Projection: Top 4 Defender
Projectable Skills: Physicality, Skating stride, shot power
Development Opportunities:

Madden is a smooth skating, long stride, in-your-face, powerful push, finishing body checks with a hint of recklessness, kind of player. He loves to get in people’s faces and cause them to re-think their entry routes. He isn't a natural puck carrier but can delay and use his range/skating to find a route forward. Outside of that, he can sometimes turnover the puck in motion if it isn’t a simple guided pass to teammates to spring them. He can get caught watching plays at times by focusing on what is in front of him and looking to the physical as a solution too often. That hinders his overall play. He has the power and explosiveness in his skating to evade pressure, simplify the play, and jump into the rush as an option to take a more offensive approach if he wanted to. If you pressure him and he gets stripped of the puck, he battles relentlessly in secondary efforts to get it back. Overall, he’s a strong, determined, fierce competitor who I’ve seen talkative on ice to fire up his teammates and be an example to push back in tougher games. With some simplification strategically, he could become a very effective two-way defender and a menace in his own zone as a matchup.

He’s a smooth skating, long stride, in your face, powerful pushes, intense defender. If you have the puck and are coming into his space, you have a good idea that he’s going to approach with physical contact in some sort of way. He loves to get in your face and cause you to re-think your potential skating routes. While he isn’t the most natural end to end rush carrier, he can delay, use his reach to protect while cutting, and skate himself into routes where easier outlets and shovel passes to his forwards in motion are great. There are elements of his game that can be refined, such as his positioning when choosing moments to attack physically and potentially put himself slightly out of position. It is also his biggest strength though. He projects as a defender who punishes players on zone entries along the boards, steps into heavier snapshots on the rush, and can be called to play in almost any situation. I could see his name being called sooner rather than later due to that upside of a punishing two-way defender.

I must give Tymchak a special shoutout in this game as he was put in an impossible position and played admirably. With three defenders out of this game including their top player Pickering, Tymchak was forced to log huge minutes against the top Albertan players. Tymchak is big, athletic, and competitive. I have seen him throw some bone crunching open ice hits and attackers stay leery when he’s on the ice. He isn’t the most nuanced in his positioning but his length and compete usually make up for inefficiencies. He will need to work on his play with possession in making quicker decisions but his physical tools track to higher levels and his throwback defending style gives him a uniqueness among a defence corp.