I came away from this camp thoroughly impressed with Marquardt’s game and a genuine excitement to see how he develops this season. He possesses high-end athleticism, skating ability and instincts which he uses to consistently shutdown plays in transition by keeping a good gap and forcing attackers to the outside before rubbing them out along the boards. Even when did get turned around off the rush, his long stride and recovery mechanics allowed him to backtrack hard on pucks and nullify odd-man rushes. On his retrievals he was consistently able to shake forechecker using head and shoulder fakes, use powerful crossovers to wheel around the net and skate the puck up ice with speed to either initiate a controlled exit with a pass or his feet. In the offensive zone he was making strong reads off-puck to anticipate breakout plays and cut them off to win back possession before centering a puck to the middle of the ice. He was poised and confident with the puck on his stick from the offensive blueline, keeping his head up as he walked the line scouting for shooting lanes to get pucks through and shoot for deflections.

It was yet another solid performance from Rian Marquardt at this event, whose high-end athleticism and instinctual playing style allowed him to be one the more effective defenders throughout this game. He combines strong lateral mobility along with an aggressive gap to shut down rush opportunities time and time again, making him such an effective defender in transition and especially in one on one situations. Even when he got caught in front of the puck, he was able to showcase his powerful stride mechanics to back track on pucks and nullify odd-man opportunities. He was making strong reads in the offensive zone to step down low and break up breakout attempts, gain possession of the puck and make a quick centering pass to the slot. He was great with the puck on his stick from the offensive blueline, keeping his head and getting pucks through to generate chances from the crease.

Marquardt was one of the more effective defenders’ thanks in large part to his four-way mobility and aggressive style of defending. He was leveraging his athleticism and skating ability off the rush to step up at the blueline, maintain a strong gap and force attackers to the outside. On his retrievals he was using his frame to box out forecheckers and making smart plays with the puck to get it away from pressure and to a teammate in open space. His best moments were when he was able to utilize headfakes and quick cuts to shake forecheckers, skate the puck out of danger and initiate the transition game for Team Red.