Time for another series at McKeen’s from our scouting staff. The 2024 NHL Draft season is well under way and our scouts have been busy soaking in the action around the globe. Analyzing early season play can be difficult; perhaps even a bit of a ruse. Hot starts aren’t always sustainable and cold starts are not always indicative. However, players can still catch our attention in positive ways and that’s what this series intends to highlight.
Jamison Derksen - North American Video Scout
Maxim Massé - Forward - Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
6’1, 181 lbs - 2006-04-07
Maxim Massé made his presence felt very early in his junior career after being drafted third overall by the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the 2022 QMJHL draft. Massé piled up 62 points and 65 games as a rookie last season, not only winning QMJHL Rookie of the Year, but also CHL Rookie of the Year. This season, he’s picked up right where he left off as he’s over a point per game. Massé is a staple on the top line and top power play unit for Chicoutimi, while also sporting an “A” on his jersey this season.
I really like watching him, because even though his game doesn’t immediately jump out to a casual viewer, the more you watch the more you appreciate the details of his game. Massé is a really clever player. He’s really great at finding open ice in the offensive zone which is where he thrives. Massé has a dangerous shot and he loves to put the puck on net (according to SportLogiq, he’s 7th in the QMJHL in Shot Attempts from the Slot this season), but he’s also a decent playmaker, especially with quick short area passes.
Another thing that he’s really good at is getting inside positioning for puck battles. His intelligence helps compensate for the major weakness in his game, which is his foot speed. His overall skating is decent and he flashes speed at times, but it almost seems to be momentum-based rather than resembling any sort of consistency.
Bring on the Videos!
I like this clip because it showcases Massé’s attention to detail when he doesn’t have the puck. He’s #7 on blue here and instead of jumping on the almost loose puck that his teammate comfortably was about to skate onto, he just gets in the defender’s ice here and gives them a tiny little bump, whic basically delays the defender from accessing his teammate and giving him an extra split second to get the puck deep.
This clip shows how dangerous Massé can be in the offensive zone and why he’s able to create offense. When he gets the pass on the rush, he’s decisive and almost immediately gives it back to his teammate for the scoring chance. He then stays high where the rebound comes right back to him to get a dangerous shot off. He then retrieves the puck from an opponent and showcases how comfortable he is handling the puck in tight space, threading a pass to his teammate while under pressure.
Another off-puck detail clip here, Massé is in a net front battle in the offensive zone. He manages to get body position between the defender and the net and boxes the defender out before quickly grabbing the rebound, shoveling it in.
This last one here is one of my favourite clips of Massé this season, as I think it does a good job summarizing his game. The start of it isn’t pretty; he’s playing the point on the power-play as he typically does, and gets caught along the boards giving Rimouski a shorthanded odd-man rush. Massé ends up actually being the fourth player back on the back check. However, once he gets the puck, you can see there’s some speed that we don’t always see from him and he motors up the ice. Once he realizes that he’s skated himself into a two-on-three, he stops up to find the trailer, then finds the open ice for an easy goal.
Trevor Connelly - Forward - Tri City Storm (USHL)
6’1, 161 lbs - 2006-02-28
Trevor Connelly is one of the most electrifying skaters in the draft this year. One of the stars of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this past summer, Connelly scored five goals and added five assists in five games. Connelly has a lot of potential offensively. As a rookie in the USHL last year, Connelly had 47 points in 57 games, and he’s already among the leading scorers in the league this season. He’s locked into top line, top power play, and top penalty kill duties with the Storm.
The bread and butter of Connelly’s game is elite skating. He is very agile and accelerates very quickly. His speed gives him a lot of opportunities to create offence, and his hands are good enough to keep up most of the time with his feet. However, there is certainly an element of risk versus reward with his game because he can be prone to forcing plays or over-handling the puck near the offensive blue line. So, while there are many chances for while he’s on the ice, he also turns over the puck quite a bit and can be pushed around because of his size. I would like to see him engage in puck battles a bit more as he’s usually content to wait for the puck to come to him when there’s a battle in the corner.
He always seems to be a big play waiting to happen. He seems to get a handful of very good scoring chances per game, often drawing penalties in the process. Connelly is a monster in transition, whether it’s motoring up the ice with the puck himself, or creating space for his teammates, because the opposition has to respect his speed. Connelly’s speed also can force defenders to turn the puck over because he’s on top of them so quickly.
Bring on the Videos!
This is what I mean when I say that Trevor Connelly is a burner. He accelerates so fast, and he doesn’t even appear to be putting much effort in and his pace renders the opposition‘s gap control pretty much useless because they need to turn so early just to try to keep up with him as seen with the defenceman on this clip.
Here’s Connelly at the very end of a shift in a tie game with 30 seconds left. Even though he’s pretty much out of gas, he still has the wherewithal to make a good move one on one and drive the net, then slide it over to his teammate a split second before he takes a big hit.
This clip showcases Connelly’s patience and puck control. When he initially gets the puck, he gets forced to the outside. Since it seems like a wasted play, he throws it at the net, but then he picks it up again, and skates with it until he can get it to the net.
Another clip from the same game here. Similar start with Connolly taking a shot from the perimeter and picking up his own rebound. What I like about this one is this time he makes a move to the inside and creates an opportunity instead of staying on the perimeter. And eventually he does pass the puck. However, there is certainly room for improvement with his vision as a passer.
Artyom Levshunov - Defence - Michigan State Spartans
6’2, 198 lbs - 2005-10-28
Artyom Levshunov, one of the top defenceman in the 2024 NHL draft class, is off to a pretty solid start as a freshman with the Michigan State Spartans. The Belarusian, who played last season in the USHL, is just a shade under a point per game leading all freshman blue liners in the NCAA. He’s playing in all situations for the Spartans, having logged north of 21:00 in every game so far with the team.
Levshunov has all the tools to be a very good two-way defenceman. He's a large presence on the ice with a long reach, but he also is very mobile and has fantastic edge work. Levshunov is constantly moving around, never seeming to be still. His dynamic playstyle and his knack for reading plays complement each other very well.
He also really wants to contribute offensively and has the puck skills to do so. Levshunov frequently makes stretch passes, and he loves to jump up in the play. In the offensive zone he covers as much ice as centremen usually do. Sometimes his excitement for offence can lead to chances against, typically because of missed defensive assignments, but his skating can cover up some mistakes.
Bring on the Videos!
Here’s a clip of him in the offensive zone. He is #5 on white. He’s just always moving around and he wants to make things happen offensively. He finds open ice, and he creates openings for himself, and he’s always ready for the puck.
Here’s a defensive clip for him, as he maintains a good gap, containing the speed from the attacking forward. Levshunov makes the play by the blue line, the cut back shakes him very briefly, but he recovers right away and takes a guy out of the play. He then circles back to cut off a passing lane and skates up ice with it.
I like how decisive he is when he gets the puck here. He doesn’t just rim it, or force it up the clogged side, instead, he uses the net as a shield, and carries the puck out of the zone. That speed is a lot to handle coming around the net.
In this one, you can really see how much he wants to join in on the offence. He grabs a loose puck, moves it quickly, and joins the rush. He doesn’t hang back, rather continuing to play the attack as a forward. Levshunov’s physicality gets displayed again here at the end of the clip.
Adam Titlbach - Forward - Vancouver Giants
5’9, 165 lbs - 2006-02-15
Adam Titlbach, who the Vancouver Giants selected 21st overall in the 2023 CHL Import Draft, had a breakout performance at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this past summer. The diminutive forward filled the stat sheet with 8 points in 5 games on the way to a silver-medal effort for Czechia. His stats have been a bit quieter to start his Western Hockey League career, as he has been running just below a half-point per game early on. Titlbach has spent the majority of the season on Vancouver’s second line and top power play unit.
Titlbach is a smooth skater that is slippery when handling the puck in traffic, a skillset that serves him well when it comes to controlled zone entries, a highlight of his game. He also isn’t afraid to engage in puck battles, and fares pretty well considering his size. Titlbach has really good vision, he finds his teammates in dangerous places to score regularly.
He’s still definitely adjusting to the smaller ice surface as this is his first season in North America. A player of his size is forced to engage physically a lot more on North American ice. He doesn’t have the counting stats that are necessarily expected at this point, but the points will come as he gets more comfortable and confident.
Bring on the Videos!
In this first clip, I really like his awareness as he sees that the defenceman that should be covering briefly abandons his post to pick up his stick, so Titlbach takes advantage, and deftly finds his teammate on the doorstep.
Here, Titlbach finds open ice in the offensive zone, and has a scoring chance. Not giving up on the play when the puck goes the other way, he then uses a really good stick lift to strip the defenseman who is breaking out of the zone and gives himself a break away.
I like how Titlbach improvises here. His slot pass on the rush gets deflected and right away he grabs the rebound and tries to wrap it around. That doesn’t work. He digs it out of the pile and pulls it away to create space for himself, and finds the pointman for a reset.
Titlbach showcases a bit of speed on this clip as he lugs the puck down the ice. And once he’s in the offensive zone, he realizes he doesn’t have much to work with so he cuts back and creates a ton of space for himself. He then takes advantage of the defensive switch and cuts right down the middle and throws the puck on net.