Monday, June 21, 2010

Brendan Ranford / LW / Kamloops WHL

Brendan Ranford / Kamloops Blazers WHL

LW-L / 5-9.5, 182 / 03-May-92

Skating: 60 / Skill: 70 / Sense: 65 / Compete: 55 / Toughness: 55

Strengths: Good hockey sense. Good hands and has a nice shooting touch.

Weaknesses: Size and skating combination is underwhelming.

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Underrated skill level. Shoots the puck pretty well. Can do a lot of things on offense. Has good two-way hockey sense. Competes and isn't afraid of doing battle despite his smallish size.

Skating is decent, but you hold 5-10 guys to a higher standard. He's going to need to find a way to be more elusive at the next level if he wants to score. But has such good hockey sense, that I think he can contribute as a 3rd/4th liner.

Summary: I'd really like this guy if he skated better, but at his size he needs to be quicker. Even so, he's got 2nd round offense and hockey sense. So I wouldn't let him slide too far. I think he's great value anywhere in the 4th round.

Draft Day: Could be a nice steal in the middle rounds, I don't see him going much earlier than the late 3rd.

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