There are a lot of things Hunter appears able to improve on:
1. His positioning. Quite often he doesn't appear open in the neutral zone and thus when he receives passes he can only ever dump the puck in from the left side. The only time anything ever happens on the rush with him is when the opponent commits a turnover at the blue line, generating an odd-man rush.
In the offensive zone, he drifts along the boards sometimes and misses the puck. He looks ineffective deep in the offensive zone. His line can never generate any sustained pressure and though he tries to fight for pucks, he doesn't seem strong enough yet to fight off the opposition and make things happen offensively. He doesn't have much of a presence on the forecheck along the boards. He works hard and crashes the slot and front of the net well, but he can't control the puck along the boards against the opposition.
In the defensive zone, he's far too low on his side, sometimes being as low as the left faceoff dot. He leaves the opposing defenseman open much of the time, providing him time and space to create offense. One positive is that he sometimes places himself in good position to block shots, but he never challenges the opposing defender. When the puck is deep along the boards on his side of the defensive zone, he isn't at the boards to help out. In general, he doesn't move his feet much in the defensive zone. His defensive positioning requires improvement.
2. His shot/speed of his release. I've talked to a few people regarding his shot, and it seems he doesn't have much of a slap shot -- or if he does, the wind up is quite lengthy. He delays his wrist shot, which is effective at junior-level hockey but won't work well in the NHL where a quick release is required. In a few of the games thus far, he has received the puck in a good scoring position and has opted not to shoot, looking for the shot but waiting too long; a few of his shots have been blocked, at other times he has decided not to shoot as the goalie has adjusted to cut off his angle. He has received the puck at the right side of the offensive zone from his teammates and has had opportunities to one-time pucks but elects not to. He has a nice wrist shot, but the timing of it is delayed. His slap shot needs work.
3. His skating. He seems quicker when he has the puck, and does not seem to move his feet well without it except for in a few instances. At times he has shown flashes of great speed, but most of the time he skates at a slower pace and does not use that speed to his advantage on the forecheck. He has the speed, but doesn't seem comfortable using it in certain situations. He seems feisty and wants to be physical, and hustling in appropriate situations would help him make a better impact in general. He does not seem to know when to skate at certain speeds.
4. His strength. This will occur naturally as his body matures but will help him immensely in the future. He may be able to help develop his strength through proper training; that's obvious. If he becomes more difficult to contain, he'll become a greater threat offensively. He has tried making moves around the opposition with his speed and hands, but has thus far been pushed off the puck. Against Edmonton on Saturday night, he tried one such deke to the outside on the rush. He isn't strong enough to play the way he wants to just yet. He can't play an aggressive offensive game without strength, so we can look forward to this improving over the next few seasons.
He's fairly raw. He's a very good prospect and I'm quite optimistic about him as a potential top-six NHL forward in the future, but like so many others he requires more "seasoning," in my opinion. If he works on several aspects of his game in the CHL and potentially in the AHL when he's eligible, he'll be in better position to be successful in the future.
