I can tell Arsenault is going to be a lot of fun to watch this year. It didn’t take long to realize he possessed one of the more dynamic skillsets of the entire camp, combining an elite pair of hands with strong offensive instincts to generate chances at a very high rate. He’s always looking to attack defenders head on off the rush trying to leverage his puck skills to beat defenders one on one. He’ll need to limit the amount of times he tries to deke through defenders rather than utilize his teammates, but the highlight reel plays were frequent throughout this event. Towards the end of camp, he started to diversify his approach by implementing drop passes off the rush to get to puck to teammates in space as he drove the net and pushed back defenders. Arsenault was also able to get defenders to drop on fake shots, which allowed him to cut across them laterally and into space to get a shot off from a dangerous area. He’s also able to corral bad passes while in motion, either by kicking up a puck that landed in his feet or pulling his stick back to one touch a puck up in front of him, all while maintain his stride.

It was a quiet first 40 minutes for Arsenault before he helped will his team to a comeback victory with a near dominant offensive performance in the final frame. I don’t think he was necessarily bad in the first half of the game, but there were a few moments where he opted to be a tad bit too individualistic, opting rather to try and take defenders one on one and will his way to the middle of the ice or skate himself into problematic areas, which lead to a few turnovers. In the third period he started to establish his playmaking ability off the rush, keeping his head up in motion to spot trailing options up high and execute slip passes through sticks in traffic to hit teammates in stride. He scored the game tying goal on a wraparound attempt when he picked up the puck behind the net, faked a wraparound to the right side and pulled it back to the left, fooling everyone and the goaltender in the process, before depositing it into the open net. He made some high-end dashes through the neutral zone as well, catching a step on defenders too create a bit of space for himself to attack the inside and was also distributing pucks to the middle of the ice from along the halfwall. Arsenault was also on the ice defending the lead with a minute remaining and scored the empty net goal to seal the deal for good measure.

Arsenault was looking to attack defenders head on early and often in this contest, opting to try and get pucks through them and break in alone. While the results on this were a bit of a mixed bag, I thought he was still able to utilize his skill in an effective manner to impact the game in some fashion. I thought he did a good job as a puck carrier in transition to invite pressure towards him before spinning off a check and making a pass in motion to a streaking teammate. He scored the game first goal after making a hard drive to the net, corralling a pass in his feet, kicking it up to his blade and depositing it into the back of the net.

I really liked what I saw from Arsenault in the first twenty minutes of play, even if I thought he fizzled out as the game went on. He was Québec White’s best player in the first period, showcasing a good combination of effort and skill by breaking up breakout attempts in the offensive and making quick and accurate reads to an open teammate. He had an excellent assist on Québec’s first goal where he showed off a high level of compete and offensive intelligence. He made a quick pre-scan to the front of the net before hustling to gain inside possession on a defender, then throwing a quick backhand pass right on the tape of a teammate who buried it. The latter half of the game saw him try to rely on his skill level too much, forcing plays and dekes into traffic which resulted in a loss of possession for Québec.