Blending offensive intuitiveness with profound finishing abilities, the Saskatoon Blades prospect has displayed one rare qualities over the past couple seasons, making him worthy of a lottery selection the the 2018 WHL Draft. Excelling without the puck offensively, Dach utilizes his slippery frame and heavy stick to sneak into high percentage scoring area’s undetected thus making him one of the most productive scorers around the net in his draft class. His shot, while it lacks velocity, connects with pin point accuracy often located at the top half of the net attached with a quick deceptive release he can get off from many different angles. Dach’s playmaking abilities are above average as well, adhering his play along the wall and opening himself to the middle of the ice. A smooth operator when in possession, utilizing his above average vision from the perimeter mixed with the confidence that he can put passes into any spot in the offensive zone with ease. Someone who I would consider lanky at 6’2 174lbs, Dach utilizes that to slip by contact along the wall and win race’s to puck with the extra edge in range, still has some filling out to do as well. His skating is fine possessing a long composed stride and smooth edge work that allows him to quickly transition from defensive to offence or from offence to defence. The calmness to his game is really intriguing, while his urgency lacks, the patience and calmness allow to him to hits spots on the ice in a timely matter and never look flustered with the puck. Honing excellent puck skills, Dach has a soft touch on the puck and when feeling pressure from the opposing team he rely’s on creativity by attempting to expose the oppositions triangle. Loves to roll of the wall into the middle of the ice, or in a better scoring area, to unleash his shot. Defensively Dach is okay, he often relies on imposing his long reach to apply pressure to the puck carrier and can get too focused on the pucks at times, certainly when defending the transition. Utilizing that long reach of his in a sneaky matter to create turnovers with back pressure or along the wall. Also having the ability to quickly close guys out along the wall and make crushing physical plays when he wants to. Dach possesses an edge to his game as well, loves to vocally get under the other teams skin or make subtle plays after the whistle, having some bite to his game will surely help him translate to the WHL level as a 16 year old.
Overall an intelligent player who displays the complete package offensive, with room for growth. Dach is expected to enter the league next year and could have the opportunity to play along side his brother. Likely fills in as a middle six forward next year and taking time to get his game to that next level. In all likely hood, Dach is expected to be a top six winger on the Blades by age 17, being a key piece of that teams young core coming up and filling holes that will be left by some of there aging player over the next couple seasons. At his prime I’d judge Dach would be around an 80+ point player, obviously gaging attention with his blood lines from NHL Scouts. The best comparable for Dach right now is his brother Kirby.
GM Quote:
“He will always be compared with Kirby but they are actually quite different personalities and different players on the ice. He has an excellent deceptive shot and is already 6’2. He has a mean streak to his game and has a lot of pro potential as either a winger or centre. His family has excellent work habits and character and while he’s likely going to take a little more time than Kirby did to put up numbers he is going to be an outstanding player for us in the coming years “ – Colin Priestner (GM/Saskatoon Blades) Player Profile: Colton Dach - DraftGeek