I tend to agree. He does not possess elite skating, shooting, puck-handling, or speed. He needs practice time to develop those skills and game time against lesser opponents (e.g., Junior or AHL) to fully develop those skills. As it is, he looks like a smart hustling third or fourth line player at this time. He has potential to improve but I doubt he will ever be a high scorer in the NHL.
Lazar is considered a powerful skater and with an above average wrist shot and release for an NHL player.He also has fairly good hands. The only knock on him is his willingness to be creative and not always go for safe plays.
For skating i could realistically see him being the 3rd best skater on the team after hoff and karl
Read these scouting reports. All mention is great skating and great shot.
Strengths:
Very good instincts and ability to read a game’s ebbs and flows
Excellent shot
Good skater with strong acceleration
Effective passer
Flaws/Aspects He Needs To Work On:
Sometimes errs on the side of caution when seams open in opposition defenses; could easily jump into the rush a bit more and take more chances
Needs to add some size to his frame to battle NHL defenders
In relation to the last point, he’ll need to maintain his speed at the same time
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/j...zar-lead-scouts-top-10-drafted-132446821.html
What were seeing in the NHL of lazar isnt a great indicator of what hes going to be and even then we see that release and heavy shot coupled with powerful skating ability in flashes.
I think its interesting that people estimate his TOI was ten minutes less then guys like monahan per game in his draft year. Lazar is a stud. He will be a great player and if someone thinks his realistic potential is to be a 15-20 goal guy they better give their head a shake.