Closing things out of ranked Michigan skaters, Nolan Nagy is our second Victory Honda member to make an appearance. Playing a low-key, defense first game, he may not jump off the page every time you see Victory Honda play, but he is no doubt someone who is leaned upon in all situations, logs heavy minutes, and does a good job doing so. Listed at 6’0 and 157lbs at just 15 years of age, he does a tremendous job at taking away ice, but not merely as a result of his size, his footspeed and mobility allows him to quickly close gaps on puck carriers, playing an aggressive brand of hockey, timing his moves properly, and stepping up on puck carriers makes him a very effective defender of his blueline in transitions. Often, I’ve found opponents struggle to get clean shots off when skating down on Nagy if they do manage to fire a shot on net, his reach takes away shooting lanes so well, and very often he manages to deflect shots into the netting. He has some good speed in all directions, including skating backward, letting him keep pace against quick-footed opponents, limiting the amount of ice he gives up. There are moments when he’ll skate the puck himself, go for little journeys around the offensive zone, evading pressure, looking for passing options, and funneling the occasional pass to the middle, setting up a teammate for a scoring chance. Filling out his frame will go a long way to make him an even more dominant physical threat, keeping up working on his agility and footspeed will be necessary for him to continue to remain pacey and quick in competition at his size as well. I imagine the size on paper will be an immediate draw for teams as they look for defenders in the later rounds of the respective major-junior drafts next season, developments in puck skills and puck movement across all 3 zones will help boost his stock, as a big, smooth skating, prospective puck-moving option.