It was yet another standout performance from Diego Gutierrez this season at the WSI with his steady and smart play from the backend for the Young Kings. He carries all the tools of a modern-day defenseman with his great skating ability mixed with his range and size that make him really impactful in all three zones. He handles one-on-one situations with ease, being able to track opposing forwards, regardless of their speed, using such fluid lateral movements to guide them to the outside of the zone and a good use of his stick to stop plays from making their way to the middle of the ice. His passing ability is very impressive, most notably his ability to make difficult outlet passes look so easy by having a keen eye to notice open teammates past the center ice line and firing it right onto their tape from deep inside his own zone to create quick counter attack opportunities or catch his opponents on a change not just once but many times throughout the event. He is extremely effective with the puck on his stick with the mobility and puck skills to carry it up the ice along with the frame and reach to be able to protect the puck or side step defenders at top speed all while being extremely smart and disciplined with the puck in all areas of the ice, rarely looking to force plays when they aren’t available but rather hold on to the puck for those extra couple of seconds to outwait his opponents and look to make the right play.

Inching closer and closer to being our top-ranked defender, Diego Gutierrez falls second to his teammate Max Dessner as our top-ranked defender. The puck skills, footwork, hockey IQ, and pace he plays with and possesses makes him a lethal puck handling defender, who can make impacts across all 3 zones through offensive transitions, defensive zone denials, interceptions in his own zone, or puck movement in the offensive zone. When handling the puck, he’s incredibly mobile, slipping around checks, defenders, and creating plenty of space for himself in tight spaces. His ability to push-and-pull around opponents with fakes and deceptive footwork, along with slipping pucks to open teammates in dangerous areas with great precision and timing – he’s a force on the offensive side of things. To top it all off, he has arguably the best wrist shot from the blueliners in the class, with great power, accuracy and release, he’s both a passing and shooting threat from the line, making him a point of contention for other teams to make note of on the defensive side of things. Defensively he’s incredibly intelligent and his footwork, agility, and 4-way skating prowess once again props up his abilities and enables him to be one of the best at the position. Thanks to his quickness and pace he’s able to step up on puck carriers and deny zone entries before the puck carrier even approaches the line, and swiftly form counterattacks up ice in transition. The positive momentum Gutierrez has built over the last few months really has him gunning for that top spot as highest ranked defender in the country.

His role may have been overshadowed a bit with Dessner on his team but Diego impressed me with his puck control, mobility, and decision making all over the ice. His puck control gives him the option to change pacing, change attacking ankles, and slip out of pressure even on the offensive blueline in tighter spacing. Whether he was pulling pucks to the middle of the ice, using the fluidity of his crossovers in motion while receiving passes, or attacking off the rush and finding teammates on the wing at the extension of his reach, he showed that higher level pacing and poise. I’m excited for him that he gets to develop in the SSM system and continue to improve his strength, pacing, and slip even deeper into spots to use his heavier wrist shot. At this point, I think he can play multiple styles and in all situations if needed. I liked his game quite a lot.

Within the initial top-20 ranking of the 2009-born American class I feel there are about 4-tiers of quality of players at this stage, and Diego Gutierrez is apart of the tier-2 pack of skaters, elevating himself at the CCM 68 event over a lot of others. His work with the puck on his stick is incredibly impressive for a blueliner. Arguably, he handles the puck as well as many forwards do, has great composure, decision making, and fluidity to his movements, particularly when back peddling as he straddles the offensive blueline, evading stick checks with quick puck movements and fancy footwork. His lateral maneuverability opens shooting lanes and passing lanes for him to work with, in which he has the vision and skill to connect on passes to the high-slot or low in the zone around the goalmouth before opponents can converge on his passing lanes. On occasion he’ll activate from high in the zone and dance around the perimeter of the offensive zone to further apply pressure. Calculated and opportunistic, he doesn’t force pucks to the middle when he goes on these little walks, limiting turnovers and more than willing to send the puck back up high to reset if there isn’t a lane or play to be made. It’s always encouraging to see when a highly skilled player has the smarts and decision making to resist forcing a low-percentage play despite how tantalizing it may be. His skating ability directly translates to his defensive play. He smothers puck carriers with great lateral movement and overall power, makes aggressive moves when managing the gap and forces puck carriers back the other way before they even approach the defensive blueline. His pace, reads, and physical gifts make him incredibly tough to get around in 1-on-1 situations. Listed at 5’11 and 158lbs, he has solid size for this age, his reach is above average, further helping his case of being able to land sticks on pucks and force turnovers. I think with overall gains in strength and doubling down on his offensive instincts, Gutierrez may be in the running to be the top defender amongst his American peer-group as the years progress.

The way Gutierrez moves around the ice looks so seamless and effortless and I was especially impressed by his back-skating ability using his smooth yet powerful crossovers to gather so much backwards momentum to track opposing forwards across the ice and keep a tight gap. He used his speed to join rushes up the ice and made nice passing plays that led to some serious scoring chances. On a power play in the third period, he sent a long stretch pass from his own end up to Sung who fed Fitzhenry in the bumper spot for a one-time blast.

Arguably one of the smoothest 2009-born American defenders at this event, Diego Gutierrez was evasive, elusive, deceptive, and dominant with the puck on his stick from the blueline. He handles the puck as well as most forwards do, making him capable of holding his own in 1-on-1 situations as he looked to create time and space going wide or through opponents. I really liked how he was able to zip around the perimeter of the zone and go for little walks around the outside, avoiding sticks and bodies, keeping his feet moving, and ultimately funneling pucks to dangerous areas. His vision through the neutral zone was also impressive. He saw lanes in which he could skate the puck, but also knew when to not get too overzealous with it, connecting on firm outlet passes up ice with great snap and accuracy to them. Overall, he was able to read-and-react to the game exceptionally well, when opponents tried to pressure him he owned the skating and puck skills necessary to negate such threats.

He retains power so well in his stride as he’s turning and pivoting. That balance and strength propels him through smooth crossovers and one-on-one moves in the neutral zone. I appreciated his anticipating on pass reception to curl into it while keeping his head up for cross ice outlets. He showed flashes of curl passes, slip passes, strong outlets, and defensively was keeping pace against stronger skaters on the outside to force them wide. Tremendous first showing for me and certainly a defender who can be a three zone player.