Draft Spotlight: James Sheppard 2006

Power forward James Sheppard of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles is picking up steam after playing through a shoulder injury in the early going. Sheppard finished fourth in team scoring at the Junior World Cup on Canada's gold medal entry.

James Sheppard (2006), C/LW, Cape Breton

Scouting: a decent skater for a big man .. doesn't turn heads with his footspeed and acceleration but gets effectively where he needs to be .. very difficult to knock off his feet thanks to good balance and lower-body strength .. okay agility .. blessed with solid hands, good puckhandling skills and okay hand-eye coordination .. can sneak through traffic and covers the puck effectively .. displays good vision, hockey sense and awareness of where his linemates are .. plays with his head up .. capable of smart passes and displays precise timing .. possesses a nice array of shots .. in general tends to use his sharp wrist or snapshot more than the slapper .. quick release .. solid forechecker and tenacious attacker who likes to execute in the slot .. still raw at marking his man, but returns back quickly when a defenseman pinches .. throws hard open-ice hits and battles with authority along the boards .. can outpower his opponents on the way to a scoring chance.

U18 Jr World Cup Review: tied with Ty Wishart as the most penalized player on Team Canada (18 PIM) .. finished fourth in team scoring, tying with Zach Hamill and John DeGray for second place among Canadian passers (3 assists) .. combative forward centered the second offensive unit and served as a strong playmaking force .. took no prisoners and registered consistently strong showings .. a good force in the contest against Czech Republic and demonstrated strong form against Finland .. also an above-average factor in the gold-medal game against the Czech Republic (5-1-3-4).