Draft Spotlight: Jonathan Toews 2006

Jonathan Toews led all scorers at the Junior World Cup en route to winning gold for Canada and showed the best pro potential among all tournament participants according to chief correspondent Robert Neuhauser. Toews is also off to a fine freshman start with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux (10-4-3-7).

Jonathan Toews (2006), C/LW, North Dakota

Scouting: a solid skater with a powerful stride and decent footspeed .. possesses good lower-body strength and balance .. tough to knock off his feet .. solid top-end speed .. okay agility for a big man .. a good stickhandler who can use both sides of the stick .. corrals difficult passes adequately well .. a competitive warrior, displayed above-average tenacity and toughness .. hits hard along the boards and mucks for loose pucks in the corners .. drives the net hard and works diligently in the slot .. shows solid sniper instincts .. possesses a good variety of shots .. unleashes a hard slapshot with a fast release .. very good vision and hockey sense .. capable of making sharp accurate passes through traffic .. strong defensive awareness and all-round play .. shows up in his own end .. a very good factor when killing penalties .. can block the opposing passing lanes and reads the developing plays quickly .. a confident player with sound leadership skills.

U18 Jr World Cup Review: most productive player of the tournament with nine points .. tied with Zach Hamill as top Canadian scorer with five goals and tied with Ben Maxwell for the lead in assists (4) .. his three powerplay goals led all tournament players .. crushed the Swiss defense with his excellent showing in the tournament opener .. a belligerent warrior in the game against the Czech Republic .. a strong force in the game against Finland .. impressed with his prowess in the gold-medal game against the Czechs and also excelled at penalty killing .. showed the most pro potential from all players at the tournament (5-5-4-9).