Clarke Caswell

April 2024 – Clarke Caswell makes his living as a slippery setup man, and, in terms of pure playmaking, may be one of the best in the class. Caswell is intelligent and always has an idea of where his teammates are on the ice, allowing him to funnel pucks to the slot. He’s even quarterbacked the Broncos’ powerplay at times. While not a poor shooter, Caswell is selective to a fault, and really only attempts from high-danger areas. His transition game is hit-or-miss, but when its working, Caswell can create entries with his skating or passing, find targets early in rush sequences, hold onto pucks through checks, and display an expert delay game. While it may be difficult to translate his offence to higher levels, the upside of a middle-six playmaker is within reach. Luke Sweeney

April rankings:  51st

February 2024 – Clarke Caswell was favourite of mine in early November and, while he hasn’t elevated his game a ton since then, he has maintained his play, chugging along at just over a point-per-game despite the smaller role after his Swift Current Broncos acquired Connor Geekie. Caswell’s calling-card is his playmaking game which is one of the best in this WHL class. Between his vision, deceptiveness, puck protection, timing and middle-lane focus, Caswell is equally adept at finding streaking teammates off the rush as he is turning a low offensive zone turnover into a backdoor play. Caswell wins battles well enough, but with so-so strength and positioning, he’s not a great defensive player. In addition to OK footspeed and shooting, its obvious that Caswell is not a very well-rounded player, but banking on the playmaking skillset, its possible seeing him fitting into an NHL bottom-nine. Luke Sweeney

February rankings: 47th