Tochkin, Kellan - RW - Everett WHL

Kellan Tochkin / Everett Silvertips WHL

RW-R / 5-9.0, 176 / 15-Feb-91

Skating: 40 / Skill: 55 / Sense: 60 / Compete: 35 / Tough: 35

Strengths: Excellent vision and creativity.

Weaknesses: Small, and plays small. Rough skater, especially for his size.

Lots of playmaking ability and real nice passing touch. Tends to be a perimetre player. Skating is not at all what it needs to be for a player this size to become much of a pro prospect.

Summary: This is going to be a outstanding junior player, but the size and skating combination is just too much of a problem. Barely misses being a last round interest for me, but I might advise a camp invite.

Draft Day: Decent enough chance he is a late pick. He'll be a camp invite at worst.

Melnychuk, Brodie - D - Brandon

Brodie Melnychuk / Brandon Wheat Kings WHL
D-L / 6-3.5, 196 / 13-May-1991

Skating: 35 / Skill: 35 / Sense: 55 / Compete: 60 / Tough: 45

Strengths: Good size. Consistent effort level and good character. Thinks the defensive game well and is reliable down low in his own end. Offensive game showed some progress this season.

Weaknesses: Skating needs improvement. Struggles with the first pass and will not carry the puck at all. Could be more physically aggressive.

Is certainly a guy you need to see a lot to appreciate, but still is a long ways away from being a high end pro prospect. Good strength and he uses it effectively at times. As easy as it is for him to win 1-on-1 battles along the boards, you'd think he'd use that big frame more often. But lacks that little bit of nasty edge you want to see from a stay-at-home guy like this.

Not much puck skill, but has an accurate shot - release is a little slow, however. Pivots alright and doesn't get beat with speed or quickness too often in his own end at this level. But his straight line stride is very lacking and will have to improve for him to succeed against faster competition.

Summary: Has two of the unteachables: size and decent hockey sense. But you have to hope for a lot of improvement in every other aspect of his game over the next two years. Pure projection pick.

Target: Only a late round interest for me. He's a reasonable value in the 6th or 7th, but any earlier than that seems like a reach to me.

Peck, Alexandre - G - Victoria BCHL

Alexandre Peck / Victoria Grizzlies BCHL

G-L / 6-4, 185 / 28-Oct-90

Strengths: Big, long limbed and has good raw quickness.

Weaknesses: A bit raw. Doesn't have great feet and is a bit slow moving around the crease.

Huge frame and has good reactive quickness. Seems to have a pretty good glove, but needs to use it more.

Summary: This guy is one of my sleepers, but there's some risk that I'm manufacturing a player since I only saw him once. But the size and raw athleticism is pretty evident. If I'm at a draft table and it's down to a late round pick, I'd argue for this low-risk, potentially high-reward player.

Draft Day: Was a bit hard for scouts to see this season - so it may be no one got a real good read on him. May not go at all, but could get a late look.

Ulmer, Stefan - D - Spokane WHL

Stefan Ulmer / Spokane Chiefs WHL

D-R / 5-9.0, 160 / 01-Dec-90

Skating: 65 / Skill: 60 / Sense: 55 / Compete: 55 / Tough: 40

Strengths: Excellent skater and has a good shot. Good skill. Competes.

Weaknesses: Awfully small. Struggles a bit to be effective in his own end.

Very good skater with excellent lateral quickness, and good stop-starts. Really underrated PP skill - moves the puck smartly and quickly and has pretty darn good shot velocity. Okay moving the puck out of his own end but is not really much of a puck rusher.

Thinks the game well at both ends, but his size hurts his physical effectiveness inside his own zone. Doesn't make many bad plays in the d-zone, but really doesn't make a lot of good ones either. I do like his consistent effort level - his head is always in the game and wants to win. Really stepped up after the Cowen injury and was playing his best hockey at the end of the season and in the playoffs.

Summary: You just wish this guy was bigger - even just 6-0 would be fine. Small guys can make good offensive d-men in the NHL, but he's just a slight notch below where you'd want his offensive ability to be for a blueliner this size. Even so, I'd really want to grab this guy with anything after about 160th overall pick. Even if he only ends up running your AHL team's power play or is the occasional taxi squad fill-in, it's not a bad guy to have in any organization.

Draft Day: Probably won't get a look before the 5th in any case, but I think there's enough interest that he'll go.

Novotny, Stepan - RW - Kelowna WHL

Stepan Novotny / Kelowna Rockets WHL

RW-R / 6-1.5, 190 / 21-Sep-90

Skating: 65 / Skill: 55 / Sense: 50 / Compete: 30 / Tough: 25

Strengths: Some slick offensive ability. Very good skater with speed and shiftyness.

Weaknesses: Does not like to get hit and plays somewhat scared.

There's a lot of raw talent here. Has a lot of speed and lateral quickness. Creative and can make some flashy plays. Has a bit of hot dog in him, so when he gets lots of room, he can make some fancy, dazzling rushes.

The problem is that he needs that wide open room. For the most part, he actively avoids getting hit and does not like traffic at all. There were stretches in the middle of this season, however, where he showed a bit more toughness and willingness to take hits. So there is some hope here. But that seemed to disappear again once the playoffs started.

Summary: I'd rather have a lazy player than a scared one, but every once in a while a player at this age finds some courage. So I'd argue it's worth spending a very late pick on a guy with early round skating and skill level like this.

Draft Day: Might not go at all or is a late round pick.

Mappin, Cass - LW - Red Deer WHL

Cass Mappin / Red Deer Rebels WHL

LW-L / 6-0.0, 186 / 19-Dec-90

Skating: 45 / Skill: 60 / Sense: 55 / Compete: 25 / Tough: 50

Strengths: Quite a bit of natural puck skill.

Weaknesses: Does not compete. Floats and spends a lot of time around the perimetre. Barely average skater.

Despite getting on the scoresheet in most of the games I saw him, did not impress me even once. When I see this much lazy, floaty play, it's hard to not completely write off the player. That said, there's a lot of puck ability here and some good offensive instincts.

I give him credit for a willingness to drop the gloves on occasion. But to be brutally honest, that just seems like phony toughness when you spend most of the game strolling around the ice like it's an old-timer's exhibition game.

Summary: This is a "well, I guess I'd take him at some point" player for me. But I couldn't even argue hard for him in the 7th round. Almost certainly goes much higher than I have him.

Draft Day: Some teams don't mind taking "casual players" somewhat high. Probably because of the old scouting cliche about it being easier to light a fire under a player than transplant a new set of hands on one. So he could still go pretty high, maybe the 3rd round might be a best case.

Foucault, Kris - LW - Calgary WHL

Kris Foucault / Calgary Hitmen WHL

LW-L / 6-0.5, 202 / 12-Dec-90

Skating: 60 / Skill: 65 / Sense: 50 / Compete: 30 / Tough: 35

Strengths: Terrific goal scorer's hands. Deceptively good speed.

Weaknesses: History of questionable work ethic. One dimensional game.

I've jokingly said this player must have sold his soul to the devil (a la Robert Johnson) at a crossroads outside of Canmore to become this good, this fast. But the truth is he's always had a lot of raw talent and obviously something finally clicked once he got to Calgary.

This guy is a little hard to figure as a prospect - has he finally made the commitment off the ice to be the best player he can be? Are all those highlight-reel goals going to continue or is he just a flash in the pan? He's got good goal scorer's hands and an ability to get to the scoring areas, but almost everything else about his game is underwhelming. Doesn't do much away from the puck. Skating is underrated, however - sneaky fast and has pretty good agility.

Summary: He's arguably got first round hands - his scoring touch is that good. But there's obviously a lot of risk with this guy. This is the kind of guy that if you draft him early and send him to your NHL camp, your head coach might ask why are you sending him this lazy, out of shape teenager. But this guy has such great hands, you have to consider him beginning somewhere around 3rd or 4th round. If you can keep that fire lit under him, you might have a real prospect.

Draft Day: Another wild card. Could go anywhere after the 3rd.