As far as curious players go, Darwin is at the top of the list as far as interesting prospects. I think the overwhelming thing I noticed about him is how many small details in the decision making and his puck movement led to positive things for his team over the event. He’d be a solid analytic darling. From quiet awareness moments to his timing on dump ins and outlet passes, he seemed to really understand positioning and capitalizing on little moments. While he wasn’t the biggest or fastest defender out there, he made up for it with loads of hustle plays and really effective boxing out along the boards to retain positioning in one on one battles. He reminds me of other Western Canadians who were slow burn, excellent players who seemed to get better every year.

I seem to like Darwin a little bit more every time I watch him play because of how many quality plays come from the details. It is his positioning, timing, and reads which seem to make all the difference so often of the time. He had the awareness to throw in timed dump ins, can play physical when need be, and just was reacting so fast to the evolution of the play in front of him. One rush attempt was squashed by him simply by hustling back to try and keep the player wide and get a stick on it. His shot attempt needs a bit more power through the follow through but that can be certainly improved on. Overall, this is a player who I believe will just incrementally continue to improve.

Darwin was simply in the mix of the action all game. He was picking up pucks off the boards cleanly, finding shooting lanes in motion, and really playing well in the defensive end off the rush. You can see all those little elements and details come out in his timing and smarts like stick placement, timed poked, how he closes his gap coverage, and how quickly he can move the puck once it’s turned over. The details and consistency certainly matter when you’re a defender and you could see that in Darwin today.