Scouting Report
EVALUATED 20/04/2023
Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
We had Keaton as the number one player in the draft for most of this season and personally I saw him as the king of the hill per se. If you want the crown, you have to take it from Keaton. He has been listed at 6’3 and 195 lbs on CSSHL’s website and Keaton uses that size and strength all over the ice. He has one of the most powerful checks along the boards if you try to squeeze by him on the outside on entries, has a blistering one-timer slapshot from the point, and uses his reach effectively to stickhandle under pressure and make outlets. Keaton is still improving his lateral agility and the depth of his outside edges in order to adjust defensively and evade pressure when he rushes up the ice. Right now he relies on his reaction timing and his reach more than his edges so he can be caught and stripped of the puck if he rushes through the neutral zone too aggressively. For a player of his size though, it is impressive how often he joins the rush and how smart his playmaking decisions are. Lots of potential in a lot of size. If you draft Keaton, you get a big, strong, smart, all-situations potential number one defender on your team.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 31/01/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
I think he was good. I think he was as advertised. The biggest way for Keaton to improve his game going forward would be to work on lowering his center of gravity and really using the potential of the length of his legs to be more explosive on his edges laterally. His hands and anticipation of pressure are already so good that he avoids most counter attacks on the rush already but this would help him escape pressure on retrievals and not force him to rely on his hands as much. I love his slapshot power, his vision for transition passing, his one touch plays, and how physical he can be as a dominant defender. He’s a unique player for this draft class and I just don’t see how he lasts very long come draft day.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 01/12/2022 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
I honestly didn’t make too many notes on Keaton as I was trying to focus on some of the other players on his team during the games but I just wanted to comment that I think his confidence is growing more and more to attempt transition plays and evade the counter pressure in the neutral zone. There are so many times where he simply gains the offensive zone with ease and ends up circling around the back of the net while looking for players in the slot areas. I think with how active he is I’m surprised he doesn’t have even more points than he does. He was our debut number one ranked player but that doesn’t mean he’s a sure thing to go in that spot or that he doesn’t have things to work on. I’d love to see him loosen up his overall posture and lower his center of gravity more so that he can make better use of the length of his stride and his size even more than he does right now. Regardless, he reads pressure up with the best of them and always makes me shake my head with how consistent his stickhandling is for a player of his size already.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 01/09/2022 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
Most of the defensemen I’ve looked at who had good success last year were in the “Agile, smart, and undersized” category. Well, Keaton brings that coveted size component that will be easily projectable to the WHL already. He does well to finish body checks, pinch into zone OZ and make plays since he can stand up and endure the physicality which comes with that risk, and uses his strength to his advantage already to shield the puck well. Defensively, he’s shown a good first stick too. I think as he makes small adjustments to his skating posture with lowering his center of gravity and getting better depth to each of his cuts, that will make his effectiveness shine even more. He already sneaks in from the blueline, moves down low off the cycle, and walks pucks to the middle of the ice on his forehand easily. Add in his stronger wrist shot as well and the 6’2, 170lb Dman from last season will be watched closely. 37 points in 34 games last season wasn’t a fluke.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 11/11/2024 Will Scouch
Regional Scout - North America
Stops, stops and more stops were the name of the game from Verhoeff in this one. Right from the jump, he used his size, reach and fluid skating stride to let the game come to him and picking off rushing opponents with ease. He turned play around effectively through both strong passing and carrying and was a major part of the Canadian defense in key moments. He got beat wide by some quicker players as is not uncommon for players like him, but in general, he was a really, really tough player to get through. He wasn’t just big for the sake of being big, capable of tracking players well, showing strong crossovers and getting sticks in lanes enough to disrupt possession. He killed penalties with ease, keeping sticks in the way and creating turnover after turnover. He could lay the body when needed, knocking multiple Swedes flat on their back here and there while picking his spots excellently. An absolutely absurd 3-line breakout pass landed Mathis Preston his 2nd breakaway goal of the game, one of those passes where you just can’t believe that he connected clean with the leading forward. Verhoeff commanded the ice for much of his time out there, doing so in a variety of ways that showcase what has made him such a promising WHL talent this year.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 07/11/2024 Austin Robson
Regional Scout - North America
Verhoeff brought a stabilizing presence to the Canadian blueline, playing plenty of minutes and making positive plays at both ends of the rink. In the defensive zone I thought he did a great job of leaning on forwards to pin them along the boards and kill cycle plays as a consequence. He was sound positionally while defending the rush, keeping a good gap and using his long reach and active stick to keep attackers to the outside and thwart attempts to get to the middle of the ice. There were multiple teams in this game where he was able to create a quick counterattack for the Canadians by scanning prior to his puck touches and firing quick passes up the ice to teammates hanging up high, which created a plethora of odd man advantages. Verhoeff even flashed some strong agility in the offensive zone to gain the slightest separation from a forechecker at the point to open up a shooting lane so he could get pucks to the net.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 07/11/2024
Noah Poirier
Regional Scout - Eastern Canada
Keaton had an excellent showing on the defensive side of the puck in this game and in my opinion, was Canada White’s most effective D. He rarely was beaten 1 on 1 and this was because of his elite ability to close off time and space to attackers off the rush and how he picks his spots on when to step up to make the right play. In the D zone, he was spectacular. He had a very effective defensive stick, using his long reach to disrupt east-west passes especially on the PK. If there was a puck battle in his corner, chances are Verhoeff was coming away with it using his body positioning. He did a good job of getting in front of pucks and not letting much get through on goal. Really, all the things you look for from a D is his one zone, Keaton showed in his arsenal in this game.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 26/09/2024 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
He began the game on the right side and paired with Cosmo Wilson. The big defender was using his size and reach early to complete outlet passes and navigating that pressure by leaning on his size rather than his overall speed. He can certainly build speed and accelerate through the neutral zone but he isn’t at a pace where he’s blistering by folks. At this point, he’s picking moments and spots to try and gain advantages. Defensively, he was challenging routes, hustling to get to spots, making strong outlet passes by reading pressure and changing his passing lane. There were a couple moments where he wasn’t able to pass through a player or rushed an outlet pass and it led to a turnover in his zone; one of which ended up in the back of his net. His passes and shots were the biggest area for potential improvement as he was getting lanes blocked off and guys were able to disrupt his intentions. OFfensively, he was confident and active; leading the rush, joining it, pinching, and stepping up to drive the middle lane after passing to the wing. He got one timer chances, PK time, and looked composed while trying to settle pucks on the PP by passing laterally. He stepped up and scored a gorgeous goal late in the third period and eventually got the OT victory redirection goal. I think Victoria fans can be really excited about adding a player of size to their defense core with the intelligence of Keaton. While he might be overwhelmed at times in a top pair role, I think he showed that being a top-4 defender will settle him in really easily.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 24/10/2023
Donesh Mazloum
Regional Scout - Western Canada
This was another fantastic game for Verhoeff showing his trademark suffocating two-way play. This was another game where he hit the scoresheet with an assist on a beautiful backhand sauce pass to the net. He is always in the thick of the action and is never simply going through the motions. His consistent forays deep into the offensive end may make some nervous but his comfort level with the puck on his stick means that he is rarely turning pucks over and exposing his team to the counterattack. He is such a unique player and I am bullish on his projection to higher levels.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 22/10/2023 Donesh Mazloum
Regional Scout - Western Canada
Verhoeff has so much potential and it’s exciting to think of how good he can become as he’s already dominant at this level while still being very raw from a development perspective. Verhoeff is such a unique problem to deal with and BC simply had no answer for him in this contest. He is a physical specimen and bullies his way into areas with little resistance, but he also plays with unpredictability, creativity, and at times daintiness that belies his giant frame. His skating is far from pretty, yet he covers so much ground throughout a shift and never seems to get caught out of position. There is nowhere he seems uncomfortable, whether he’s deep in the offensive zone or battling at the net-front he is always playing with supreme confidence.
Player Card
- All Data is derived via 5v5 per 60 minutes rate displayed in percentile format.
- Data Courtesy of In Slat.
SIGNED:
Victoria Royals
18/05/2023
LEAGUE PREDICTION
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CHL
Confirmed
100%
TEAM PREDICTION
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Victoria Royals
Confirmed
100%
TIMELINE
- 2023
18/05/2023
Victoria Royals sign Keaton Verhoeff
- 2023
11/05/2023
Victoria Royals select Keaton Verhoeff in the WHL Bantam Draft