NHL Scouts’ Quotes Part 4
April 13, 2020
By Grant McCagg
Here are accumulated notes on two of the 2020 NHL Draft’s top forward prospects from three of the top amateur scouts in the business. All are crossover scouts that see prospects in all of the leagues on both sides of the ocean. Opinions were gathered at various points in the season.
Dylan Holloway – C/W Wisconsin NCAA 2001-09-23 6-0.5 203 Left shot
2019-20 Stats – 35GP 8 9 17Pts
Quebec-based scout Feb. 2020 – People don’t understand how hard it is for a true freshman. It’s hard. I thought he was excellent in the second half. His skating is pro-like already. smart. I saw him in the middle and on the wing at Wisco. I have no problem with him at both. I’m a big fan. He will play in the NHL.
US-based crossover scout Apr. 2020 – I don’t know if he’s got a ton of playmaking or scoring ability. But he’s strong, a great skater and competitive.
Ontario-based crossover scout Apr. 2020 – I think he played well in college, he skates like a pro already. He scored 40 in the junior league (AJHL) the year before, so there’s some offence there. I think he’s a good all-around player with size and skating. Probably a winger, but able to fill in some games at center; he’s smart enough, big enough and skates well enough. I think on a good team, you’re going to get the most out of him on the wing. A very valuable type player in the playoffs. A big, heavy body that can skate and give you some hard minutes.
Hendrix Lapierre C Chicoutimi QMJHL 2002-02-09 5-11.5 179 Left shot
2019-20 stats – 19GP 2 15 17Pts
Quebec-based crossover scout Feb. 2020 – He’s supposed to be back (he wasn’t). The team is really struggling, I find there’s no chemistry right now. They haven’t got it going very well. Now Lapierre is going to come back, and he’s probably not going to look very good, just like earlier in the season. I’m just afraid this guy is going to get another pop and he’s done. If I was him I’d take the rest of the year off (he did). When you have a year with three concussions, maybe you should shut it down and get healthy for the next year. He needs to be careful. and so what if he goes in the second round? Just…get healthy, and then come back next year and try to be a player, try to be more aware out there. There have been guys that have been knocked out of the game because of this, but there have also been guys who had concussions when they were young, and gotten through it and been fine. You just don’t want to be out there when you’re susceptible. Make sure you have your health, that’s the most important thing.
But I have a red flag on him, obviously it’s most concerning. I liked him at the Hlinka, but he wasn’t close to that in his league; he hasn’t translated that big ice game, which he should be able to because he plays on the big ice in his home rink, but it hasn’t come this year. He was a good underage player too, but he hasn’t played up to that standard at all this year, even when he was healthy. You might have an incomplete file on him. He hasn’t really played enough…you can’t just leave it on the summer, that’s dangerous, so he’s incomplete. That’s what he is. A real wildcard. He looked like a top five prospect for this draft at the Hlinka. Had a bit of a slow start out of the gate, and boom, he was done. That’s the grey area. The agent is saying the second concussion was where he got the neck injury. Could go anywhere from five to 20.
Ontario-based crossover scout – “He’s the one that screws up my whole list because I have him so high ranked, but I don’t have enough on him. You’ve got to be careful dropping him, because it’s not been his fault that he’s out. At the end of the day, what I saw was a really good player. The start of his Quebec year surprised me with the lack of goals, but the Hlinka stands out. I had him ahead of Perfetti until the end of the Hlinka. I wonder if his injury was similar to Tyler Bertuzzi’s. He had a neck injury as well as it turned out.