His stride for sure needs work. Very upright, does not bend his knees much and as a result his skates angle outwards too much and reduce the power he gets at times. But I also thought despite that he managed to accelerate away from and go past guys quite a lot. Ofc the Q is not the NHL... but he is a faster skater than a guy like Hagg already even if his stride is very unorthodox.
When I talk skating I'm more talking more about overall movement rather than just solely focusing on the feet. I don't really question his foot speed. It's fine. Good even in a straight line. He's a long strider and it shows in open ice, but a defenseman at the next level won't get a chance to showcase open ice skating too often, especially the type he projects as. It's much more about short area quickness. He's definitely a lot more comfortable going forward than in the other 3 directions. I just find him a bit too clumsy, off-balance, flat-footed, and just awkward throughout games, especially when he has to change directions. He's really tentative when he has to pick up loose pucks along the boards. It's as he's fully aware of his limitations. He's kind of got the opposite issue that St. Ivany has. St. Ivany lacks short area explosiveness, but his edge work and balance is really pretty solid overall. I'm much more forgiving if a defenseman's skating knocks are speed related as opposed to change of direction related.
Villeneuve's pace slows down dramatically as a puck carrier. He's a puck pusher and not really a puck handler. You'll notice if he's forced to carry the puck in the DZ, he'll give it a big push forward and try to generate speed that way rather than using quick cross-overs and having firm control of the puck. I'm not sure that will fly at the next level. I'm not expecting Poirier-level ability, who can fly out of the DZ and weave through the NZ with ease, but even if you compare him to another peer Charlie Desroches, who is nothing but a late round marginal prospect, Desroches is a much, much better skater at this time. I'd also like to see him move more in the offensive zone. He can be a bit too stationary.
Realizing this sounds overly critical, I do like him as a prospect. This is only one area of the game, albeit probably the second most important aspect. And it's not always bad. Just a little more than I'd expect from a player with his pedigree. I just think second round is a little too rich for me. Especially without a third round pick. My rankings are still pretty tentative, but I have him as the ~15th best D. He'll almost certainly go later than that since I didn't even rank players that are almost certainly going before him so equate that how you will.
The Saint John coaches definitely seem to trust him a lot more than Poirier fwiw.
