Big Brantford centre who is a solid two way playermaker and a smart, strong backchecker with has size and excellent instincts all over the ice. He is more of North-South skater but still manages to be a play driver and move at a quick pace. An accurate passer who can zip the biscuit to the open man. Appears smart and deceptive in his handles, and has a good shot. Displays excellent vision and his hands have a lot to do with his lofty ranking. Within the areas close to the blue paint he excels with his opportunistic capabilities to score excessively with his truly gifted shot and situational IQ. You will see highlight after highlight of his scoring prowess on highlights and you will be a gifted goal scorer when you see his quick shots and abilities to get them off. There are a bit fewer clips of him setting things up with his legs or on quick speed bursts. I try to imagine him as an NHLer and question his current pace, and how it translates. He is a great balanced skater who has the drive to use his quick short area quickness to work behin d the net, ancipipate where the puck should go next and deliver it. It very good to see him get in the scoring areas and slowing things down and then executing. To me, he is one of the more polarizing prospects in the draft;I don’t see him going off the board where more have him. His present skills simply don’t translate as a NHLer yet. Lacks any dynamic qualities. He has trouble in the faceoff dot. Tall and skinny, and it is in his interest to play with more physicality, speed, and general power. His skating limits his ability to cover ice and catch up to opponents. He’s a bit late on his man. He needs to get much stronger, and develop more offensive skills that make him more relevant in the faster pro game. A great kid but still a developmental player who will need some time to figure it out.
. –Bill Płaczek–
