I was curious about him at the start of the year as he seems to be a player who has hung around at the higher end of Alberta hockey as he’s progressed through and that begins with his skating stride. He’s got longer pushes which let him pivot under pressure, makes retrievals a lot easier, and has the stride to be able to keep with players while defending the rush. I wanted to see him add a bit more creativity and flair to his game from what I had seen in the past and I got some of that for sure. He was making nice touch passes laterally, settled down some loose pucks quickly so he could take some heavier low shots, and threw in some big windup slapshots as well. One shot in particular had him fading into the interior while firing off his front foot and it was impressive. Aaron definitely has the skating stride to play but it’ll just be about adding more timely details to the game to be a dangerous possession player as well.

I think Aaron has been one of the most impressive mobile skaters in my views from any league thus far. He has good size and power in each stride so he can close gaps and poke pucks away from players with a much higher intensity than some of his peers. His outside edge cuts are fantastic on retrievals and the way he can dip lower in his stance when he’s engaged is on point. I liked his second effort on plays, his pursuit defensively to close gaps on the rush, and the balance in his shot while in motion. From what I saw, he got his assists from secondary plays while facilitating the breakout. I think we will see him use his shot a lot more next season too.

I have had some wildly disparate viewing of Sawatzky over the course of his career, this was one of the good ones where his activity level and attack mindset was giving Manitoba problems. Sawatzky’s inconsistencies stem from his tendency to act first and ask questions later. His initial thought is usually a good one, but his execution can be erratic and he’s not always cognizant of what the secondary consequences may be or what the current situation may dictate. He’s a great player to have when you’re down a goal as he is aggressive in recouping possession and likes to add another attacking layer on the rush.