Prospect Info: William Trudeau, LHD, Charlottetown Islanders (QMJHL) - 4th round 113th pick overall

[jfm133]

Watched Trudeau again yesterday. He is an exciting prospect, he made elite plays again, but was caught a few time off position and scrambled like crazy to recuperate. Played a two on one perfectly. There is still too much swing in his play from great to bad. He still needs to find that balance in risk taking. He reminds me a bit of Kris Letang. Still early to say if he can be half of Letang, but depending on how he can settle his game, we could have a special player. Trudeau is aiming to play a complete game, to be an offensive D that can defend well, this is hard to put together. Skating, mobility is already there, offensive IQ too, again, he just need to manage risk taking and to become more stable defensively. He is just 21. Ceiling is high and most underrated prospect by medias right now. In a year or so they will wake up like they did with Struble and call him a surprise.

 

[LesCanadiens]

Watched Trudeau again yesterday. He is an exciting prospect, he made elite plays again, but was caught a few time off position and scrambled like crazy to recuperate. Played a two on one perfectly. There is still too much swing in his play from great to bad. He still needs to find that balance in risk taking. He reminds me a bit of Kris Letang. Still early to say if he can be half of Letang, but depending on how he can settle his game, we could have a special player. Trudeau is aiming to play a complete game, to be an offensive D that can defend well, this is hard to put together. Skating, mobility is already there, offensive IQ too, again, he just need to manage risk taking and to become more stable defensively. He is just 21. Ceiling is high and most underrated prospect by medias right now. In a year or so they will wake up like they did with Struble and call him a surprise.

Nice report. Thanks. Looked so good at camp and preseason last year. Then stumbled badly defensively all of a sudden. So IMO, the framework is there as he's shown he can play defense in bunches of games. As with all young, offensive-minded D prospects (see Barron), we need to be patient and try not to overreact so much. It's very normal for defensemen to take far longer to adapt to the big jump in speed, size and physical play in the NHL.