2024 Draft Profile:
C AJ Spellacy, Windsor OHL
This'll be a pretty straightforward profile. Spellacy is a 6'3" almost 200lb forward and he legitimately might be one of the fastest players in the class. As exciting as that may sound, I should caution that there isn't that much else to his game right now, which is why I can't even come up with a consolidated ranking since he's so infrequently appearing on boards. Still, there are a few reasons to keep an eye on him and hope that a surprise breakout could come down the road.
Spellacy is a superb athlete and it's next to impossible to overstate how good his skating is. He generates a ton of momentum off his first step, he covers a lot of ice very quickly, and quite simply once he's off, he's gone. He's too big, powerful, and fast for backcheckers to get him off the puck. It almost looks fake seeing a player this large move around this effortlessly. His compete level is great, too. Spellacy regularly crashes the net, fights for pucks, finishes checks, and pressures defenders. While I wouldn't say he relies on his frame, Spellacy absolutely uses it to his advantage to punish opposing puck carriers, stretch out for aggressive stickchecks, and get to loose pucks around the net before defenders can. He's a competitive three zone player who can be trusted to make his impact known on most shifts, particularly so on the forecheck causing havoc along the boards as well as on the penalty kill as a constant breakaway/shorthanded chance threat.
The issue is, well, almost everything else. His playmaking game is largely based on using his mobility to pry open lanes, and while his shot is heavy and he has some upside as a front of the net deflection option, there's nothing particularly great about his offensive tools at this point. He lacks deception, can struggle with tunnel vision, and is very reactive to play in front of him. This is a player who largely just ducks his head and goes to work on most shifts. His instincts aren't anything special either, he can be caught play watching at times, and he doesn't quite have a basis for a strong positional game yet. While his 200ft outlook is nice in theory, he really only excels defensively when he can close in on forecheckers or apply pressure at the point.
I hesitate to call Spellacy a tools bet because his compete level and projectability as a bottom of the lineup energy/pk option are both apparent. But, I'd be lying if I said I didn't choose to highlight him because everything he excels at is sorely needed on this roster, namely speed, forechecking, and size/physicality. There's one component of his season I haven't discussed yet because I don't think it's either a positive or a negative: his 38pts in 67gp statline. Sure, that looks pretty bad up front, but an overwhelming majority of his points came in the final two months of the season and could give some optimism that he's finally getting somewhere. Spellacy is likely only a mid to late round gamble who you hope can carve out some sort of depth role, but I think there's enough there to make him a more intriguing target than other players you'd typically be taking a flyer on in this range.
