A first year OHL player from Czechia, Matyas Sapovaliv has evolved into one of the top two-way playmaking centers available this year. The 6’4, rangy pivot has worked hard to improve his agility and ability to work East/West, making him a consistently dangerous player with the puck on his stick. He controls pace well and shows a terrific passing touch and high-end vision, allowing him to really elevate the play of his wingers. Sapovaliv is also an aware and responsible defensive player who shows great potential as a dominant defensive pivot thanks to his reach and projectable frame. Early on in the OHL season, Sapovaliv was creating chances, but he was snake bitten. As the points have begun to pile up (despite playing on a disappointing Saginaw Spirit team), Sapovaliv has been rocketing up draft charts, including ours at McKeen’s. With his length, skill, and intelligence, he has a chance to develop into an all situations top six center and as such, he may just creep into the first round in Montreal.
Skating
| Matyas Sapovaliv | Date of Birth: 2004-02-12 |
|---|---|
| Position: C, Shoots: R | H/W: 6'4", 190lbs |
| Stats to Date: (GP-G-A-PTS-PIMS) | Saginaw, OHL (64-17-33-50) |
The one area of his game that Sapovaliv has improved the most this season is his skating. Last year, or even this past summer at the Hlinka/Gretzky Cup, Sapovaliv was almost “Bambi” like. He had trouble with his balance and agility, especially when trying to alter direction with pace, and his explosiveness needed to be upgraded significantly. Over the course of this OHL season with Saginaw (his first in the OHL), Sapovaliv has made wondrous strides as a skater, especially when you consider he still has that tall, lanky frame. His pivots, directional changes, and ability to maintain balance through checks are all massively improved. Additionally, Sapovaliv looks quicker and builds up to an above average top speed in a straight line, thanks to big, sweeping strides. No question there is still room for improvement in his explosiveness. Sometimes it seems like he’s digging in but he is just not generating significant power in his strides. Given his lanky frame, a lot of that could have to do with an overall lack of lower body strength and the need to improve his conditioning further. However, because of how well he uses his length and reach to protect the puck, and how far his agility has come along, Sapovaliv usually has no trouble gaining the offensive zone at the junior level, carving up the neutral zone. This “shiftiness” also is put to use deep inside the offensive zone as he spins off checks along the wall, stops/starts/pivots while maintaining possession, and does well to keep plays alive with his feet and hands. Again, he’s not a physically mature guy in terms of his final playing weight, but he is already difficult to separate from the puck.
A clip from this past summer’s Hlinka/Gretzky Cup. Sapovaliv was previously, purely a straight-line attacker. He did not often vary pace. He did not often use linear crossovers to alter his direction while on the attack. This led to him trying to barrel through defenders and often offensive or neutral zone turnovers.
Another clip from the Hlinka/Gretzky. Sapovaliv loses an edge trying to make a move to the inside. Again, no variance in his attack. Straight ahead. Previously he just did not have great balance when trying to fight through contact.
Yet another Hlinka/Gretzky Cup clip. Sapovaliv was just so rigid inside the offensive zone previously. Part of the problem with this play is indecision. But the other part is the fact that his footwork just was not good enough to evade the pressure by the Finnish player.
While this clip from recently shows Sapovaliv’s improving puck skill, it also shows how confident he is on his edges now. That is a heck of a move and finish, especially for a big man who previously could not explode laterally like that.
Is that Cale Makar or Matyas Sapovaliv? Honestly an impressive move for a 6’4 forward to stop and turn on a dime, causing the Soo forward to blow a tire trying to defend him. It does not result in a goal, but this move truly highlights the hard work that Sapovaliv has put into improving his footwork.
Another nice play by Sapovaliv, showing off his impressive agility. A quick pivot allows him to escape the defender behind the net and he is almost able to get his pass out to the net front.
Grade: 55
Shot
Sapovaliv is certainly an adequate goal scorer. His game awareness and anticipation affords him a lot of chances in the slot, and he does have some weapons in his repertoire. He mostly uses a quick snapshot in the home plate area to try to get the puck to the net quickly, but he does show an ability to one time pucks too. He can generate some quality velocity in all of his shots, and he can pick top corners. However, Sapovaliv is not a natural goal scorer in the sense of him being a high-volume shooter who is quick to get pucks to the net. He is more likely to try to take the puck in tight to finish with a deke. His wrist shot is a little bit lumbering due to a long wind up (purely from a biomechanics standpoint thanks to his long limbs). As such, Sapovaliv is already more of a pass first kind of center, and I would expect that to become even more apparent as he moves up the hockey ladder. He can finish, but his finishing ability will never be his bread and butter.
This is a great example of Sapovaliv’s strength as a goal scorer. Shows good hands to gather a rebound quickly then uses a quick snapshot to beat the London netminder. Most of his goals are scored from directly between the hash marks.
Grade: 50
Skills
Sapovaliv’s agility and edgework are not the only aspects of his game that have greatly improved since the start of the OHL season. His confidence and competence with the puck have grown by leaps and bounds, allowing him to maintain possession through weaves, pivots, and directional changes. Previously, Sapovaliv fell victim to trying to do too much, too quickly. But since adding an East/West element to his attacks, he has become a multi-dimensional playmaker who can keep the puck on a string and miss sticks to keep plays alive, making something out of nothing. Again, he will never be confused for Trevor Zegras and he is certainly not the league’s most creative player, but he has a much better understanding of how he can use his size, reach, and quick hands to be tough to separate from the puck. Sapovaliv’s best skill is his passing ability. While there is certainly a cerebral element to this, deft touches and passing finesse are very much skill related too. He can feather passes with the best of them and the precision and accuracy of his passes are often spot on too. Big and rangy playmakers like Sapovaliv do not grow on trees, especially when you consider that he moves well for a big man.
Not only does this play further exemplify Sapovaliv’s improved mobility, but it shows his puck possession ability and how he can dominate touches in the offensive zone. He keeps this play alive long enough to find teammate Dean Loukus for a glorious opportunity (which he whiffs on).
Ok, it’s a five on three powerplay. But this cross ice pass, through traffic, right on the tape of Mitchell Smith is a thing of beauty from Sapovaliv.
This might be Sapovaliv’s best play of the season thus far. He circles back to collect a dump out by Erie, regains the zone, splits the defenders, embraces contact, and makes a terrific pass back into the slot to 2023 draft eligible forward Calem Mangone. Look at how Sapoavliv uses his reach to extend the puck and shield it from both defenders before he swings it back into the slot. This is precisely why NHL teams are looking for pivots with length these days.
Grade: 55
Smarts
After watching Sapovaliv a lot this year (this is not the first time that I have written about him), his intelligence or “smarts” has to be considered his best asset. Now that he is able to control pace and play through traffic more efficiently, we are truly able to see how strong of a playmaker Sapovaliv is. His vision with the puck is extremely high end. Best of all, his playmaking and passing ability are on display in so many different ways; it is multi-faceted. He can lead the charge into the offensive zone in transition and execute passes at full speed, after drawing extra attention by driving through defenders. He can slow down the pace by pivoting, allowing him to survey the ice to find trailers or open players driving wide. He can work the cycle down low or near the half wall, spin off checks, and make quick touch passes to keep plays alive or get pucks into the slot. For all his strengths as a playmaker, Sapovaliv also shows extremely well as a defensive center. His attention to detail, anticipation without the puck, and ability to use his length to be disruptive makes him a potentially elite defensive forward. There are some physicality components currently missing (that we will discuss soon), but he is already a tough player to create against, even without top end strength. He consistently forces turnovers in the neutral zone and high in the defensive zone with his length. This was something that was very much on display at the CHL Top Prospect’s game recently.
This is an impressive play by Sapovaliv, even if the result is not a goal for Saginaw. He pushes deep into the offensive zone, throws on the breaks, pivots to get the puck to his forehand and then finds Nick Wong in the slot for a great chance.
Not only does this play by Sapovaliv require touch and skill, as he has to corral the pass tight to his body (exasperated by his reach) and execute a pass on his backhand, but it also shows terrific vision and awareness. He makes this pass to set up the goal without even so much as a glance.
This is a really strong defensive play by Sapovaliv from the Top Prospect’s Game recently. His length and reach makes him such a strong penalty killing option at the top of the box or diamond. He stays with Isaiah George (one of the best skaters available in the draft) as he tries to push across the ice and manages to use his stick to force a turnover without taking a penalty. Then he delays the outlet to freeze the Red defender, resulting in a partial break for Team White shorthanded.
I put this montage together earlier this season when writing an article about Sapovaliv. This is the perfect way to end his smarts section. His potential as a two-way center is off the charts.
Grade: 60
Physicality/Compete
Sapovaliv’s compete level is one hundred percent not an issue. He is consistently engaged on the forecheck and backcheck and is never afraid to take a hit to make a play. However, physicality is not his bread and butter. He will engage to try to pin along the wall and he will drive the net, however his lack of strength (after all, he is 6’4 and 190lbs, likely way under his eventual playing weight at the next level) prevents him from being consistently effective at it. If he could overwhelm players physically, he would already be an elite defensive center, given his reach and anticipation. The million dollar question is, once Sapovaliv fills out and gets stronger, will the physical component become heightened? There is such raw physical potential with him. He has improved so much already in the last year, yet it is impossible to imagine him having plateaued.
This play perfectly exemplifies Sapovaliv’s need to be a little more physically engaged. It is in these situations, when he is trying to defend the slot or support down low, when he can struggle.
Grade: 50
OFP: 54.75
A note on the 20-80 scale used above. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scales, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.
