Projection: Top-Four Defenseman with PP Capabilities

Strengths: Skating, Rush Defending, Puck-Rushing

Development Opportunities: Puck-Moving

There isn’t a better skater in this draft than Quinn Norman, a defender who combines superb edgework and fantastic skating stride which allows him to positively impact the game both offensively and defensively. He’s at his best when he’s going back for pucks on retrievals or regroups, utilizing his skating ability to escape pressure with relative ease and get the puck going in the right direction. His ability to close in quickly on puck-carriers makes him an effective rush defender as well, helping deny zone entries and initiating counterattacks for his club. His ability to beat primary pressure on breakouts plays a crucial role in his team’s transition game, using headfakes and quick lateral bursts while maintaining his momentum to freeze defenders and work his way up ice. He’s demonstrated more confidence from the offensive blueline as the season has gone on, taking the time to assess his options and execute downhill passes through traffic and shooting low shots for deflections.

For Norman to become a more reliable and effective defender at the next level, he’ll need to learn to make proper reads and execute his outlet passes at more efficient rate. We know he’s able to use his feet to rush the puck up ice, but when teams at the junior level start to limit his time and space he’ll have to adapt and mending his puck-moving ability will help him overcome that, although he has already shown improvement in this area ,especially late in the year.

In my opinion, I thought Norman was the best player, not just defender, on Team Savage from start to finish throughout the tournament. No, he didn’t dominate the scoresheet, finishing with just 1 goal in 4 games, but the skating ability is truly elite and the way he leveraged it kill plays all over the ice and dominate in transition were truly remarkable. He was closing in very quickly on puck-carriers while defending off the rush, forcing them to make quick and rash decisions with the puck that lead to turnovers and a counterattack the other direction. His work on regroups was highly impressive as well, as he consistently won races back to loose pucks and was able to extend his touches by leveraging his edgework to escape pressure and buy time for play to develop so he could make the optimal play up ice. He had a few dazzling puck rushes up the ice as well, wheeling behind his own net to build speed, beating the primary forechecker with either his hands or his feet and skating the puck up ice for a controlled entry. He was patient and poised from the top of the offensive zone as well, using his lateral mobility to walk the line with his head up to spot downhill options and shoot for deflections that lead to many dangerous chances from in front of the net.

Not only was Norman the best defender on this Newfoundland squad, but I thought he was one of the best defenders throughout the entire event. The skating ability is the crux of his game, and he used it so effectively to impact the game positively in all three zones and tilt the ice in his teams’ favour whenever he was on the ice. His ability to escape pressure on both regroups and retrievals was the driving force behind his team’s transition game as he was consistently able to get pucks up the ice using his hands or his feet and generate plenty of controlled exits or entries as a consequence. As a puck-carrier in transition I thought he did a good job of not skating himself into problematic areas and utilizing slip or drop passes once he entered the offensive zone to get pucks to teammates in space. He showed tremendous poise with the puck on his stick at the offensive blueline, peeling back and using his lateral mobility to walk the line with his head up to assess his options and utilizing his hands to beat pressure up high if need be. His skating allowed him to cover plenty of ground while defending in transition, where he would often skate across the ice to gap up on puck-carriers, muscle them off the and initiate the counterattack for his team. It’s still early in the process, but Norman has made an early bidding to be my favorite defender in this entire draft class.

Once again a catalyst for offence from the back end, Norman provided a lot of support in his team’s transition game by spearheading rushes out of his own half or joining plays up the ice as a close trailer. I thought he was dynamic along the offensive blue line as well, moving across the line with finesse and keeping his head up the whole way to take advantage of any passing or shooting lanes that appeared. He also made a handful of strong defensive stops, showing his ability to track some of the speedier forwards from the opposing team off the rush, push them away from the middle and execute well-time stick checks to knock the puck loose.

Norman was a dominant two-way presence throughout this whole game, displaying immense confidence as a puck handler both in transition and along the offensive blue line where he commanded offensive zone sequences on multiple occasions. The fluidity in his stride allowed him to add a layer of deception when carrying the puck, which he used to get into open space and fire home his team’s third goal of the game, but I found he was often able to make quick and effective decisions to advance play or get pucks towards the net and create good looks for teammates around the blue paint. His smooth skating ability made him just as effective at defending the rush where he was able to cover a lot ground and close gaps quickly using strong lateral pushes and an active defensive stick.

I thought Norman was the most impact player on the ice from start to finish in this one, utilizing his skating ability to dominate in transition and drive play for his team from the backend. He was virtually impossible to contain on regroups, consistently shaking forecheckers by pivoting away from pressure using his edgework, skating up ice and moving the puck up ice to his forwards that lead to a high frequency of controlled entries. He was a one-man breakout in the defensive zone as well, often opting to wheel the puck out from behind the net on DZ retrievals, separating from forecheckers with ease and skating the puck out himself for a controlled exit. His offensive contributions mostly came in transition, where he made a couple of shrewd activations off the rush to get puck touches in open ice and execute some cross-ice feeds that lead to dangerous chances.

Norman’s technical skating ability put him ahead of most defenders in this game from the jump, using it to consistently escape pressure and drive play in the right direction for his team. My notes largely consisted of him breaking up plays off the rush using his lateral mobility to close in quickly on puck-carriers before retrieving the puck, using his edgework to escape pressure and move the puck up ice. He really impressed me in one particular sequence where he shook the primary forechecker with a head fake, deked around another then executed a backhand outlet pass cross-ice that lead to a controlled entry.

Norman’s skating ability was once again the driving force behind his positive play in this game. He had a handful of really strong plays defending the rush, most notably in the first period when he skated across the ice to close in on an attacker, outmuscle him off the puck and fire a quick pass up the ice that nearly sprung a teammate for a breakaway. His edgework allowed him to pull away from forecheckers with ease on his regroups, which then allowed him to burst into space and initiate some clean entries for Newfoundland.

Losing effort aside, Norman was one of the better players in this game thanks in large part to his high-end skating ability that allowed him to dictate play at times. He was so smooth on his retrievals and was able to beat forechecks with relative ease by scanning to anticipate the pressure and using his edges to explode out of his turns and move up the ice for either a controlled exit with his feet or an outlet up the ice. His puck-carrying was another positive aspect of his game, as he was one of the few Newfoundland players, both forward and defense, who could consistently gain the offensive line and set up offensive zone sequences. Norman also flashed poise with the puck along the offensive blueline, using a combination of head fakes and deceptive edgework to shake checkers and get himself down low in the zone for either a shot or a pass to an open teammate. His rush defending was impressive as well, as he was able to use strong backwards skating and lateral mobility to force attackers to the outside and thwart any attempts to the inside with an active stick.