Projection: Middle Six Center

Strengths: Physical Tools, Compete, Shot

Development Opportunities: Skating Refinements, Inside Drives

Towering at 6’3, Ellery is a big, powerful forward who makes an impact through his powerful skating and compete. His long stride allows him to cover ice quickly, propel himself all over the ice, and disrupt plays as a constant presence in puck pursuit. This same skating is what he relies on to attack through the middle of the ice, being a handful for opposing defenders to contain as he barrels through the neutral zone with a full head of steam. There is a good deal of puck skills layered in too, showing the necessary handling to beat defenders, operating in tight quarters, and finishing in tight. Ellery has a powerful shot, enabling him to score from all over the offensive zone, and it all just makes for a good mix of size and skill.

There’s a few areas to continue developing moving forward. The overall skating package still needs to come a ways, get a little more refined and efficient in his skating, but with a player of his stature that will likely come with time. Primarily, I think he has room to continue to lean on his physical tools even more. Protect wide, drop his shoulder, and cut in toward the net are sequences I saw enough throughout the season to know he’s capable of it, but leveraging that more will be a big opportunity for him. At the very least I can see Finn being a third line forward whose physicality attributes and competitive off-puck game alone land him a regular job in the OHL lineup. There’s secondary offensive upside here to make him a worthy bet to make and see what happens if it all comes together.

I liked Ellery’s non-stop engagement without the puck. He was motoring to apply pressure, get in on the forecheck, and disrupt plays. Finn was using his strong skating and reach to get in opponents space and free up pucks. Ellery had some impressive moments, rushing pucks up ice, exploding by defenders, protecting pucks wide with his frame and cutting in for scoring chances. The skating mechanics have come a long way over the course of the year, getting a little more refined, allowing him to thrive more with the puck and attack in the scoring areas. This area is still a work in progress over the next few seasons, but the development over the year is certainly promising.

Finn is another forward whose physical tools were the focal point. He’s an explosive skater that showed the willingness to use his frame to drive the net and attack. Off the rush, he was constantly looking to drive wide or attack the center lane, showing that strong attack-first mindset that I always like to see in a preliminary assessment. When the puck was on his stick, he was confident to try to drive scoring chances, and was always at the center of the play for this Wolves team. Finn found the back of the net in one of the game’s I watched, ripping a puck short side to blast one past the netminder. The combination of big frame, strong skating, and slick puck skills all worked in tandem to make for an impressive showing and what is at the core of Ellery as an interesting prospect moving forward.

Ellery brought a combination of physical tools, strong skating, and competitiveness. While his mechanics are not overly polished just yet, his skating was still impressive, generating plenty of power with every stride, allowing him to cover tons of ice with ease. He used his skating well to get in on the forecheck, apply pressure, and win pucks using his frame to effectively secure puck possession. With the puck, Finn showed flashes of confidence, trying to carry pucks to the scoring areas, and occasionally trying to beat defenders with his hands. It wasn’t the best performance from the Wolves as a whole and while Finn didn’t create a ton, I saw flashes of promising elements that made me put a star next to his name for future viewings.