While the less than ideal foot speed and shift-by-shift consistency still continued to plague him, there’s no denying the vast amount of potential Halley possesses. Listed as the biggest kid at this camp, Halley contains all the skill you’d normally find in a much smaller player. His hands are lightning quick, which is the main reason he’s able to be such an effective player in transition despite the skating limitations. He was able to consistently spot teammates in the neutral zone by pulling pucks through defender’s sticks, creating new angles for himself as a passer and executing difficult passes through seams. When he got the puck in the offensive zone, he was so good at carving through defenders to get to the middle of the ice, drawing multiple players towards him in the process before making a subtle yet brilliant slip pass to a wide-open teammate. I thought he did a great job off the cycle as well by using his frame to protect the puck as he circled the offensive zone and either dropping the puck back to a teammate or leveraging his skill to make a hard cut off the halfwall to get to the middle of the ice. The size and skill combination will surely have QMJHL teams frothing at the mouth if his development continues to trend upwards.

Halley was one of the players I was most looking forward to watching just given his profile. Standing at 6’3 and 177 lbs, he currently leads the M15 Québec league in scoring with 47 points in just 17 games. While I did come away impressed with Halley, there are still a few question marks to his game that I think need to be resolved before he makes the jump next year. His offensive skills are very refined for a player of his age and size. He’s at this most effective below the goal line where he can shield pucks from defenders and slide deft passes to teammates in the slot area on both his forehand and his backhand. He showed a good ability to draw defenders towards him to create space for his teammates, before slipping a pass through their sticks or feet. He uses his size effectively around the perimeter in the offensive zone and is essentially impossible to knock off the puck against players his own age. His ability to shield the puck from his opponents buys him a lot of time to make decisions with the puck at this level. Although his stride is a bit choppy, he showed some good foot speed in certain situations such as races to loose pucks. The big question with Halley is will he be able to uses his size as effectively at the next level? I came away from this tournament as more of a believer than a doubter. He’ll most likely still be one of the bigger forwards in the M18 circuit next season, and I think he possesses the passing acumen and decent enough puck control to be an offensive factor regardless of his size. He’ll be a very interesting case study for next year’s draft.

It took him roughly four periods, but it seems like Halley has finally arrived at this Québec U16 camp and is flashing the high-end offensive ability that has made him one of the more highly touted prospects out of the province this season. Although his lack of foot speed doesn’t really allow him to be an effective rush player as a puck carrier, his passing ability made him an integral part of his team’s transition game. The way he’s able to thread pucks through multiple layers to teammates in stride, in conjunction with his processing ability that gets pucks off his stick quickly, allows his team to play with tempo whenever he’s on the ice. His use of give and go’s to generate puck touches up high off the rush allowed him to flash some of his high-end puck skills to operate in congested areas and carve through defenders before executing slick passes into space. I thought he was quite effective off the cycle as well, utilizing his size to shield the puck from defenders and make intelligent short area passes to teammates while supporting the play off-puck as well. He showed off his strong shooting mechanics on the game-winning goal when he received a pass in the slot and wired a low hard shot that beat the goaltender clean.

It was another interesting night from Halley, who is one of the more physically advanced prospects at 6’3 and 177 lbs. At this stage he is able to dominate his peers along the perimeter, using his body to shield the puck from defenders while he scans the ice waiting for a play to develop. He was impressive off the cycle in this game and showcased some good stickhandling ability to get off the boards and attack the center of the offensive zone. He made a few good plays with his stick in the defensive zone, using his long reach to get into passing lanes. He scored a goal late in the game by winning a race to a loose puck in the neutral zone and beating the goaltender on the ensuing breakaway. He’s still a bit of a heavy skater, which limited his play through the neutral zone in this game.

At 6’3 and 177lbs Halley already possesses an above-average junior hockey frame to go along with some advanced offensive traits. He already knows how to use his body to shield the puck from pressure while he scans his passing options. He has a nice first touch and showed the ability to consistently catch a puck in stride and maintain his speed through the neutral zone. He’s tough to knock off the puck in the offensive zone, especially along the perimeter. There were a few times in this game where he pre-scanned the front of the net, collected a loose puck below the net and made a quick dish passed some unsuspecting defenders to a high-danger area. He does struggle with pace at this point of his development, but he has plenty of time to improve his skating and become more comfortable in his large frame.