This winger has good hands and flashy moves, and his shooting is evident on all viewings. He has some edginess and abundant physicality to his play. Has shone pace off the rush, taking pucks at his feet and moving to quickly attack space. Although I would prefer him to build on his on the fly shooting, he relies heavily on his ability to out-pace defenders. He plays a complete 200 foot game, solid in all three zones, with committed back check effort, solid tools defending, in-zone break-ups, steals on te forecheck and physically landing hits on the backcheck and angling out rushes into the wall. I wouldn’t call him a driver, as he lacks that kind of explosiveness , and over-handles many a puck, and lacked the explosiveness to maximize his dekes. Will he linger outside the first round?His inconsistant pace and urgency level tends to raise questions about his anticipation and how he reads situations and players’ positioning. He must continue to improve the precision in his playmaking and passing decisions. This might start casting him as a top nine support player, as opposed to a real puck driver. So, he may be playing a complementary third-line role in the NHL if the physicality appears every night. He has the tools to play this game in the NHL and has the ability to play up & down the forward lines and be effective.
—Bill Placzek—
