Coming off a strong showing at the most recent Tier 1 MAHA Showcase, Anthony Valenti is one of the premiere offensive blueliners within the class, getting heavily involved in offense and transitional plays, assisting in elevating the pace of play for his team with HoneyBaked. He’s an incredibly evasive puck handler with excellent edgework and power, he can pull in checkers with ease only to change direction and explode away with good footspeed and power to his steps. Working high in the offensive zone, he’s very deceptive in this sense, outwaiting over-aggressive checkers, firing off last-second passes with some solid accuracy, and or simply beating the aggressive defender 1-on-1 with a slick move through his man, enabling him to walk into the high slot for a good look at the net. The dynamism he owns is some of the best in the class from the blueline, and at any given moment he may pull off a series of quick pivots, turns, and cuts that create some space for himself and or his teammates. Currently listed at 5’8, and 148lbs, he certainly isn’t the biggest of blueliners, yet he plays with some good strength to make up for it. He isn’t afraid of physical conflict and holds his own in battles along the wall and in the corners against larger opponents. He understands body positioning and leverage well and with an accurate stick to pull pucks from scrums, he does a good job at regaining possession for his team in these 50-50 puck battles. In his own end he’s trusted to fulfill his assignments, and upon regaining control of the puck he does a good job at skating it out of trouble, along with being quick to identify an out. In the face of pressure as he works out of his defensive end, he does a great job remaining calm and in control, rarely ever getting overwhelmed, and never overcomplicating things, opting for the safe and simple play if needed to help slow things down. The size will be a detractor for Valenti regardless of how well he may show it to not be a factor, but every blueline nowadays tends to have a defender on the smaller side but who excels with the puck, and if the NTDP is looking for that option, Anthony Valenti may be a great choice.

Valenti quickly asserted himself as one of the more impactful and dynamic skaters for this HoneyBaked squad, picking up a hat-trick on day 1 of the showcase and continuing his strong all-around play in the games that followed. His dynamism stemmed from his fluid yet explosive skating ability as it allowed him to be such an effective puck carrier, most notably inside the offensive blue line where his combination of quick direction changes and explosive lateral bursts made him a very difficult player for opposing forecheckers to contain as he often found creative ways to shake off pressure with the legs before driving play towards the middle of the ice. Not only was he able to get himself to the right spots on the ice with the puck but the crisp execution of passing plays in all three zones along with his quick and powerful release made him a lethal player with the puck on his stick inside the offensive blue line, registering 4 goals and 6 points in 3 games. I thought he was able to remain just as impactful on the defensive side of the puck with strong rush breakups, using powerful lateral pushes to eliminate opponents cutting towards the middle or streaking down the wing along with an impressive deal of physicality and perseverance to win battles along the boards and quickly gets plays moving in the right direction.

Valenti was one of my favorite players at this camp on any team. He ended the event with only two assists but was outstanding in the offensive zone. His skating and skill was on full display seemingly every game and he always stood out right away. His best attribute in my opinion is his skating as he showed impressive agility and shiftiness far beyond most others. At the blue line his deception with the puck and skating made for some great plays and that’s where he was at his best. I also really liked that Valenti was always getting up in the rush with the forwards, he was very smart about when he would rush up the ice. One of my favorite plays from Valenti was in the game against Team Royal Blue, he made two plays at the blueline in a short amount of time that was pretty eye opening. He was breaking ankles at the blue line the whole tournament and it was really fun to watch. Valenti was the best defender on his team for me in this tournament. He was great in all three zones but really shined on the breakout and in the offensive zone.

As dynamic as ever, Anthony Valenti’s impact moving the puck, carrying the puck in transition, and setting up teammates with heads-up reads through passing lanes was unmatched. His work in the offensive zone walking the line is his bread-and-butter. The footwork, pace, level of thinking, and raw skill makes him difficult to contain, the dynamism in which he gets his teammates involved with, rotating around the zone allows quick puck movement, which ultimately opens up some lanes to the middle for scoring chances. His evasion and pep-in-his-step is of great use on the breakout, rarely do you ever see Valenti get cornered or pressured to the point where he coughs up on the puck, he is confident, quick, and calculated exiting his zone, whether it be under his own power or with a breakout pass up ice. Exiting his own zone he occasionally continued to skate the puck into the offensive zone, changing direction, he could get defenders both on their heels and turned around, giving him more room to work with in addition to his forwards on the offensive rush. The multidirectional skating ability he has makes him a stimy defensive player, particularly in denying zone entries, he matches speed and overwhelm puck carriers with speed of his own often, keeping the puck out of his end.

The lone defenseman from the Gray group that stood out to me was Anthony Valenti, and with this being my first view of the 2009 class it was already pretty clear that he has some good traits and defensive habits. He maintained a very strong defensive position and with his active stick in passing lanes he was able to prevent passes from getting through his area. He read the opposition’s intentions fairly well and showed a quick step to get forward and intercept a couple of passes. He looked solid in the offensive zone as well, getting some pucks to the net from the point with strong wrist shots that made their way through traffic.

Valenti was a little quieter in this game than others at this event. Known for his exceptional vision and patience, he still demonstrated with his knack for breaking out plays effectively. His defensive contributions were solid; whenever his team needed to clear the puck, he was reliable in banking it out or finding open teammates. Despite not showcasing too much flash at the point, he delivered a strong performance in a game focused on defensive prowess.

Valenti was outstanding in this game as well. His stick handles at the point in this game had the crowd in awe at times. Valenti very rarely gave up the puck in this one as once it was on his stick it was only leaving it if he wanted it to. Valenti’s edgework was also on display in this game as his skating is much better than most at his age. On multiple occasions he was able to out-skate the opposing player which would usually lead to a great scoring chance for his team. Valenti also excelled on the powerplay having two beautiful passes through traffic that ended up right on his teammate’s stick.

I loved how he built power with long strides and powerful first few crossovers. It allowed him a little more space in all three zones with or without the puck to adjust. He could move down low off OZ faceoffs and use his footwork to try and work pucks low to high after cycling deeper. His pivots were crisp, his exit passes were solid, and he even rehandled in motion when surveying the landscape of his transition passes up ice. Later on in the game he had some moments where he bobbled pucks or was too aggressive on his outlet lead passes to the neutral zone but I liked the thought at least. His execution came from cut backs in his own zone off retrievals to shake the first layer of forecheck and push into the middle.