“L’Heureux is an interesting player. He is very talented and when he is competing hard, he is a skilled grinder that can have a positive impact every time he is on the ice. However, L’Heureux is not a complete player and is not always fun to watch when you can tell he is phoning it in in. Breaking down his skillset, L’Heureux is a great skater. He has a very powerful stride and low center of gravity that makes him hard to knock off the puck. L’Heureux uses this to his advantage to get inside body position when he drives hard to the net. He also has a very quick first step and accelerates well using linear crossovers. While his shot is largely recognized, L’Heureux is a better playmaker in my opinion. He has great vision and awareness, he regularly shoulder checks and always knows where his teammates are on the ice. He’s a strong passer on his forehand and commonly makes great passing plays off his backhand when he is around the half boards. He has good poise with the puck and shields it well before passing it. He can thread the needle through traffic. He knows when to pass the puck and makes his teammates better with his up-ice vision. He will often set them up on 2 on 1’s. L’Heureux also has very good hands and can execute quick skillful dekes around defenders off the rush. In this game he pulled off a very nice toe drag and then held off another defender before sliding the puck cross crease for a primary assist. The main two issues with L’Heureux are is compete and discipline, which both can be finicky at times. However, he is a very skilled player who has a good IQ and overall head for the game. He knows how to play at a high level. If he can work on his attitude and focus on showcasing his talent, he will be a steal for any team that drafts him.” – Sebastian Death

“Nause is a composed blueliner who acted as a quarterback for Quebec, calmly dissecting defences with his reads and passes. The left-handed defensemen excelled at leading the breakout, showing incredible poise, decision-making and vision. Nause kept an active look at his surroundings in puck retrievals situations, especially under pressure, to analyze the setting and find his next play. He flashed the quickness necessary to evade checks and start the outbreak on the rush as well. Nause proactively jumped in counterattacks a few times, showing an evolving confidence to support the attack. His smooth lateral agility and superb passing skills allowed him to walk to blue line and distribute the puck efficiently on the offensive cycle. An excellent defender, Nause showcased great compete, splendid positioning, above average strength and an active stick. Although this wasn’t his most impressive showing, Nause continued displaying his qualities as an all-around defensemen. I would be confident drafting him as soon as the 1st round ends and I believe he has a real chance of developing into a reliable top-4 defenseman.” – Andy Lehoux

“Voit showed to have strong compete and momentum throughout the majority of this game and held game pace quite well. He has good stick preparation and always looks ready to receive passes and keep the play moving along. He has quite good reach which often allows him to gain possession and shows decent control. Towards the middle of the game, he was often able to find open ice to stay open and watch for an open puck to push over to linemates for a chance on net. He shows to be decent defensively and tends to be a quick stepped skater when moving up ice. He was able to have quick sharp stops when his opponent would try to switch directions of the play and reacts well to the play. He had moments where he started slowing down and had lower momentum late in the period. Voit showed to have a decent shot when he could generate the opportunity and his puck handling abilities were just as well.” – Olivia McArter

“Johnson is an interesting defender in the USHL, whose success will largely come from his impressive footwork. His feet are his best asset, from strong backward cuts, to the deception that he creates through quick directional changes and lateral crossovers. He often opens his hips well to throw attackers off his path. He plays a very calm game, looking at all options before making a play. This ended up being a blessing and a curse though, as when pressure is on top of him, he needs to get the puck off his stick a little bit faster. He looks to be an offensive defenseman that fits the new mould well, often looking to jump up in the play. In the offensive zone, he’s a slippery player that can slide deep into the zone along the boards and make a play. Puckhandling is impressive here. His defensive play is a little hit and miss though, as he does well on the rush, angling out into the boards and maintaining position, but once the opponent is set he gets a little too puck-focused, watching the puck carrier instead of his man.” – Josh Bell

“As always, Duke shows a consistent and incredibly high motor. In this game, though I felt that he displayed much better skating form than in previous viewings. His speed is improved in this viewing by having much less of a kick in his stride extension than he had early in the season. His skating stride is nice and wide, and when in open ice he does an excellent job of recovering to the next stride really quickly which gives him a solid top speed. This allows him to be all over the ice and jump on loose pucks with a high frequency. And in combination with his incredible competitiveness, he’s not afraid to be first on the puck and make a play. His speed through the neutral zone is really great and he was even able to mix in some linear crossovers through the NZ while skating the puck up ice through transition. I do find that sometimes Duke tries to force pucks to certain parts of the ice that aren’t open to him. On one transition sequence, he had an open lane to the outside but tried to push through the centre lane and got removed from the puck.” – Dylan Galloway