German defenceman Carlos Händel played a couple of seasons in Sweden against better competition than he could have received in his home country before heading to the QMJHL in his draft season. After participating in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton, he headed to Halifax to play with the Mooseheads.
Date of Birth: March 31, 2007
Birthplace: Erlangen, Germany
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 176 lbs.
Position: Defence
Shoots: Right
Team: Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)
He had an ideal start with his new team, recording an assist in each match of a season-opening three-game winning streak, and nine points in his first 12 games. He added just 17 more points over the final 40 games, but just as his international play had inspired a hot start to his season, a return to Halifax from the World Juniors provided another burst of offence with a seven-game assist streak.
Halifax finished the season with just 19 wins, but did pull off an upset in the playoffs by beating the Western Conference-champion Drummondville Voltigeurs, giving Händel a total of 10 post-season games to showcase himself and add another four points to his season total.
Händel’s game is built upon his excellent skating ability. He’s encountered few players who can outpace him and has become a great puck-mover as a result. This ability features most in his transition game as he carries the puck over either blue line to help his team launch its offence.
In the offensive zone, he walks along the blue line to gain some space on the player tasked with defending him, opening lanes for passes. When it’s one of his teammates who holds the puck, he looks for his opportunity to sneak in to get in position for a pass at the right circle.
He is a strong rush defender who closes off an attacker’s lane and forces him to the outside, or cuts off an attempted pass before the offensive foray becomes dangerous. Matching his check’s movements, his active stick is used to thwart passes and win possession away.
When in motion, he’s a highly effective player. When his feet stop moving in board battles and in plays around the front of his net, his best quality is taken away and his physical limitations are exposed. He only weighs in at 176 pounds, and not only is he not strong enough to contain opponents, he doesn’t attempt to play the body but use his stick instead. He isn’t powerful enough to shrug off an opponent after battling along the boards, and can’t force out of a screening position near his net either.
His game would benefit greatly from adding more mass, which shouldn’t prove too difficult for a player with a 6’1″ frame, but what he requires the most are better tactics to deal with pressure in his own zone. He needs to use leverage to pull himself out of close contact on the boards or earn himself enough room to make a pass to a less-pressured teammate. He also needs to learn how best to tie up the stick of a player at the top of the crease and prevent passes from getting past him to players in dangerous shooting positions.
Improving his stick-handling skills will help him get the transition game started. His effectiveness in that area results from just being faster than everyone else, but he won’t find the same level of success without protecting the puck better as he accelerates to his top speed and tries to get through a check in the neutral zone.
There is a great base for Händel to work from, and his weaknesses are all things that can be worked on. He probably won’t ever become a physical force who can manhandle players in his own zone, but with speed, a quick stick, and strategies to get out of tricky situations, the time he spends deep in his defensive zone could be reduced, opening him up for more time in possession of the puck where his game is at its best.
