There’s a lot of great talent in this draft, but more than anything, there are some playmakers here. The top 10 of the draft sees a lot of players who can make stuff happen in both the offensive and defensive sides of the ice, and few have distinguished themselves when it comes to this one skill more than Caleb Desnoyers.
Who is he?
Caleb Desnoyers is a Canadian-born Center, who is a left handed shooter. He measures up at 6’2, and weighs in at 172 lbs. He plays for the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL.
What’s he good at?
Making some plays. Playmaking, and Defense.
Desnoyers’ passing and stick skills are exceptional; able to get passes to his teammates with a soft, deft touch which are paired with a level of vision that feels almost like cheating. His ability to drop passes into the dangerous areas of the ice and onto a teammate’s stick are truly something to behold; wherever he is on the ice, and even if he’s well-covered, he always seems to find the tiniest seems imaginable and manages to thread the puck straight through to other Wildcats, which usually ends with a goal scored. He’s also very good at fooling defenders; either using his skating to bring a player intentionally wide to open up for a pass, or just as comfortable cutting into the middle of the ice to try and force the defense to protect the net…creating ice for a follow up chance that might now be screened or the goalie may be down and out.
He’s also a major threat on defense; Desnoyers is well aware he’s a big kid, and takes ample advantage of that by planting himself directly in the lanes of any forechecker he’s assigned to, and with his craftyness with his stick, has turned himself into an active nightmare of a transition player; able to turn a surefire shooting lane into a chance headed the other way in a very short amount of time thanks to his ability to read the play as it’s happening and catch forwards trying to be cute with him.
What’s he not so good at?
Making plays through shooting…and Defense???
The big area of improvement for him, more than speed, is his shot. Desnoyers is an extremely pass-first kind of player, and as a result his ability to use that creativity himself is actually somewhat limited by a somewhat middling release. He can definitely wire it to the net; his accuracy isn’t the concern, rather it’s the power he gets underneath it that can be a bit disappointing.
He’s got the ability to put a dangerous shot through, but it’s clear this is an area of his game that needs development focus. Another point of improvement is his play recognition. While Desnoyers can see the ice very well, he’s sometimes getting caught trying to force passes into the middle of the ice without thinking of who’s actually there, meaning he can give the puck up in trying to force offense out of his teammates.
Further; there is a lot of consternation about just how good at defense he actually is; plenty of scouts have praised his efforts, Smaht Scouting specifically pointed them out as a weakness; citing his effort being lower in his own end than they’d prefer, and FC Hockey referred to it as something he struggled with early on and then showed a lot of growth over the course of the season. I think that FC Hockey’s version of events jives more with what I’ve seen of him. His hustle is unquestionable, but it’s clear as the year went on he was both trusted with more and more was asked of him, and he rose to that occasion beautifully. But, like a lot of prospects at this level, he struggled a bit at showing where his strengths were consistently.
If drafted, Desnoyers will need to try and unlock the full power of his shot through further playing time in Moncton or in the AHL, and show that early concerns about his defense were just the result of small samples sizes.
My Verdict
There’s a good chance that Desnoyers will either drop right into Seattle’s lap or get drafted far, far ahead of their chance to take him, thanks to him being one of the blessed few players in the top 10 to largely complete his season without major injury, and will likely give himself even better standing if the Wildcats finish off Rimouski today and win the Gilles-Courteau Cup. If the Kraken get him, they will be getting a very damn good play driver who, at worst, may need to bulk up a bit, and work on putting more power behind his shot, which will likely come with bulking up.
If he’s there, there’s gotta be something pretty tempting to keep him away. Get this kind of player when you can.