Prospect Info: Matthew Wood - RW | 15th Overall | 2023 NHL Draft

[Scoresberg]

Wood is still 18 years old (well he turns 19 in a few days). Just being where he is at that age is impressive. We all knew about the skating when we picked him, and I don't doubt he is doing good work on his overall leg strength to help his straight ahead speed. Now he needs to add in some of that fine-tuning with edge work and maneuverability. It's learnable. He's 6'4"/200... if he didn't have some of these things to work on there is no way we would have ever had a shot at drafting him in the first place. He would have been a top-5 pick if his skating was as good as folks are wishing.

Yeah, it's not like we didn't know about his skating going in.

We drafted him for his "it" factor, which he showcased last year in NCAA and then at the U18's. I believe that with more ice-time, he would've had a better chance to showcase it in the U20's this year as well.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

He falls into the draft him and forget about him for a few years category for me. I won't be concerned until he gets a pro contract and things aren't improving. If we read the early threads we mentioned he had a lot to develop to be an NHL'er, but the finishing ability will be worth it if he's able to develop.

 

[triggrman]

Wood is still 18 years old (well he turns 19 in a few days). Just being where he is at that age is impressive. We all knew about the skating when we picked him, and I don't doubt he is doing good work on his overall leg strength to help his straight ahead speed. Now he needs to add in some of that fine-tuning with edge work and maneuverability. It's learnable. He's 6'4"/200... if he didn't have some of these things to work on there is no way we would have ever had a shot at drafting him in the first place. He would have been a top-5 pick if his skating was as good as folks are wishing.

yeah, he's really high school senior age wise.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

yeah, he's really high school senior age wise.

no he’s college freshman age

 

[AintLifeGrand]

in GA seniors graduate in their 18th year.. from my experience in college in Va it was the same

 

[PredsV82]

Well, you can argue that but I can tell you that most kids that my son graduated with in 2023 were 2004 birth years. My son is a freshman in college, he's a 2004 BY.

All of the seniors on the BHS roster this year are 2005 birth years.

I hate to agree with you know who but if he went straight through and didn't get held back he is turning 19 this month which is what most college freshmen do. The 2005s on BHS i suspect were all born after July1 or August 1 whenever the cutoff is for starting school.

If he was still high school age he wouldn't have been eligible for the draft last summer

 

[Armourboy]

We played a lot of East Cobb teams, and seemed most were 04 BY and 23 grads.

I don't have access to rosters now, but I'd bet a lot of the 18u east cobb teams are 2025 or 2026 grads. 18U means they're not 19 before April 30th.
They stopped putting birthdates online.

I'm just going off recent life experiences. Most male athletes in the south graduate at 19 or the year they turn 19, our son played on teams from Alabama, TN and KY, and played against teams from all over.

Things have changed then. I turned 18 3 months before I graduated. The only guy that was 19 was a guy who had an august birthday and his parents started him a year later.

I didn't turn 19 until the spring semester of my freshman year in college.

 

[ShagDaddy]

We played a lot of East Cobb teams, and seemed most were 04 BY and 23 grads.

I don't have access to rosters now, but I'd bet a lot of the 18u east cobb teams are 2025 or 2026 grads. 18U means they're not 19 before April 30th.
They stopped putting birthdates online.

I'm just going off recent life experiences. Most male athletes in the south graduate at 19 or the year they turn 19, our son played on teams from Alabama, TN and KY, and played against teams from all over.

Sports in the south are just different. There are a lot of parents that will hold their kids back a year in elementary or middle school just so their kid has that extra year of physical development before they start JV and Varsity athletics. That kind of thing was unheard of back in my days. I don’t think it’s that prevalent in northern or western states. Not that prevalent outside of football and baseball either.

 

[jumb0]

I didn’t turn 18 until the July after I graduated. A girl in my HS class didn’t turn 18 until October/November

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I didn’t turn 18 until the July after I graduated. A girl in my HS class didn’t turn 18 until October/November

This was me. October birthday. Wasn't 18 until halfway through first college semester.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

School starts september 1st in nashville? I thought that was a Yankee thing only

 

[PredsV82]

School starts september 1st in nashville? I thought that was a Yankee thing only

No, you have to turn 5 before Sept 1 to start kindergarten that year(in August). Otherwise you start the next fall. It's actually August 1 in my school district in KY

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

You can’t do that anymore. You have to be 5 before school starts for city schools, before September 1

Yeah, I guess I would have been in a...transitional K nowadays? Or a pre-K...something like that.

 

[braindead]

Holy shit, I came to read a Wood update and got a complete lesson on southern school calendars.

 

[ShagDaddy]

Holy shit, I came to read a Wood update and got a complete lesson on southern school calendars.

You’re welcome

 

[triggrman]

Holy shit, I came to read a Wood update and got a complete lesson on southern school calendars.

My bad, I'll delete my contribution.

 

[triggrman]

One note though, on just how young he is. On his current team, I've found 1 freshman that was an 04 birth, 3 03 birth year and 1 02 birth year. No other 05 birth years on UC roster that I found. Most sophomores are 01 or 02 birth years.

So, he's very young on that roster.

Univ. of Connecticut at eliteprospects.com

Univ. of Connecticut hockey team page with roster, stats, transactions at Eliteprospects.com

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Predsanddead24]

Yeah a lot of college guys play juniors for a year or two before going to college so they are older than your typical students of the same class. For instance, Cole Smith was 21 his freshman year at UND.

 

[triggrman]

Yeah a lot of college guys play juniors for a year or two before going to college so they are older than your typical students of the same class. For instance, Cole Smith was 21 his freshman year at UND.

Yeah, I just checked there's only 4 or 5 guys in the entirety of Hockey East that are 05 birth years and outside of Woods, they're all freshmen.