C Leon Draisaitl - Prince Albert Raiders, WHL (2014, 3rd overall, Edmonton)

[Yashin for President]

When he skates he reminds me of a roller hockey player playing on ice for the first time.

 

[ponder]

I know people say his skating isnt the best. Watch this video at 48 seconds, when he is skating it looks like hes almost losing his balance. Its kind of scary. Can this be improved? I dont know, but the kid has ridiculous hands for a big guy.

It's an exceptionally bad clip of his skating, he normally skates more like this:



His skating is definitely bad, but it's bad technique (and a bit of skinny/weak legs), not lead feet. I feel like he's a prospect who teams will have to be patient with, a guy who has to work a tonne with a great skating coach for a few years, while bulking his legs. However, his hands and vision are very rare for big guy, and he's just a player who really knows where to be and what to do on the ice. Skating is something that can be improved a lot, if he can get his skating to even mediocre levels he's going to be a very good player.

 

[TheHoff]

It's an exceptionally bad clip of his skating, he normally skates more like this:



His skating is definitely bad, but it's bad technique (and a bit of skinny/weak legs), not lead feet. I feel like he's a prospect who teams will have to be patient with, a guy who has to work a tonne with a great skating coach for a few years, while bulking his legs. However, his hands and vision are very rare for big guy, and he's just a player who really knows where to be and what to do on the ice. Skating is something that can be improved a lot, if he can get his skating to even mediocre levels he's going to be a very good player.

Yep, totally true. He'll gain even more weight over the next few years and with over 200lbs already it should be quite hard to knock him off the puck even on NHL level when he's able to get at least a bit better skating/balancing-wise.

 

[S E P H]

North to South you guys can say that Draisaitl's game is poor, but concerning agility and his West to East game, I would say that it is fairly good. Even those highlights show this potential and elusiveness.

 

[Prospector]

He reminds me of Thomas Vanek! Not a lot of speed or compete but very skilled and patient with the puck. Same built also and underrated playmaking skills.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

He reminds me of Thomas Vanek! Not a lot of speed or compete but very skilled and patient with the puck. Same built also and underrated playmaking skills.

wait what? how in the world can you tell by a YouTube video his compete level?

 

[Frankie41987]

wait what? how in the world can you tell by a YouTube video his compete level?

Maybe me meant making plays look effortless? Cause you're right, you should not be watching a youtube highlight reel and proclaim a player doesn't have "compete"

 

[bleedgreen]

I'm not really seeing skating issues. He's gangly and needs leg strength. Those aren't really "issues". If he didn't change a thing those two issues would likely square themselves away by the time he's 22. With nhl level training this won't be an issue. I don't see how anyone can be calling his skating bad. Maybe compared to some 5'10" 165 kid.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

I'm not really seeing skating issues. He's gangly and needs leg strength. Those aren't really "issues". If he didn't change a thing those two issues would likely square themselves away by the time he's 22. With nhl level training this won't be an issue. I don't see how anyone can be calling his skating bad. Maybe compared to some 5'10" 165 kid.

Yeah no kidding. Let's see how fast Bennett is if he was 30 pounds heavier

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Really? Don't see skating issues? The guy has an awful stride and terrible acceleration. He's still my favourite prospect in the draft after Ritchie, but there are definitely skating issues. Get him with a good skating coach and that will be fixed.

 

[Sanderson]

He reminds me of Thomas Vanek! Not a lot of speed or compete but very skilled and patient with the puck. Same built also and underrated playmaking skills.

Mhm, I don't really see many similarities with these two. Sure, both are quite tall, neither is particularly fast, and both have a nice set of hands, but beyond that their playing styles are completely different. Vanek is mostly a goalscorer with an excellent shot, who is great in front of the net as well. His playmaking is good, but he's primarily known as a goalscorer. Draisaitl is more or less the the opposite. He can score, but his main strengths are his vision and playmaking, not his finishing skills. He won't park in front of the net all that often either.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Yeah, I agree with that. Vanek seems to be a guy that plants himself within 10 feet of the net and does his best work there. Draisaitl can be a presence down low, but I find that he is more likely*to cut wide and drive to the net. His best work is as a setup man though.

 

[LarsVonTrier*]

has a german forward ever panned out in the NHL? I can only think of Marco Sturm.

 

[Random Forest]

The guy doesn't look smooth doing it, but he moves just fine. The "skating issues" are getting overblown. I would call his skating average which is more than enough given his skill level.

 

[Spade]

has a german forward ever panned out in the NHL? I can only think of Marco Sturm.

Jochen Hecht and Marcel Goc are the only other notables that I can think of.

To be fair, that's 2 former top-6ers and a very good checking center out of a nation with no real affinity for hockey.

 

[LarsVonTrier*]

Jochen Hecht and Marcel Goc are the only other notables that I can think of.

To be fair, that's 2 former top-6ers and a very good checking center out of a nation with no real affinity for hockey.

that's the only alarm bell for me.

 

[Spawn]

has a german forward ever panned out in the NHL? I can only think of Marco Sturm.

Has a German forward ever been touted to go in the top 5 in a draft?

You could have asked the same thing about Kopitar and Slovenian hockey players. It's sort of irrelevant.

 

[bleedgreen]

Really? Don't see skating issues? The guy has an awful stride and terrible acceleration. He's still my favourite prospect in the draft after Ritchie, but there are definitely skating issues. Get him with a good skating coach and that will be fixed.

I think his stride is being effected by his weak legs, which will get stronger. He's a taller guy, and as one myself I can tell you it makes for some awkward skating. When I watch this kid I just think he's gotta grow into his frame a bit. For being gangly his knee bend isn't too bad, which is something I watch for in taller prospects. You can teach leg strength and sitting deeper, it's hard to teach straight leg or knock kneed guys to completely change. Everything here is either gonna be fixed by some age and growing into his frame, the rest from getting proper instruction at the next level. Nothing remotely concerning in terms of drafting him.

 

[GetThePuckOut]

He's the only player in the draft that's pretty much a lock for the next Olympics, and every other Olympics until he retires. And maybe several WC's as well. He's going to get a ton of experience from always carrying Team Germany.

 

[Paxon]

He's the only player in the draft that's pretty much a lock for the next Olympics, and every other Olympics until he retires. And maybe several WC's as well. He's going to get a ton of experience from always carrying Team Germany.

You're presuming that Germany is a lock to qualify for the Olympics going forward. There are more countries capable of qualifying for the Olympics these days, so you can't really count on that.

Edit: I'd also say there are more realistic locks than that. Can anyone see Ehlers not being on every Danish team (when available) after a couple years? I suppose that's it off the top of my head. Kapanen and Nylander seem like they'll be there but they'll need to reach their potential with the kind of talent those countries have going forward.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

I'd be happy to draft him, I would fully expect his skating to improve leaps and bounds by 22.

 

[tfong]

Reminds of a poor mans Thornton. That skating looks wobbly and unstable and doesn't look like it has much power. But if that is all he needs to improve on, that is a pretty good package there.

I mean people knocked JT for skating and now hes fine too.

 

[Aceonfire*]

Someone mentioned that he seems to go faster when he has the puck. That was a great observation.

I think he is easily capable of NHL caliber skating. It is his consistency with it. He is fully engaged when he has the puck and he controls the flow of the game. Its his play away from the puck that needs improvement.

The more and more I watch him, the more he reminds me of Hemsky. Obviously not his size or his skill set. But the way they act with and without the puck.

 

[Sanderson]

that's the only alarm bell for me.

Has there been a great Austrian prior to Vanek, a Slovenian prior to Kopitar or a worldclass Dane prior to Ehlers?

All these nations only had "good" players at best, if even that. Judging a player just by where he is coming from makes no sense. Draisaitl has been in North America for two seasons now, and he has been dominant. Why should he be treated differently than any of the other possible draftpicks who played in North America the past two seasons?

 

[Maverick41]

Since I can barely stand on skates myself, I should be the last to comment on hin skating ability, because frankly I have no clue about it.

But watching him at the World Championships, I thought he often looked tired at the end of shifts, when they were a little longer than normal.
And here I have a question for those of you who actually know something about skating. Could his awkward style of skating be contributing factor to this or was it more likely just a result of a long season with 100+ games for Leon?
I ask because it always looks to me that Leon has to exert more energy when he accelerates than other players.