Scouting Report
EVALUATED 26/09/2024
Joel Henderson
Regional Scout - Western Canada
Right away I noticed that his pacing was fitting in with the overall game pace. He wasn’t necessarily out pacing anyone but he also didn’t really have spots where he was behind or overwhelmed. Daxon was passing up to the wings, showed comfortability on the PP, and was not panicked from pressure; finding passing outlets to the wings or stretching passes up ice. He was paired with Doogan Pederson who was quite active in his own right in this game. I thought Daxon was solid in the defensive zone and stayed in good positioning off rushes. His approach was measured, staying in front of the body and attempting early stick pokes when it was called for. He was able to pin a couple players along the wall and was letting that part of the game come to him a little. There were a couple moments where he let a player just squeeze by him on the outside and gain a step and he will have to be a touch more aggressive sometimes to close gaps faster, but overall he was great. His offense came from pinching up the boards, spurring the rush, and eventually stepping up deeper in the offensive zone for a nice shot release. His shot accuracy is my favorite part of his game and he showed that in game one. I think Daxon can find comfortability inside a top-4 already and expand his game from there.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 14/06/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
Daxon is a powerful skating defenceman who can be a dominant force in transition and as a puck mover. Especially on retrieval situations, Daxon constantly pre-scans to check for oncoming forechecks, and once he picks up the puck knows precisely what action is required. A failed zone exit is rare, and he can routinely transition the puck up ice through simple breakout passes and exciting stretch passes to forwards down ice. Rudolph is aggressive as a defender, constantly surveying the play as it unfolds coming his way and looking for the perfect time to pounce, jump a pass, and spark a counterattack in the other direction. It's a common theme in this list, but the group of top Canadian defenders is a tightly-knit group, and Daxon could see himself earning a higher spot as the list evolves and players continue to develop.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 20/04/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
I think Daxon brings a very clear projection of improvement as he continues to grow and shape his game. My comments throughout the year have been focused on how projectable his skating stride is from his balance, length, and power to adjust all over the ice. As the year progressed, Daxon used the strength of his wrist shot as he pulled pucks to the middle and released quick snaps with traffic. He seemed to have a knack for finding opportunistic moments. If you were looking for a bit more shimmer, Daxon showed up big in the CSSHL playoffs and scored a few key goals and game winning goals by joining the rush. While I think there are moments where he still bobbles a puck here and there or maybe dumps pucks out of the zone when he doesn’t have a clear outlet, a lot of those things will just get ironed out with experience and good coaching. If you draft Daxon, you get a potential number one defenseman on your team who can play in all situations. I think regardless of the state of your team this pick can easily be justified.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 01/12/2022 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
I definitely believe that Daxon is on the higher end of defensemen available in this draft. He has a baseline of elements that are going to continue to get better as he simply adds more strength and balance. He’s got a heavier wrist shot, knows how to find shooting lanes, can hesitate to shoot for top corners while drifting laterally, pulls pucks to the middle well, and once he’s loaded his shot he can make a deceptive pass to his left too on the PP. I thought defensively he was doing a good job getting his stick in passing lanes and letting that be a natural first defense. What I’ll be looking for with Daxon as the season moves along is how adding slight improvements to his balance and his explosiveness will speed up his pace of play even higher and make him more dangerous. I’ve already seen improvements and it is nice to see that there’s a predictable progression awaiting. I do imagine at this point that many teams see him in the top-10 of the draft.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 11/11/2024Will Scouch
Regional Scout - North America
Rudolph had some mixed results in this one, which in my experience having seen him a few times seems to be part of the experience. The instincts were there, he’s willing to mix things up physically and he tracked play around the ice well enough. He was battling through opposing pressure well at times, adapting in tough scenarios and chipping in with strong stick-based defending when called upon. He wasn’t really driving play in a truly dominant fashion, but he was a solid all-around defender with well-refined instincts and evidence of a bright future with further strength and skating development in the coming years. He was getting beaten here and there by faster opponents and had trouble winning some physical battles, but the intention and idea are sound. Rudolph was more than a step behind where he needed to be on Sweden’s goal to bring them within two, and his lack of quickness kept him behind the play until it was too late, as a pass back door got through him sprawled on the ice for an easy tap in from Elton Hermansson. There’s a lot to work with, but quite a bit to work on as Rudolph continues to develop with Prince Albert.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 01/02/2024
Jordan Malette
Regional Scout - Ontario
From what I saw from Daxon, this was certainly the better of the two performances. I found he did an excellent job, evading and side-stepping pressure to gain the necessary separation to then pass pucks up ice. Forecheckers couldn't close him down, and on almost every one of these regroup or retrieval sequences, Rudolph problem-solved his way out from pressure and found a passing outlet. There were flashes of him activating up ice to join the rush or maneuvering down the wall to facilitate offensive chances, but his play moving pucks in transition was the focal point of his game in the bronze medal match.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 29/01/2024
Austin Robson
Regional Scout - Eastern Canada
The puck seemed to be following Rudolph around for a large majority of this game as he controlled play from the backend for Canada. The first overall pick from the 2023 WHL Bantam Draft, Rudolph possesses high-end offensive intelligence which he uses to join the rush as the fourth forward when necessary and activate down low in the offensive zone. There were a few times this game where he was able to spring a teammate with a hard and accurate pass through the neutral zone, which really amplified the rush attack for Canada in this game. He was calm and poised on his retrievals, demonstrating good scanning habits and the willingness to take contact to initiate the breakout. There were a few miscues on his outlet passes on breakouts, sometimes trying to force plays through sticks and bodies that lead to play coming back the other way for Finland.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 26/10/2023
Donesh Mazloum
Regional Scout - Western Canada
Rudolph plays very mature and complete game already at this age and this game was a good example of how his sense of positioning and his mistake free puck movement can really wear down the opposition. There is a sense from the opposition that when Rudolph gets the puck that it’s time to transition into a defensive posture. He has such a comprehensive gameplan and is such a calm puck-moving presence that over the course of the game Manitoba just seemingly stopped forechecking him. He fosters a type of “learned helplessness” where he is so effective at handling pressure that team’s stop sending guys after him because the end result is usually just an out of position forechecker while Rudolph seems barely perturbed at all. He was also excellent at protecting the offensive blueline in this game and there were some long shifts in the offensive zone when he was on the ice.
Player Card
- All Data is derived via 5v5 per 60 minutes rate displayed in percentile format.
- Data Courtesy of In Slat.
SIGNED:
Prince Albert Raiders
16/05/2023
LEAGUE PREDICTION
-
CHL
Confirmed
100%
TEAM PREDICTION
-
Prince Albert Raiders
Confirmed
100%
TIMELINE
- 2023
16/05/2023
Prince Albert Raiders sign Daxon Rudolph
- 2023
11/05/2023
Prince Albert Raiders select Daxon Rudolph in the WHL Bantam Draft