I've liked Sementsov's game all year, but I was way more impressed with his play over the Silver Stick relative to past viewings. His ability to control play in small spaces and leverage his hands to dodge defenders on cycle sequences just became so apparent. Time and time again, he effectively played under pressure, skirted a stick with a calculated puck touch or smartly spun off a check to create space for himself to make something happen. Through his handling, Sementsov was constantly able to create passing lanes to funnel pucks through and sparked an incredibly high volume of dangerous chances as a playmaker. He just always seemed to be able to weasel his way out of pressure and create something out of nothing and was easily the leading offensive creator for the Hurricanes. Getting quicker and more explosive is the key to projecting him moving forward, but the playmaking and handling combination offers tremendous upside, and why he landed on my most recent rankings.

Flashback to last year's Toronto Titans Tournament, and I was really impressed with Sementsov's game; I thought he was one of the top performers on the '08 Toronto Red Wings before I even realized he was an affiliate U15 player, making the showing all that more impressive. Over this year's iteration of the Titans Tournament, I was quickly reminded of why I appreciated Aleksandr's game so much, for his combination of crafty passing and smart on-puck decision-making. He constantly scanned for passing lanes, frequently spotting open teammates in scoring areas, even if it meant moving pucks through traffic and tight gaps. Rarely, if ever, was Sementsov conceding possession or opting for low-percentage plays, but almost all of his sequences were geared towards being patient and finding ways to get pucks to the dangerous parts of the ice, creating many scoring chances via his playmaking and clever processing. The Titans Tournament was a good refresher on what the Halton forward brings to the table and a performance that made me want to keep a close eye on him for future rankings releases when I expand beyond my initial top 20.

For a good stretch of the game, Halton had a tough time generating many scoring chances, but if they did, it would typically be Sementsov making things happen. He had many clever passes in the offensive zone, moving pucks to teammates in the slot area for quality chances and racked up an assist from a pass to an open teammate backdoor. When he had the puck, he was just always scanning, looking for passing lanes and typically could feed pucks through them. Sementsov added a goal, absolutely firing a quick catch and release into the upper half of the net, capping off a solid performance offensively.