Projection: Top Six Upside

Strengths: Confidence, Explosiveness, Handling

Development Opportunities: Off Puck Game, Consistency

Admittedly, Kelly has been a tough player for me to fully make heads or tails of. There are moments where Kayden really jumps off the page. The flashes of explosiveness, confident hands, and ability to beat defenders with these tools off the rush really make him stand out. These individual moments where he bolts up the ice and shifts around while handling the puck on a string are truly impressive and showcase the raw talent he possesses. He can be highly lethal off the rush, generating tons of offence through his ability to gain steps on opponents off the rush, attack wide, and cut in, leveraging slick hands in tight to beat netminders.

The caveat is that those flashes can be few and far between. There are too many shifts where Kelly’s impact is muted and he is operating in the background of the game waiting for a play to come his way. Finding ways to impact the game, even if it isn’t with the razzle dazzle flashes, on a consistent shift to shift basis is my big key for him moving forward. Given the high-end tools, there is tons of potential and upside with Kelly, and I think he can develop into a quality OHLer, just some tweaks to be made to ensure he is fully making use of his abilities to drive results.

Kelly was the primary offensive creator on the Waxers in this game, ending with three goals and two assists. He showed impressive moments of combining speed and skill, displaying his crafty puck handling to deceive defenders and navigate to the dangerous areas. Most of his success came off the rush, attacking at top speed, zigging and zagging to weave around defenders and drive a scoring chance. It just seemed like he could do almost whatever he wanted at times, always having the right move for the opportunity to dodge whatever defenders tried to do to close him down. In terms of skill and excitement, Kayden’s performance was certainly up there among these forwards.