The dynamic playmaker sees Elias Pettersson as an inspiration.
Within the midst of the Stanley Cup closing, it is essential to do not forget that the 2021 NHL Entry Draft is lower than a month away. Because the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens battle it out for the cup, the Vancouver Canucks are finalizing their draft record in hopes of discovering gamers who will at some point give them the chance to do the identical.
The Canucks’ viewing pool is shallow within the middle, left wing, and proper protection, so including a senior prospect to any of those three positions could be excellent. Will the Canucks have the best participant within the first spherical?
One of the vital electrifying prospects within the design occurs to return from the Canucks yard: Kent Johnson.
Johnson is ranked sixth to fifteenth by the specialists and is thus instantly within the space of the Canucks in ninth place total. He is performed in each the middle and left wing so he completely meets a necessity within the crew’s junior pool. Most significantly, he could also be the perfect participant obtainable in the case of how it’s for the Canucks’ flip.
TSN’s Craig Button had the Canucks Johnson included in his lottery mock-up based mostly on the draft, noting: “He has an identical model of play to Elias Pettersson – imaginative, inventive and even simply constructed.”
Let’s take a better have a look at what makes Johnson such an thrilling, dynamic participant, but additionally at among the weaknesses that could be holding him again.
Kent Johnson in numbers
At first look, the numbers for Johnson are extraordinarily good. As a 17-year-old, Johnson led the BCHL within the 2019-20 season with a whopping 41 targets and 101 factors in 52 video games, greater than twice as many factors as the subsequent finest 17-year-old.
This can be a comparable manufacturing to Tyson Jost at 17 – Jost had 42 targets and 104 factors in 48 video games – however Jost was 7 months older than Johnson and in his draft 12 months. Johnson had one other 12 months of hockey to go earlier than he was drafted.
Johnson was out for the College of Michigan Wolverines within the 2020/21 season. His 27 factors in 26 video games topped all first-time draft-eligible gamers within the NCAA, together with teammate Matthew Beniers, who’s vying for the primary total decide with one other Michigan teammate, Owen Energy.
Jost is a comparable participant once more – he had 35 factors in 33 video games as a freshman on the College of Dakota – as did Johnny Gaudreau, who had 44 factors in 44 video games as an 18-year-old freshman at Boston Faculty. That is first rate firm, and once more Jost and Gaudreau had their first NCAA seasons after being drafted.
The query for Johnson, nevertheless, is whether or not his factors manufacturing within the NCAA was primarily his personal work or whether or not it was carried by his stellar teammates. Even should you put the numbers slightly below the floor, there are just a few causes to be involved.
For instance, 14 of Johnson’s 27 factors – greater than half – have been secondary assists. Examine that to Beniers, who solely had 5 secondary assists out of his 24 factors.
This isn’t a deal breaker, however one ought to concentrate on this when your scores.
Johnson’s spotlight reel skill
Except for the numbers, Johnson is simply enjoyable to look at. He has wonderful puck dealing with abilities and makes use of them in inventive, eye-catching methods.
“He is an artist with the puck and the ice cream is his canvas,” stated JD Burke of Elite Prospect on his Johnson Profile for his or her Draft Information, the place he was ranked tenth total.
Johnson is phenomenal with the puck on his stick making excessive profile strikes whereas retaining his toes shifting always, making him a nightmare for opposing defenders who’re in no rush. He makes dramatic spinorama strikes with ease, however he’s additionally adept at making smaller actions in visitors to release time and area to create a quick lane or to present him area to skate the puck-up ice.
“Kent Johnson is without doubt one of the most gifted, proficient, inventive, and adventurous hockey gamers of his age I’ve seen,” stated impartial scout Will Scouch. “Just about the whole lot about his skill along with his fingers – it is unpredictable, it is slippery, it is slippery and, most of all, it is inventive.”
The issue is that Johnson tends to do an excessive amount of along with his fingers and ignore less complicated, more practical strikes. A number of scouts have recognized this as an issue for Johnson and he should be taught to simplify his recreation at instances and higher acknowledge when the time is true to succeed in into his bag of methods for a spotlight reel recreation.
“Johnson’s drawback is that typically it looks as if he thinks he will break up the sport each time he touches the puck, usually he misses cross choices in much better locations within the course of or simply runs out of area and flips the puck” stated Burke.
Is Johnson a middle or a winger?
A few of his issues with taking part in outdoors and lack of area on the boards could also be as a result of a change of place. Johnson was a middle within the BCHL however performed totally on the left wing with the College of Michigan, primarily so he may play on a line with Beniers. Some scouts challenge him as a winger within the NHL whereas others consider he may transfer again to the middle.
Johnson spoke in regards to the challenges of his transfer to the wing in January.
“At first I simply needed to discover a strategy to get the puck a bit of extra as a result of there’s clearly quite a bit happening within the middle,” stated Johnson. “It is easy for me to get off the wall early when I’ve the puck – I am not the quickest at this stage, so I am unable to simply go down the wall at velocity, so I’ve to get out.” the wall in order that I can use my versatility and IQ. Every time I get the puck, I now attempt to take a step within the center. “
Past puck dealing with, Johnson is a good passer who could make thrilling, counter-grain, inventive passes that may shock opponents. He could make absurd passes between the legs look fully routine.
Passing can be an space the place he may handle to simplify and make the simple recreation when it’s obtainable as an alternative of ready for a perfect recreation that will by no means present up. His tendency to hold on the puck too lengthy as an alternative of constructing the simple cross can result in annoying lack of the ball.
He additionally has a very good shot, however not a terrific one, until you relate to his backhand. Johnson has a fully devastating backhand that’s seldom seen even on the NHL stage.
Johnson has scored way more targets within the BCHL than in school, so there could also be extra goalscorers lurking beneath the floor of his model of play.
On the lookout for inspiration from Elias Pettersson
Johnson cites Elias Pettersson as a task mannequin, which is smart for somebody Johnson’s dimension who grew up in BC. Very like Pettersson, he isn’t quick at 6’1 ”, however very lanky at solely 165 lbs.
“He is a physique much like mine and it would not matter,” stated Johnson. “He nonetheless wins numerous fights, protects the puck and makes numerous skillful strikes.”
Johnson is adept at pounding the puck along with his distinctive puck management, however he’ll must get stronger and heavier if he’s to attain the identical on the NHL stage. He names puck safety as one of many areas the place his recreation has grown probably the most over the previous 12 months as he has needed to be taught to maintain the puck away from the older, heavier college-level gamers.
“On the finish of the 12 months it was actually arduous to get the puck off me, regardless that I used to be a youthful and thinner man,” he stated. “I’ve used my physique effectively to guard it.”
Different query marks lie in his defensive recreation and his skating. Each are on no account horrible, however neither are they a power.
“Johnson’s defensive work usually leaves one thing to be desired,” stated Burke, whereas Smaht Scouting’s Bailey Johnson was a bit extra optimistic, if not precisely a sounding affirmation: “From a defensive standpoint, Johnson does just about precisely what” he has to do. He might not win awards for his defensive play, however he isn’t accountable for himself. “
As for his skating, Johnson himself recognized it as an space the place he wants to enhance. He has labored with Barb Aidelbaum, one of the crucial revered energy skating coaches in ice hockey who has labored with a number of Canucks.
“She was nice for me,” stated Johnson. “Right here and there simply little issues about my form that I did not discover myself earlier than I went to her. Principally little issues that, as soon as she pointed it out, are like, ‘Gosh, I actually did not. It is fairly straightforward to repair. ‘ She has a very good eye for issues like that. “
Is Johnson the Proper Selection for the Canucks?
Total, Johnson is without doubt one of the most intriguing prospects on the forefront of the design. He has extraordinary abilities, overwhelming creativity, and interesting instruments. Nevertheless, it is usually a small challenge as he has to be taught to make use of these improbable instruments to his benefit and cease enthusiastic about any possessions.
“When drawback fixing and dealing with with teammates mix, Johnson seems to be like a slam dunk high six striker,” stated Mitch Brown in one among his match stories for Elite Prospects. The issue is, these instruments do not all the time go collectively. As Brown stated in one other match report, “There’s a tangled net of mechanical and decision-making issues that make his projection extra obscure than most.”
It feels virtually inconceivable to foretell what Johnson can be on the NHL stage. He has the sheer ability and creativity to be a first-line striker within the NHL – perhaps even a groundbreaking expertise. On the similar time, he’ll patiently develop and maintain an uncanny chest potential.
From a Canucks perspective, Johnson could be very tempting. Whether or not he is middle or left within the NHL, he fills a necessity for the Canucks and his high-end abilities could be an exquisite addition to the younger gamers already on the crew. Moreover, Johnson can spend a bit of time growing within the NCAA with Michigan earlier than shifting as much as the NHL, relatively than simply taking part in minutes in a males’s league in Europe or dominating a junior league.
“The concept that Kent Johnson is ranked ninth total and has the potential to conflict with the reliable offensively proficient children in Vancouver is totally terrifying,” stated Scouch.
Are the Canucks able to put Johnson in ninth place total? Will he even make it over among the groups that work earlier than them in search of breakthrough abilities? That continues to be to be seen.
[ad_2]
