D Thomas Harley - Mississauga Steelheads, OHL (2019, 18th, DAL)

Dominance

99-66-4-9-87/97
Sep 30, 2017
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The Land of Hockey
I won't pretend that I've seen him before the u18 but I've been underwhelmed so far. Yes, he's a great skater and makes good plays in the offensive zone but defensively he runs around in his own zone and gets beat on the rush. Just today against Belarus, there was one 1 on 1 against him and he got beat and took a penalty. For someone so fast and so tall, it's weird how he gets beat defensively. I think he needs to add size, learn how to dominate people physically, and also improve his defensive instincts.
He needs to add strength, no doubt, and there’s definite room for improvement on the defensive side of things. If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t be talking about him in the 10-20 range, but in the 3-10 range. I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on a player “beating” him at the end of a completely lopsided game, especially considering that the deke was to the outside, into the corner.

A guy like Chabot was not known for being a defensive stalwart at 17 by any means, but has used his speed to make things work at the next level. Remember when Zboril, Chabot’s defensive conscience in his draft year, went ahead of him? Not looking like a great decision, to put it lightly.
 

weems

Registered User
Jul 3, 2008
17,910
11,152
How is there not more talk going on about this kid?

Bob Mackenzie just had him ranked #17 overall.

6'3 D, one of the best skaters in the draft, excellent offensive skillset.

There hasnt been a single post in this thread since April :laugh:
 
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57special

Posting the right way since 2012.
Sep 5, 2012
47,622
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MN
How is there not more talk going on about this kid?

Bob Mackenzie just had him ranked #17 overall.

6'3 D, one of the best skaters in the draft, excellent offensive skillset.

There hasnt been a single post in this thread since April :laugh:
I think he's going to be great.
 
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Kotkaniemi15

Registered User
Sep 18, 2018
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Montreal
Great pick by Dallas. He was in my top 3 for the Habs pick at 15. Harley will be a stud no doubt. He’s very similar to Chabot. Dallas’ defense is now stacked. Congrats Stars fans.
 
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landy92mack29

Registered User
May 5, 2014
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saskatchewan
Great pick by Dallas. He was in my top 3 for the Habs pick at 15. Harley will be a stud no doubt. He’s very similar to Chabot. Dallas’ defense is now stacked. Congrats Stars fans.
Yeah it's fitting he went 18th like Chabot. Harley carries a lot of risk but he reminds me so much of a draft year Chabot. It's unlikely he comes close to reaching that level of play but should be a great 2nd pairing puck mover behind Heiskanen
 

BlueBull

Habby Man
Oct 11, 2017
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Vancouver Island
From now on this guy will be known as Harley Thomas to fans of the NHL. I can just imagine away team fans trying to get into his head with them chanting "Harley Thomas".
 

DieTomi

Auston "50 Goals" Matthews
Aug 4, 2017
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Will he be representing CAN at the WJC or does he have his work cut out for him to make the squad?
My gut says no, usually the defense will be 19 year olds. If they are lacking LHD he could have a decent chance though, McIsaac made the team last year because of this. Not too sure of their depth chart so it's hard to tell right now.
 

Skinnyjimmy08

WorldTraveler
Mar 30, 2012
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For all the OHL fans out there, do you expect Harley to be one of the best dmen in the league next season? Ive never seen him play but reading up on him it looks like he checks all the boxes to become a good NHLer one day

What are some of his weaknesses?
 

Hostile Offer

Artist formerly known as Eagle Peninsula
Jun 17, 2017
7,704
5,773
Finland
Really wanted the Habs to take him with the 15th pick but then Caufield fell to our laps so I can't be mad. I see this kid as kind of a boom or bust, still very raw and skinny but the tools are there for him to be a steal for Dallas.
 

serp

Registered User
Jan 17, 2016
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He looked pretty good in his two pre-season games so far. Much further along the development curve than i expected. He's not going to make the team or anything ( i would think ) but yesterday for example he was clearly the best 2019 drafted defenseman in the Stars game against the Avs ( since Dallas iced pretty much an AHL lineupe he was the Stars best D overall and played almost 24 minutes as well ) . I'm personally not the biggest fan of the Stars third pairing as its currently constructed so i wouldn't mind giving Harley a 9 game tryout but thats probably way way too early.

One things for sure because Mississauga played him 30 minutes he seems used to bigger minutes and doesn't seem to get tired .
 
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