World's Best/Only Hockey Recruiting Overview: 2020 Part 2 And The Braces Brigade
Previously: 2018 and 2019, and the first bit of 2020.
[Michael Capels/MIHockey]
The previous post covered the five forwards currently in the 2020 class and highly touted D Owen Power; in addition to those gents Michigan also has four other defensemen currently committed. The most highly touted is NTDP selection Jacob Truscott, who is very much in the mold of the Mel Pearson defenseman:
Jacob Truscott (Little Caesars 15U) – “Highly skilled, puck-moving defenseman. Very good skater with a smooth, effortless stride. Retrieves the puck well and has end to end rushing abilities. Does a very good job of keeping his feet moving and his head up in order to make plays. Sees the ice well and makes good outlets.”
A take from just before the NTDP selection camp:
Truscott has long been hyped as one of the more athletically gifted defensemen in this age group. He makes strong lead passes in transit and can jump into plays offensively.
And the OHL’s scouting report from a couple months ago:
He is a good puck moving defenceman that has the ability to join or lead the offensive rush and then because of how well he skates he can easily recover and get back and play his position. He has a very nice, long stride that looks effortless. His mobility is good and that makes it hard to beat him off the rush. He sees the ice well and makes the simple play the majority of the time which is very effective.
Truscott also went to London, but in flier territory (8th round) and has committed to the NTDP. He doesn’t seem like much of a flight risk:
Port Huron Northern freshman Jacob Truscott didn’t really know how to react when the University of Michigan hockey coaching staff offered him a scholarship. Being a lifelong Wolverines fan, the offer seemed too good to be true.
“I had a loss for words – I was speechless,” Jacob recalled. “I didn’t see it coming.”
After a brief talk with family members that were equally as shocked and honored as he was, Jacob made the commitment to play hockey for U-M.
“We were just speechless and tearing up,” Jacob’s mom, Lori, recalled from last weekend’s visit. “Big brother Kyle and I were probably the most struck by it all emotionally. It’s just an amazing opportunity.”
Expect him to arrive in a couple years.
[After THE JUMP: smallish, skilled defensemen. Everywhere.]
McWard with the 5 Nations team last year
Cole McWard is yet another smallish, very skilled defenseman. USHR makes him sound a bit like Quinn Hughes:
Cole McWard, D, 6’0/170, St. Louis Blues U16 -- A really fun defenseman to watch.Always has his head up and creates a lot of offense from the offensive blue line. Has a knack for finding seams. An elite D-I prospect who will make an impact on the PP.
Obviously he’s not at Hughes’s level or there’d be more hype about him, but they’re in the same genre:
“He is fun to watch. He is that good. He’s offensive, and a great skater with hands to match. I would add that Cole is a great kid and has a great family.”
4 star prospect Cole McWard commits to @umichhockey. Skilled, puck moving D-man w/ poise, instincts & upside. Earned A- rating at #Select16s https://t.co/5Cwk59zbNQ
— Neutral Zone (@_Neutral_Zone) July 22, 2017
Not much else out there on him; he was close to a PPG in midget this year. He should play in the USHL for a couple years before arriving in Ann Arbor.
Smith's potential fate?
Mitchell Smith is… well, you know. Smallish, skilled, etc. I’m a bit skeptical he’s actually going to arrive after an article from his local paper. Smith's D partner is Brendan Kischnick, a 5'8" kid who got picked in the sixth round of the OHL draft, got sent back to his AAA team, and still plans on reporting. That's certainly a decision you can make when you would do well to get drafted at all by the NHL. Kischnick and his father are cited as major influences on which path Smith will take, and if the article about his Michigan commit in the local paper finishes like this…
"One thing you learn about hockey is that it has a huge network. You have to choose the right people to believe, the right people to trust. To have people like Brendan and Brian [Kischnick] giving advice is invaluable."
And if that means ultimately choosing to play college hockey, Michigan is not a bad destination.
"Michigan presented us with a good situation … basically he would have a chance to play right away," Tim Smith said. "And a Michigan education is pretty nice too."
…I’m not exactly banking on his arrival. He went in the fifth round to hometown Saginaw, too, so he wouldn’t even have to move away from home.
FWIW, Smith is another small, exciting offensive defenseman:
Throws head fakes to get around the opposition, pinches well. Also can be a 4th forward on the ice. Had a few down ice rushes where he cut through a few people. He was really fun to watch.
Mitchell Smith (Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 16U) – “Skilled puck-moving left-shot defenseman. Plays with a lot of pace. Good skater, with good four-way mobility. Has end-to-end rushing abilities and sees the ice well.”
But at this point it’ll probably be faster to point out when someone is not a smallish puck mover.
Finally, Ethan Szmagaj is a smallish… non-puck mover? Apparently so.
'01 D Ethan Szmagaj commits to Michigan. Very hard to play against, competes hard and can skate. Still baffled no USHL club drafted him.
— Jeff Cox (@JeffCoxSports) June 28, 2017
He’s not scoring much and he’s listed at 5’11” and thus isn’t drawing a ton of scouting; he did not go in either the USHL or OHL drafts, oddly. He still got in 6 USHL games when Waterloo had a couple of back-end injuries, and apparently acquitted himself well.
“He was good and that is a hard deal to come in from midget,” O’Handley said.
Waterloo is playing Szmagaj off its affiliate list for the next couple of weeks. He can play up to 10 games before he has to be officially added to the roster or sent back to his midget team.
There is not much else out there on him; he should be a full-time USHLer next year, which will provide more data.
EVEN MORE ABSURDLY YOUNG PEOPLE
Michigan has two commits from '03s, F Dylan Duke and Tyler Haskins, and one from an '04, Connor Levis. Scouting on these guys is basically nonexistent, and thank God for that. Priority Selection does rank Duke fourth amongst '03s at the moment. Neutral Zone's Haskins take:
4⭐️prospect is a highly coveted WHL/NCAA prospect. A tall, thin, athletic F with a fluid stride and mature hockey sense. A high ceiling prospect and top '03 after missing much of the season to injury.
— Neutral Zone (@_Neutral_Zone) April 6, 2018
➡️ NZ Profile: https://t.co/zDzCYx4i2ahttps://t.co/bgGlUXuCM5
Levis has 90 points in 30 games for his… uh… middle school.
I have chosen not to embed any pictures of these guys in case they make various readers feel so old that they up and die right this instant. They're obviously amongst the top players in their age group, but it's so far out that anything could happen with them.
It seems there are so many paths a quality high school hockey player can take, I often get confused on what a standard route to playing collgiately is.
I'm used to the HS --> College --> Pros format I guess. Am I the only one who has trouble with this?
Some knowledgeable folks (which I am not) explained this pretty well, in a few paragraphs rather than the tome that would be necessary to fully address the subject. No, you are not alone in being confused.
Thanks
HS --> College --> Pros is a distinctively American model of athletic development that is most prominent in some American sports. But it's not the only model in the US and certainly not the only model worldwide.
High School is a significant source of college hockey players only in Minnesota, where high school hockey itself is a huge goal for most young players. Even then, Minnesota high schools lose players to junior leagues all the time.
The most common non-HS track is playing up through various age-level leagues on travel teams until a kids gets into junior, typically at age 16. Various levels of junior hockey exist, from small regional leagues you've never heard of (that bus accident in Canada was a team in such a league) to the CHL where many of the greatest prospects of all time have played. Junior hockey spans, roughly, years 16-20, after which players age out.
In the US, the USHL is the top junior league ("Junior A"), and there are also leagues like the NAHL that send kids to college. Canada has a couple of equivalent tiers of junior hockey playing in regional leagues (one example is the BCHL, from which Michigan occasionall pulls recruits), plus the CHL, which is "major junior." Players that play in major junior are ineligible to play in college; all other leagues can send players to the NCAA. All junior teams are independent franchises not associated with any "school." The players typically stay with billet families and attend a local high school.
On an alternate track, United States Hockey runs the US National Team Development Program, which is designed to give American 16 and 17 year olds a more intense development opportunity that keeps them college eligible while preparing them for international competitions as well as college hockey. There are exceptions, of course, but a lot of these players are "best and brightest" types, recruited from the base of 15-year-old players around the country. The best American prospects almost invariably either play on the NTDP or in Major Junior (or, in rare cases, jump from the NTDP to Major Junior).
It might seem weird, but it's just a different paradigm.
I'd always wanted to ask but the MGoSnark during the OT season can be a little much.
There are High Schools all across the country that have very good Hockey Programs... Catholic Central in Michigan, Shattuck's, etc. I wouldn't say 'high school hockey is for all the lower level Travel and House Players'... it just depends on Region. The Northeast High School hockey is also very good. Obviously AAA is the top of the top you can play prior to Juniors. However, there is no 'select' route to go from one team to juniors. It's all about development.
This is not necessarily truth. Jake Crespi from Brighton is headed to LSSU. Sam Brennan from Brighton is headed to Air Force. Adam Conquest to Bowling Green. Will Jentz (blatant plug for my nephew who has scored game tying and winning goals in the finals or semis the last two years) is a rising junior and will garner attention. One caveat is Brighton has won 5 of the last 13 state hockey titles and 2 in a row and their players are seen by colleges more than most HS programs in the state.
Also this enlightening article about AAA players returning to HS hockey in Michigan : http://blog.mlive.com/lcn/2008/02/more_triple_a_players_returnin.html
Second blatant plug: Jentzs sister Tiffany will be a freshman in September and has made the boys JV team. Watch for her on the national roster in a few years. The girl can play.
Logged-in to upvote. Idk why but that hit me just right. lol.
Thankfully not in the groin or jaw.
Priority Selection's updated rankings actually have Duke 2nd now. Luke Hughes, who I'd have to guess is likely a Michigan lean if he goes the college route, is 10th. Two other US skaters are on the list, both committed to B1G teams - Dylan Gratton (PSU) and Matthew Argentina (ND).
Also they're all still too young to determine whether or not they'll actually be top-10 in the NA skater rankings come the 2021 NHL Draft they're eligible for.
Though I know virtually nothing about hockey recruiting, I admire your passion for the topic. Good luck to our guys!
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