The NHL Draft is upon us which means 2006-born and 2007-born players might hear their name called. I thought it would be fun to look back at their draft profiles for the WHL Draft and see what their strengths and weaknesses were at the time. Each of these players have progressed their games to a point where they are a potential top-3 round projection on many public lists. Let’s look at what was written about them at the time to see where they’ve succeeded.

 

2022 WHL Draft Final Reports

 

Jackson Smith - LHD

Projectable Skills - Physical, Skating stride, Aggressive, Transition play, Shot
Development Opportunities - Defensive reads and detail, Mature the aggression. Puck decisions.

Jackson is quite easily the most physically developed player available in the 2022 WHL Draft. His strides are long, powerful, explosive from a standstill, and he has the reaction time and shiftiness in his inside edges to see the pressure coming and adapt with quick shifts in transition and dragging the puck laterally to his full reach. His playing style is aggressive in every sense of the meaning. If you are coming into his zone with your head down or with a predictable pathway, he will step up and hit you a high percentage of the time. He looks to separate players as they enter his blueline and force them to adjust laterally or dump in the puck early. Jackson has a heavy slapshot, heavy wrist shot, loves to transition the puck by himself when he can, but can play a give and go style where he’s feeding the wing and pushing through the middle. He uses those same evasion tactics in the neutral zone as he uses on retrievals and outlets. The good part is he keeps his posture open and his head up but sometimes by not turning away from the play he leaves himself open to stick pokes and turnovers. It is the aggressive style which can win you games or leave you out of position at times. He has all the individual elements you are looking for in a high-end defenseman but will need to mature a bit of his aggression and just work on some of his positioning in the defensive zone. Jackson projects as a number one defenseman who plays in all situations.

 

Cole Reschny - C

Projectable Skills - Offensive Creativity, Shot release, Adaptability
Development Opportunities - Lengthen his stride, size and strength

Cole is the kind of player who is always in the mix of things. He is capable of poking pucks loose, keeping plays alive, and moving pucks positively since his awareness is excellent. It means he can be the puck carrier through the neutral zone and the capable attacking threat moving with speed or the shot-first forward who slips into supportive positioning or net front space to attack. His release is quick, decisive, and when he’s carrying the puck he can certainly dip his shoulder and change his release angle with accuracy. He’s consistently dangerous and has all the skills to adapt and succeed at the WHL level as a dual playmaker and goal scorer. There are things to continue to work on to make him more dangerous against size and strength so that he can protect the puck in transition and create separation against bigger opponents but that should develop in time. Continue to work on the depth of his cuts, holding pucks at the fullness of his reach, and just overall size and strength things to maximize the potential. Cole projects as a top-line C.

 

Cameron Schmidt - W

Projectable Skills - Skating stride, Wrist Shot release
Development Opportunities - Expand on team-style attack off the rush

Cameron has the ability to break a game wide open on the strength of his wrist shot release. No matter if it is U15 or U18, he always seems to be moving and opening his hips with the intent to catch and shoot from the slot or the left side. Cameron is also a very strong overall skater which includes powerful turns, full strength individual strides, and uses crossovers to attack by changing the angles on entries. Cameron is a shoot-first forward and loves to attack off the rush and lower his shoulder and cut back to the middle if he feels he has a step on a defender. He definitely isn’t afraid of going to high traffic areas or having the puck on his stick in big moments. I think he does a terrific job of getting pucks through by changing his release shot with little drag moves and shooting for the corners. I have no doubt that he is going to be a prolific scorer at the WHL level and hopefully gets to play with a high-end playmaker who can set him up for finishing chances in all situations. I found in the U15 playoffs, there were moments where it looked as if he was trying to take over the game and maybe ignored some team-style attack plays. He loves to shoot and has that shooter's mentality though which isn’t something I’d wanna change.

 

Braeden Cootes - C

Projectable Skills - High IQ, Quick hands, Changes of pace
Development Opportunities - Skating stride

This is a player who continued to grow on me as the year went along because I could see how his tactics were consistently the difference maker in games. Despite a slight heel kick, and maybe not the depth or length of stride as some others in this class, it does not hinder Braedan at joining/leading the rush, pushing players off stride from the corners, or exploding into high traffic areas with slick cuts. He has an advanced knowledge of puck control, can change pace and slow down tempo, re-evaluate situations with possession, and drag pucks through his reach to evade. I’ve seen him use touch passes, re-directions, great timed-passes, and drop passing to teammates. I think he gives you a little bit of flash and a lot of consistency in his game and if you let him get into high danger areas off the rush or through slot passes, he has pinpoint accuracy on his wrist shot, and the finesse to tuck it fivehole or far side backhand. I don’t think he is very far off the top of this group as far as two-way potential and offensive creativity.

 

Nathan Behm - RW

Projectable Skills - Puck Control, Wrist Shot, Inside Edges
Development Opportunities - Defense, Physicality

Here we have a true RW who is capable of shifting to receive passes with his longer strides. He can dip a little lower in his turns while maintaining high-end balance in all directions. He does this by keeping a steady level to his skating stride. I found that he weaves in and out while cutting through the neutral zone and can deliver passes with simple flick of the stick motions which add to his deception. You’ll rarely find him panicking under pressure and can adjust to physical pressure on the outside, stick lifts, and maintain a gap for his puck control by continuing to drift outwards until passing lanes open. There were moments of feather passes, off puck timing to drive the lanes, and real top-end lateral cuts both with and without the puck. It appears there is no limit to how sharp of a push he can get on his inside edges. He’s an elite offensive player who can certainly work on his effort level defensively to backcheck and turn around opportunities. While that ability to drift to keep possession is useful, I’m sure coaches will want him to be more aggressive towards the middle of the ice since he can still maintain that reach.

 

2021 WHL Draft Final Reports

 

Lynden Lakovic - C/W

Projectable Skills - Size, Reach, Finesse passing, Shot release.
Development Opportunities - Skating pathways, Initial Acceleration

If the actual draft happened back in the spring, I think Lynden would have been taken way down the line somewhere. You could imagine maybe a third round pick or something. The added development time has allowed him to absolutely sprout up physically and let him use the length of his skating stride as an explosion tool when moving laterally. In the summer, there wasn’t anyone who made more pronounced cuts laterally than Lynden. This meant that he had space to shoot off the rush, always. As long as his linemates had the time and control to build speed through the neutral zone, Lynden was incredibly dangerous. He’s shown such incredible high-end flashes of finesse, reaction timing, and his shot release in stride, but still needs a lot of refining positionally. Due to his first few strides not being as powerful as they could be, he relies more on maintaining speed through turns and wider swoops which take him out of the play too often. With great coaching and individual development, we could look back on this draft and see Lynden as the home run selection. I’m certainly rooting for him.

 

Roger McQueen - C

Projectable Skills - Size, Puck Control, Playmaking from his reach
Development Opportunities - Agility, timing shot release

Roger is the first true forward pick of the draft where you are taking him based on the potential he possesses. Rarely do you find someone who is 6’4 and can control the puck at the fullness of his reach with finesse like Roger can. He is able to swallow up plays sometimes through a forecheck or in the neutral zone simply because his reach and hand-eye coordination allow him to. Most of his scoring elements exist in spades right now. He’s got quality reach to be able to stick handle in tight spaces. He also possesses good whip on his shot release which shows some added deception from his length. He was on a stacked lineup in the summer tournaments in Regina and it seemed like the speed of his hands and his gap control reads to execute plays were a bit off. Routinely, players were able to get sticks on his shot attempts or in the lane to foil his attempts. The prime of his game happens in the middle of the ice through 5on5 by using his reach and anticipation to solve the problem of forecheckers that want to strip him of the pucks in the neutral zone. He still has issues with that escapability but his size and his pace of play improving gives him such a high potential factor comparative to his peers. If his reaction time and execution can increase, he could become a very dangerous top-line C at the WHL level down the line. Swing for the fences on the potential for this one but it might take until he’s 18 or 19 to see the true growth developing.