Projection: Middle Six Upside

Strengths: Puck Handling, Offensive Instincts, Hockey Sense

Development Opportunities: Strength, Explosiveness

Tysick is a highly smart forward with a well-rounded set of offensive tools. He’s clever and shifty with the puck on his stick, showing consistently his knack for deceiving defenders and making plays in tight spaces. Even when I think he’s about to get closed down, he’s able to escape pressure with ease and find ways to quickly get off the wall and spark a scoring chance. Both as a finisher and a playmaker, Tysick has shown plenty of offensive tools and was easily one of the highest generators of offence in the HEO this past season.

The question mark for me all year has been the physical side of things. At 5 ‘9 150 lbs, his size isn’t a limiting factor at the moment, but looking ahead to the OHL level, he will certainly be challenged more from a physical standpoint. Focusing on getting stronger, more explosive, and quicker will all pay dividends as he continues to climb up the junior hockey ladder. The creativity and offensive skills offer no shortage of upside, and if he can get there physically, I can easily see how Jacob outperforms where I have him ranked.

It took a while for him to get going, but in the 2nd and 3rd frames, Tysick was buzzing. He connected on plenty of passes to the danger areas, showing the quick processing and creativity to spot openings and move pucks to teammates in scoring positions. A lot of really smart little short passes to link plays together, advance pucks, and make things tick for Team White. His craftiness and slick puck touches were leveraged to maintain possession through pressure and keep play flowing. Jacob was his pesky self, hunting down pucks and applying pressure to force turnovers and secure possession. I don’t think anyone really took over in this game, but Tysick was the closest one to doing so, making him a worthy choice as the game’s first star.

Tysick’s puck skills in small areas were on full display in this one. He used calculated touches to evade defenders in tight spaces, creating clean zone entries and manufacturing opportunities. Shift after shift, he found ways to create scoring chances for himself, mainly through his eagerness to handle the puck, skirting checks in tight quarters, and looking for ways to attack. Jacob’s goal highlighted his handling perfectly, converting on a shorthanded breakaway after a few dekes to get the goalie moving and then using a quick stop to open up the short side. Hands and offensive creation have always been the theme with Tysick this year, and it’s always nice to see when everything clicks with him.

It was a solid game from Jacob. I thought he was playing with tenacity, always going, and trying to win pucks on the forecheck. Of course, he isn’t the biggest guy on the ice, but he was being a bit of a pest in the offensive zone to get in defenders space and try to win pucks. When he had possession, Jacob had some nice passing sequences slipping pucks to the slot, connecting on a few touch passes to the slot and was just making things tick at times for the Ottawa Valley Titans. He found the scoresheet in this one, capitalizing on a rebound and tapping it home.

Tysick was his usual self, driving plenty of offence for the Titans. As always, I thought he found the soft spots in the offensive zone well, always hovering around the offensive zone and being available for passes. By my count, he had upwards of 5 chances that fit under this theme, capitalizing on two, both from the back-door position. He finished off the hattrick with an impressive display of hands in tight to tuck a puck around a sprawling goaltender. While the offensive awareness and goals were the highlights, there was a good display of secondary elements in his quick one-touch passing and slick handling that made for an all-around strong performance.

Tysick notched two in this game, both under similar themes of being in the right spot to capitalize on loose pucks and bury rebounds from in tight, one of which was a nice backhand bar down. I thought those goals summarized his game well, while he showed some bursts of speed and flashes of skill, I thought he was always rotating around, hovering into open space, and being that smart, always in the right spot type of player. While Krottner did most of the damage on the scoresheet, Jacob was a necessary support player, doing the little things to link plays together and advance pucks up ice.

It was only a few sequences, but I saw flashes of quickness and handling that made me jot down Jacob’s name. He seemed to have all the tools at his disposal in those moments to spin off a check with a clever move, evade pressure, and maintain possession even when a defender was trying to close him down in tight quarters. He scored two goals in the games I watched, one using a burst of speed to secure an empty-netter and a second being in the right place at the right time to tap one home at the side of the net on the power play.

Right now he looks as though he’s part of the all hands team but if he gains some strength and can work on his skating, his game should tie together nicely. Really liked his vision and offensive awareness as he was always where the play was headed and made passes that allowed extended possessions. His chances are set up by his off puck game and he seems to pick his spots fairly well when it comes to finding openings where he can get pucks to the net and set up teammates. He struggled in battles and lacked escapability at times but if he could shake coverage he was finding a way to generate offense.

Tysick showed he was able to work well off-puck and with his teammates to generate looks for whatever line he played on. His foot speed was his best attribute, which allowed him to close in quickly on defenders, strip them of the puck and either throw pucks on net or make quick centering feeds to the slot. He flashed some intriguing puck skills in moments where he was able to make deft one touch plays in tight quarters to get around defenders and get off shots from the inside. Without the puck he was putting himself in premiere positions in the offensive zone, often getting lost in the defensive zone coverage to get off shots from open pockets of ice in dangerous areas.