Miguel Marques

February 2024 – Marques took some time to come out of his shell on a struggling team in Lethbridge, but has hit his stride and is up to 57 points in 47 WHL games as of writing this.

Extremely middle-driven and engaged off the puck, Marques looks to accelerate the pace of play with every touch. His trifecta of handling, playmaking and shooting is refined, and his constant middle drives allow those tools to be put to great use. Beyond the high work rate, Marques is also comfortable slowing the play down and drawing players into him to free up passing lanes when the circumstances demand it. With a wide arsenal of passes, Marques consistently creates advantages for his teammates, his handling skill allows him to go from retrieval to deke to pass in an instant, and his curl-and-drag wrister can punish opponents if they give him too much space.

His physical disposition limits the use of his motor, and he often over-commits in his own zone or on the back check, but the offensive ceiling makes Marques more than worth the 28th spot on our board. Hadi Kalakeche

February rankings: 28th

February 2024 – In another draft year chock-full of dynamic scorers from the WHL, Lethbridge’s Miguel Marques may well be one of the league’s most fun. Though the game-to-game consistency is not always there, he’s the kind of high-octane scorer who could see his stock climb come draft day or a high-value pick outside the first round if he falls.

A common sentiment around scouting circles has been that, if we drafted solely off highlight packages, Marques might be a top 10 pick. He’s quick with a high motor, though not a burner, and he’s got a good shot with a quick release, though also not elite. What really stands out are his unbelievable quick-twitch hands, his vision as both a playmaker and scorer, and his complete focus on driving the middle of the ice. Marques makes goalies and defenders alike look silly 1-v-1, whether that’s charging up the ice to undress the netminder or dancing around a checker on the perimeter to gain the middle. Once there, while a lot of his value comes from an ability to find passing lanes in the slot at an extremely high-rate, defenders still have to respect Marques’ shot at all distances, his agility and edgework, and his slippery puck protection game, making Marques a difficult player to defend that forces opponents to play to his speed.

Marques’ main criticism (outside of his height at 5’11) is his consistency. At his best, Marques is all the things listed above coupled with the ability to retrieve pucks off the forecheck, pick defenders’ pockets, all while displaying a 200ft motor. When things aren’t going his way, Marques can get frustrated, try to do too much himself, be less disciplined defensively, and even seem a to play a lazier checking game. The test for Marques down the stretch will be to see if he bridge the gap between these two players and rightfully solidify himself as one of the WHL’s top draft-eligibles. Luke Sweeney