Nathan MacKinnon – Halifax Mooseheads -2013 NHL Draft

Nathan Mackinnon is the complete package. He had a very good first season in the QMJHL and he led his team to a very good run in the playoffs. At mid-point during the season

we had some concerns about his consistency, as he had trouble being effective through 60 minutes in the games we watched. Those doubts quickly dissipated. He quickly got back to the top of his game consistently and was without a doubt one of the best players of the post-season in the QMJHL. He was matched up against Mikhail Grigorenko in the series against the Quebec Remparts and he easily came out on top against the Russian forward in every area.

The best element to Mackinnon’s game is his elite speed. He reaches full speed in very few steps and that makes him extremely dangerous. We’ve seen a lot of situations where he was just gliding in the neutral zone and the next thing you know he was blowing past defenders. Mackinnon also skates very low, which gives him a good center of gravity and makes him hard to knock off the puck. His lower body strength serves him well when he is in tight coverage and needs more than just speed to elude defenders. Once he is in the offensive zone, he has great vision and creativity. He sees openings very quickly and is hard to stop when he starts stickhandling. He also has the ability to come out of the corners quicker than his opponents, which gives him free lanes to the net. We really like Mackinnon’s competitiveness and how he was able to step up his game in important situations.

An area where Nathan needs to improve is his defensive game. He had a tendency of getting caught out of position. His speed allows him to be effective in the D-zone but his positioning could still be much better. Mackinnon also needs to distribute the puck better. He has great vision but he needs to trust his teammates more and know when to get rid of the puck. Having so much talent sometimes results in situations where you want to do everything yourself, and this is not always the best option.  There is no doubt he will be an impact player in the NHL and he will probably battle Seth Jones in the battle for the #1 overall pick in 2013.