It is fairly well documented at this point that the 2018 NHL draft boasts a fairly deep first round with a generational talent at the top in Rasmus Dahlin. What makes this draft a bit more fun than in years past is that consensus essentially drops off after Dahlin as the decisive No. 1. Variance among teams' draft boards could be pretty wide at this point. The skill level also appears higher in this class compared to last year's overall.
With such a high skill level, we took a look at some of the individual skills that make certain players stand out. I reached out to scouts to get their picks for a series of skills that I find particularly valuable when evaluating players. This also gives you a bit of insight into my process, as well.
Here's a look at some of the best players in the 2018 draft class by specific skills.
Hockey sense: Rasmus Dahlin
To me, there is no trait more important than hockey sense. It can be hard to define, and people may have different definitions, but to me, hockey sense is broken down into a few different categories.
Simply put, hockey sense comes down to reading and reacting within the context of a given game or situation. How does a player react to pressure, and does he make the most of it when he has more time? What kind of choices is the player making both with the puck and away from the puck? How does he use his teammates? A player's vision is also an extension of his hockey sense, though I'll often identify it separately. It's an amorphous thing, but it's also often the key to a player making it or not. This is a category where most of the top players in the draft grade high. They wouldn't be there without it.
Of the players in this draft, there was consensus on whose hockey sense stands out above all players. Unsurprisingly, it was Dahlin.
Dahlin operates at a genius level on the ice. His anticipation, poise and decision making at 17 is so far beyond his years. One NHL amateur scout noted that he puts Dahlin in the class with Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews as generational talent. He didn't mention any defensemen because there have been so few like Dahlin at this point that it's harder to compare.
There is a whole package of skills that Dahlin possesses, but the best tool he has is his brain. He had the second-best scoring season by a U18 player ever, regardless of position, in the Swedish Hockey League this season. The same scout who designated Dahlin's generational status also pointed to the fact that Dahlin's 20-point season more than doubled the production of Erik Karlsson, who was a year older at the time of his first full-time SHL season.
This isn't to say that Dahlin is without fault, but the flaws are minimal because there is no panic in his game. Even when he makes mistakes, he can clean them up on his own. "He's rare," said the scout.
Skating: Quinn Hughes
As the NHL becomes a faster league, the importance of skating has only grown. It's not necessarily all about speed or explosiveness in a player's stride. Understanding how to get around the ice, knowing how to use one's feet to escape pressure or exploit gaps, agility and taking good angles defensively all matter. This was another skill where there was basically consensus among those asked and next to no hesitation from all but one when answering.
University of Michigan freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes is a unique talent as a skater. He has speed, but it's his agility that has scouts buzzing more. There just aren't many defensemen who use their feet as effectively as Hughes does, and maybe none who are still teenagers. This is a big reason why Hughes' relatively slight frame is being overlooked without much of a second thought.
"His skating ability allows him to take chances on the offensive end because he has the recovery speed to get back if the puck is turned over," says one scouting service talent evaluator. "He was a possession monster this year. Everyone thinks Quinn's skating makes him a force on the offensive end, which is true, but his ability to create space with his feet on the breakout is so crucial to getting his team out of the defensive zone consistently."
If he gets the puck on his stick in the defensive zone, he has more options than the average defenseman. He's not just looking for the outlet pass; he's looking for ways to exit the zone with control so as to maintain possession of the puck and also put his team in position to attack, as opposed to just survive and break out. Hughes even could get his team through the neutral zone and into the offensive end with controlled entries. His feet make him a weapon.
He's even doing it as the youngest member of Team USA at the men's World Championship, where he's played a regular shift on a blue line that includes exceptional young NHL defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Will Butcher. Hughes' performance at worlds, playing with and against NHL players, is showing that his feet might just get him to the NHL sooner than expected.
Some other players I've graded especially high on skating for this draft are Liam Foudy and Aidan Dudas. Both can wheel up and down the ice, burning defensemen in transition. They're both agile skaters as well, with the big difference being Foudy is 6-foot-1 and Dudas is 5-foot-7. This is another area where Dahlin grades high. His fluid skating and powerful stride get him up and down the ice in a hurry.
Shot: Oliver Wahlstrom and Andrei Svechnikov
This is a pretty straightforward skill, though the way we view shooting the puck is starting to change. Frankly, the shot might be less important than finding the right places to score goals, which comes back to hockey sense and vision. That said, the way NHL players are shooting the puck now is changing too. Auston Matthews has been lauded for his ability to change shot angles as he's in his follow-through to fool goalies. Patrik Laine mixes deceptiveness with one of the fastest releases in the game. Brock Boeser has a nice mix of power and quickness in his shot. We could keep listing examples, but the fact is, it's not just about the power of a shot or the quickness of the release. There's more nuance than ever before.
That makes this category super-interesting and a point of debate. The two players who came up with every single one of the people I talked to were Oliver Wahlstrom and Andrei Svechnikov, a pair of right wingers who had spectacular goal-scoring seasons. I think it's close enough to mention both players, with a slight edge to Wahlstrom.
Both can play more of a power style, and Svechnikov is probably more effective at creating his own chances with his power drives to the net and getting a lot from close range. Both are deadly off the pass and intensely accurate. While Svechnikov gets a lot of chances from in tight, Wahlstrom is the better shooter from outside, as he has a bunch of different release points where he can combine power, accuracy and deceptiveness.
Svechnikov scored 40 goals in just 44 games this season in the OHL, a rate of 0.91 goals per game. The season before, he had one of the best-ever goal-scoring campaigns in the USHL by a 16-year-old, with 29 in just 48 games. Meanwhile, Wahlstrom put up 48 goals in 62 games for the U.S. National Under-18 Team. He also had an astonishing 288 shots on net, an average of 4.6 shots per game. He is a straight-up shooter, unafraid to put pucks on net from anywhere, and possesses an ability to shoot a lot of different ways. But he's always finding the puck exploding off his stick.
"He's like Brett Hull in that he doesn't need it to be a perfect pass to get his shot off and get it in," said one scout of Wahlstrom.
Others who grade especially high in the shot category are Filip Zadina and Adam Boqvist. Among defensemen, Boqvist might have the cleanest, quickest release and is the most willing to shoot from anywhere. It's one area where he grades higher than Dahlin. Meanwhile, Zadina has a particularly good shot off the rush and manages to get his shots off quickly after creating some extra space for himself.
Passing/vision: Adam Boqvist
Passing is another one of those skills that sprouts from the hockey sense tree. Good vision, and an ability to survey the ice and pinpoint what to do with the puck, requires the brain as much as it does the hands. One still needs the hand skills to make those plays, though.
This is one of the skills that I expected to bring forth a lot of different answers, and it did. A lot of them came with the caveat that they'd grade Dahlin especially high in this category, but since we already gushed enough about his hockey sense, I'll go with another player who came up multiple times and has been a standout in this regard: Boqvist.
There is no question that how a defenseman plays in his own end is going to get the most attention, but being a good passer is an incredibly important thing for any defensive prospect to have in his toolkit. How often do you hear "makes a good first pass" or something similar in defenseman scouting reports? If you can't do that, you're not going to play in the NHL these days.
Boqvist has a vast offensive skill set with dynamic elements, including a great shot release and skating ability. He grades high in those categories but also has garnered attention for his ability to find teammates and make good decisions with the puck in all zones. He's going to be a possession driver as he continues to progress due to his ability to see the ice as well as anyone in this draft. His vision is of the elite variety.
Others who grade especially high in this category include Evan Bouchard, Ryan Merkley, Ty Smith and Scott Perunovich. One Midwest-based scout described Perunovich, the national rookie of the year in men's college hockey, as an "elite facilitator."
Among the forwards I've graded high in this category are Jacob Olofsson, Rasmus Kupari and Grigori Denisenko. I'd also put Brady Tkachuk in this category as a higher-end passer.
Defending: Noah Dobson
Even when I'm evaluating defensemen, all of the categories listed above come before defensive abilities, aside from maybe the player's shot. The importance of mobility and the ability to move the puck quickly and confidently supersede what a player can do in the defensive zone. That said, a player with no regard for his own zone is going to get graded more harshly. Even though how we define what makes a good defender is changing, the basic principles of protecting the net and preventing goals are obviously still hugely important.
This is another category that brought a lot of different answers from evaluators, but Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson and Mattias Samuelsson were among the most frequently mentioned. Bouchard has been polarizing in this regard, as I have heard from a few scouts that they don't like his play as much in his own end.
Another evaluator pointed out that Bouchard defends speed well and can use his size and physicality. He's far more than just a point-producing defenseman, but because of the variance in opinion on him, I'm going with Dobson here.
The size factor is a big one, as Dobson uses his 6-foot-3 frame very well. His skating is a big part of why he's able to defend so well, but it comes back to just playing a mature, confident game. Dobson helped Acadie-Bathurst win the QMJHL title and reach the Memorial Cup. He is going to get tested in a big way by some of the best players junior hockey has to offer, like Hamilton's Robert Thomas and Swift Current's murderer's row of scoring talent like Glenn Gawdin, Aleksi Heponiemi and Tyler Steenbergen. He is the top draft eligible still standing this season, which means scrutiny and attention will be higher, but I think he's going to continue showing very well.
To cover the other player that got mentioned a lot, Mattias Samuelsson is another big, physical defenseman who was used as Team USA's primary shutdown defenseman. His dad, Kjell Samuelsson, was a defense-first player and a darn good one at that, having played 813 NHL games, and his name is on the Stanley Cup as a member of the 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins. Mattias is nasty in his own end and has more offensive upside than dear old dad. He's probably not too far away from NHL readiness based on his maturity and physical frame.
Others who graded high defensively among scouts I spoke to include K'Andre Miller, Rasmus Sandin, Jared McIsaac and Alec Regula. Among forwards, Isac Lundestrom, Barrett Hayton, Joel Farabee and Benoit Olivier Groulx are pretty well regarded for their two-way capabilities.
General puck skills and stickhandling: Grigori Denisenko
I've always had a soft spot for players who can dance with the puck. The players who can make defenders miss, extend plays and create offense are among the most entertaining in the NHL. Pavel Datsyuk's Magic Man routine was special in a time when it was getting harder and harder to score. Meanwhile, Patrick Kane and Johnny Gaudreau have taken the torch among the elite handlers of the puck in today's NHL.
This is a skill that is important, but maybe not as much as the others. More players are using their feet more than their hands to get themselves out of trouble. Also, there's a premium on getting the puck and getting rid of it faster and faster. But I still wanted to include this on my list of things I'm looking for.
Interestingly enough, this is one of those drafts where we don't have a ton of players who can really "dangle" like some of the elites in the game, but there are a few worth noting.
Grigori Denisenko gets my vote for slipperiest forward in this draft. He has very quick hands and uses them extremely well. He has great one-on-one skills and can extend plays by making quick cuts or getting himself to the open ice. His hands are aided by quick feet as well, making him one of this draft's most entertaining players.
As a side note, Dahlin is one of the better puck-handlers I've seen on the back end in 10 years of following junior-level hockey closely. A lot of what he does is subtle, but he has good one-on-one skills and isn't afraid to take the puck himself when he's got the space.
Others I really like in this category include Joseph Veleno, Jonatan Berggren, Ryan Merkley, Filip Zadina and Rasmus Kupari.
Competitiveness/physicality/strength/work ethic: Brady Tkachuk
In a world where skill and speed reigns, the less glamorous portions of the game have fallen somewhat out of favor. They're still important, but you just can't be a player who only has what the coaches would call a "high compete level," or just be a hard worker, or just be a physical presence. However, players who can combine those traits with other skills are going to have a chance to make a nice career for themselves.
It's a big reason why Brady Tkachuk remains a likely top-five pick in the draft despite his numbers being a little underwhelming this season. Tkachuk has power in his game, gets under opponents' skin, plays physically and that's all good. However, he still has good touch with the puck and is able to protect it with his body. He wins battles and does anything necessary to get the puck back when his team loses it. He's also a fearless player in front of the net. He wasn't the only player to receive high marks from other evaluators, but I personally haven't seen a forward in this draft effectively use all of his physical tools the way Tkachuk does.
Meanwhile, Svechnikov has great power and strength in his game. He's more offensively gifted and uses his physical tools to generate offense, not simply getting by on the perimeter or on skill alone. Defensemen have a hard time knocking him off the puck. Serron Noel is beginning to understand how to use his monstrous, 6-foot-5 frame. There may be no stronger player in the draft, though K'Andre Miller would give him a pretty good run for his money.
Another player who has opened eyes to the power and physical elements in his game is Jesperi Kotkaniemi. He's starting to be viewed as the top center in the draft because of his combination of power and skill. He is engaged physically and uses his frame well to protect the puck. He could push some of the players who have been more comfortably projected in the top 10.
One Midwest-based scout also went out of his way to note the on-ice competitiveness and work ethic of Waterloo Black Hawks forward Jack Drury, a likely Day 2 pick who is the son of former NHLer Ted and nephew of Chris.
"This kid is going to will himself into being an NHLer for a decade based on his desire to do every little detail that may go unnoticed to the casual fan, but coaches love," he said. "He's not the most skilled or the best skater, but he's one kid you want on your team that you know you can trust to get the job done."
There are obviously plenty more categories that help drive value for these players, and it also should be noted there's a lot to be said for players who may not stand out in any one trait but who are good at a lot of things. For instance, Filip Zadina is a consensus top-three pick but ranks behind some of his fellow top prospects in these categories; however, he's still top 10 in a lot of areas.
As you can see, there's plenty to get excited about with the 2018 class.