I wrote this responding to a question in another thread, but since it's more appropriate here, a more recent scouting report on Stu:
Similarly to Tage Thompson, he really hit his stride when moved off the wing to centre, where his lateral movement and ability to stickhandle inside a phone booth gives him the time and space to operate.
I know that there are wingers who can catalyze offence from the wing (Marner, Alfredsson, Kane) but Stutzle seems to do a lot better with the east-west freedom of playing at centre.
Early on, he would fall down a lot (and dive, but also just fall down), reminding me of early Antoine Vermette, and playing along the boards exacerbated that issue. He seems to be more stable and stronger on his feet in his third season.
He also tried to lay the body a lot early on, much like he did at the World Juniors, only for the much bigger and stronger NHLers to shrug him off pretty easily. He's still scrappy, competitive and emotional but has wised up to the fact that hitting guys isn't his role and he should leave it to Tkachuk and Batherson who are more physically equipped for it. He's not afraid to get hit and goes into the dirty areas if required, although Tkachuk will usually come rushing over if anyone takes liberties.
He was really more advertised as a playmaker as opposed to a scorer, and an early criticism was his tendency to be a bit too deferential (which is common for rookies) and pass up a shooting opportunity.
Now he's really firing away much more, and while he has a decent shot, it's really his ability to find the scoring areas as opposed to having a weapon like Matthews.
I think he's still wired to be more of a passer than a shooter, is guilty of attempting the too-fancy pass on occasion (e.g. Spezza), but he has very good vision and the deft touch to make things happen.
He's quick and accelerates well but is not necessarily insanely fast like Connor McDavid or Jack Hughes are, his skating is really more about mobility than burning by opposing players. It reminds me of Marner actually a bit.
On the PP, this is particularly important as he's typically one of the main possession guys who not only brings the puck into the zone under control, but can turn opposing players inside out with quick turns and pivots, leading to odd-man situations. As a result, you'll see opposing teams give him time and space as opposed to looking foolish, and he's quite effective at using both.
Ottawa's PP is 3rd in the NHL and Stutzle is typically the QB from the half-boards much like Spezza used to be.
He still has to learn all of the things that veteran centres are good at, such as faceoffs (he's at 41% and often Giroux or Tkachuk will take them for him), improving on the defensive side of the puck, and knowing when a simple outlet play or clearance in your own zone is better than trying to skate it out, but that comes in time.
However, he's shown a penchant for penalty killing (again like Marner) where his quick stick, anticipation and skating skills are an asset.
He's a pretty driven guy based on his work ethic in the off-season and I think he's really committed to being one of the top players in the league.
