A nice blurb on one of the least talked about of the Canes ‘19 draft class (from a Jonathan Willis Athletic article):
C Massimo "Decimus Meridius" Rizzo, Hurricanes
Rizzo was injured this summer and didn’t get the opportunity to attend Carolina’s prospect camp after being drafted. That doesn’t mean he isn’t in touch with them. Like most prospects, he got a list of items to work on from his new NHL team.
“Playing fast, playing heavy,” he said when asked what the Hurricanes had emphasized. “Work on my strength and speed; it’s a fast game. But they liked a lot of things. I’m just trying to get better every day.”
Rizzo’s offensive numbers don’t leap off the page at the BCHL level. He cracked the point-per-game mark last season and has improved his scoring pace very slightly this year, though goals form a larger percentage of his output and that has to be seen as a positive. He’s also not a one-dimensional player.
“Riz brings leadership,” said his coach at the tournament, Joe Martin. “He’s really good down the middle, faceoffs, he distributes the puck well… He’s good on the kill. He commands the puck. He makes good plays from inside the dots to outside. He brings guys towards him. He’d be a fun guy to play with.”
He’s an easy player to like at this level. He protected the puck well, gained the offensive zone with possession regularly, and showed an ability to disrupt opposition efforts by picking off passes or stealing pucks. He’s also a relatively young 18; as a June birthday, he’s barely older than many of the 2020-eligible players in the tournament.
Despite his formidable skills, projecting Rizzo to the next level is somewhat difficult. He isn’t big, listed at just 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds, and he isn’t especially fast either. Sometimes smart and skilled can overcome that, and four years of college hockey is bound to help address it, too. As seventh-round flyers go, it’s easy to like Carolina’s bet here.
