To be honest I was quite late to fully jumping on the bandwagon for this kid.
At the start of the season he was barely on my radar, by the spring I though he could maybe a very long shot to be drafted as he moved up my rankings, but my opinion of this draft class overall went further and further south.
If I had not missed out on making pre-draft rankings in June, due to bad health and busy work, he would have claimed the number 1 spot, but I still wouldn't have thought him to be more than a long shot to even be drafted, let alone make the NHL. (This only would have included first time eligibles in a combined ranking I probably would have had Tiefensee ahead of everyone)
As for my thoughts on his game I'll divide his skills into two categories (those that make him an interesting NHL prospect and definitely worth a late round pick, and those that may keep him out of the league)
I'll start with the latter.
Panocha needs to get a lot stronger. His board play is severely limited. If he wasn't so smart about it, his deficiencies in this area would be more glaring. Because of this he doesn't need to turn into a physical beast, but to play in the NHL he still needs to spend a good amount of time in the weight room.
For his overall skillset I don't think his top speed is good enough for the NHL level. Either he needs improve in this area or build on his already existing strength of hockey IQ and mobility to further compensate for lack of speed. Don't get me wrong he is far from slow, but compared to some of the great skating, big defensemen that entered the league in recent years, he is not fast enough for my liking considering he is also not exactly huge.
The last concern I have is his shot, although I have seen him shoot the puck very well and quite hard a number of times. So, it's not that he can't shoot it is more about consistency and shot selection. This should be easily fixable.
Now for the more fun part, the positives.
I already mentioned his mobility, which is excellent, and he uses it well both on offense, eluding opposing players carrying the puck up the ice, and also on defense where he manages to keep up with the attacking players even when they try to create space with quick pivots.
I really like his puck moving ability and his transition game from defense to offense. As mentioned above he is very good at carrying the puck up the ice side stepping forecheckers and then distributing the puck to the forwards. He is also a pretty good passer with great vision, which also aids his transition game. He reliably finds rushing forwards with tape to tape passes either from his own zone, or as he carries the puck through the neutral zone himself.
He also has pretty good puck control when it is on his stick, especially for a defenseman.
I also already mentioned that he is a very smart player. Of course he still makes the typical mistakes young players make as they try to figure out what they can and cannot do. Sometimes I worry a little about the quickness of his decision making, but I think that were just a couple of gaffes I noticed in a game or two, and not really a pattern.
He is not a bad PP QB, though I doubt it would translate to the NHL level and with the Sabres I would guess that they are set up pretty nicely in that role for a long time, anyway.
Before anybody gets too excited, though he is still a 7th round pick and if he ever plays in the NHL it would be huge and it is far more likely that doesn't make it. And if anyone asks me, my optimistic but not unrealistic expecation for him would be to turn into a player on the level of Leon Gawanke, Kai Wissmann or Jonas Müller, which would be great for the German national team, but not really all that helpful for the Sabres.
www.eliteprospects.com
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Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - offseason part I
