Corey Pronman on Cristoval Nieves.
http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/arti...articleid=1321
58. Cristoval Nieves, Center, Kent-US High School
Nieves is a plus skater whose ability to move on the ice gets described within the industry by scouts as "explosive" and "sublime". He has tremendous acceleration that sees him rocket off after his first few steps with seemingly no effort behind his steps. Nieves' top speed isn't at the same level as his acceleration but is still very dangerous as he projects as the kind of forward who will always have defensemen on their toes when he's coming down on the rush. He's also a pretty gifted technical skater with a good stride which shows possible indication of taking his speed to a notch higher with more leg strength as well as good overall footwork in tight spaces and moving laterally. His puck skills are solid to above-average and can flash beyond that, but over the long-term basis he looks more of a "good, not great" type of player when it comes to his puck-handling ability. Nieves certainly does have some creativity and can make plays in open ice or off the half-wall, but I don't see the top-end hand-eye coordination to get to that next level. Nieves, known as "Boo" commonly, main knock is his physical game and his on-ice work ethic. His body still needs a ton of work, as he has a prototypical string bean frame and versus stronger opponents is easily knocked off his feet. However, he also really seems to lack the willingness to engage and show consistent hustle. His overall hockey sense is decent, as he will flash a creative move or nice seeing-eye pass offensively, or show good anticipation and positioning on defense, but then there will be several instances of getting way too cute with the puck and forcing bad plays. There certainly is projection in that area and it could just be a "high-school" thing, but it's worth noting the highs and lows of his game processing.