Leaf Prospect Plants Seeds for Success

Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Eric Knodel entered his lone season of USHL hockey with the Des Moines Buccaneers as a towering defenseman with soft hands and a powerful shot, but he was also a gentle giant who was easily beaten by speed. By midseason, that started to change, and Knodel continued to make steady progress the rest of the season in the defensive areas of his game. He improved many of the technical aspects of his defensive skating, which helped him handle speed better and also helped him maintain a shorter gap, both of which allowed him to play a much more overtly physical game than what he started the year with.

Had Knodel gone directly to college hockey in 2009-10, he would likely have struggled mightily. Instead, after a year with the Buccaneers, he's bridged many the gaps in his game and has planted the seeds for success not only at the University of New Hampshire, but also later in the professional ranks. In fact, with continued steady development, the Leafs may just have a diamond in the rough in their fifth-round pick of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey was able to catch Des Moines in action numerous times during the second half of the USHL season and enters notes on Knodel, the highly mobile and highly competitive Colton Saucerman, number one goaltender Eric Mihalik, and a few other of the Bucs' prospects from the blueline and the net.

Eric Knodel (Tor), D, Des Moines

Made significant improvements in his defensive game in 2009-10 .. needs to improve his power accelerating backwards, but is doing a much better job in his gap control .. now eliminates crossovers backwards, is getting down much lower, and is maintaining a fairly wide base .. letting his gaps close sooner and was able to engage physically sooner because of it .. is much better equipped now to deal with speed and gets beat with speed far less often .. 6-foot-6, 225-pounder is now also playing a more physical game, not only rubbing out opponents through defensive positioning and angling but also by stepping up for some big hits .. passing game was fairly solid coming into the USHL and leaves as such, too .. makes hard, crisp, accurate passes on the breakout .. also makes crisp breakout passes and showed good chemistry with Colton Saucerman transitioning the puck and working the point .. possesses a Chara-like shot .. able to fire incredibly hard shots with seemingly little effort .. does a great job of keeping his slapshots low and deflectable and also does a great job of putting them on net .. it's a positive that he doesn't rush the play transitioning the puck or breaking it out or skating it, but he will need to increase the pace with which he plays at higher levels .. 2009-10 was a resounding success for Knodel in terms of developing the defensive aspects of his game, particularly the skating techniques that tend to bring success at higher levels .. would likely have failed at the NCAA D1 level had he not had this development year in the USHL .. the Leafs have a potential diamond in Knodel with additional development and patience .. committed to the University of New Hampshire for 2010 .. scored 3 goals and 17 assists in 50 games.

Colton Saucerman (2010), D, Des Moines

By the end of the season, he was the top-four defenseman he deserved to be the whole season .. small defenseman at 5-foot-9, but he's solid at 185 pounds .. very mobile .. has fairly explosive acceleration with the puck, which allows him to separate from forecheckers .. able to make extremely tight turns with the puck to evade forecheckers .. also has excellent lateral agility .. is solid on his skates, both for making hits and absorbing hits .. maintains a power stance backwards (low), no crossovers, and a wide base .. is very mobile backward and uses it to angle opponents and execute hip checks often .. needs to improve the timing of his hip checks, as he just barely misses from time to time, but the power with which he can execute them makes them very effective when he connects .. also a threat to stand up opponents with shoulder checks and even flat out shoved some opponents over .. maintains a short gap and will engage physically in the neutral zone or at least by the blueline .. does whatever it takes .. his effort cannot be questioned .. willing to drop and block shots, will drop the gloves for teammates, you name it .. led the Bucs in penalty minutes with 124, but it wasn't because he played a reckless, undisciplined game .. had very modest production that completely belied his puck-moving abilities .. skates the puck well, but also makes hard, crisp breakout passes and executes smooth transition passes and point-to-point passes .. worked very well with Eric Knodel .. has a crisp wristshot from the point .. his skating prowess and confidence with the puck combine to give him a quick release .. able to make quick lateral stickhandling moves across his body .. does need to make sure he stickhandles with his head up more, though .. his mobility allows him to weave through traffic .. was a regular on the penalty kill and saw some powerplay time, particularly with Knodel .. Saucerman has all the tools to equal and surpass Indiana Ice small defenseman Nick Bailen, who's had success in the USHL .. would compare Saucerman to Francis Bouillon .. should make an offensive impact with Des Moines in 2010-11 .. an extreme long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but if a small defenseman from the USHL can succeed long term, it's Saucerman .. committed to UMass-Lowell for 2011 .. scored 2 goals and 4 assists in 55 games.

Blake Doerring (2010), D, Des Moines

Acquired from Fargo with Luke Sandler on Feb. 6 in exchange for J.P. Burkemper and Brandon Carlson and played a top-four role for the Bucs .. has improved a bit in the following area, but still needs to get lower backwards .. upright accelerating backwards and when skating backwards .. attempted to widen his base backwards, but appeared to lose mobility by doing so (hip structure?) .. adept at executing leg drags backwards .. did became more confident at the USHL pace and shortened his gaps and engaged physically more .. needs to become a little stronger on his skates so that he isn't the one knocked off balance when making hits .. still upright in his skating and turns are awkward at times .. gained confidence offensively with Des Moines .. generally makes crisp, accurate passes on the breakout or transitioning the puck .. has a decent slapshot .. has some size to work with at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds .. committed to Vermont for 2010, but would prefer to see Doerring return for one more year in the USHL .. very low odds of being selected in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but he has some tools to work with, particularly with some power skating instruction .. scored 1 goal and 3 assists in 19 games with Des Moines .. scored 1 goal and 4 assists in 30 games with Fargo prior to the trade.

Garrett Orhn (2010), D Des Moines

Improved a lot after joining Des Moines in November after Greenway High School (Minnesota) was forced to scale back its season to an independent 17-game schedule .. needs to work on some technical aspects of his skating .. brings his skates up too much when skating forward .. also brings his skates up too much in his backward crossovers, making them very distinct .. relies on quick feet accelerating backward and could instead use more power .. also brings his skates up a lot when accelerating backward .. does have decent speed and is reasonably mobile as is, though .. improved at allowing his gaps to close and to at least engage physically by the top of the face-off circles .. still susceptible to speed backward and relied on crossovers too much .. became more confident with the puck .. was still making embarrassing gaffs at midseason (such as fanning on passes), but these were largely eliminated by the end of the season .. makes crisp breakout passes and transition passes that are generally accurate .. also able to connect on long-distance passes .. started showing some poise with the puck deep in his end, looking off forecheckers and skating the puck or evading forecheckers with tight switchbacks and then moving it .. a small defenseman at 5-foot-11, 165 pounds .. virtually no shot at selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but went a long way in getting himself on the path toward an NCAA D1 scholarship .. no college commitment of yet .. hopefully can compete for at least a fifth defenseman spot in 2010-11 .. had 5 assists in 36 games.

Connor Frick (2010), D, Des Moines

Received very limited icetime the second half of the season, and thus limited notes .. was hampered by some injuries and illness, but was also a healthy scratch at times and effectively became Des Moines' seventh defenseman .. small defenseman (5-foot-9, 163 pounds), but played with a little more physicality as the season went on .. started stepping up for hits in the neutral zone .. has the mobility to allow his gaps to close and angle opponents to the board and rub them out .. started showing some physicality in the corners .. is quite quick and can get to loose pucks or keep pucks in the offensive zone .. touches with the puck became almost non-existent, which is one area where he looked decent to begin the season .. appeared ahead of Saucerman on the depth chart in mid-November, but this flip-flopped shortly thereafter .. likely to battle with Garrett Orhn for a roster spot in 2010-11 but could become trade bait if Des Moines doesn't want three smaller defensemen (Saucerman, Orhn, and Frick) .. not impossible that he plays in the NAHL in 2010-11, either, but he has shown USHL-caliber ability when healthy .. has virtually no shot at selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft .. no college commitment of yet .. scored 1 goal and 6 assists in 34 games.

Eric Mihalik (2010), G, Des Moines

Soft goals started to kill him as the season progressed .. still showed a lot of the good technical form he showed all season, though .. able to load up well and get across his crease, including changing directions doing so .. does a good job of directing pad saves into the corner .. maintains his poise and keeps his torso upright on rebound chances, point-blank shots, breakaways, etc .. typically does a good job of tracking the puck .. plays a technical game, but has the athletic base to make big saves .. fairly active in stopping pucks behind his crease and will make the simple play to his defenseman or leave it for them .. teams started to exploit his glove hand more .. he can make quick glove saves, but his soft goals were often glove side .. also started to have some soft goals in his butterfly late in the season that trickled in .. listed at 6-foot-0, 180 pounds, and he's certainly every inch of that in height .. has a lot of tools to work with, but soft goals as the season progressed reduce his status to a fairly big long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft .. committed to Colgate for 2010 .. played 2202:51 minutes in over 39 games and finished with a 12-20-4 record, a 4.17 goals-against average, and a .878 save percentage.

Charles Williams (2010), G, Des Moines

Started to challenge Mihalik for a platoon situation by the end of the season and was chased from the net less often .. panicked less toward the final quarter of the season when the play collapsed in on him and played with more poise in general .. drops on most every shot, which is dangerous as a 5-foot-9.5, 180-pound goaltender .. able to go down and up quickly .. crease movements toward the final quarter of the season were also quicker and smoother than the beginning of the season .. sometimes employs more of a jump across his crease than a slide .. rebound control is shaky, particularly shots to the chest protector .. has a quick glove and improved at following the puck into his glove and making crisp glove saves .. adept at playing the puck .. confidently comes out from his crease to stop pucks and is active in doing so .. able to move the puck up to his forwards to start the breakout .. still has a number of areas of improvement, but he made significant progress over the course of the season .. virtually no shot at selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, though .. no college commitment of yet .. played 1366:17 minutes in over 26 games and finished with an 8-13-2 record, a 4.04 goals-against average, and a .886 save percentage.