Strengths: Skating stride, Defensive positioning
Development Opportunities: Offensive creativity

I think Cruz is another player who I could see ended up expanding his game and making a case for being higher on this list when all things shake down as well. I thought his brand of defensive retrievals and simplistic outlet passing was on display best down the stretch and in the Alberta Cup. He’s a smooth skater and can really explode through his turns and edges up ice. It makes transitions easy and zone entries the same if he looks to push himself. His play style could be best described as “efficient keep away” as most of his offense spans from protecting on the outside with speed and looking for passing lanes into the interior. Now the task will be building off that stability of play and expanding his offensive creativity.

I thought Nicolay was Red Deer’s most noticeable defensive presence bringing size, mobility, and skill to the table. His skating is so smooth and fluid, with the power and agility to cover a ton of ground effortlessly. He gets up to speed quickly, overwhelming opponents with pace and showing an extra gear at full speed. I really like how Nicolay uses his speed, using the threat alone effectively to drive defenders back, creating space, before darting east/west, changing the attack angle and creating missed assignments to exploit as a passer. While he’s advanced as a breakout threat, I think he has way more to give in the offensive end. I will be looking for him to use his same tool advantage in the offensive third as he does in the defensive and neutral zones.