Scouting Report
EVALUATED 17/05/2021
Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
Maybe it’s the underdog story in me but Cullen Potter had to be one of my favorites to watch the entire tournament. The 2007-born forward is extremely agile and explosive in his skating stride. He can fire off wrist shots in motion with a lot of snap. It doesn’t matter what area of the ice he’s in, he finds ways to use deception, fakes, and stutter steps to open up space for himself. I watched him snipe a puck short side on the PP, drag pucks behind his body to open up passing lanes, and use little touch passes to teammates. He often would try to fake outside along the right side, then pull the puck back to his forehand to the slot for a shot attempt. Tremendous player.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 19/11/2023
Donesh Mazloum
Regional Scout - Western Canada
Potter is the complete package and has been the most consistent forward for Team USA during this tournament. His raw speed is a beautiful thing to behold and his blazing pace forces defenders so far back with fear of his ability to blow past them. As a result, he is a one-man zone entry machine and is always a threat to create something out of nothing. Matching his pace is his motor and there were multiple moments in this game when a USA forward came flying back to break up the Canadian rush and that player was usually Potter. I was also really struck by how adept a passer he is, especially on the powerplay where he runs the show and flashed a variety of nifty saucer passes and accurate feeds through traffic.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 30/03/2022
Brayden Olafson
Regional Scout- Eastern Canada
Simply put, Cullen Potter makes hockey fun. There’s so much to say about this player because he’s able to make just about anything happen on a whim over the course of a single game. So, without detailing it all, I’ll try to consolidate the most prominent elements of this game. Generally speaking, the power and fluidity of his stride is unrivaled. If opponents don’t have at least a three-stride head start when matching Potter’s momentum on the breakout, there’s almost a zero-per-cent chance of them defending him effectively. Granted, it’s typical of Potter to build slingshot speed coming out of the defensive zone. Away from the puck he’s able to continually support the possession, he minimizes the space between himself and the puck carrier to a distance where he often remains a valid outlet, yet all but guarantees successful recovery in the case of a misplay. The broad sweep of his puck handling, combined with exaggerated lateral movement drags his opponents out of position while he plans to either drop a pass or leverage his core strength and flexibility to shoot across his body. Of course, while he’s almost unquestionably the most talented player on the Wisconsin roster, a few blemishes can occasionally be identified. There were a couple of occasions, mostly on the powerplay, when Potter seemed to take a few seconds to smell the roses at his home base (the offensive zone faceoff dot). While he can definitely get away with it, it’s just sort of a bad look in the middle of a play while his linemates are working hard to dig a puck out from behind the net. At the end of the day, he can turn a game like this on it’s head with a single rush. There’s so much to like and very little to complain about.
Player Card
- All Data is derived via 5v5 per 60 minutes rate displayed in percentile format.
- Data Courtesy of In Slat.
COMMITTED:
Arizona State
22/05/2024
LEAGUE PREDICTION
-
NCAA
Confirmed
100%
TEAM PREDICTION
-
Arizona State
Confirmed
100%
TIMELINE
- 2024
22/05/2024
Cullen Potter flips commitment from Michigan State to Arizona State
- 2023
21/09/2023
Cullen Potter commits to Michigan State
- 2023
22/04/2023
Flint Firebirds select Cullen Potter in the OHL Priority Selection
- 2023
04/04/2023
Cullen Potter is selected for the US NTDP
