Prospect Info: With the 27th pick in the 2020 draft, the Ducks select Jacob Perreault

[Static]

I like this one mostly because I was a fan of his dad.

Couldn't be more different weirdly enough

 

[darkwingduck]

Any relation to Mathieu?

 

[LuckyDucky]

Any relation to Mathieu?

Nope, but Yanic, yes.

 

[rlstine]

There was a post a year ago from a guy claiming to be a former NHL scout in a thread about "Do Not Draft" lists. I think it's relevant to post here for a couple reasons:

One thing that commentators often get wrong about attitudes and off-ice red-flag issues is that on-ice demeanour such as not back-checking hard, not going into the tough spots, or unconcerned body language reflect larger attitudinal problems. This is often not the case and scouts have to be careful to separate the two.

Once we interviewed two very different players back-to-back. The first player was a junior league fan favourite, an energizer who worked his butt off every shift -- the proverbial 110% guy -- one who agitated well. Sounds like a good, hardworking team guy, right? But man, he was insouciant and arrogant, his body language looked like he was spoiling for a fight with us scouts. We heard also that he was not well liked in his dressing room. He was close to an ND for us. The Flyers ended up drafting him but he never really panned out.

The very next interviewee was a guy who had some skill but didn't look very committed on ice, a player who we thought too often floated without the puck, and showed no visible reaction when scored on or the game got feisty. So we had our doubts about his character. But this player was a jovial, pleasant, intelligent, and sincere interviewee. We also heard he was well-liked by his teammates and that he was sociable and very coachable, he just didn't have the habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeve. So we moved him up our list. He now plays, quite successfully, for Anaheim.

 

[duxfan1101]

Post-Draft Q&A
NHL Draft 2020: Q&A With New Duck Jacob Perreault | San Diego Gulls

 

[MMC]

Madden on Perreault

Ducks GM Murray, AGM Madden Recap First-Round Selections

What led you to select Jacob Perreault with the 27th overall pick?

Madden: We want goal scoring and he's a goal scorer. He's a powerful kid. Really elusive power and ability to get away from people in the neutral zone. He finds open ice in the offensive zone and can score from anywhere. One-timer, off the rush, rebounds, tips. That's why he's exciting at 27.

What do you see with Perreault that can translate at the NHL level?

Madden: He did it as a 16-year-old in a really hard league. That's a really good indication. His release and his ability to get inside translates really well to the pro level.

 

[Gliff]

Really excited they went with a high upside forward.

 

[Paul4587]

There was a post a year ago from a guy claiming to be a former NHL scout in a thread about "Do Not Draft" lists. I think it's relevant to post here for a couple reasons:

I really want to know who that is. It kind of sounds like Rakell but in juniors Rakell definitely wasn't known as a floater, he was a really good two way forward. Maybe Henrique? The quite successful comment makes me think he's a top 6 forward which only really gives you a choice of Rakell/Silfverberg/Getzlaf/Henrique.

 

[Masch78]

Finally a sniper. Thanks god!

 

[duckpuck]

Holtz has above average speed and a very high motor as he rarely takes shifts off. Probably why he went 7th overall.

I had no idea who Perrault was as he was one of the few prospects I didn't watch from DD's scouting review. I gotta say, this was a homerun, swing for the fences type of player. Perreault's natural talent at skating, puck handling, sniping, playmaking, and high IQ reminds more of Lucas Raymond than Holtz. According to DD, Perreault's got an elite tool box, who I automatically thought of Raymond.

Now, I know why the NHL network tv guys commented that he's "lazy" or "an incomplete player that disappears". Before his draft year, he probably had graded similarly to Raymond with innate elite skills, not overall all game play.

D-1: 63 games, 30 g + 25 a = 55 pts, plus/minus = +1
D: 57 games, 39 g + 31 a = 70 pts, plus/minus = -34​

Both seasons, his team were bad when you look at the plus/minus rating for the whole team. Yet, Perreault's plus/minus rating plummeted in is D season. DD did denote that the team was bad, but it was also on Perreault's play. Perreault basically quit playing defense in his draft year, this can be seen on DD's scouting video.

Perreault's born with this innate elite toolkit skills, but he wasn't pushing the envelop this past season. All those NHL network commentators probably held Jacob in high regards in his D-1 and thought he would continue to skyrocket into his D season. And they were mightily disappointed like a parent who know their child just didn't put in enough effort, especially due to Jacob's hockey pedigree.

If I were the Ducks' org, then I'd be saving those statements about Jacob as a form of motivation for Jacob to improve. Jacob isn't the only player who's fallen into that "lazy" stage. Getzy went through that during his juniors stint too (Fox Sports Prime Ticket had a special about Getzy and followed him through juniors... unfortunately, Frontier stopped carrying Fox Sports West & Prime Ticket, but I digress). Getzy fell to 19th overall. We benefited from Getzy's immaturity.

So this is a gamble with Jacob. We know he can play a whole 200-foot game with this D-1 production, but can he be motivated enough to develop that 200-foot game? That offensive mind is there, but is he willing to leave his teammates on an island because he's only playing offense? I dunno. This is why I prefer high motor guys who have average to good skills because you can count on them to continue their progression. This is why I really like Holtz, Rossi, Drysdale, and Sanderson. Raymond is still a very good prospect, but that transition to the SHL (men's) was a bigger jump than he anticipated. Perreault was still playing against his same peers and didn't play in half of the hockey game for himself, his teammates, or his coach.

At the 27th pick, it's a very good gamble. He's got Raymond-type elite skills that isn't fully tapped often enough, including his skating. I wasn't expecting to draft a player like this because we often pass up players like this. We passed up on Kaliyev last year for the earnest Tracey. If Jacob dedicates himself to be an elite player, then we got an elite player. It really is up to him. We got a couple of years or more to see how this plays out.

Honestly, this is the same type of "lazy" or character stuff we heard last year with Kaliyev and the ducks foolishly passed. Kaliyev is now a top prospect and seem set to be a great sniper. He had great chemistry with Zegras when they played together - imagine if the ducks had that. Maybe they got a second chance with Perreault.

These are 15, 16, 17 and 18 year old kids. Some are mature and understand. Others are less so and maybe don't have the desired work ethic because they haven't matured to the point where they understand. Have you met the typical 16-17 year old?

Getzlaf is another guy who had these types of whispers about him. How did that work out? Phil Kessel as well.

The real key is are they coachable and do they want to win - because if they are, they can learn what it takes to be a real pro. I'm not dismissing the risk of the "lazy" or one-dimensional tag, but I think it gets overblown.

 

[eternalbedhead]

Post-Draft Q&A
NHL Draft 2020: Q&A With New Duck Jacob Perreault | San Diego Gulls

He seems well-spoken and mature here. I'm really excited for him and to see what he can do here!

 

[Hockey Duckie]

He seems well-spoken and mature here. I'm really excited for him and to see what he can do here!

I dunno. Seems like a very good sales person, imo. He says that, "This was the biggest year in my hockey career, running up to my draft."

But in the 'On areas of improvement' response, he said this, "Getting drafted is the fun part, but this is where the real work starts. It starts with improving my strengths and weaknesses. I had a really big summer. The thing I needed to improve the most at the beginning of the summer was the consistency with my starts and stops. I think, over the course of all these months we had, I used it as an advantage to work on my game, add dimensions to my game. I want to be a two-way player coming in next year, make a difference at both ends of the ice. I've been doing a good job over the summer improving in those areas, and obviously I need to do a good job improving in the future. The work starts now."

The work starts now? It didn't start in his draft season or earlier? This guy has elite skills, can identify his flaws, but meh. Of course, it's a teenager talking, who just got drafted and probably shouldn't put a lot of stock into it. Or it could be a bit of truth now that he's got motivation of being drafted because he was the proverbial smart kid who didn't seem challenged and got bored?

 

[bsu]

After watching tape, he reminds me of Phil Kessel

 

[Kalv]

Post-Draft Q&A
NHL Draft 2020: Q&A With New Duck Jacob Perreault | San Diego Gulls

The interview is top notch, at the very least he talks good

 

[Masch78]

Skating is described as great and as weak/average, depending on reports. Hmmm.

 

[Kalv]

Skating is described as great and as weak/average, depending on reports. Hmmm.

Yup. And when I watch highlights, I see flashes of brilliance but nothing consistent. That being said:

Perreault finished first in many on-ice testing drills at the CHL Top Prospects combine ahead of great OHL players such as Jean-Luc Foudy and Jamie Drysdale. Perreault finished first in the following categories at the Top Prospects on-ice testing in January: 30M Forward Skate, 30M Forward Skate with Puck, Reaction Testing, and Weave Agility with Puck. The mystery with Jacob Perreault is his willingness and ability to utilize his skills and skating in-game. While there is no denying that he is a talented hockey player, it is eventually up to him if he wants to work harder in order to make it to the NHL.

Source

And it applies to other areas in his game as well. He is talented, he has shown he even can play defense in a good level. The risk with him is will he be interested in doing what he can consistently. I guess these are some of the issues Getzy had in his draft year as well. But if that will not be changed for the better, he will be very frustrating to watch.
So far I think it's fair to stay pretty optimistic about him.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

I dunno. Seems like a very good sales person, imo. He says that, "This was the biggest year in my hockey career, running up to my draft."

But in the 'On areas of improvement' response, he said this, "Getting drafted is the fun part, but this is where the real work starts. It starts with improving my strengths and weaknesses. I had a really big summer. The thing I needed to improve the most at the beginning of the summer was the consistency with my starts and stops. I think, over the course of all these months we had, I used it as an advantage to work on my game, add dimensions to my game. I want to be a two-way player coming in next year, make a difference at both ends of the ice. I've been doing a good job over the summer improving in those areas, and obviously I need to do a good job improving in the future. The work starts now."

The work starts now? It didn't start in his draft season or earlier? This guy has elite skills, can identify his flaws, but meh. Of course, it's a teenager talking, who just got drafted and probably shouldn't put a lot of stock into it. Or it could be a bit of truth now that he's got motivation of being drafted because he was the proverbial smart kid who didn't seem challenged and got bored?

What are you talking about? He’s saying the year before his draft was the biggest year in his career, no surprise there. He has been working in the offseason and the “work starts now” comment is fairly standard for every player who just got drafted, as in they need to prepare for camp. This is a pretty big reach

 

[OCSportsfan]

The more I am reading, sounds like a pretty solid pick. Playing on a bad team can easily affect the on ice performance, especially for kids. I think his skating ability with the Puck is a surprise bit of knowledge from the article that will be an asset in the NHL.

 

[Masch78]

Yup. And when I watch highlights, I see flashes of brilliance but nothing consistent. That being said:
Source

And it applies to other areas in his game as well. He is talented, he has shown he even can play defense in a good level. The risk with him is will he be interested in doing what he can consistently. I guess these are some of the issues Getzy had in his draft year as well. But if that will not be changed for the better, he will be very frustrating to watch.
So far I think it's fair to stay pretty optimistic about him.

Tbh, if he would be the well rounded player he could be on a daily basis he would have been a top 10 pick. A little bit of a project here. A lot like Kaliyev imho, who I would have loved last year.

 

[Vipers31]

"Not only did his shot look identical to NHL superstars but 95% of Perreault's goals this season looked translatable"

That sentence out of the latter description is what I thought when I watched the clip of his goals. This isn't a more physically mature kid getting in favourable spots, it's just a terrific and multi-faceted shot, which will translate well. Combined with him apparently already having the skating tools given the reports about his speed in drills and him acknowledging the areas he needs to address, this makes for a really intriguing fit.

 

[Goose of Reason]

Finley, Gould, & Guhle display strengths in 2020 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Sport Testing Combine – WHL Network

Thought I would post this. Perreault tested really well for skating at the top prospects game, finishing top 3 or outright winning in a lot of categories. The issue is moreso how he uses that skating in game, which is why theres such conflicting reports on his skating ability.

I said this in the draft thread, but I personally thought it was a conditioning thing, Sarnia was really bad and really rode their top line that perreault was on. Once he gets in game shape watch out.

Perreault was a pretty big snub from the Hlinka team last year. A lot of reports had him and Perfetti as the best players in camp, Perreault was scoring a lot of goals.

I had him top 15 all year. Huge upside, I love this pick.

 

[bsu]

Damn the more I read and watch I really love this pick, almost as much as our #6. The guy can shoot at any angle and with almost no leverage, its insane how much power he gets on some pucks so close to his feet or pucks not in ideal situations. When he wants to he can blow by people too I hope he finds a way to play with that intensity every shift he will be insane.

 

[mightyquack]

I'm glad we partially fixed our mistake in drafting Tracey over Kaliyev last year, Perrault is a real nice pick from what I've been reading.

 

[bsu]

I'm glad we partially fixed our mistake in drafting Tracey over Kaliyev last year, Perrault is a real nice pick from what I've been reading.

We'll see what Kaliyev does in the NHL. I don't think he will be as good as you think his game is NHL pace imo. If Tracey develops I could see a Schwartz like player.

 

[mightyquack]

We'll see what Kaliyev does in the NHL. I don't think he will be as good as you think his game is NHL pace imo. If Tracey develops I could see a Schwartz like player.

And we'll have to see what Tracey does in the NHL Kaliyev is clearly a better prospect at this point in time, as he was at the draft too.