Labranche is a very offensive minded defender who was leaned on quite heavily from the backend both in even strength and quarterbacking their top power play unit. He’s quite the effective puck-carrier in transition, often opting to work his way wide around defenders in the neutral zone before attacking the middle of the ice after gaining the offensive zone with control. In the offensive zone I noted a few times where he was able to utilize head fakes to shake oncoming forecheckers at the line, work his way around them and attack downhill into secondary pressure. I noted a few times where he stayed disciplined defending a 1v1 and utilized his stick to thwart dekes to the middle of the ice and kill rush chances as a consequence. He’s a player who’s still growing into his wiry frame, which leads me to believe there’s plenty more for him to untap physically.

Labranche has continued to develop in a more well-rounded defender as the year has went along, and this game was quite exemplary of that. He was one of the more effective Blizzard defenders at going back for pucks on DZ retrievals, dealing and anticipating with pressure well and beating the forecheck in a multitude of ways; either by wheeling the puck out of his own zone, utilizing deception to shake him off or drawing the pressure towards him and hitting a quick reversal to his defensive partner. Throughout the game he was moving the puck well, even executing a few stretch passes up the ice that lead to a handful of odd man rushes for his team. His lack of physical strength did make it difficult for him to be a true force in the defensive zone, but he was able to kill a few chances off the rush thanks to his strong backwards skating and timely stick checks that helped initiate counterattacks.