Scouting Report
EVALUATED 09/04/2024
Jordan Malette
Regional Scout - Ontario
Projection: Top six winger Projectable skills: Playmaking, puck management small area skills Development Opportunities: Skating refinements Alex Mclean is the premier pure playmaker available in the 2024 OHL Draft class. His whole game revolves around creating, spotting, and exploiting open passing lanes to generate scoring chance after scoring chance. Almost every time he touches the puck in the offensive zone, he's finding ways to thread pucks to his teammates in scoring positions. He's so effective on the forecheck, breaking up plays and winning possession, then repeating the cycle of him creating as a playmaker. All of this makes me think Alex Mclean plays a highly projectable game and should be able to transition seamlessly to the junior ranks. The key to Alex's potential moving forward is realizing some skating improvements. Getting more efficient with every stride, being cleaner on recoveries, and gaining power and explosiveness are things I've always noted as ways Alex can improve his footwork. I don't foresee it as a limiting factor at the junior level, but when thinking longer term, skating is the primary area for Mclean to focus on.
Skating
7Puck Skills
9Hockey IQ
10Playmaking
10Scoring
7.5Physicality
7Defense
7.5Overall
8.29Game Reports
EVALUATED 12/04/2024 Jordan Malette
Regional Scout - Ontario
A few teams had difficult choices, and Barrie was one of those with two worthy candidates, Alex Mclean and Nathan Amidovski. It's a pretty straightforward writeup; Mclean was absolutely lethal as a playmaker over the OHL Cup. Every action he did on the ice was about finding ways to spot teammates in dangerous areas and generate quality scoring chances. He was so patient with the puck on his stick, forcing defenders to converge on him, and waiting for the perfect moment to thread a puck to a teammate in a scoring position. Whether off the rush, down low, or off the wall, Mclean was constantly picking apart his opponents through his playmaking ability. It may sound like a simple and potentially unimpressive write-up, but the volume of high-quality chances Mclean created through his passing was nothing short of remarkable. While this was all noteworthy, none of it was a surprise, as these are the sort of viewings I've come to expect from Mclean and why he sits at #6 on my final list.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 19/03/2024 Jordan Malette
Regional Scout - Ontario
I could talk about almost every player on the Colts, but I'll keep it to the three who I felt rose above their teammates and made the most happen. Simply, it was a fantastic weekend for Alex Mclean. Everything he did was about moving pucks to teammates in the slot, creating scoring chances after scoring chances. All weekend long, he controlled play along the exterior of the offensive zone, using deceptive moves to shift the defence out of position and exploiting the gaps he was creating with those moves. This on-puck patience and deception were at the core of his success as a playmaker, as he constantly created passing lanes to then thread pucks through them. This playmaking impact was significant throughout my viewings, and Mclean created plenty of scoring chances and goals all through his ability to spot open teammates using a wide variety of passes to drive results. He created some scoring chances of his own, showing a willingness to attack the middle, challenge defenders one-on-one and penetrate the slot for his own scoring chances. Alex notched a few goals over the weekend, notably finishing a slot pass in round-robin play to pot the game-winner. Prolific playmaking has been the core of my assessment of Mclean's game all year, but seeing how much he can dominate as a passer will always be impressive.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 08/03/2024
Ben Jordan
Regional Scout - Ontario
Playmaking galore is the vibe with Alex. Dominates along the walls, below the goal-line, and as his linemate, always have your stick on the ice. He will find you. If he ever lost the puck, he was the first man on it with a hunger to recover pucks and continue to force offensive zone pressure. When carrying the puck in open ice, McLean is looking to open passing lanes, especially to dangerous areas where he showed to be extremely accurate and quick to pounce once he uncovered lanes to his teammates.
Game Reports
EVALUATED
Austin Robsonm
Regional Scout - Eastern Canada
McLean earned every opportunity he got in this game thanks in large part to his high-end competitiveness and physicality. There were a handful of teams where he combined both hiss speed and physical play to get in quickly on the forecheck, knock a defender off the puck and generate quick offense off the turnover. His work on the penalty kill was admirable as well as he was able to consistently get his stick and body into passing and shooting lanes, even earning himself a shorthanded breakaway although he wasn’t able to capitalize. He scored the game’s first goal of the game by getting himself into the middle of the slot and deflecting a shot from the point that found its way past the Finnish goaltender.
Player Card
- All Data is derived via 5v5 per 60 minutes rate displayed in percentile format.
- Data Courtesy of In Slat.
SIGNED:
Guelph Storm
03/05/2024
LEAGUE PREDICTION
-
CHL
Confirmed
100%
TEAM PREDICTION
TIMELINE
- 2024
03/05/2024
Guelph Storm sign Alex Mclean
- 2024
12/04/2024
Guelph Storm select Alex Mclean at the 2024 OHL Priority Draft
