Prospect Info: Denton Mateychuk 12th Overall, 2022 NHL Draft

[stevo61]

Call me rare then... grew about 2.5" and 30lbs from late 17 to mid 18 (Freshman year of college). Went in at 5'7" and was 5'9.5" by the end of my freshman year. 135lbs to 160lbs (soccer, so not just the Freshmen 20ish haha)

Weight is super common. The height thing is rare

 

[tunnelvision]

I hadn't read or heard these post-draft comments from WHL scout Dumville on Mateychuk before so might as well post them now.

For Blue Jackets scout Troy Dumville, who watched Mateychuk play around 20 times leading into this summer's draft when Columbus chose the defenseman 12th overall, there are some comparisons to be made between the two players.

In the eyes of Dumville, it all boils down to creativity.

"He'll see one, two or three options on a breakout, and you think he's going to go to option one and then all of a sudden the puck moves to option three," Dumville said. "He does a lot of things that will make fans pretty excited.

"Makar is obviously an elite player. I'd hate to put any kind of pressure like that, but (Mateychuk) is going to be a fan favorite. He plays hard every night. He'll do whatever it takes to win. He's going to be a fun player to watch for the fans."

"He's just a heart-and-soul kind of kid," Dumville said. "He was a good interview early on. He actually seized an opportunity in the second half where a drafted player on his team, Hunt, went down with injury and he rose. All of a sudden, he took over the team and took them into the playoffs. That's not easy to do at 17 in the WHL playoffs."

"He just has really good vision," Dumville said. "When he walks the blue line, he can find the shooting lanes. He's just so smart, and he's not predictable. That's the one thing I wrote in my reports a lot is this kid is not predictable. He'll shoot one time, find an open lane, he'll put one off the backboard if he sees a guy. He just has a lot of creativity to his game. It's never the same thing twice, and it's kind of fun to watch."

 

[tunnelvision]

After putting together a stellar sophomore season with the Moose Jaw Warriors that saw him earn East Division Defenceman of the Year honours, Mateychuk has been hard at work this summer.

“That’s what you work for in the summer, to take your game to that next level and I think I’m ready to do that this year,” he said.

Mateychuk was one of the highest scoring defencemen in the Western Hockey League at 17, posting 13 goals and 64 points in 65 games.

He said he’s been focused on improving his speed going into his third season with the Warriors.

“In the gym, I’m working on getting faster, lengthening my strides, things like that,” Mateychuk said. “On the ice, skating, my edges, my shot is one of the big things that I wanted to work on and just my all-around game, I wanted to improve on everything.”

Mateychuk will return to Columbus in a few weeks for training camp and said he knows he needs to be at his best.

“Going into that being the player that I am and just to be ready for that,” he said.

Mateychuk also had the opportunity to hit the ice with Canada’s best for the Hockey Canada World Junior Summer Camp in July.

He said he felt like he had a good showing at the camp.

“I was looking forward to that and wanted to be at my best,” Mateychuk said. “I think I did really well there.”

 

[Cowumbus]

 

[tunnelvision]

First assist in the same game:


Full game replay here:
CHL TV

The rush off a DZ faceoff in shorthanded at 1:09:08 and a couple of plays in the sequence from 1:17:33-1:17:56 are also fun to watch.

 

[DougKnowsBest]

3rd assist is nice, real highlight reel stuff. However I like the nice soft dish back on his first assist way more. The shooter got that in such a great spot on his blade he didn’t even adjust it for that long ass snipe.

Very impressive

 

[tunnelvision]

The interviewer is asking many questions about Mateychuk's camp experiences that I would have asked so have to give him credit for that. I wish Mateychuk would just open up a little more on some of his responses, for example to the "Did management have any advice for you to work on this year?" question.

 

[Johansen2Foligno]

The interviewer is asking many questions about Mateychuk's camp experiences that I would have asked so have to give him credit for that. I wish Mateychuk would just open up a little more on some of his responses, for example to the "Did management have any advice for you to work on this year?" question.

Maybe management's advice was for him to not talk so much during interviews.

 

[LJ7]

The interviewer is asking many questions about Mateychuk's camp experiences that I would have asked so have to give him credit for that. I wish Mateychuk would just open up a little more on some of his responses, for example to the "Did management have any advice for you to work on this year?" question.

I like his approach. I can see why we picked him because along with him being excellent on ice he seems very mature, passionate, and competitive. The competitiveness and passion shows big time on ice too. I've changed completely from liking players that do things that will work in the NHL in juniors to liking players that push the envelope and take advantage of the fact they're the sickest player on the ice in juniors in order to help their team win. Him being named their captain was the most encouraging development so far with him, and that's saying something because he was nice at Traverse City.

 

[CorporateVrabs]

Anyone know if he’ll make Team Canada‘s WJC Team?

 

[majormajor]

Anyone know if he’ll make Team Canada‘s WJC Team?

He probably will but their selections can be erratic. They didn't take Ceulemans or Brandt Clarke for the summer tournament.

 

[CorporateVrabs]

He probably will but their selections can be erratic. They didn't take Ceulemans or Brandt Clarke for the summer tournament.

Appriciate the response so quick. They won, right? So it’s not like they were wrong. Hopefully Mats and Ceuls can be on It this year.

 

[majormajor]

Appriciate the response so quick. They won, right? So it’s not like they were wrong. Hopefully Mats and Ceuls can be on It this year.

It's Team Canada. You could put me on that team and they might still win, but I'd say it would be a poor choice.

 

[Tube Skates]

It's Team Canada. You could put me on that team and they might still win, but I'd say it would be a poor choice.

You’d still end up with four points

 

[tunnelvision]

First goal of the season. Also hit the crossbar once and had another great scoring opportunity on a counter attack last night... could've scored more than point. MJ won but it was a struggle for them collectively against top ranked CHL squad Winnipeg. Not his (or their) best game, I thought Yager was the most impactful player from Warriors.

 

[KucherovNikita8686]

Any thoughts on his development throughout this whole season? He didn't increase his scoring that much (1 more point in 2 fewer games), but did he improve other areas?

 

[KevSkillz4]

Do you think he have high potential at NHL level? Top pairing D ?

 

[Xoggz22]

Do you think he have high potential at NHL level? Top pairing D ?

More likely 2nd pairing guy with plus potential. Too early to tell.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Do you think he have high potential at NHL level? Top pairing D ?

From most accounts he didn’t really improve last year, just kinda stayed the same as his draft eligible year. Concerning but he was still pretty good. As xoggs said, 2nd pairing guy

 

[cbjthrowaway]

From most accounts he didn’t really improve last year, just kinda stayed the same as his draft eligible year. Concerning but he was still pretty good. As xoggs said, 2nd pairing guy

his production was largely similar but he was playing more minutes, which means tougher assignments almost by default.

imo he has legit top pair potential and very safe top four projection. when people bring up their 'untouchables' list (3OA + kj + jiricek) i'm kinda surprised that mateychuk is omitted from them. he's really good.

 

[koteka]

He also played a lot on the right side which might not have helped his LD development but makes him more flexible for the future.

 

[majormajor]

his production was largely similar but he was playing more minutes, which means tougher assignments almost by default.

imo he has legit top pair potential and very safe top four projection. when people bring up their 'untouchables' list (3OA + kj + jiricek) i'm kinda surprised that mateychuk is omitted from them. he's really good.

I don't think he's a safe middle pair. Still a lot of development to go in front of him.

He also played a lot on the right side which might not have helped his LD development but makes him more flexible for the future.

That side switching usually doesn't carry over to the NHL. Either players can't pull it off with the less time and space (they have to breakout with more pucks on their backhand) or coaches aren't willing to let them try it.

 

[tunnelvision]

Do you think he have high potential at NHL level? Top pairing D ?

Nothing in his game this year has screamed top-pair potential to me. 2nd or 3rd pair upside sounds more reasonable. Not much has changed in my thinking since this Dec-31 post in another thread.

I've watched both MJ Warriors games following their holiday break. Many times this year they've been a frustrating bunch of guys to watch and these 2 games were no exception. That includes the individual play of Mateychuk.

I don't what is up with him. He seems to be less eager to jump on the attack then last year, rush defense/ability to block passing lanes is still subpar, sometimes loses his balance too easily, puckhandling in tight high pressure situations and shooting mechanics are major issues, and the skating hasn't improved significantly. Overall I feel as if his development is not progressing as quickly as I hoped and projected.

On a positive note his smarts have not disappeared entirely and I think he's gotten a bit stronger on board battles. But right now I wouldn't be in complete disagreement if someone claimed Svozil > Mateychuk as a D prospect. Maybe I need to take a break from watching MJ and just concentrate on draft eligibles playing for other WHL teams in the next few weeks. Maybe things aren't as bad as they seem when looking at them with "fresh eyes".

I'm confident in putting Jiricek on a higher tier above rest of our D prospects but ranking Mateychuk/Ceulemans/Svozil/etc is very much open to debate at this point.

The fact that he hasn't turned 18 yet but is well aware of the areas that need serious improvement gives a lot of reason for optimism though. I really don't want to lose him in a trade this summer.

I'd like him to try stickhandle and shoot with different type of sticks during the offseason to see if it does have any effect to his scoring abilities. Maybe a stick with thinner blade and different curve would improve pass reception speed and shot release, I don't know. It's just a night and day difference when I look at his shooting and offensive zone puckhandling, and then compare it to a guy like Zellweger. Right now only one of them seems to have potential to run a PP at NHL level.

 

[LJ7]

The fact that he hasn't turned 18 yet but is well aware of the areas that need serious improvement gives a lot of reason for optimism though. I really don't want to lose him in a trade this summer.

I'm busier nowadays so I can't keep track of guys as closely but I'm still high on him. Definitely not as high as draft day but I think he can be a very effective NHL player one day. What stood out to me pre draft was how he made things happen off of smarts and effort, I'd like to wait it out and see if he can catch the skills up. He's athletic and seems to really care so I believe.