Prospect Info: Eric Cornel (2014, 44th) – '18-19: Rochester #20 (AHL)

[Woodhouse]

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2014 Prospect​

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YouTube​

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Eric Cornel​

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Peterborough​

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6'1"​

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186​

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YT1–YT2​

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[NHL]627050[/NHL]

[NHL]627046[/NHL]​

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[LastWordArmy]

http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/05/08/2014-nhl-draft-profile-35-eric-cornel/

 

[Chainshot]

Dynamic skating is not something the Sabres have much of at all. Cornel offers that, certainly.

 

[Savitar]

Great pick!!! Really wanted him !

 

[krt88]

As I watched tape, I thought Cornel reminded me of Brian Holzinger. If you were a Holzinger fan, then ok, but I think he has got to learn to play in traffic and go to the tough areas. Good speed, good play maker but development and game maturity is needed.

 

[ottawah]

Great pickup. He really had a great year with no fan fare last year. He needs to up the compete level, but like Baptiste last year, I think in a year Buffalo fans will be ecstatic with this pick.

 

[LaxSabre]

Hes on twitter - @ecornel10

Kris Baker @SabresProspects - Sabres select speedy, crafty forward Eric Cornel out of Peterborough at #44 (25-37-62). Good size, looked good w/ Ritchie. Great 2nd half

 

[Paxon]

Our best pick of the day so far imo. I think he has more upside than Lemieux

 

[MagnumForce2]

Our best pick of the day so far imo. I think he has more upside than Lemieux

I agree with you. Like you and probably most of the posters on this board, there are prospects I would have preferred over others at certain picks, but this is prospect that I wanted.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

Black Book

There are a lot of things to like about Cornel as a prospect but there are consistent glaring concerns as well. On the positive, Cornel is an excellent skater for a 6’2” forward. He rushes the puck up ice with great speed and can take it end to end at times. He will also use this skating ability on the backcheck too. He showed flashes of puck skills and puck handling ability but lost control of the puck at times as well. He is more of a playmaker than a scorer and has good vision in the offensive zone to make creative, smart passes. He doesn’t have a lot of power in his shot but gets it off with pretty good accuracy. Despite lacking any physical element in his game, Cornel is capable of protecting the puck well and will drive the net.

One of the biggest concerns about Cornel is his lack of willingness to go to the dirty areas and battle for pucks. While he has good skill to be an offensive contributor at the junior level, we don’t see him being able to produce enough to play a role in the NHL. Combined with a lack of physicality or strong forechecking ability he isn’t really suited for a bottom six role. He has talent but our draft ranking for him incorporates his very soft play.

ISS

Scouting Report: Crafty offensive player with slick passing skills and offensive instincts. A natural play-maker with excellent vision and able to find his teammates through seams in the ice, even under pressure. Always in good position on both sides of the puck. Has very good on-ice offensive abilities and has shown to be a smart player who is always looking for openings on the ice. Underrated scoring ability. He needs to get stronger to compete at the pro level, would be the perfect project player, if you could get his effort level to match his high hockey IQ he could be a tremendous top 6 pro player.

McKeen's

Laboured through the first half of the season but then a move to the left side following the acquisition of Hunter Garlent presented new life to the former 3rd overall selection of the 2013 OHL draft .. highly intuitive offensive minded player who is cunning with the puck and lethal in open ice .. shifty and athletic skating stride but not overly explosive .. very light on his edges displaying elusiveness and is able to twist and turn off players in tight quarters with the puck .. passing skills set him apart showcasing outstanding vision in his intelligent and insightful possession game .. considered to have ‘soft’ skill at the start of the season, Cornell did a valiant job of identifying his weaknesses and addressing them throughout the year - particularly, in his lack of defensive play and unwillingness to compete along the boards .. added a layer of assertiveness to his game and showed a renewed commitment to team defence at times doing all the heavy lifting on his line with Garlent and Ritchie .. possesses a good frame and the foundation to easily put on an additional 25-35 pounds…very projectable skills and a player whose stock was trending upwards following a successful regular season finish and strong playoff performance.

FC

STRENGTHS: Cornel is a two-way center with very impressive mobility. He is a very fast skater with an upright skating style who reaches top speed in a matter of a couple short strides. He generates a lot of power in his first few steps, and is fairly strong on his skates and pivots very well. His speed increases when he is carrying the puck and he uses his speed and good stickhandling to enter the zone with ease. He has great control of the puck as he skates through traffic. Cornel is very strong on the puck and protects it well; he knows when to cut one way or another and be able to get around opponents to get to the net or pass the puck off. He generates a lot of scoring chances and, without the puck, consistently gets to a position to score. Cornel is a very smart center who showed his ability to have an impact in all three zones. He shows good awareness and anticipation. Cornel does a lot of little things that make big differences during the course of a game. He pressures hard on the forecheck and forces defenders to give up the puck. He possesses a high compete level and has a quick snap shot. Cornel doesn’t give up on plays around net and has a very powerful wrist shot. When he carries the puck, he kicks his speed into another gear. Cornel is a playmaking center. He shows great passing skills. He makes the players around him better with his ability to dish the puck. Cornel anticipates where teammates will be and gets them the puck. He showed he is responsible in his own zone. He sees the game well, and is rarely caught out of position. Cornel continually supported his d-men down low, givingthem simple ways out of jams.

WEAKNESSES: While it might seem like there is not a lot to improve in his game, Cornel is seen as a prospect with limited offensive upside. He looks like someone who could fill a Stephen Weiss role, the one that was with Florida not Detroit, adding secondary scoring and playing a strong all-round game, but not quite first-line center output. Lacks physical bite. He offers support to his teammates along the wall, but does not engage in physical play often. Cornel doesn’t always engage in play and can go through funks where he is invisible, cruising up and down the ice, but not doing very much to impact the contest. Cornel also has work to do in the faceoff circle.

THN

SOME SCOUTS WERE SURPRISED the Canadian under 18 team didn't choose Cornel since he had such a productive season in Peterborough, though projections for him are all over the map. One scout said he would go to Peterborough games specifically to watch higher profile teammate Nick Ritchie and come away with a better impression of Cornel. Another scout said playing with Ritchie masked a number of Cornel's deficiencies, one of which is consistency. "He's like that pretty girlfriend you can't stand because she drives you nuts," said one scout. "You break up with her and then you ask, 'Why did I do that?' Then you get back t ogether and you say, 'Oh, this is why.'" Scouts agree, though, when Cornel is on his game, he can be difficult to stop, and they saw enough of those games to be intrigued by the possibilities. "But I'm not sure if that compete and accountability come naturally to him," said another scout.

 

[ZeroPT*]

love the pick.

He was a big part of Ritchie's success last year

 

[couture23]

Wasn't he a top 5 OHL pick?

 

[Paxon]

Wasn't he a top 5 OHL pick?

Several of our guys were high CHL picks

 

[ottawah]

Wasn't he a top 5 OHL pick?

3 overall.

 

[haseoke39]

Seems like a theme in Murray's picks today emphasizes hockey IQ, even when the effort or skill aren't there.

Might not be a terrible idea. You can coach a smart kid more easily than a dumb one.

 

[Zman5778]

Seems like a theme in Murray's picks today emphasizes hockey IQ, even when the effort or skill aren't there.

Might not be a terrible idea. You can coach a smart kid more easily than a dumb one.

Which actually makes a TON of sense if you think about it.

We've got a metric ****ton of worker-types (Girgensons, Compher, Fasching, Carrier, Larsson, Kea, Schaller, etc etc), but we really lack the skill guys (Grigorenko, Armia and then what).

So now we load the pipe with some skill guys and hope that the work ethic of our previous draftees rub off.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

Eric Cornel interviews (6/28/14)

[NHL]627050[/NHL]
Sabres 2014 draft pick Eric Cornel spoke with Brian Duff in Philadelphia.

[NHL]627046[/NHL]
Eric Cornel met with reporters in Philadelphia after being drafted by Buffalo.

 

[ZeroPT*]

Cornel does work hard.

He needs to add 15-20 lbs and get into the dirty areas more often. He's a perimeter guy, but that can be fixed. Just watching nick Ritchie highlights you'll see Cornel was a big part of Ritchie's success.

 

[1972]

what were his numbers after the Hunter Garlent trade?

 

[douglast5]

what were his numbers after the Hunter Garlent trade?

Not sure his exact numbers, but he really took off after the trade. Garlent had 30 points in 25 games though.

Losing the defensive responsibilities of playing center really opened him up offensively. He struggled as #1c for the Petes prior to the trade, but that could just have been a maturity/size issue.

He will most likely continue to play wing next year with Garlent and Ritchie.

 

[Paxon]

He seemed pretty insightful in his media scrum. When I wrote up my grades I first gave this pick an A-, then bumped it down to a B+ before I finished.

I said earlier in the thread that this was the best pick so far in the day. At the end of the day, I still feel that way. At #44 we got a guy with some real upside and didn't pass up anyone obvious to do so. I said in a prospect thread a couple days ago that I could see him pulling even with or surpassing Bleackley and/or McCann with a strong year.

 

[DazedandConfused]

Love the pick, he's from a town over from me and I remember hearing about him in his UCC days. I think he'll likely have a Baptiste-type breakout season next year.

From those I know who know him, they've all said he's a good kid off the ice as well. A guy I work with's daughter plays soccer with his younger sister, he's the one who told me Buffalo picked him today haha.

 

[Moskau]

He seemed pretty insightful in his media scrum. When I wrote up my grades I first gave this pick an A-, then bumped it down to a B+ before I finished.

I said earlier in the thread that this was the best pick so far in the day. At the end of the day, I still feel that way. At #44 we got a guy with some real upside and didn't pass up anyone obvious to do so. I said in a prospect thread a couple days ago that I could see him pulling even with or surpassing Bleackley and/or McCann with a strong year.

That's kind of what Murray was saying. We drafted quite a few guys this year who didn't have the best seasons last year but made huge growth this season. I'm sure there's a feeling there that if they continue on a similar trajectory next season they could be home runs. Very un-Regier in approach. People complained Regier drafted a bunch of warm bodies in his tenure but never found guys who broke out. Buffalo went for that this year.

 

[Paxon]

 

[Moskau]

Different type of player but he looks a lot like Brayden Schenn when he skates. Reminds me a bit of MoJo in those clips.