Monday, June 09, 2008

NHL Draft Profiles of Burlon and Czarnik

The NHL's official draft site is slowly but surely releasing profiles of the players that will be available in this month's NHL Draft. They've added profiles and scouting reports for Brandon Burlon and Robbie Czarnik.

Highlights:
-Czarnik patterns his game after Ales Hemsky and his nickname is "Bob Z" which I think is pretty funny.
-Czarnik's best friend is his future Michigan teammate, David Wohlberg.
-Central Scouting said the following about Czarnik:
“Robbie competes hard, plays with a lot of energy and back checks with authority. Has a tendency to be too aggressive on the puck which puts him out of position. He skates well, has a good wrist shot, but needs to improve on his puckhandling ability.”

-Burlon likes to be the last player to put his helmet on, leave the locker room, and leave the ice.
-Central Scouting said the following:
“He’s not an overly big defenseman, but he has really good mobility and a good shot from the point. He jumps up into the rush well, but needs to improve on his defensive reliability. He played in a really small rink this year and was still able to move the puck quickly and well. Puck-skill wise, he’s good, and as he moves up, his decision-making will improve.”

-Burlon's coach chimed in as well:
“Brandon is a highly mobile defenseman with deceptive speed. His strengths include a pro shot and the ability to get it off quickly, especially one-timers. He has good vision on the ice and plays a controlled and composed game. Areas of improvement and growth include his physical play and decision-making of when to join the rush. He battles hard, is a fierce competitor and is extremely good at running a power-play.”

I usually get a kick out of reading the draft profiles because I like seeing who these kids idolized growing up and sometimes there's some goofy stuff in there.
-The best signature shootout move was Drew Doughty's: "Backhand, forehand, cheese"
-Tyler Ennis's "first career goal" was scored into his own net. Ditto for Patrick Wiercioch.
-Jared Staal's best advice comes from his older brothers: "Seriously dude, [Screw] the police." I'm surprised they printed that.
-Kelsey Tessier patterns his game after ex-Wolverine Michael Cammalleri. Mathieu Brodeur patterns his after Mike Komisarek.
-Future Terrier Corey Trivino wears #10 because of Diego Maradona. That's gotta be a first in hockey.
-Mike Fisher isn't just popular amongst kids coming to Michigan.
-Alright, I made up that one about Jared Staal.
-Nick Larson patterns his game after Mike Modano and Tomas Holmstrom. Hopefully he patterns his skating after the former.
-It amazes me how many players still list Steve Yzerman as their idol or wear #19 because of him. Pretty cool.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What if Nick Larson skates like Holmstrom and hits like Modano???