In my early season views, Denys Lupandin was the most advanced defender I saw out of the Saskatchewan leagues. He’s already 170 lbs and played with strength and explosion all over the ice. In these games, he was showing powerful chances laterally with stops and using his agility to be adaptive and illusive behind his own net. I thought he had quicker cut backs, quality decision making, and understood how to at least create medium danger plays like well timed dumps ins, shots for rebounds in good space, and drawing pressure to the point before dishing to the wings. I liked his big windup one timer, his end to end rush attempts while pushing through layers, and his long skating stride to recover defensively or fire crisp stretch passes. I would have liked to see him finish off a couple plays or really dominate with longer possession plays against some of the competition but overall I think he showed that his strong play in U18 games this season isn’t a fluke. He’s a really well-rounded defender with a high floor.

A big and rangy defender who can honestly do laps around the outside of the offensive zone and not be touched at times. He can make drag moves in the front pocket, easily and confidently moving past opponents, and can spring the rush with smart outlet passes or take it himself. I thought his shot whip from the exterior showed nicely in the brief moments I caught as well as a three-quarter slapper that got good velocity low for rebounds. Throw in his ability to step up for big body checks and recover really easily with his skating and there were moments I thought he was the best player I’d seen overall. It always takes way more views for me to fully understand the ups and downs of a defender but he made it very easy to like his skillset.