Easily the most dominant defenseman on the ice for HoneyBaked this tournament, Lapan has almost everything I'm looking for in a defenseman. He has notable physical tools and strength for his age, solid skating and transition involvement, good puck skills, and a seeing-eye shot that led to him having 4 goals and 7 points throughout the 3-game tournament. I came away thinking that Lapan has the best blueprint for a future impact defenseman on this HoneyBaked team. He could stand to get more agile and explosive in his skating, helping him get to top speed quicker and shutting down attackers faster. But outside of that, Lapan has many exciting tools and aspects to his game, and I see good reason to be optimistic about him looking forward.

Honeybaked defenseman Max Lappan was someone who I thought was solid in the MAHA Showcase, he found ways to get involved on the offensive side of the puck by weaponizing his vision. He did well to identify passing lanes and was effective in getting the puck down low to his teammates, and he quickly followed his passes into the space in front of him and looked for chances in and around the slot. He was a smooth skater navigating the neutral zone and was able to gain the attacking end himself on a number of occasions and set the offense up. He was an effective auxiliary forward on the rush and was able to find space down low to get shooting chances in tight, and his teammates continued to look for him when he made those darting moves towards the net. He was tough to beat for opposing puck carriers as well, using his stick well to dislodge the puck and then quickly smother them with his size. He leveraged his size well and put a stop to plays along the boards well, and he was consistently able to win puck battles and earn possession back for his team.

Max Lappan was a player who caught my eye pretty quickly in my viewings of Honeybaked during the Kings of Spring event. He immediately stood out as an offensive threat from the blue line, he showed good attacking instincts and was able to effectively generate shots from the point and did well to ensure they would get through to goal by using his mobility to maneuver the line and find open shooting lanes. He followed up on his shooting chances by stepping in from the point and looking to capitalize on his own rebounds, and found other moments where he was able to creep down low in the attacking zone to get higher quality chances. He displayed a very good shot, powerful, accurate, and was quick to release it once he got himself into a dangerous shooting area. He was a crisp distributor of the puck and helped facilitate the play in the offensive zone and quickly find the open man before the defenders were able to close him down. I thought he was strong on the defensive side of the puck as well, closing down passing and shooting lanes effectively and maintaining an active stick to force play wide or intercept passes looking to get through to the slot. He was effective in dispossessing the opposition with his well-timed poke checking and he was quick to turn up the ice and gallop through the neutral zone and enter the attacking zone.