It wasn’t his best showing, but Sgro flashes his offensive ambition through this game. He was walking the line with confidence, pulling defenders out of positions, and creating chances through his willingness to handle the puck in the offensive third. If there was an opportunity to walk in, Adrian was penetrating the open space and getting shots from premium positions. He showed his usual transition and puck-moving impact, but I thought the primary storyline was his involvement in the offence, controlling the flow of sequences and setting things up on the attack.

Sgro’s smooth skating was once again really impressive. He can cover so much ice with a few powerful strides, all while having the lateral mobility to shift direction and pivot without losing any momentum. He showed his usual on-puck confidence, carrying pucks up ice, exploding through the neutral zone and having a few impressive end-to-end rushes, leveraging his skating well to drive play. Sgro connected on a handful of long stretch passes up ice, springing fast breaks and turning plays around quickly. Adrian has all the tools to take over a game, and that’s what I saw from him over this one and what puts him near the top of the class.

Given I caught them in pre-season action I only watched Vaughan once over the Toronto Titans Tournament and Sgro was solid as I’ve come to expect. The mobility and puck-moving were once again the main themes in this viewing, always using his feet to escape pressure and give him time and space to make plays up ice. Transitions and breakouts were so easy with Adrian commanding them, always finding ways to push play through the neutral zone with control. Sgro set up a beauty, with a clever little behind the back touch pass to an open teammate in the slot. It’s early on in the season, but I’ve greatly enjoyed my early views of Sgro and look forward to seeing his progression over the year.

I’ve watched Sgro plenty since starting to get to know the 2010 group, and every view thus far has been filled with impressive moments of showcasing his mobility, being aggressive defensively, and making smart decisions to move pucks up ice. I’ve seen flashes of his offensive ability, but in this game I really started to see the wheels turning for what he is capable of in the offensive zone. There were just a ton of sequences where I saw the offensive creativity to move pucks across the ice to open teammates, rotate around the offensive zone, and control the possession until he could spark a scoring chance. He connected on so many impressive passes through gaps, setting up chance after chance, and demonstrating an all-around high-end offensive package. Adding this offensive output to the strong foundation in the physical tools and skating makes for a really promising player.

I saw Sgro play some games here and there with the '09 Vaughan Kings last season, so I already had a rough idea of what his game was all about, but this was my first real chance to evaluate him. His combination of composure and mobility was what impressed me the most here, as almost every time he had the puck, Adrian showed that confidence and patience I'm always looking for in a defender. He always seemed to have the lateral footwork to shake an oncoming forechecker, create space for himself, and make a play up ice. The way his handling and footwork worked in tandem to escape and turn plays around was what stood out to me in the initial evaluation of the Vaughan Kings defender, showcasing some of the high-end tools to his game.