Projection: Middle Six Upside

Strengths: Explosive Skating, Work Rate, Handling

Development Opportunities: Puck Management, Scanning

Schulz is one of the best skaters in HEO this season, and right up there across the province. He’s incredibly explosive, beats defenders wide with pace, and generates consistently through the neutral zone off how he can gain separation with his feet. Brody can swiftly handle the puck while at top speed, making him highly evasive in open ice, and regularly the one driving play for Myers.

I always come away impressed with the tools, but wanting a bit more in terms of results. Too many times he’s zoomed up ice and rifled a shot from just inside the blueline when better options were there. He has the abilities to attack the middle more or just slow down for a second, scan and reset. It’s worth noting though that Myers wasn’t an easy team to evaluate him on, he was often a step ahead of his linemates and regularly had no one keeping up with him, but I still see it as a key area for him to focus on moving forward. Add some patience to that engine and you’ve got a player who I think can be a very useful player at the OHL level. At the very least the motor alone could win him a bottom-six job, but I think the potential is there to play higher if it all comes together.

Schulz showcased his explosiveness and puck skills throughout the Top Prospects game. He had plenty of sequences using his powerful skating to fly up and down the ice, helping Team White transition the puck with ease. His handling while at top speed allowed him to weave in and out of pressure, skirt checks, and turn defenders inside out in a few moments. I thought it was a good showing for him attacking the middle more and showing the desire to drive in toward the net for chances. He was flying up and down the ice, consistently trying to get inside toward the net for chances. He scored one, converting on a backdoor pass that he made no mistake finishing, but the constant transition and rush chance involvement was what impressed me the most.

As is typical when I watch Myers, Brody’s strong skating powered him up and down the ice, generating zone entries with control, allowing him to transport the puck effectively and create offensive opportunities through both his puck skill and smart processing. When skating through the neutral zone, his head was always up, allowing him to react to oncoming threats, shift and dodge his way around them and keep play flowing up ice. Brody recorded two primary points, finishing off a drop pass from Petruska, wiring a shot from medium-range as a trailer off the rush. On his second point, he quickly one-touched passes a puck from down low to an open Ghaby who potted home Brody’s pass. Brody’s skating and transition involvement has been apparent in every viewing of Myers this year and it was nice to see him be rewarded on the scoresheet in this one.

The Myers side didn’t really get much going in this game, but I felt Schulz was a lone bright spot. He was always going, always moving his feet, always playing with pace and just bringing a lot of effort. He’s a strong and explosive skater and I thought he was always using his skating to his advantage. Brody was often the one on his line dictating play up and down the middle of the ice, pushing things into the offensive zone. He had a few decent scoring chances, but what really stood out was the non-stop effort level.

I noticed Schulz a few times over my initial once over during the HEO opening weekend, but he really jumped off the page in the two Myers games I watched in the Titans Tournament. He was the primary transition driver shift after shift, exploding through the neutral zone and blazing by opponents. Brody was always accelerating,, using powerful strides to propel him through the middle of the ice and cleanly transition the puck. There were some nice moments attacking off these rush sequences, connecting on some clever passes and showing the hands and eagerness to attack the middle of the ice to penetrate for scoring chances.