Defensemen
Marcus Kearsey
Smooth-skating puck-moving defenseman who loves to open shooting lanes with lateral shifts. Improving retrieval game and adding weight could unlock second-pair upside.
Charles-Alexis Legault
Strong, smooth skating defensive defenseman with some offensive upside. Needs to remain consistent on offense but has legit NHL upside with some penalty killing ability.
Alexander Pelevin
Enforcer, shutdown defenseman who loves to throw his body weight around even though he isn’t the biggest player.
Matt Kessel
Hard-working defenseman who is reliable in his own zone. Found offence in his game recently.
Olen Zellweger
Puck rushing defenseman with outstanding skating ability. His well-rounded games gives him potential as a top-four defender in the NHL.
Pavel Mintyukov
Offensively minded blueliner with good size. Will need to hone his defensive game but has the potential to be an offensive driver from the back end.
Graham Sward
Two-way defenseman that has solid positioning and awareness but needs to improve his skating. Bottom-pair ceiling.
Quinton Burns
Burns is a mobile and intelligent defenceman who closes his gaps very quickly and relies heavily on stickwork defensively, he is likely a bottom-pairing piece if he forges an NHL role.
Anton Johannesson
An undersized, mobile, offence-minded defenceman. Injury-prone, long-term development project that needs to stay healthy.