USHL Report: Sioux City Musketeers

It's not just a new logo - speedy and skilled prospects such as Max Gaede and Caleb Herbert, among others, give the Sioux City Musketeers a whole new look. McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey was able to see Sioux City play three times at the 2010 USHL Fall Classic and enters notes on several prospects including Wisconsin's Mr. Hockey - Max McCormick.

Max Gaede (SJ), LW, Sioux City

Looks to be one of the top power forwards in the USHL in 2010-11 .. has a long, powerful stride that covers a lot of ground each stride .. has explosive power in his first three steps, which gives him very good separation .. powerful acceleration appears almost effortless .. maintains a power position in his skating, as he has good knee bend .. able to employ impressive speed bursts to win races to the puck .. has very good speed with the puck .. is a heads-up stickhandler, including under acceleration .. able to assess the play and will open up to the play along the wing .. able to use his cruising speed and ability to stickhandle out wide to weave around opponents .. possesses excellent lateral agility with the puck, which allows him to separate from opponents .. able to make tight switchbacks to ditch opponents .. shields the puck with his 6-foot-3, 190-pound frame .. does a good job of fending off opponents' physical attempts and maintaining the puck .. makes hard, crisp, accurate passes and can connect through traffic .. plays with some physicality on the forecheck and the backcheck .. has good offensive vision and played point on the powerplay .. has a hard one-timer, which the Musketeers utilized often .. does need to work to keep his one-timer low, as he misses the net about half the time .. has a hard wristshot .. overall shot power is impressive .. saw time on both the powerplay and the penalty kill .. a well-rounded player who figures to be one of Sioux City's top scorers this year .. committed to Minnesota State-Mankato.

Caleb Herbert (Wsh), C, Sioux City

Appears to be the prime candidate to be the first-line center .. has good cruising speed with the puck .. has explosive acceleration and is quick to loose pucks .. able to use his acceleration in tight quarters .. a slick stickhandler and can bring it away and/or toward his body quickly .. able to make nice lateral stickhandling maneuvers, too .. calm with the puck and can buy his teammates time .. makes hard, smooth passes .. a good one-touch passer .. a strong playmaker with good offensive awareness .. has a crisp wristshot and a hard slapshot .. is 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, but plays with some physicality .. puts in a good effort on the forecheck and can thrust into his hits .. also a threat to make open-ice hits .. saw time on both the powerplay and the penalty kill .. committed to Minnesota-Duluth.

Dylan MacDonald (2011), D, Sioux City

One of the pleasant surprises of the 2010 USHL Fall Classic .. an adept puckmover .. has good speed with the puck and the confidence to skate it in and through traffic .. makes hard, crisp breakout passes .. makes hard passes to his d-partner at the point and in transitioning the puck .. possesses good lateral mobility at the point .. has a hard wristshot and a crisp off-foot wristshot .. good all-compass mobility .. gets down low backward and has decent speed backward .. lets his gaps close and can angle his man to the boards .. gets physical in the corners, along the boards, and in front of his net .. not big by NHL standards at 6-foot-0 and 190 pounds, but not overly small .. has all the tools of a good two-way defensemen .. played for St. Thomas in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League in 2009-10 and played in their Prospects Game .. looks capable of top-four icetime in his rookie USHL season .. no college commitment of yet.

Larry Smith Jr. (2011), D, Sioux City

Big (6-4, 185) defenseman who's still a little raw .. a bit upright in his skating .. passing game needs refinement .. capable of making crisp, accurate breakout passes, but sometimes his passes could be harder and some have a little wobble .. occasionally just slaps at the puck .. consistently makes crisp passes to his d-partner to transition the puck .. stickhandling can get a little sloppy at times .. sports a decent wristshot .. despite being fairly upright forward, he can get reasonably low backward .. played for the Buffalo Stars of the Empire Junior Hockey League (Tier III junior B), so he faces a steep learning curve in his rookie USHL season .. doesn't look to be a top-five defenseman to start the season, but could move up if he adapts quickly, and his size is intriguing .. no college commitment of yet.

Max McCormick (2011), LW, Sioux City

Named Wisconsin's Mr. Hockey after a standout season at Notre Dame Academy last year and looked the part at the Fall Classic .. has great speed and good stride extension .. acceleration is very good and he's quick to race for loose pucks .. able to separate with his acceleration and speed bursts .. able to make smooth tight turns .. also has good lateral quickness .. able to make powerful stops and starts .. demonstrates great hustle on every shift and forechecks hard and is willing to engage in 50/50 battles .. has some size to work with at 6-foot-0 and 175 pounds .. dropped the gloves with Tri-City's Dan Kolomatis and won handily .. able to maintain the puck in battles along the boards .. able to make quick toe drags in tight .. good finishing ability .. puts himself around the net and can put home rebounds, loose pucks in scramble, or set-ups .. has a good wristshot and a quick snapshot .. not only led Sioux City in goals at the Fall Classic (three), he also scored the game-winning goal in the seventh round of the shootout in the final game of the weekend .. committed to Ohio State.

Jordan Schmaltz (2012), D, Sioux City

High-end puck-moving defenseman .. likes the puck on his stick and is certainly not afraid to skate it .. has good speed with the puck and can go coast-to-coast .. a smooth skater with good stride extension ..also smooth walking the blueline .. has very good lateral agility with the puck .. able to ditch forecheckers with switchbacks .. demonstrates some good speed bursts, too .. not afraid to circle back and regroup if he doesn't like the options he sees .. very advanced with the puck coming into the USHL .. already making subtle fakes and jukes in the preseason of his rookie year, putting him ahead of the curve of any rookie USHL defenseman in recent memory .. moves the puck well at the top of the umbrella on the powerplay .. able to receive passes well and smoothly move the puck .. makes hard, crisp, accurate breakout passes .. able to spring teammates with long-distance passes .. skilled at connecting with a turning target while he is also turning .. has a hard slapper and a hard wristshot .. confident with the puck and does not get stripped very often .. as with skating forward, is also smooth backwards and has good speed, allowing him to stay with opponents .. listed at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, but didn't appear to be quite that tall yet .. needs to fill out some and could develop high-end speed when he does .. upside appears to be as good as any defenseman who's recently come through the USHL .. committed to North Dakota.

Richard Zehnal (2012), C, Sioux City

Played a fourth-line role last season, but looks to play a top-six role in 2010-11 .. is now showing a good deal of playmaking ability in his own zone .. demonstrates confidence with the puck .. employs a powerful stride with the puck and isn't afraid to go into traffic .. utilizes his speed on the forecheck and the backcheck, a carryover of the two-way effort he showed last season as a 15-year-old .. able to make some nice cuts at speed .. also able to make impressive pivots with the puck, which allows him to shield the puck .. has good size at 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds .. saw regular time on the powerplay at the Fall Classic, and looks poised for that to continue .. Czech by descent, but family moved to Sweden in his youth and played in the Arlanda system .. a very strong candidate for selection in the CHL Import Draft .. no college commitment of yet.

Ondrej Zehnal (2012), RW, Sioux City

Not as big as his twin brother and doesn't have a year of USHL experience, but still impressive .. has fairly explosive acceleration and uses his quickness to loose pucks .. willing to go into the corners .. plays with some physicality .. finishes his check and is also a threat to play the body from the side on the backcheck .. makes some open-ice hits, too .. has quick hands, which he can use to get the puck out of packs of players .. able to make nice one-touch passes .. also has soft hands for receiving passes .. comes to the USHL having established he has some finishing ability, as he led Sweden's J18 East Division in goals in 2009-10 (29 in 33 games) .. finished sixth in overall J18 scoring as a 15-year-old .. also a strong candidate for selection in the CHL Import Draft .. no college commitment of yet.