LW Will Zellers - Shattuck-St. Mary's, USHS-Prep (2024 NHL Draft)

[austin63867]

Don't see a thread on HFBoards about Zellers yet, which is a bit of a surprise, unless the search engine has failed me. Great player from the legendary Shattuck academy. 1st in Goals for USHS-Prep players currently with 14, and 2nd in PTS with 20, 2 behind fellow 2024 Prospect Aidan Park.

Have seen a few games of Zellers, international games but nothing from Shattuck yet. 5 Goals and 7 Points in 5 Games for Team USA at the Hlinka, while looking absolutely electric on the ice. Great footwork and puck moving skills, as well as some good effort at both ends of the ice. Felt he was a borderline first Rounder as he played, and almost at the same level as Trevor Connelly. Committed to UND next year, with Green Bay holding his USHL rights.

William Zellers at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of William Zellers, 2006-04-04 Maple Grove, MN, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of North Dakota. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Click to read more...

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Only my opinion, but I view him as a late round pick.

He's the dime a dozen scoring winger that finds space well in the offensive zone, and is part of very good scoring chances because of it. Very good scoring instincts, but a small winger without great skating. Not much of a defensive player. Nothing too good except the scoring instincts. There are a lot of players like this, and not all of them get drafted. He can put up a lot of points against juniors or prep players. He probably will in the NCAA, but the game gets tougher in the AHL and NHL. I hope he gets drafted higher than late rounds, but I don't see it.

He would have helped his draft stock a lot had he played USHL this season. I don't think playing Prep does him much good.

 

[austin63867]

Only my opinion, but I view him as a late round pick.

He's the dime a dozen scoring winger that finds space well in the offensive zone, and is part of very good scoring chances because of it. Very good scoring instincts, but a small winger without great skating. Not much of a defensive player. Nothing too good except the scoring instincts. There are a lot of players like this, and not all of them get drafted. He can put up a lot of points against juniors or prep players. He probably will in the NCAA, but the game gets tougher in the AHL and NHL. I hope he gets drafted higher than late rounds, but I don't see it.

He would have helped his draft stock a lot had he played USHL this season. I don't think playing Prep does him much good.

I think he'll probably play a few USHL games like Shaugabay and Thoreson did. I disagree a bit on his skating, I think he's a good, but not great skater, but he has good mobility in my view. I think defensively he looked alright but I haven't seen his defensive game at Shattuck yet so that could change my view. I did like him better than Park with the couple of games I saw of the both of them, but a lot of time left to change things. Do agree that he's good enough for the USHL, and should be playing there, but Shattuck does have a strong reputation to help him a bit.

 

[Bubbles]

 

[austin63867]

They're making a comeback. It's Zellers time again!

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

I think his offensive acumen is extremely high, I get the reservations about his size and compete level though. This player does think the game way beyond his peers and is a master of exploiting players through clever stick movement. He has the freeze the goalie trick down to a science and it’s showed in his ability to score boat loads of goals from all over the ice. I would not write him off easily, he might be the best pure scorer from MN since Guentzel.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I think he'll probably play a few USHL games like Shaugabay and Thoreson did. I disagree a bit on his skating, I think he's a good, but not great skater, but he has good mobility in my view. I think defensively he looked alright but I haven't seen his defensive game at Shattuck yet so that could change my view. I did like him better than Park with the couple of games I saw of the both of them, but a lot of time left to change things. Do agree that he's good enough for the USHL, and should be playing there, but Shattuck does have a strong reputation to help him a bit.

I hope you are right. I'm only going off the Hlinka.

When I compare him to the best forwards on that team, I don't see the sense/playmaking of Swanson, the puck handling/skating of Connelly, or the two-way, positional profile, defensive details of Park.

It's sometimes hard to know with these smaller, skill wingers. There seems to always be a few like this in all the junior leagues that put up pretty good point totals, yet don't get drafted, and then there's some who are mid/late round picks or even earlier. If you are like Bedard or Cooley, those guys are definite early first round picks, but the majority of sub 6'0 forwards it's a guessing game.

Another thing is I feel it's very difficult to know how good a player's shot is. The post above mine suggests he has a great shot. Could be so. I think there are a lot of players that are good goal scorers statistically, and most of them don't have these thunderous shots that regularly beat goalies clean where you don't have to think too hard about how good their shot is. A good, not great shot, is harder to judge than good, not great skating or size or puck handling.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

I hope you are right. I'm only going off the Hlinka.

When I compare him to the best forwards on that team, I don't see the sense/playmaking of Swanson, the puck handling/skating of Connelly, or the two-way, positional profile, defensive details of Park.

It's sometimes hard to know with these smaller, skill wingers. There seems to always be a few like this in all the junior leagues that put up pretty good point totals, yet don't get drafted, and then there's some who are mid/late round picks or even earlier. If you are like Bedard or Cooley, those guys are definite early first round picks, but the majority of sub 6'0 forwards it's a guessing game.

Another thing is I feel it's very difficult to know how good a player's shot is. The post above mine suggests he has a great shot. Could be so. I think there are a lot of players that are good goal scorers statistically, and most of them don't have these thunderous shots that regularly beat goalies clean where you don't have to think too hard about how good their shot is. A good, not great shot, is harder to judge than good, not great skating or size or puck handling.

Agree with you on the challenges with assessing these kinds of players, it can be easy to be tricked by some of these smaller shooters. Grant Besse for example was a player with similar accolades and physical profile that never was able to translate up. He and Guenztel went head to head multiple times with Besse outplaying him in HS, I called him a steal when he was a late pick, but he never translated past college and I doubt many here have even heard of him.

I have seen Zellers live a few times in previous years and think he has something unique with his shooting and how he reads the goalies, but how that translates up levels with the rest of his game is difficult to project. I think there are enough brains there for it to translate up well personally but I wouldn’t blame anyone for hesitating.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Zellers had the best breakfast.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

I think he pops in junior next year against USHL competition. Seems like he played below talent level in HS Prep

 

[Eegs]

Damn, I used to love a good Zeddy Burger.