Doing a little bit of everything for Buffalo, Louis Gugliuzza is a sizeable forward with plenty of range and depth to his game, making him one of the top players for his squad. He works very well under pressure and when physically challenged, with the puck on a string at times whilst getting pushed and prodded, he remained composed and was able to pull pucks through and around his opponents whilst at a relative standstill, coming out on top with possession, space, and time to make the next play. He found himself in the slot under his own power many times as he pulled pucks around opponents or simply bulldozed his way there with great power and strength. He’s very strong on his feet, which is something many of his peers cannot compete with at this point in time. Away from the puck he played a sound positional game and was engaged physically in battles, both in the offensive and defensive end. He won plenty of 50-50 battles and quickly made a pass or skated the puck away from danger under his own power. To complement his size, he was one of the faster skaters out there on any given shift, giving him some transitional ability to drive play off the rush. Rounding things out he made plenty of small area plays to move the puck, both when exiting his defensive end to set up teammates through the neutral zone, and when in crowds and traffic around the crease and slot. Gugliuzza is another big-bodied, smooth skating forward we saw at this event who has a deep array of tools and projectable skills for that next level.

Gugliuzza is a skilled forward who possesses the lethal combination of size, speed and intelligence. He’s a very smart playmaker both off the rush, where he’s able to connect on east-west passes through seams with ease after using his speed to enter the offensive zone, and from the perimeter where he demonstrated the ability to execute on small area passing plays using quick reads and strong puck protection skills. Even though he’s a player who quite impactful all over the offensive zone, I found his greatest asset to be his remarkably quick and powerful shot. He found a lot of success from around the net at this event, proving to be a dangerous shooter from close quarters thanks to his ability to use his frame to carve out open space in the middle of the zone and making the most out of his scoring opportunities by connecting on deadly accurate one-timers from in between the dots without sacrificing any of the power in his shot to pick his spots.

A player like Louis Gugliuzza is the type of archetype you need to build a well-rounded roster, similar to that of how Team White here was composed. I was very impressed with the athletic movements he displayed, for a larger frame, he was incredibly explosive, made some tight pivots, twists, and turns, and with his size and reach factored in, did an excellent job protecting the puck all over the ice, and in all situations. He made some great cross-ice passes working along the perimeter of the offensive zone, showing great physical resiliency, pulling in opponents and opening lanes elsewhere in the zone. Brief adaptions to stick and puck possession on his blade enabled him to change the angle last second and shoot off a pass through a seam. When a lane would open, he’d make some bullish moves to the slot, going shoulder-to-shoulder with a defender, attempting to overpower them while keeping the puck out wide, and on occasion, found success doing so and was able to snap a shot on net through the traffic. Connecting on some firm bodychecks, he used his size as a means to force turnovers and get possession back on the stick of Team White skaters. As a whole, Gugliuzza was really impressive during his best moments in the camp, carving out space, moving fluidly, and making some nifty skill plays in tight quarters to send the puck to open teammates.

Another big-bodied skater on this Buffalo squad, Louis Gugliuzza continued to impress me with his play, utilizing his frame along with some soft skill and decision making in tight quarters to leave an impact. On multiple occasions he was able to get his feet moving, get the step on a defender, and make steep moves to the middle lane off the rush, overpowering his man and creating a partial break for himself. The size makes him very difficult to contain, especially once he gets his feet moving and boxes out checkers. During the offensive zone cycle he pops in-and-out of coverage very well, has a good sense of timing to put himself in soft ice to catch passes, in which he owns a hard and heavy wrister with some solid accuracy that was of note, being a strong finisher for his team in difficult areas of the ice. Individually he was able to create a handful of scoring chances of his own by simply pushing-and-pulling pucks around defenders in 1-on-1 situations, once again utilizing the reach, soft hands, and size to get the leverage and angles needed to quickly snap a puck on net around his nearest man.

Louis Gugliuzza made the argument for being the top player in this game without a doubt. I found him to be one of the more involved players across 200-foot, in addition to his athletic ability and puck handling and possessing tools. Things got started for Gugliuzza when he showed great balance on his edges, going shoulder-to-shoulder with opponents as he battled for the puck, coming out on top with possession and continuing his momentum to the crease in efforts to crash the net. His lone point in this one came via receiving a puck high in the offensive zone at the left side just above the dots right along the boards, and quickly fired a pass cross-ice to the point to a pinching Caleb Deanovich who tied things 1-1. I was greatly impressed with the vision, along with passing accuracy, recognizing the open man, and feeding it through a series of sticks and bodies. For his size he showed off excellent footspeed and acceleration, and once he was up to speed, he was difficult to stop. A strong knee bend in his stride, he’s very controlled and smooth, powerful in each step, there’s a nice base to work with regarding his skating from a developmental perspective. One last point, he found a nice middle-ground regarding the usage of his size; he wasn’t overly physical, and found moments of utilizing soft skill in tight places, but also understood he was big enough to accomplish certain things such as crashing the net, landing a big check, or even shielding the puck in the corner for an extra half-second. An impressive game for Gugliuzza from a tactical, and physical standpoint.