Talent Left Behind at the 2016 Draft

“A winger with great puck-skills. His deking ability is high-end and he has good deception with the puck. Both his shots and his passes are difficult to read. His wrist shot, in particular, can be challenging to stop as he’s capable of shooting lasers while looking in a different direction or while in his mid-stride.”

“Kuznetsov is a tank. He’s big, strong, and tough to knock down or take the puck away from. He’s very strong down low, doing a lot of work below the hash marks. He has good positioning in the offensive zone and knows where to go to receive passes, getting his nose dirty in front of the net if there’s a rebound there.”

“Gleason has excellent skating ability and can get pretty fancy with the puck. Unfortunately sometimes he’ll get a little too fancy and won’t complete the play he’s attempting to make. At his best when using his quick hands and feet to exploit lanes, as he is very capable of completing an end to end rush. His passing ability is inconsistent. He has a lot of skill to his game, but he is extremely inconsistent from shift to shift. He will be a project, but one who has the tools and the upside to possibly make the NHL one day.”

“Burke is quick-footed and slippery around the net. To call Burke a playmaker would be an understatement. He’s so first-pass by mentality that there are games where it seems like he hardly even considers to shoot. Another specialty is Burke’s zone entry ability. Strong crossover technique gives him advanced east-to-west quickness and allow Burke to put opposition defencemen off balance.”

“Speed and skating are the strongest part of Davidson’s game, he shows agile footwork and strong opening strides that explode from a standstill. Mobility is obvious and shifty, works up the ice with ease and uses sharp lateral cut to avoid traffic. Not the most physically engaging player in front of the net, prefers to use his stick to pick pucks and tie up attackers. He is quite good at relieving pressure and starting transition through open ice.”

“Plays the game at a fast pace and has a quick understanding of his options. He seems constantly ready to shoot as he moves towards the slot and it doesn’t take much time for his dangerous right-handed shot to get off. Consistently brings the effort and competes hard in puck battles, partially making up for size limitations.”

“A diligent center who has a decent if lanky frame-size, a big shot and plays a mature game. Strong in the face-off circles. Reichel makes smart reads when opening up for pucks and can also distribute the puck well, while not being terribly flashy. Likes to use his slapshot. On the PP he can let it rip from the left circle with his right shot… has shown good power and accuracy behind it with a slowly rising shot that gets through.”

Tim Wahlgren is one such player to meet the thresholds for the 51% rule — a group highlighted by likely first-round picks in Grundstrom and Rasmus Asplund. That’s impressive company to keep, especially as the 87th ranked European skater. Then again, one could reasonably quibble with that ranking based on his showing at the U18 tournament, where Wahlgren posted six goals in seven games.

“Finds ways to produce though his instincts. Wahlgren isn’t a powerful net-crasher, but does a good job operating around the posts and in front of the net. He has good finishing ability and can score in those situations. Even though Wahlgren has good vision and hands, he is severely limited by his skating.”

“Fortier is a good skater. He can give opposing teams headaches with his speed while entering the zone, and he has the ability to blow past defenders. He does have some attributes that could make him a good penalty killer, such as his anticipation and speed that make him a threat to score shorthanded. His hockey sense is average, as he doesn’t always make the right decision with the puck and his positional game could be better in the defensive zone. He has a good nose for the net and quick hands.”

“An undersized forward with excellent speed. He is extremely shifty and very difficult to contain. Capable of both creating offense and has above average vision and good passing ability. Will take the puck to the net fearlessly when he has a seam. His skill level warrants top six upside if he can reach his potential and overcome his size.”

“A hard player to read because he does everything at a high pace and switches gears in the blink of an eye. He’s very slippery coming out of the corners or off the walls. Mobility, creativity, puck skill, and pure offensive prowess are qualities that come to the forefront when watching Babenko.”