Projection: Puck Moving Upside

Tools: Puck Moving, Confidence

Development Opportunities: Continued Skating Development

Montanino is mobile defender who has always impressed for his puck-moving. He brings a sense of calmness and patience with the puck on his stick, taking his time with possessions and more often than not can make a clean pass up ice to spark a transition. He reads the play in front of him well and has been a solid puck-moving presence to the Little Caesars blueline. John’s footwork and mobility standout as plus attributes, allowing him to side-step pressure and maintain gaps on the defensive side of the puck.

There’s a lot to like and I think John can be a simple but reliable puck-moving presence at the OHL level. His skating ability is certainly a strength now, but I see a need for him to get more agile and explosive in his skating to maintain the ability to create advantages with his feet against superior competition. The decision making and puck-moving is undoubtedly there for a quality roster piece.

A solid, offensive defenseman, Montanino has tons of skill to go along with his strength and skating. He can rush the puck to push the pace of play or slow it down when his team needs to reset. He makes crisp passes, finds seams in transition, and is aggressive to jump up in the play. Montanino likes to try and create offense, get involved in the o-zone, and isn’t afraid to crash the net as a defenseman. He has a powerful stride, a strong skater who will become more effective as he continues to round out his game.

You could really see Montanino shine on the powerplay. Often operating as a primary flow through man up top, showing the patience and confidence to man the powerplay. He made smart decisions whenever the puck was on his stick and was a solid puck distributor within the offensive zone.

Montanino was a steady and impactful presence on the blue line for Little Caesars. His smooth skating stood out right away, allowing him to close gaps quickly on opposing forwards in the defensive zone and shut down plays before they developed. That same skating ability carried over into the offensive end, where he showed confidence and poise walking the blue line to create shooting and passing lanes. His vision at the point was especially impressive, as he consistently made smart reads and found the right options under pressure. He also did an excellent job of getting pucks through traffic and on net, giving his teammates opportunities to create chances off rebounds and deflections. With his mobility, vision, and calm decision-making, he played a crucial role at both ends of the ice.

Montanino was one of my favourite defenders from the Draft Day Showcase. John was all over the ice, playing a rover style that stood out shift after shift. His footwork and mobility allowed him to cover so much ice, evade forecheckers and add tremendous value off the back of his skating. Especially on the defensive side, he was constantly applying pressure, intercepting passes, and being a nuisance for his opponents, always getting into their spaces to free up pucks. After winning possession, Montanino was calculated in his passing, almost always hitting on his exit passes and, as such, playing a key role in Alliance West’s breakout and transition game. There was also an offensive assertion to his game, showing the confidence to drive and attack off the point, sparking a good portion of chances. It was a really strong first impression from the Little Caesars defender, putting him well on my radar to start the year.

Showing some strong puck skills and confidence when moving the puck, John Montanino was able to drive a high degree of play from the blueline for his team. Working his way out of the defensive zone with good control of his speed and edges, he was capable of outskating pressure and joining the offensive transition, problem solving on the fly, both through moving the puck along with skating around obstacles. With some aggressive play with the puck on his stick he was able to create some space and get around opponents in the offensive zone, creating some lanes to the middle in which he funneled the puck to the slot to attempt to generate some offense. Off puck in the offensive zone, he showed good awareness to follow the movement of the puck and even creep into far-side lanes and or backdoor space in an effort to get open for a quick tap-in chance. The gears were certainly spinning in his head regarding the offensive side of the game, making him a creative and unique blueliner for his team.

Montanino showed a lot of confidence with the puck on his stick, challenging his opponents with his smooth puck handling skills up the ice to attack the middle or gain the offensive blue line. Although there were moments where I thought he overhandled pucks at times, he also created a few scoring opportunities with his aggressiveness including the nicest individual chance in this game when he split two defenders when curling back to the blue line from the corner before attacking the middle of the ice, pulling the puck past another opponent to his backhand and letting off a sneaky quick shot that just missed the opening on the top of the net.