Aaron Ekblad is a phenomenal player. He has tremendous hockey IQ. He may not wow you like perhaps a Ryan Murphy type rush and score defensemen but he just does all the little things right. He has a huge frame for a kid that young and he can take over a game because he is so smart on the back end. Obviously being so young he still has a lot to learn. The OHL is much faster and you should expect him to struggle at the beginning but if he is able to develop in Barrie he will have a very bright future ahead of him.
Mckinnon's birthday is not late enough for 2014 but another player Nick Ritchie drafted second in this past OHL draft is 2014 eligible.
Did you see his 1st period goal today? It was to sick
I have seen him at the Barrie Molson Center 4-5 times this year (pre-season and regular season). I personally think that he has been playing ok. Not dominant but that is expected. I have noticed that he usually gets power play mintues and offensively he does move the puck quite well. Defencely he has been beat a few times but the effort is there to get back and make a play. He also skates really funny, very awkward. Most of the time he is paired with an older player which helps him, he is always talking to his d-partner. I would guess that so far he is playing well. Barrie is doing the right things with him.
His offense was impressive, game reminds me a lot of Pietrangelo. His slapper is a real asset - I'm thinking it will be a serious asset in the future. Wrister was nothing impressive tonight.
His defensive game was just okay. He took up a lot of ice, ala Tyler Myers, but he also made a few bad reads.
Considering his age, I would say his potential is extremely high. Beastly size. I don't see the Pronger comparison yet, I guess we will see. He didn't have any nastiness and he didn't throw his weight around tonight.
Agree with the above.
I also saw him for the first time, he had a two point game. I came away impressed, although I'm unsure if he'll have as a spectacular rookie year as the other players that have been granted exceptional status. I'm tempted to order some Colts ohl.com streams to see him again.
His offense was impressive, game reminds me a lot of Pietrangelo. His slapper is a real asset - I'm thinking it will be a serious asset in the future. Wrister was nothing impressive tonight.
His defensive game was just okay. He took up a lot of ice, ala Tyler Myers, but he also made a few bad reads.
Considering his age, I would say his potential is extremely high. Beastly size. I don't see the Pronger comparison yet, I guess we will see. He didn't have any nastiness and he didn't throw his weight around tonight.
I had a write up where I also stated he's got a similar style to Pietrangelo so I definitely agree that some parallels can be drawn between their games.
Ekblad can log 20 minutes a game right now and not hurt the team, but he's not an impact player yet. The biggest area of improvement for him right now is his footwork. If he can improve his lateral ability and transitional skating, that will help him immensely in solidifying his defensive game.
Bump! Just checked his stats on hockeydb 15 points in 25 games, 7 goals. Pretty good. How has his defensive game been?
Looks like he had a great month by the stat sheet (10 points in 12 games), but that's never how you want to assess a player like Ekbald. I've still yet to see him live in the OHL, but from what I saw last year, I'm sure he's played above average defensively for a 16-year-old rookie (I'm aware he's 15).
He's got a great hockey IQ, and I expected him going into the year to be solid defensively, but anything more than 20 points would be gravy. He's produced a lot more than I (and others) thought he would at this point.
He has increases by leaps and bounds in terms of his play. His skating has gotten better, he is way more physical then he was earlier in the year. Other teams are starting to take runs at him and in doing that he is sticking up for himself. He is quickly becoming my favorite junior player.
Playing for the Barrie Colts - 29GP 7G 10A 17Pts 6'3" 207Lbs Age 15 WTF are they feeding these kids? Anyone see how he plays in his own zone? Early favourite for top 5 pick in 2014???
I don't think top 5 does justice to him. Either number one or number two as far i'm concerned. Evidently very early, but for a 15 year old defenseman who's on pace for 40 points in his first year, he'll be dominating this league on both sides of the puck by the time his draft rolls around. 2014 will be an amazing draft, if Joshua Ho Sang is the player everyone says he is, and his development runs smoothly, we might have a 2008 repeat where the first two picks were Stamkos-Doughty!!! Sweet!!!
By the time he is eligible, everyone will be picking out his minor flaws and saying "flavour of the week" is better.
Its too far from his draft to say where he'll go, as kids always rise and fall in the years leading up to their draft, but as of now....Im sure if he was available this year to be drafted he'd go in round 1.
A little surprised he's having this good a season as a defensemen at 15. 18 points in 30 games for a 15 year old defensemen is out standing.
It's incredible. If you're talking purely about points (which is an awful way to evaluate him), he's on pace for 40 points as a 15-year-old defencemen. That kind of production would be very solid for a rookie 16-year-old forward.
I don't expect him to keep up that production, especially with the loss of Schiefele and potentially Pearson. That being said, I would of been happy with ~20 points for him this year, so he's already exceeded my expectations.
I fully expect him to continue to improve as he gets better positionally, and gets even more involved offensively. The sky's the limit with Ekblad. The OHL is set with him and Ho-Sang eligible for 2014.
Note: Don't think that Ekblad's production has came out of nowhere. Last year playing against 15-year-olds, as a 14-year-old, he had the second highest amount of points as a defencemen.
How does he compare to other dmen that were rookies in the OHL namely Doughty, Pieteranglo, Hamilton?
I think he is better. He's not flashy like a Doughty but he reminds more of a Pieteranglo. Goes about his defensive responsibilities IMO better the Pieteranglo. I haven't seem enough of Hamilton to put him the conversations. If Aaron can take over a game like Doughty at 16 like Drew could at 17 then I'd say down the road he could be alot better then all of them.
I don't think top 5 does justice to him. Either number one or number two as far i'm concerned. Evidently very early, but for a 15 year old defenseman who's on pace for 40 points in his first year, he'll be dominating this league on both sides of the puck by the time his draft rolls around. 2014 will be an amazing draft, if Joshua Ho Sang is the player everyone says he is, and his development runs smoothly, we might have a 2008 repeat where the first two picks were Stamkos-Doughty!!! Sweet!!!
These are my thoughts as well. It's obviously crazy early but based on what we've heard Ekblad and Ho-Sang have a chance to match Doughty and Stamkos.
The one time I saw Ekblad play live this year he was phenomenal. Very gifted offensive player for only being a 15 year old defenseman. Didn't show any weaknesses defensively either.
Ekblad is shockinly good for his age. He not only looks like he's 19, but he plays like it as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see him win OHL DOY next year, maybe even CHL DOY
Does anyone think he could make next year's World Junior team? He'd already have one full year of CHL play under his belt, his size would not be an issue, and if he already plays a very mature game then would it be possible to see him as a 16 year old for Canada?
Does anyone think he could make next year's World Junior team? He'd already have one full year of CHL play under his belt, his size would not be an issue, and if he already plays a very mature game then would it be possible to see him as a 16 year old for Canada?
It's gonna be very tough as Hockey Canada doesn't like taking 16 year olds and you got to think a 16 year old defenseman is gonna have it even tougher. John Tavares didn't make it as 16 year old when he scored 72 goals that year and he too was a sophomore in the OHL. I'd certainly like to see Ekblad get a shot.
Does anyone think he could make next year's World Junior team? He'd already have one full year of CHL play under his belt, his size would not be an issue, and if he already plays a very mature game then would it be possible to see him as a 16 year old for Canada?
I doubt he makes the team, but I could see him make the final camp. People talk about not inviting Mackinnon to the camp, but Nate was in a position where it was his rookie season, and he lacked major international experience. By time December 2012 roles around, he will have experienced the U-17, at least one U-18 (maybe 2) and the Subway Super Series.
But no i dont think he has much of a shot. Firstly, with 3 eligible defenders to return, that leaves maybe only 4 open spots. Siemens, Dumba, Ceci, Percy, Rielly all have good shots to make it
It was to sick
