The raw skating and explosivity was what I noted most with Whelan. With a few strong strides off he went up ice, blazing by his opponents and at top speeds he could easily shift direction if necessary. He’s strong and balanced on his feet, and has all those baseline skating skills you’re looking for in a top end player. Due to his skating, he was consistently pushing the pace through the neutral zone and dictating transitions, often creating chances off the rush. Whether it was attacking the middle himself or smart passes, he was driving chance after chance for this Red Devils side. A really strong performance from undoubtedly one of the top players in the class.

There were some nice involvements from Lauchlan Whelan throughout this game, I thought his puck handling ability stood out and he was able to use his agility to sidestep defenders effectively and create himself a bit of open space. He used his speed well and looked to jumpstart attacks by pushing up the wings and finding passing lanes to the center of the ice. His overall involvement wasn’t maybe as impactful, but he showed good flashes of ability that lead me to believe he has more to offer.