Scouting Report
EVALUATED 24/07/2024
Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
The continuing story of the now exceptional status defender is that he was the best player in U15 when playing against players one year older than him in his pre-draft year and then he was the best player in U18 while playing against players an assorted range above him. He is incredibly explosive in his first few strides and makes the game seem easy with how he can step into lanes, control the pace off the rush, or alter the flow with his decision making. He can accelerate and put you on your heels just as fast as he can stop up and find that perfect passing lane. He is a true quarterback as a defender; shifting and changing pace at his discretion depending on the landscape of the opposition and has the ability to play fast, slow, controlled, individual, team-style, and can beat you in multiple ways if he so chooses to. It all flows through his decision making and his reads too since his understanding of space and timing is excellent. The only real elements that might hold him back at this point are that he doesn’t have that rocket of a release like Bedard and isn’t going to be a 6’3 physical beast mode defender by the time his NHL Draft season comes along. Other than that, there are very few reasons why he isn’t going to continue to outpace and outperform players his senior in the WHL and beyond. He will score some highlight reel rush style goals and earn the trust of coaches incredibly fast. What else is there to say? He scored 62 points in 30 CSSHL U18 games which broke the U18 season scoring record for a defenseman, tied Dylan Guenther for most points in the U18 championships with 16 in 5 games, and was the U18 Prep Championship MVP. The crown of exceptional status was gifted to him correctly.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 05/05/2024 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
Projection: Elite #1 Defender
Projectable Skills: Skating, IQ, Team style attack
Development Opportunities: Shot power/strength
It is anecdotal but important; Landon was the best player in the CSSHL U15 Prep league last year as an underager and he’s been the best player in the CSSHL U18 Prep division as a draft eligible. He has explosive first few steps which means he adjusts to play quickly, beats players to pucks in the defensive zone, and accelerates with control through the neutral zone. Stylistically, Landon controls each shift and can change his personal approach depending on the situation and landscape of the game. He has the ability to play fast, slow, controlled, individual, or team-style, and can beat you in every way he chooses to. His decision making is sound, his understanding of spacing and timing is excellent, and his ability to uplift the skills of his teammates is that of a true leader. While he doesn’t have a rocket of a shot from the point, he knows when to slip into space where he simply can pick his spot and beat goaltenders clean with a wrister. His highlight reel goals off the rush this season attest to that. He should be a truly dominant WHL player and one worthy of exceptional status.
Skating
10Puck Skills
9.5Hockey IQ
9.5Playmaking
9.5Scoring
9Physicality
8.5Defense
9Overall
9.29Scouting Report
EVALUATED 20/03/2024 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
It is anecdotal but important; Landon was the best player in the CSSHL U15 Prep league last year as an underager and he’s the best player in the CSSHL U18 Prep division as a draft eligible. He has explosive first few steps which means he adjusts to plays quickly, beats players to pucks in the defensive zone, and accelerates with control through the neutral zone. Stylistically, Landon controls each shift and can change his personal approach depending on the situation and landscape of the game. He has the ability to play fast, slow, controlled, individual, or team-style, and can beat you in every way he chooses to. His decision making is sound, his understanding of spacing and timing is excellent, and his ability to uplift the skills of his teammates is that of a true leader. While he doesn’t have a rocket of a shot from the point, he knows when to slip into space where he simply can pick his spot and beat goaltenders clean with a wrister. His highlight reel goals off the rush this season attest to that.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED 12/08/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
I think if we are talking about hockey IQ at a high pace, I don’t think there’s anyone that reaches the potential of Landon Dupont at this point. He was explosive, fluid in his stride, and was constantly turning play around faster than the opposition can adjust. At this age, players are often using those rush attempts to attack one-on-one and find sneaky shots against defenders and look like the hero but Landon is a pass first defender who only adds to his value by playing give and go and driving the net front by slicing through seams with and without the puck. Landon is the front runner to be number 1 overall in North America for our 2009-born rankings so it is no surprise that he dominated possession and could have had many more points than he did. If I was selecting a team for this event, he’d easily be my first pick.
Scouting Report
EVALUATED
Donesh Mazloum
Regional Scout - Western Canada
The presumptive top pick in this year’s WHL draft is a strong candidate to be the second player to gain exceptional status in the league’s history after Connor Bedard, and it doesn’t take long to understand why. I have never seen such a singular offensive force from the back end at this age. The game revolves around him when he’s on the ice as he has an impeccable knack of being acutely involved in every offensive foray without selling out defensively. The puck always seems to be on his stick. His pristine positioning and elite situational awareness allow him to really maximize opportunities and stay tight to the play. While I love his hockey mind it’s his skating abilities that really unlock his game. His stride is explosive yet light allowing him to change directions on a dime without losing momentum. His lateral movement in particular is suffocating and his ability to cover so much ground east-west often catches the opposition by surprise. Unlike most high activity defenders, he plays remarkably mistake free hockey as his margin for error is far larger than most thanks to his mobility and ability to erase errors with his feet. Overall, it was a fantastic showcase for DuPont against some of the toughest U18 opposition talent available.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 12/11/2024Will Scouch
North American Scout
The games I’ve seen of Dupont at this tournament have been mixed, if I’m being totally honest. The moments of skill are remarkable. He walks the offensive blueline so well, and with time and space to see options, his transition passing is outstanding. He sprung his team on a few offensive zone entries in this one, but his game seemed to get a lot less effective with serious forechecking pressure. Of course, he’s a year younger than his counterparts and his weaker areas are very difficult to manage for an offensive defenseman like Dupont. He was ducking potential checks, making an extra skill move here and there and losing possession, and making soft defensive zone passes that at one point led to Canada White opening the scoring. Sure, he didn’t have support from a winger in the area he was sending the puck, but he didn’t get a good look in the first place and simply didn’t have enough energy behind the pass to be enough of a threat to get the puck up the ice. He was outworked by Adam Valentini on the 3-0 goal towards the end of the game, and combining this performance with the game I saw earlier, Dupont has had an up and down experience in Sarnia in my view. There were obviously some truly special moments in this one from him as well as prior games I’ve seen, but he is still a very young kid who is developing himself into a player who might be one of the best in the world one day, and that is going to come with hurdles. An outstanding talent put to the test, and his 5v5 play at this high a talent level may still be coming along.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 09/11/2024Will Scouch
North American Scout
There have been many better performances and moments out of Dupont that I’ve seen this year, but it may come down to him just trying a bit too much on his own and getting a feel for the talent level of his opponent here. The passing decisions were risky at times, causing a few rushes coming the other way with giveaways in undesirable spots, but the skill, confidence and offensive ability just screams at you on almost every puck touch. Sure he lost a few physical battles here and there, but the way he approached his defensive interactions was smart in the way of knowing ways of causing turnovers without requiring physical imposition that just got the job done. Closing gaps with lateral skating and smart stick checking made him an effective defender, and some impressive skill and pass vision landed him on the scoreboard twice. My bar for him might just be a bit higher than it should be considering his success to this point this year, but there were strong moments and questionable moments for Dupont here as he continues to find and push his limits and generate offense in the special ways that he’s capable of.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 08/11/2024
Austin Robson
Regional Scout - Eastern Canada
Much like the rest of the hockey world, you can safely put me in the Landon DuPont fan club after I finally got to see what the newest exceptional status player was all about. Despite being the youngest player in this game I thought he was its most dynamic and effective player from start to finish. The first thing I noticed was how effortless and fluid his skating ability was, and when combined with his elite puck control made him nearly impossible to contain as a puck-carrier as he was able to shake forecheckers with ease and move the puck up this forwards on a consistent basis. It’s very rare to see any player who can maintain his top speed as he turns and pivots on a dime, never mind a 15-year-old defenseman. His work on retrievals allowed for efficient and clean exits from the zone as he demonstrated good scanning habits which allowed him to anticipate the forechecking pressure and draw said pressure towards him before making a subtle reversal to a teammate in space. The overall intelligence to know when and when not to activate already seems to be there, as DuPont was able to take advantage of nearly every advantage the opposition gave him in transition to create numbers advantages for Canada Red and get himself and his teammates dangerous looks off the rush. His highlight in this game flashed his high-end anticipation in the neutral zone when he picked off an outlet pass, leveraged his edgework to dodge a check once he entered the zone and threaded a beautiful saucer pass to Jaxon Jacobson who scored what ended up being the game winning goal for the Canadians.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 21/09/2024 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
It might seem strange but Landon was already playing like he was a veteran in the league and 19 years old. They were flowing the outlet passes out of the defensive zone through him and multiple times he was able to beat the first layer of pressure on his own because of the speed and power of his edgework. He was able to take some hits too while making lead passes or continue possession by fighting through that physicality. He’s already showing that he can counter pressure with poise and control even through physical pressure or stick pressure. It’s wild. His offense came from smart pinches, give and go plays, spurring the push with proper stretch passes, and making sure to throw in delays for shot lanes to open up. He was all over the ice and wasn’t afraid to be physical in his own right too. It is certainly a little bit overwhelming how fast his pace was hard for other players to counter or he was simply building speed and momentum through pass receptions or D to D passes faster than others are used to. Overall, he’s already playing like a top pair WHL defender.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 14/08/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
My expectation for this event is that Landon would be easily one of the top players from his massive defensive effort, open up hits, rush creation, and ability to dangle and find players on the backside. He didn’t let me down in this game as he knocked players off balance early, powered through his turns so well, and jumped up into gaps which led to a pair of assists to his defensive partner off the rush. They both would decide to step into that gap and it almost seemed comical to find the two defenders essentially playing give and go cross ice. If Landon was a 2008-born player from Western Canada, he would have easily been my first overall selection for the WHL draft and he showed a bit why today despite the loss.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 14/08/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
I’ve written this about Landon in a few events now but while a lot of the higher end competition are trying to really push through gaps to beat players one on one and attack by themselves a high percentage of the time, Landon always shows such a diversity of play by drawing coverage and setting up teammates with loads of space. Today, he played hard defensively, stepped up into gaps to hit shoulder to shoulder, turned plays around as quickly as could be, and weaved and darted his way into high traffic at times. His efficiency and well-rounded play is staggering at times. It is easy to see how he was the best player on the ice again today despite not getting any points I don’t think.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 14/08/2023
Chase Allen
Regional Scout - USA
Although it’s just been two games, and this event is only 3 games per team in duration, I think it’s safe to say no one in attendance comes particularly close to Landon Dupont. Such a strong skater in all accords, his mobility was suffocating to puck carriers, nearly impossible to elude and evade in transition, he stuck square to the puck carrier, surrendered no ice to the middle and effortlessly stripped opponents of the puck time-and-time again. Shortly after landing an accurate stick check when denying a zone entry, he would have the explosiveness and strength to quickly transition from back skating to forward skating, pick up said puck, and transition up ice flawlessly. His control and stride length mixed with power was unlike anyone in this game. His first few steps are next-level and it really allowed him to see plays and lanes others couldn’t, making himself an option to receive the puck only to quickly fire it further up ice before a lane could get covered. He had also intercepted plenty of passes and once more formed quick counterattacks in transition. One of his best plays in the game came when he jumped up from the blueline late, intercepted a cross-ice pass, funneled it to the front of the net, and in 3 strides also found himself by the goal crease, receiving the puck back and burying it in tight. He had another phenomenal solo rush in the second half of the game where he effortlessly slipped by two defenders with elite speed and puck control only to nearly miss tucking the puck when alone with the goaltender. For a defenseman that is so capable offensively, he also owns such great positioning and awareness in his own end, making him a lethal two-way threat.
Game Reports
EVALUATED 09/05/2023 Joel Henderson
Director of Scouting
It just continues to impress me when you can shake up all the names and the story becomes the same. The way Landon drives possession through transitions, dependable passing routes, and can make any pass reception in full stride look easy is quite wonderful. He’s such a gifted skater from his form and acceleration; allowing him to shift laterally and drag with control to his reach.
Player Card
- All Data is derived via 5v5 per 60 minutes rate displayed in percentile format.
- Data Courtesy of In Slat.
SIGNED:
Everett Silvertips
06/08/2024
LEAGUE PREDICTION
-
CHL
Confirmed
100%
TEAM PREDICTION
-
Everett Silvertips
Confirmed
100%
TIMELINE
- 2024
06/08/2024
Everett Silvertips sign Landon DuPont
- 2024
09/05/2024
Everett Silvertips select Landon DuPont in the WHL Bantam Draft