One of the most talented playmakers in this age group, Nathan Hauad is a name that I expect to go very quickly off this board. His ability to create offense off his own stick is extremely impressive. He uses his lower body strength to generate plenty of power and shoot through gaps in the defense, and he uses some excellent one-on-one skills to navigate the neutral zone and earn himself space to pick out a pass. He sees the ice very well and has the passing range to bring his visions to life and threaten the opposition. His shot is lethal as well, generating lots of torque on his wrist shot and putting himself in dangerous positions to utilize it. He does well opening his body up when he’s off the puck and preparing himself to receive the puck in stride with his next steps mapped out to maximize the damage he can inflict to the defense. His strength on the puck and ability to protect it and delay buys time for players to get open and he can battle through contact to make plays happen. His ability to hound players on the forecheck and force misplaced passes and turnovers is a part of his game that does not go unnoticed either, he uses his speed and size to track the puck down and apply pressure very well.

In our PuckPreps discussions after the event was done, multiple folks commented how Nathan was the most important player driving offense one-on-one in the games we viewed. It was his combination of power and strength to separate off the rush and find shooting lanes to release his laser beam. He certainly takes a straight forward approach with curl passes, slip passes, and heavy drives towards the slot. He’s trying to use that power to his advantage in consistent and quality ways. His improvement will be at refining that power while adding a few more delays and layers to his game. The players who have that combination of attributes is rare and makes him quite desirable in the middle of the ice when he’s quick to adjust defensively too and hounding players one on one through the neutral zone. He’s at the level now where the details of the game will show the ceiling. Stuff like being more intentional and aware to slip into open space in the slot, quicker agile reaction times when plays turn around, and being more intentional on spacing and give-and-go style attacks. All of that to say, he was one of the best players at this event and a very tough matchup for anyone shift to shift.