2013 NHL Draft: Moncton Wildcats vs. Victoriaville Tigres December 7 2012

 

December 7 2012, Moncton Wildcats vs. Victoriaville Tigres (Regular Season)

MON #4 D Sweeney, Jacob (2013) – Sweeney started off the game on the first pair of defenseman and saw his ice time go down quickly. He didn’t look too bad in close range battles in the defensive zone but he didn’t look comfortable moving at greater speed. He tried to compensate for his lack of speed by being very aggressive with his gap, but that didn’t pay off. I also thought…

[sociallocker]he struggled to use his massive body to move opponents from the front of his net.

MON #8 RW Garland, Connor (2014) – Garland played his first game in the QMJHL tonight and showed some very good tools. His skating and acceleration definitely compensate for the lack of size he has. He wasn’t always in the right place to receive the puck from his defenseman and that prevented him from using his skating tool more. He also showed some very good hands and ability to play with the puck in traffic. He also loves to shoot the puck and it paid off at some point in the game as he recorded his first goal.

MON #22 C/LW Barbashev, Ivan (2014) – I was very impressed by Barbashev’s play tonight. He’s an excellent skater who can carry the puck for an extended period of time with very good speed and excellent hands. He showed he could beat opponents with his burst of speed alone and other times he did it with his quick and precise hands. He also showed he has an excellent wrist shot. He used the defenseman as a screen and fired a strong shot off the post once. His play without the puck was also very surprising: he was very active defensively and didn’t mind using his body at all. In fact, he was one of the most physical player in this game, giving some very hard checks. Barbashev looks very promising for next year’s draft as he is a very complete player with high end tools.

MON #26 LW Jaskin, Dimitri (STL Blues) – Jaskin is one the best physical player I’ve seen in the QMJHL this season. He looks ready to play professional hockey in that regard. He was a force along the boards and deep into the offensive zone. He can out power opponents to get the puck or to create a path to the net. He protects the puck very well and his hands make him a lethal threat within close range of the net. He looks to be more of a patient player with the puck than a dynamic skater. He didn’t produce anything with his speed but he was patient in the neutral zone and he let the play develop.

VIC #3 D Diaby, Jonathan (2013) – Diaby played an average game. He wasn’t bad but he didn’t show the physical aspect of his game tonight and he was physically abused by Jaskin deep in his zone. He didn’t live up to the physical challenge Jaskin presented to him and lost quite a few battles. He was more discrete, but he managed to limit mistake and play good enough to play his regular turn.

VIC #57 Veilleux, Tommy (2013) – Veilleux didn’t have a very strong game but he did enough to get noticed. He didn’t hit as much as usual but he was present in front of the net. He also picked up a fight that helped his team gain momentum. I was expecting him to bring more speed and physical play in this game but he didn’t. He managed to score a goal early in the third period: he was alone in front of the goalie and went with a good high shot to beat the goalie.

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