I had the great fortune of attending the first four games of this year Memorial Cup in London, Ontario. This tournament pitted the host London Knights against the WHL Champion Edmonton Oil Kings, OHL Champion Guelph Storm, and QMJHL Champ Val D’Oor Foreurs. Unfortunately the Portland Winterhawks (and Jackets prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand) lost to Edmonton in game seven of the WHL finals, so the CBJ prospect contingent consisted of 2013 1st round pick Kerby Rychel (19th overall) of the Storm, and 2012 4th round pick Josh Anderson (95th overall) of the host Knights. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the performance/future of the two Jackets prospects and a few other noteworthy players.
Josh Anderson
Sorry CBJProspects, but I fear this section will make you sad. I am not a fan of Anderson. Not at all. Not one bit. In fact, he might have been my least favorite player I watched play over the first four games of the tournament. Yes, he has very good size. Yes, he’s a pretty good skater for a guy that size. Yes, he doesn’t have terrible hands for a guy with that size and skating. The broad strokes are there, and I’m not writing him off as a prospect. He just has a LONG way to go before we even think of him as an actual positive member of an NHL team. It’s the little things. All of the little things. He doesn’t do ANY of them. He puck watches. He changes instead of backchecking more than any player I have ever watched. When he does backcheck, he rarely picks a guy up, and seems to be looking to jump back to offense instead of taking care of his responsibilities. He has little game awareness, shown in little things like running around trying to throw bodychecks deep in the opponents zone while killing a penalty (then missing, and giving up a 5v3 the other way). He overskates pucks to try and hit someone. He doesn’t go to the net like you’d want a player like him to do. When he goes into the corner, he prefers to come in second and try and lay a hit, even when he has a chance to get there first and get the puck. He gets rattled easily as well. He took a bad penalty in the second game, and was yapping at the refs about it all game. He was pretty clearly rattled by it, and never got over it. That led to very little ice time over the course of that game, his removal from the PK and PP, and getting dropped from his regular line.
Now the positive: pretty much every negative thing I just said about him can be corrected. He has the physical tools to be an NHL player. It’s like as a bigger Blake Comeau, or a possible Jared Boll replacement (should he prove a willing fighter at the pro level). To be successful in the role though, you have to do all the things he doesn’t do right now. He’s going to have a major wake up call when he starts playing in the AHL. He’s either going to work hard to fix his game, and possibly be a solid depth forward in three years or so. Or he’s going to keep playing the same way and be out of hockey (or at least the Jackets system) before he’s 25. Or maybe he fixes some things and not others, and is a career minor leaguer. In any case, he’s not a guy who should be counted on for anything at the NHL level, and if he makes it, we count it as a bonus.
Kerby Rychel
Now Rychel is the complete opposite of Anderson. Well not in terms of size, talent, or anything like that. What I mean is that Rychel does ALL of the little things. I watched him pick up four points in two games. Not a single one of those points involved him doing anything pretty whatsoever. Every single one of them involved Rychel going hard to the right spot, usually a spot that isn’t easy to get to. Right place, right time is a skill, whether you believe it or not. I watch Kerby Rychel play, and I see exactly how he’s going to fit on an NHL roster. He’s never going to be a driving force on a line, and he’s not as physical as I was expecting (in the throwing hits sort of way). But he does all the things you want to see. He usually makes great decisions with the puck, he knows where to go, and he goes there hard with (or without) the puck. He has a great shot, but he doesn’t actually shoot that much. Think of him as a younger, slightly better Umberger (young Umby, not the current version). He’s probably a better passer than Umberger though, as Rychel has legitimate vision. The best save of the tournament came against Robby Fabbri after an absolutely perfect read and pass by Rychel (check out the 2:49 mark).
Now he’s got some things to work on obviously. He isn’t a great skater, although he’s not so terrible that it will hold him back too much if he never improves. It’s his biggest weakness, and I would probably compare to to Boone Jenner as an OHLer. Boone worked on it big time and he’s now passable at the NHL level. Kerby is a little more talented than Boone, but a similar jump in his skating would raise his upside a little bit. Rychel also tends to get a little careless with the puck from time to time, but I tended to notice that later in games, and Guelph won both of it’s contests pretty handily, so that might just be Rychel trying some things at a point in the game that didn’t really matter too much. All in all, I am pretty happy with what I saw from him. He’s not quite as dynamic as I was expecting, but everything he does in the CHL will translate to the NHL. He’s not a guy picking up points through hands/strength/speed/etc. that won’t be such a clear advantage in the NHL. NHLers are faster, stronger, and better than CHLers (obviously) so some guys who made hay dangling, outmuscling, or outskating opponents have to change their game to make the Show. Rychel isn’t one of them.
Miscellaneous Thoughts on Other Players
Tyler Bertuzzi (Detroit): He’s a pretty crafty player, with great finish, despite his very ugly skating stride. He’s a ways off, as he needs to bulk up and fix his skating, but he looks like a future NHLer to me.
Anthony Mantha (Detroit): Not that impressed with Mantha. He’s obviously incredibly talented, but he’s the opposite of Rychel. I don’t see him being able to play the same way in the NHL as he does now. Most of his scoring chances came through just plain beating guys one on one, something he’s not likely to be able to do with nearly as much regularity as a pro.
Robby Fabbri (2014 Draft Eligible): I really like Fabbri, just not 100% sure what he will be at the NHL level. He’s got top six talent, but he picks up so many points in tight, which will be much harder as a pro unless he bulks up.
Antoine Bibeau (Toronto): Bibeau was pretty fantastic in what I saw (V’al Dor gave up 100 shots in the two games I saw, 150 over the three round robin games). However, he almost gave up the worst goal I have ever seen. London took a penalty, then won the faceoff and immediately sent it down the ice. Bibeau was watching the jumbotron, and the puck just happened to hit his stick. If it’s to the left or the right, and it would have been a goal.
Max Domi (Phoenix): Domi is super talented with the puck, a great skater, and very strong for his size. He’s going to be dynamite on the powerplay right away, but he needs to change the way he plays at the NHL level to be the guy Phoenix needs him to be. He is way too fancy with the puck, tries to do too much himself, and those won’t fly/will get him destroyed in the NHL.
Bo Horvat (Vancouver): I loved Bo Horvat every time I had seen him before this tournament. He was invisible in the two games I saw though. He’s solid on the draw and positionally, he just did not look dynamic in any way at all.
Christian Dvorak (2014 Draft Eligible): Dvorak is a very solid puckhandler, good passer, and good skater. He’s a little slight, but that can change with good weight room habits. He missed much of this year due to injury, was buried on the deep Knights team, and is looking like a 3rd to 4th round pick. He could be a very good sleeper.
Matt Finn (Toronto): I loved Finn. Fantastic puckmover. Unlike a lot of junior defensemen, he gets his feet moving as soon as he picks up the puck, unless he one-touches the pass the other way. Guelph moves from defense to offense so quickly when he’s on the ice. He’s a rock positionally as well, very solidly built (think Ryan Murray’s build/size), and a good enough skater to cover for everything else.
Griffin Reinhart (NY Islanders): Dislike. Very, very much. He just can’t move the puck. He’s a monster size-wise, and is a gifted skater for someone so large. But he had numerous turnovers that immediately led to scoring chances, and even simple plays could go wrong when he was the one making the pass. He was fine skating the puck out of danger, but that won’t fly in the NHL. He may play in the NHL someday, I just do not see any way in which he will end up being worth a top five pick.
NOTE: This is based off of watching two games for each of these players. Maybe I just caught the two worst games of Anderson/Reinhart/etc. or the best games Bertuzzi has ever played, etc.
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