Charron’s high-end speed was a factor all over the ice throughout camp. He was backchecking hard through the neutral zone to break up a ton of plays, nullifying odd man rushes and initiating the counterattack in the process. He was able to get plenty of breakaway chances thanks to his quickness, either by getting in behind defenders off-puck or winning races to loose pucks in the neutral zone and blowing by them to break in alone. As a puck-carrier off the rush he could push back defenders by building up speed n the neutral zone, drive wide and deliver slip passes up high to teammates in space who could then attack downhill.

It was a bit of an underwhelming showing for Charron production wise, finishing with no points in 3 games and not looking like the player I’d seen in previous viewings. Despite this, the high-end offensive toolkit was still able to rear its head from time to time and keep me highly optimistic about his status as a top QMJHL prospect. The puck skills are the one trait that stands out immediately every time you watch him, with his ability to access the middle of the ice by carving through defenders and pulling pucks through and around sticks at a high rate. Charron even flashed bits of manipulative playmaking in transition, getting defenders to open up with subtle fakes so he could thread pucks through seams and execute on cross-ice feeds. The pace of his game wavered, which is an issue I think he’ll have to address along with his consistency on a shift to shift basis, but he’s still a player I believe has all the offensive tools to make it work at the next level.

From the first drop of the puck Charron looked engaged and was leveraging his high-end puck skills to consistently gain access to the middle of the ice and create high danger opportunities for himself. On just his first shift alone he won multiple battles for loose pucks along the perimeter in the offensive to establish the cycle game and turned it into a dangerous chance for himself by deking around a defender coming off the halfwall to break inside for a backhand shot from the slot. He scored his team’s third goal in spectacular fashion when attacked the offensive zone from off the flank, attacked a defender head on and pulled a puck around him to get to the inside before firing a perfect backhand shot over the goaltender’s glove. His vision in the offensive zone was impressive as well as he was consistently able to spot options through layers and thread pucks through traffic to teammates. He made a series of strong feeds in transition to hit teammates in stride in the neutral zone that allowed them to walk into passes and attack the zone with speed.

Charron was able to make the most of his puck touches in this one, showing off his finishing ability by potting two goals for Québec White. He was consistently able to get himself open in the offensive zone, which is how he scored his first goal by firing a one timer home from in tight in the slot area. His second goal came not too long after when he was able to sneak behind the defense, break in alone and go backhand-forehand high blocker for his teams fourth goal.