Projection: Middle-Six Scoring Winger

Strengths: Puck Skills, Skating Stride

Development Opportunities: Shift-To-Shift Consistency, Less Perimeter Play

There are times when Royer is out on the ice and he looks like a top-5 selection. His hands move in conjunction with his feet while he traverses up ice, using his powerful stride to cut through and around pressure to work his way to scoring areas. He possesses an above-average set of hands which allows him to work his way off the wall when he chooses to do so and gain access to scoring areas. He possesses good vison and passing ability, allowing him to thread passes cross-ice while operating along the perimeter and create dangerous chances along the middle of the ice. He’s not that physically engaged although he possesses the size necessary to gain advantages in that regard. He hung around the perimeter with the puck a bit too much at the M18 level this season, but if you believe in the toolkit I can see the first-round upside.

There’s no denying the overall potential and upside that Royer possesses in his game. He was the Estacades leading scorer at this event, finishing with 5 points in 4 games as one of their youngest players while flashing his high-end offensive tools. The puck skills really pop at times, particularly along the wall in the offensive zone where he’s able to curl and drag pucks around sticks to cut inside and gain access to the middle of the ice. His vision and playmaking ability are impressive as well, as he’s able to see through layers of defenders and thread pucks through seams to connect on cross-ice feeds. While he’s not undersized by any means, he’s a player who is still growing into his wiry frame, so while he can currently get knocked off pucks and be kept to the outside, I believe the physical part of his game is just scratching the surface and will only improve as he continues to develop.

Royer was a player who really thrived off the cycle, leveraging his size and heady playmaking which allowed him to win battles and connect on feeds to the middle of the ice. I liked his ability to consistently shrug off contact along the wall, sometimes even spinning off of checks to work his way into space before funnelling pucks through traffic to the slot area. He was consistently engaged in board battles along the perimeter as well, often providing support to pre-existing battles in order to fish pucks out of scrums and make quick centering feeds. Royer was tough to contain when he was able to build speed through the neutral zone and gain the offensive zone with momentum, often catching a step on defenders whole working wide to free his hands before swooping pucks to the middle of the ice.

Royer’s consistency issues left a bit to be desired here but when the physical tools popped it was very easy to see why he nearly averaged a goal per game at the M15 AAA E level last season. He’s a strong kid whose best moments came with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone by fighting through contact along the perimeter to extend his touches and leveraging his puck-handling ability to work his way off the halfwall and attack the middle of the ice. He helped create some odd man rush opportunities for his team here as well, flashing impressive hand eye ability to bat pucks down in his own end before making a quick pass up the ice.

Royer was another draft eligible forward who I thought had a strong showing for Trois-Rivières as he was able to garner a few quality scoring chances by finding the soft spots of the defence, receiving the puck in high danger areas of the offensive zone and quickly firing pucks towards the net. He stayed aggressive with his shot all throughout, often trying to find or create shooting lanes to the net as a puck carrier but at times, forced it a bit too much and looked off opportunities to move the puck in favour or trying to fit pucks through tight seams which didn’t quite work. However, he did show off his playmaking ability in the third period with an impressive effort to slip off the wall, make a move around one defender and slip the puck into the slot for Grenier to cut the Blizzard lead to 3-2 with just under 7 minutes left to go in the game.

Royer flashed an impressive number of offensive tools in this game, particularly off the cycle where I thought he was able to help extend offensive zone pressure and create chances in the middle of the ice through his passing ability. He got himself on the scoresheet early on in this one on the powerplay, snapping a hard and accurate feed through traffic that found a teammate backdoor who simply had to redirect it into the open net. He was fully engaged in physical play in the offensive zone, often coming out with the puck in board battles below the goal line before executing short area passes to his linemates which helped keep cycle plays alive. He earned his second assist of the game later in the second when he fended off a defender below the goal line, came out from behind the net and fired a shot on net which was banged home on the rebound. He flashed a bit of individual skill in the 3v3 OT period, nearly ending things by leveraging hiss edgework and puck skills to carve through a defender off the halfwall and get off a shot from the slot which was denied.