Chris Peters of FloHockey joins the podcast to talk about one of the potential picks at number five in the 2023 NHL Draft: Will Smith.
As Chris has followed the USNTDP the whole year, he has a lot to tell us about Smith and his development.
“I think there’s a couple of reasons the first, let’s focus simply on what he’s done this year. He built strength in the offseason. I think he improved his skating to a certain degree as well. It’s not one of his strengths, you would say, but he’s become a better skater than he was last year. I think that he’s grown in confidence and was able to do things this year that he wasn’t able to do last year.”
Chris continues: “He has become a real play-driving center, which is always going to have value in a draft. His hockey sense is great, super strong. I think that he dictates the pace of a shift based on the way that he controls the puck and he’s going to be the guy that’s carrying the puck into the zone. He’s going to be the guy going through the neutral zone. What I think really fascinates me about Will is his understanding of where everyone is in the offensive zone. He knows where the holes are, he knows where his teammates are. He knows when he has to take the puck to the net.”
You can listen to the full podcast below:
Follow Chris Peters on Twitter: @ChrisMPeters
