from defenders in the offensive zone. He was made for board battles and can keep the flow of the play moving if the puck gets trapped along the boards. A lot of the players that I’ve profiled so far this year have been smaller forwards that can turn the puck over. Schaefer is one of the few players that can set the tone physically and create space with strength as opposed to puck skills or skating.
Schaefer’s skating is above average for a player his size but not elite in any sense. He possesses the ability to get to top speed relatively quickly and his straight line speed is good enough to gain separation from defenders. I wouldn’t call him a quick skater, though. HIs top speed is fairly average, perhaps even below average, but he can cover more distance due to his size and leg strength.
Reid Schaefer has some work to do on his skating, but he has time to improve. pic.twitter.com/lWhw1Qc5Gp
— Matthew Somma (@Mattsomma12) April 30, 2022
Part of what can make Schaefer so dangerous is that he’s a powerful skater with the strength to shrug off any sort of pressure or check that comes his way. He can maintain puck possession in order to create offense, which is why I’d lean towards labeling him as a power forward. Schaefer gets pucks down low and can work from below the goal line to try and get the goaltender and defense to have blind spots. If he’s under pressure along the boards, he has the vision to get the puck to a teammate in order to continue the rush. Schaefer’s forechecking can be hit or miss, to me. There are times when he can drift and be a bit directionless in the offensive zone. He’ll wait for the play to come to him or hover around the middle of the ice without doing a whole lot to prevent a breakout. When he wants to get involved in the forecheck or a board battle, however, I see strength. He’s quick on the forecheck and can utilize his above average foot speed as well as his strength to knock players off of the puck and maintain possession for his team. Schaefer is at his best when he’s shooting the puck or utilizing his strength, after all. At 214 pounds, Schaefer is already stronger than most of the competition in the WHL. For him to take the next step, I’d like to see him be dominant along the boards. I’m starting to see that, but it needs to be consistent.
Schaefer’s biggest tool in the offensive zone, however, is his shot. He has a grade-A shot release that can beat any goaltender in the WHL. His shot is the complete package, too. It’s quick, accurate and powerful with a lightning fast release.
Next, Schaefer might have one of the best shot releases out of the players I've watched this season. It's absurd. pic.twitter.com/5VSi2clWXg
— Matthew Somma (@Mattsomma12) April 29, 2022
I mean, his shot is absurd. You don’t score 32 goals in your first full season in the WHL unless you can shoot incredibly well, and Schaefer can. With this shot, Schaefer can be absolutely lethal from the slot and is a player that can command attention in the offensive zone. Players will gravitate towards him in order to prevent him from scoring, and he has the hockey sense and vision to know the right time to either shoot or pass to an opponent. Offensively, Schaefer makes an impact and is an imposing presence. He’s a true power forward and a gifted scorer, and players like that usually command more attention due to how much space they can create in the offensive zone. There’s a real debate to be made that Schaefer is more of a sniper than a power forward. I’d entertain that argument since his shot is so quick and accurate, but I believe that the power in his game is going to allow for him to shine. He’s a scoring threat from anywhere, too. Take a look at this next clip, where he takes a slap shot from the point.
Working on the Reid Schaefer profile, so I'll be tweeting about him throughout the night. First, he's a threat to score based on his shot alone, but this one surprised me. pic.twitter.com/KgoNmJf6IF
— Matthew Somma (@Mattsomma12) April 29, 2022
Finally, here’s an example of how Schaefer’s shot doesn’t drop off when he shoots from a distance.
Part of what I like about Schaefer is that his shot doesn't drop off from a distance. It's still just as dangerous. pic.twitter.com/Rusou1zGwQ
— Matthew Somma (@Mattsomma12) April 29, 2022
Schaefer is also relied upon fairly heavily on the penalty kill, largely due to his reach and defensive awareness. It’s difficult to work around him due to how aggressive he is, and plays like this make him an annoyance on the penalty kill.
Schaefer is a solid defensive forward and gets a lot of time on the penalty kill. I love how he keeps the puck on the perimeter here. pic.twitter.com/efWLJP2DDR
— Matthew Somma (@Mattsomma12) April 30, 2022
He’s in position and can disrupt plays along the boards, negating the attack for a lot of teams. Schaefer isn’t perfect in the defensive zone, but he’s one of the more responsible defensive forwards that I’ve watched this season. I would like to see him anticipate plays more often. He can get caught standing around or drifting aimlessly in the defensive zone on occasion, and that weakness will get exposed at higher levels of play. Defensively, Schaefer can play a gritty game that will wear down opposing forwards and make it difficult for offensive creation. It works at preventing plays along the boards as well. Teams are noticeably more cautious when Schaefer is on the ice because they know that they’ll have a 6’3″, 214-pound freight train coming at them if they take one step near the boards.
Where I start to doubt Schaefer’s true upside is when I watch him in the neutral zone and in transition. It’s not that he can’t keep up with his teammates, it’s that he’s constantly parallel to the puck. There’s nothing stopping a defender from taking the puck in those scenarios. He struggles with zone exits and rarely carries the puck into the offensive zone, which makes me doubt his effectiveness in the modern NHL. Back in 2006, we’d be talking about Schaefer as one of the top players in the draft, but in a game built on speed and transition play, I feel that Schaefer can get left behind. He won’t trail behind the play and make himself a drop pass option and he won’t move ahead of the play to try and push the puck into the offensive zone. Teams can pick up on a pass to him with relative ease since they won’t have any doubts as to where Schaefer will be.
Schaefer’s other glaring weak point is his play with the puck on his stick. Typically, Schaefer is at his best when he’s firing off a one-timer or looking to get pucks towards the net. When he looks to carry the puck in transition or make a pass to a teammate, his puck skills can falter. Schaefer can grip the stick a little too hard and bobble the puck when trying to carry it up ice, usually resulting in a turnover or a lengthy board battle that stalls momentum. When attempting passes to teammates, Schaefer’s timing can be off and his passes are typically inaccurate. Often, I’ll see Schaefer receive the puck and scan for his options, notice an opening and then hold onto the puck too long, turning it over in the process. He’ll have to make quicker decisions because he’ll only have less time to do so as the competition intensifies. Schaefer can occasionally show glimpses of elite puck skills and he has some creative dekes and dangles in his repertoire. The problem is that he is unable to execute on a consistent basis and usually winds up turning the puck over. That could improve over time, but his one on one battles are a giant toss up at the present.
The thing I struggle with Schaefer is that he knows what to do with the puck on his stick, but his execution is off. He sees players in high danger areas, and his hockey sense is above average, but when he goes to make the pass, it fizzles out. Again, this is something that can be worked on over time, but right now, I don’t see Schaefer as a playmaking threat. He has the first step down, which is the recognition of an open patch of ice to make a play to. If he can get the execution down, I’d be more certain of his NHL upside. Here’s an example of when Schaefer’s passing can be good. When I see plays like this, I’m more confident in his abilities.
I haven't loved Schaefer's passing at times this season, but he can dish out some dimes from time to time. pic.twitter.com/JZFDXPPgy1
— Matthew Somma (@Mattsomma12) April 30, 2022
Schaefer seems like a project that could yield some solid upside. Right now, I would say that his ceiling is that of a third line winger, while his floor is somewhere at the AHL level. He has the size, strength and goal scoring ability to find success in the pros, but his game is incredibly raw otherwise. His potential is intriguing, especially since he’s a good enough shooter to net at least 20 goals at the NHL level. What I keep coming back to is his neutral zone play, though. I feel that a lot of offense in the modern NHL comes from transition, and Schaefer lacks a dynamic element in the neutral zone. His puck carrying can, and likely will, improve, but until he becomes a threat in transition, those doubts will remain. Most teams will see Schaefer’s size and skill as something they can build on, and they’re right. Most, if not all, of the flaws in his game are teachable and can be developed over time. With the right development staff, Schaefer could grow into an NHL player.
Now, where would I rank Schaefer? Right now, I’d put him around the 3rd-4th round range. There are other players that I like more than him and that I feel more certain of, but I could see teams going with a “safer” pick in Schaefer. For me, it boils down to the fact that Schaefer was six days removed from being eligible for last year’s draft and the fact that he’s very raw. I’m looking at his development path in a similar way to Carolina Hurricanes prospect Blake Murray. Schaefer plays a bit more of a heavier game than Murray, but both are natural goal scorers with a gritty side. Murray’s path obviously involved an interruption and a very limited schedule, just as Schaefer’s did, so they’re both a little more raw than they normally would be. Murray spent this past season in the ECHL and will likely transition to the AHL next season, and I could see Schaefer taking a similar path. Schaefer has, in my eyes, a five year timeline. He needs to finish his CHL career and spend, at minimum, three seasons in the minors before he becomes a full time NHL player. At the end of that timeline, I could see Schaefer stepping into a third line role and becoming a strong goal scoring power forward.
Edit: after watching more of Schaefer’s games, I feel more comfortable with putting him in the mid to late second round. Schaefer has been a dominant presence in these playoffs, something that I wasn’t seeing from him all that often during the regular season. Seeing Schaefer play a a higher level has given me more confidence in both his upside and overall projectability. He’s using his speed and big frame more effectively than he ever has, truly taking over shifts and wreaking havoc in both the neutral and offensive zones. I’m standing by my opinion that Schaefer is likely a third line forward with power play upside, though. It’s been a great playoffs, but I still don’t see the truly dynamic skills that I see in players that I’ve labeled as potential top six forwards.
Overall, I see Schaefer’s potential. He’s not the type of player that I’d bang the table for on draft day, but he’s a player that I would probably like to draft in the middle rounds. At that point in the draft, the amount of players with his potential thins out, and you’re left with the task of determining which players are more likely to reach that potential. With Schaefer’s size, strength, shot and defensive play, it’s likely that he plays NHL games. Plus, there’s the fact that a lot of his flaws are teachable. It’s nearly impossible to teach a player’s hockey sense or vision, but it’s easier to improve their execution on passes and skating.
April 30, 2022
stats from InStat and EliteProspects
Prospect report written by Matthew Somma. If you would like to follow Matt on Twitter, his handle is @Mattsomma12.
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Photo Credit: CSKA Moskva/@HCCSKA
Scouting Report written by Josh Tessler
Vladimir Grudinin is a 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospect, who plays in the CSKA Moscow (Moskva) system. Grudinin grew up in Angarsk, Russia and played U16 hockey for Yermak Angarsk before make the trip across the country from Siberia / Irkutsk Oblast to Moscow. Since moving to Moscow, Grudinin has played U16, U17, U18, MHL, VHL and KHL hockey for CSKA Moscow. This season, he has played alongside several 2022 NHL Draft eligible prospects including Artyom Duda and Kirill Dolzhenkov. During his stint in the MHL this season, Grudinin had been one of the top points per game defenders with 0.72 PPG.
Grudinin has not been selected in any previous CHL Import Drafts, so no one owns his CHL rights.
He is represented by Dan Milstein and Gold Star Hockey.
D.O.B – December 9, 2003
Nationality – Russia
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –5’10″
Weight –159 lbs
Position – Defense
Handedness – Left
Grudinin has excellent lateral crossovers and it allows him to go east – west along the blue line at a good speed. When using those crossovers to garner quality acceleration along the blue line, it allows him to look for open shooting and passing lanes. The speed can also allow him to create lanes should Grudinin net enough to speed to out-match the attacker who is trying to put pressure on him. Grudinin will lure attackers with him when he spots a winger along the boards who the attacker has prevented Grudinin from passing to that winger. By skating to a centered position, he opens up a quality passing lane and a quality medium danger shooting lane for his winger.
With Grudinin’s love to lure attackers in, he uses it constantly to buy open ice. He will see an attacker coming for him, so he slows down his movements and keeps the puck out in front of him. Once the attacker gets to him, Grudinin shifts the puck underneath the attacker’s stick and nets open ice. In the clip below, you will see him pull that off and then fire a saucer pass to his defensive partner at the opposite half-wall.
Vladimir Grudinin is fun. Lures the attacker in to buy himself space and then fires a saucer pass to his teammate at the opposite half-wall.#2022NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/QhrBV4zEOM
— Josh Tessler 🇺🇦 (@JoshTessler_) April 20, 2022
One of the areas that Grudinin does struggle with is capturing possession of loose pucks. There are instances in which he had a loose puck that had ricocheted off the boards that came to him, but he wasn’t able to trap the puck and the puck vacated the offensive zone. He won’t just struggle with cleanly netting possession of loose pucks, he also struggles with capturing possession of passes from time-to-time and that is an issue in all three zones.
Grudinin will pinch up and get involved in the cycle down low. He pinches up past the perimeter when his teammates are engaged in puck battles or cycling the puck down low behind the red line. When he is in control of the puck, he has found a decent amount of success pinching up. He does a good job of securing possession of the puck, by positioning the puck along the boards and not exposing the puck to attackers coming towards him from open ice. Grudinin will pinch up and wire seam passes to his teammates in medium danger. If he runs out of real estate due to pressure, he has proven that quickly complete a pass to a teammate along the boards to ensure that the cycle remains alive. He can also pivot out of danger and lay down drop passes with ease. In situations in which he looks to want to bring the puck to the slot and the attacker takes away the skating lane to the slot by extending his stick blade out, Grudinin reacts quickly and finds a backup passing option. When he pinches up for a loose puck, he needs to be quicker to those pucks, so he doesn’t put his defensive partner in a situation where the attacker gains possession of the puck and quickly delivers a pass to a fellow attacker in the slot and Grudinin’s defensive partner has to shift over and defend against the puck carrier. If he can be a step or two quicker, he can pick up those loose pucks at the edge of the perimeter and keep the puck in the zone.
When it comes to his shot, he has tallied three goals during the season and one came on the power play. Unfortunately, the majority of the points came at the start of the season and he hasn’t scored a 5v5 goal since October 1, 2021. In a matchup against HC Almaz Cherepovets on September 28, 2021, he was been able to score a slap shot goal off of a face-off draw. Immediately after netting possession of the puck. His last 5v5 goal of the year came against HC Loko Yaroslavl on October 1, 2021. Grudinin has identified open ice at the perimeter, skated into the lane, captures possession of the puck off of a pass and quickly fires a shot from medium danger. Bar down goal. The clip of the goal can be found below.
Vladimir Grudinin (2022) gets one back for Krasnaya. Real nice shot from the defenseman #2022NHLDraft #MHL pic.twitter.com/6ReVjL3Mt7
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) October 1, 2021
When you look at his shot underneath the figurative microscope, you will notice that he has a quick release, but when shooting from further out beyond the perimeter, his accuracy isn’t as good as when he has found himself in situations in which he much closer to the net. The majority of his 5v5 shots come from the point and InStat indicated that only 43% of his shots from the point made it on net (data is from his 2021-2022 regular season play). Even though he takes a lot of shots from the point, he does look for higher percentage shooting lanes by entering into the slot and identifying open ice to key up passing lanes. That has led to quality shooting opportunities in which he tries to catch the goaltender off guard by going with a backdoor shot attempt right after capturing possession of the puck off of a pass.
A lot of his primary assists have come off of deflections in the slot, but there a few assists in which he carried the puck towards the face-off inner hashmarks and completed a seam pass to key up a goal for Krasnaya Armiya. He has the ability with his skating to create quality passing lanes by netting separation past attackers and getting himself into dangerous areas to key up those goals, but he doesn’t do it consistently. With that said, when you watch Russian junior hockey and hockey at the KHL level, it’s evident that defensemen have been told to play conservative and not pinch up. For instance, look at Vegas Golden Knights defensive prospect Daniil Chayka. His game completely changed when he played in Russia last season. He wasn’t trying to create opportunities down low and was relying on his shot from the point. So, while Grudinin hasn’t been as consistent with generating dangers down low, he has shown that he has a desire to pinch up and get more far more involved beyond the perimeter. Also, his passing is soft and crisp. With the combination of soft passing and a drive to pinch up, I do think the primary assists will come when he comes to North America.
Grudinin is excellent in his own zone. When defending against the rush, he is efficient at preventative defensive measures. When defending the F2 and he sees that the F1 has dumped the puck, he will use good upper body pressure by leaning towards the F2’s chest to slow him down when he is looking to skate for the retrieval.
In general, Grudinin deploys great tight gap control along the half-wall boards and stays well-aligned with the puck carrying attacker. If the attacker tries to deceptively deviate by pivoting, Grudinin still stays well aligned and pivots right away. When defending a puck carrying attacker, who seems to have the edge in terms of speed, he will cut in, use his shoulder to separate the attacker from the puck. Grudinin stays on his toes and when he notices that his defensive partner is tied up in a puck battle in the opposite corner, he will skate to the net. Should the attacker break free, he he has shown that he is effective at trapping the attacker with an active stick and then leaned in with his shoulder to complete a shoulder check. That allows Grudinin to separate the puck from the attacker. His active stick allows him to trap you and frustrate you. It allows him to put you in low danger and give you no way out. When you are struggling to break free, Grudinin steals the puck with a poke check. When he is at open ice defending against a forward who is trying to sneak past Grudinin on the way to the net, Grudinin manages to keep his stick blade aligned with the attacker’s stick-blade to ensure that the attacker doesn’t have a passing lane to utilize when he runs low on real estate. His active stick has also allowed him to knock players off of the puck when they are both going for a loose puck. In situations where he didn’t have the speed to get to the puck, his active stick has proven to be a good plan B as he extends the blade right on the attacker’s blade to cause disruption.
But, there are areas in his defensive game that need a bit more refinement. I went back and watched some of his goals against closely and I noticed that sometimes he struggled with decision making in 2 on 2 situations down low. One of the issues that I noticed is that he and his defensive partner both chose to cover the same puck carrying attacker and left the attacker without the puck open with a clear passing lane. Grudinin needs to improve his communication so that he and his defensive partners are aware of whom to cover. If his defensive partner is out of position and Grudinin is alone to defend two attackers, he needs to do a better job targeting the attacker with the puck when defending at net front, but keep himself centered so that he can take away any backdoor passing lanes as well.
In his gameplay at the KHL level, I noticed that he wasn’t very assertive at defending the slot. I’m confident that he will get to the point in which he will be more assertive with his stick to truly keep attackers out of the slow. But, there were situations in which he gave the attacker a little too much space in the outer edge of the slot and it lead to medium danger goals against. While I noticed this, this can be improved upon, it could just be Grudinin needing a little bit more time getting used to KHL gameplay and how assertive he truly needs to be.
In general, Grudinin has proven that he is very quick to puck movement, especially when he is looking to give his teammates an outlet passing option as he is constantly on his toes and keeps adjusting where he is to keep an open lane alive, but his speed to loose puck defensive recoveries doesn’t match up. He is usually one or two skate extensions too slow and leads to a lot of contested defensive recoveries. He has the pivoting to break loose, but if he is slightly faster to the puck then he doesn’t have to work around threats as soon as he picks up possession.
Like I mentioned earlier on, he does struggle with trapping possession of passes, but if he does capture the puck cleanly, he is usually very efficient at creating the rush. When he does have control of the puck and encounters an aggressive forecheck, he will use body language to be deceptive. For instance, he will shake his knees before turning in one direction to get the attacker guessing the direction that he intends to go with. That allows him to open up ice for himself and then complete a zone exit pass.
Not only does he have the deception to manipulate and create open lanes, but he is a very effective outlet passer. He will deliver crisp soft passes that are easy to corral and his delivery can be very quick especially when he pivots away from a threat to open up and use a tight passing lane to generate a zone exit. Grudinin has shown shift-in, shift-out, that he can be a reliable passer even when on the move. There is a lot to like about Grudinin’s ability to key up a rush and a lot of tricks in his tool-belt that he will use to secure a successful zone exit.
Grudinin engages the rush defensively right before his defensive zone blue line and swallows the attack against the boards. He will lowers and widen himself closer at the defensive zone blue line to take away a lot of space for the puck carrier so he makes a rushed pass or dump.
If Grudinin isn’t facing the puck carrying attacker, that doesn’t mean that he can’t quickly get in position to do so. His forward skate extensions allow him to find the necessary acceleration to trap the attacker before the attacker can get into the offensive zone. There are situations in which it doesn’t truly stop the attacker from entering into the zone, but as mentioned in his defensive play, he does have an excellent active stick that he can leverage to trap attackers.
In his KHL play, I noticed that he struggled to truly shut down larger opponents with more upper body strength than he was used to defending at the MHL level. The attack managed to get around his shoulder check attempt along the boards and keep possession of the puck, but Grudinin hangs in there and defends the attacker well by positioning himself right at the attacker. Even though the attacker might stay in motion, his gap control allows Grudinin to keep the attacker glued to the boards.
When Grudinin is in control of the puck in the neutral zone, he can utilize his stick-handling to move the puck with ease around attackers who are extending out their stick to try to take away lanes for Grudinin to exploit. Not only can he be shifty with the puck on his stick, but he also has excellent puck protection. He will positions the puck towards the boards with his backhand which allows him to secure the puck away from the attacker putting pressure on him. Grudinin also won’t shy away from using his back to push the attacker slightly away from him when Grudinin is in control of the puck and has his back turned to the attacker.
If he runs into traffic at open ice, Grudinin will double back, turn and then completed a cross ice pass to a teammate with plenty of open ice. Should he get into a traffic jam at the offensive zone blue line, he dumps the puck quickly to key up a dump and chase. He isn’t someone who will force the puck into sticky situations.
Grudinin’s crossovers are truly impressive and are a joy to watch. He will deploy great crossovers when skating backwards in transition to give him the necessary acceleration to keep pace with the rush. Grudinin nets good speed with his lateral crossovers that allows him to trap attackers when defending in the neutral zone at the Krasnaya Armiya blue line. His crossovers allow him to move over to the forward skating along the boards quickly if he is slightly out of position. When he wants to transition from backward skating to forward skating and build up acceleration, he will use quality lateral crossovers to build up the speed before using a forward stride extension.
Grudinin has great posture. Keeps his knees bent and his chest lowered. When utilizing his edges, he continues to keep his knees bent and retain the speed that he built up before initiating a turn. Not only is he a really good with his edges and posture, but he is extremely good at shifting his hips, pivoting, shifting his edges and gets a quality hop off of his edges to react to puck movement quickly in the neutral zone. His pivoting also allows him to buy himself open ice when facing tight pressure and it allows him to react accordingly to the puck carrying opposition when they pivot in front of him.
As explained a few times, he has good speed to loose pucks, but he slows down his stride extensions / crossovers too early and that leads to more contested defensive recoveries. However, he does possess an excellent forward stride with quality ankle flexion. His forward stride can bail him out if he is out of position and needs to come back to the defensive zone in a hurry. Grudinin has the straight line speed to get back in position, maintain quality pressure as he can stay toe to toe with attackers and it allows him to be dangerous at getting separation away from pressure when he has the puck on his stick.
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.
April 28, 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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Photo Credit: Rena Laverty
Scouting Report written by Austin Garrett
Sometimes when you’re scouting a player there is another player on the opposing team that catches your eye out of your peripherals and you make a note to check on them later. When watching a late September USNTDP game against the Fargo Force I came away impressed with the opposing center who seemed to always be the facilitator for anything good Fargo was doing. That player was Cole Knuble.
Cole Knuble spent the last five years primarily playing for the Fox Motors AAA organization out of Byron Center, Michigan. Last year he played a few games with the NTDP U17 program and one game with the U18 program as well. Knuble was selected to the USHL with the 57th pick in the Phase I 2020 draft.
D.O.B – July 1, 2004
Nationality – USA
Draft Eligibility – 2022
Height –5’10″
Weight –175 lbs
Position –Center/Right Wing
Handedness – Right
I would say the strength of Knuble’s game is that he is the engine of everything that happens for Fargo at even strength. It is not shocking to me that of players that have scored more than 25 points according to pick224 he sits 5th in the USHL in the percentage of points scored as primary points. He’s ahead of such names as: Logan Cooley, Rutger McGroarty, Adam Ingram, and others in this department.
The strength of Knuble is the way he processes the game. He’s quick to identify teammates in the offensive zone, knows both his strengths and his weaknesses, and moves to dangerous areas of the ice when he doesn’t have the puck. He is quick to read when he needs to support his teammates along the wall to relieve pressure, finding soft spots within the defensive structure to receive a pass, or move into dangerous areas of the ice for his wrist shot.
The same can be said is his strength in transition. He’s at his best identifying line-mates at the blue line to spring them for rushes or make sure his team maintains control of the entry into the zone.
Cole Knuble is one of my personal favorites that I'm rooting for in the 2022 draft. A great give-and-go and leads to a high danger shot by Link pic.twitter.com/m63cPR0e3B
— Austin (@BMaster716) April 16, 2022
As the center he acts very much as a puck transporter in exits, although he can struggle to maintain control through the neutral zone on a blue line to blue line rush. He is very good at finding passing lanes through the neutral zone, but lacks the separation speed and puck skill to be able to maneuver his way through the defense. However, when he does get through, you can see how he springs his forwards again for a rush.
Knuble is constantly making plays like this for Fargo. He drives the bus in transition, and EVERYTHING that happens on his line happens through him. There's a reason why 30/37 points are primary points per pick224. pic.twitter.com/s92L0jGf9g
— Austin (@BMaster716) April 16, 2022
At the USHL level he’s slightly above average in my data set for overall controlled transitions at 67%. The majority of his successful exits are as a pass receiver at the blue line or near the blue to carry out. A lot of his struggles come from when he tries to transition the puck out of the zone on his own as his separation speed and agility isn’t very good at the USHL level. Similarly, his entries don’t go very deep into the offensive zone when he’s carrying the puck for the same reasons. Opponents are able to get on top of him very easily and he’s forced to give up the puck, or Gretzky-turn to relieve pressure and pass back to the point.
However, given the limitations that his skating presents, it’s almost remarkable how he’s able to work around it to be a productive USHL player. He’s in the top 10 for shots per game for draft eligible players in the USHL, and in my data set, 67% of his shots were coming from dangerous parts of the ice at even strength. He’s also connecting on 66.67% of his dangerous pass attempts. The brain to be able to make productive plays is there even if his skating is holding him back.
Knuble doesn't have the power to beat goalies from distance often, but when he's in close he's got sneaky good accuracy pic.twitter.com/63Wnj9zmHj
— Austin (@BMaster716) April 16, 2022
He is a constant scanner of the ice. He processes his surrounding areas very well and is quick to move the puck and see passing lanes. While his puck skill isn’t high-end, a lot of that is due to his inability to separate. In small area situations he’s able to protect the puck and then move it to a position to maintain possession and then quickly find outlets to relieve pressure. I’d like to see an ability to escape pressure situations more often with the puck on his stick, however he does find ways to keep plays alive and the puck moving.
I don’t often address skating as its own section in scouting reports because the nuances of skating are plentiful, and as long as the player can move about the ice at NHL pace then I only address what is high-end or deficient with their skating mechanics.
With Knuble I’m making an exception because it is, by far, the one thing holding him back in this draft process.
Another game…same thing pic.twitter.com/zyVyg1QqSW
— Austin (@BMaster716) April 16, 2022
There’s a lot to unpack with Knuble’s skating and I believe with proper development could be overcome. The most obvious skating technique that has to be fixed is his posture within his stride and and the length of his stride. He can either be standing upright trying to break into his three-step agility skating or he’ll bend over at the waist to try to make up for his poor start off the blocks. By not having proper knee bending and posture he shortens his stride and loses power, as well as by hunching over reduces the amount of blade that makes contact to the ice. These two compounding factors greatly reduce the energy needed to make an efficient skater.
His crossovers aren’t clean and do not generate power coming through the completion of each crossover. Instead it can look like he’s about to lose his balance (and does more times than I’d like to see) when trying to do so at a high pace. He lacks balance on his edges and gets knocked around far too much on the ice.
As fellow Smaht Scout Josh Tessler also made me aware of: this impacts his decision making on loose pucks. Often realizing that he lacks the foot speed or lateral mobility to maneuver if he were to win the puck battle; Knuble will oftentimes slow up and play defense as opposed to being hard on the puck.
One of the traits I love about Knuble’s defensive zone play is that he is always scanning the ice as a center. When pucks go into the corners he will look before engaging to know where players are on the ice and move himself into positions if the puck battle is lost to mitigate any odd-man situation that could develop from the play.
He often plays as the high F3 on the forecheck and his scanning and awareness allow him to be able to put pressure on outlet passes as well as break up zone exit attempts. While his size along the boards (as well as balance issues talked about above) keep him being a truly impactful player there; he does a good job of pressuring play at those junctures before most forwards have the opportunity to scan and read where the next pass should go.
Like his father he doesn’t shy away from the physicality of playing in front of the net, and battles hard to move players out from rebound areas. He is always in puck support in the defensive zone, and thus earning a prominent role on the penalty kill as well where he’s able to use all of his strengths of reading plays, scanning passing options, and admirable tenaciousness to clear pucks.
I can see a world where Cole Knuble is seen as a late-2nd to 3rd round pick, and I also can see a world where he’s a 6th or 7th round pick. His skating is going to be the biggest talking point when NHL General Managers and their scouting departments get together to assess his draft position.
My own biases love the game Knuble plays. He thinks the game so well off the puck, he processes under pressure very well with the puck, and gets to areas of the ice where goals are scored. He is the catalyst of everything good that happens on his line in Fargo. He’s able to jumpstart transitions, thread passes to open teammates, and make a quick small area move to free up a passing lane. Like I said earlier: even through four games and the ancillary viewing of an NTDP game he’s still the one making everything happen. Despite the skating limitations.
I’ve landed on that he’s a project I’d be willing to bet on. He’ll play in the USHL for another year before going to the NCAA (currently committed to Notre Dame for the 2023-24 season). He’s a July birthday, and a lot of the aspects to his game that he needs to work on are mechanical. I hesitate to label him as a center given his skating issues, but if they improve drastically he could play there in college and in the pros. I’d label him more as a right wing as of now, and ideally I’d like him to be the fourth player coming off my board if I were an NHL team, but could see myself swinging on him in the late third depending on the quality of my team and/or prospect pool.
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!