Hunter Shinkaruk – Medicine Hat Tigers – 2013 NHL Draft

A speedy, skilled forward who has taken the league by storm with his offensive abilities this year. Shinkaruk would easily be the best forward available for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft if he had an earlier birthday. His goal scoring capabilities are hard to match, and will be a valuable commodity for any team.

Despite his size, Shinkaruk goes into the tough areas on the ice and battles hard for loose pucks. He wants the puck on his stick and put up goals for his team. His skating ability forces opponents to give him a lot of space, and with the wrist shot he owns and the dekes he can pull off fluidly, it makes him very dangerous in any given situation. Shinkaruk has improved his hands as the season went along, but still loses the puck at times when going at full speed. An area of improvement for his game would be his overall strength. He needs to get stronger on his skates so that his size is not a negative factor for him and is able to keep standing despite all of the physical punishment he will take.

Defensively, Shinkaruk plays a very good game in his own zone. He reads the play well and supports the slot at appropriate times. He uses body positioning to keep the play outside. Again, he must get stronger to be more effective along the boards so he can come away with pucks from battles and get to the offensive zone more often and put up more points. It does not look like he will grow much more, so it is crucial for him to pay extra attention to little details in his little game so that he will beat opponents with his intelligence and be a valuable pro one day.