USHL: Steel Building a Following

Anywhere the Chicago Steel play, scouts from NHL teams are certain to follow. It's not so much to see USHL leading scorer Andrew Miller, although he's a solid player, he is an 1988 DOB. It's not so much to see Eric Alexander, although he is one of the USHL's top goal scorers and a premier power forward in the league. It's not so much to build a book on Detroit Red Wings prospect defenseman Max Nicastro and it's not so much to see NHL sons Dean Chelios and Philip Samuelsson. While Alexander, Chelios, and Samuelsson are worth monitoring for selection in the 2009 Draft, the attention is focused primarily on defenseman John Moore, who is breaking away from the pack of Seth Helgeson, Alex Chiasson, and Louis Leblanc, as the top USHL prospect for the 2009 Draft.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey was recently able to catch the Chicago Steel in action and files notes on several prospects including 2009 draft-eligible players John Moore, Eric Alexander, Philip Samuelsson, Dean Chelios, and a few other Chicago Steele players worthy of monitoring.

John Moore (2009), D, Chicago Steel

Extremely fluid skater .. very smooth backwards skater with good all-compass mobility .. keeps a wide base backwards and need not make crossovers to maintain speed .. generally keeps his gaps short and uses mobility to angle the man .. does need to improve success rate of angling opponents .. so smooth angling his man laterally he almost seems like a hovercraft .. able to reach top speed in two or three strides with his smooth power and long stride extension .. smooth lateral movement with the puck .. good agility with the puck and really gets out on his edges in his sweeping crossover strides .. adept at executing swivels and spins, but sometimes paints himself into a corner .. like his skating, his passing game is smooth .. able to feather passes and also make crisp, hard, accurate passes .. adept at one-touch passes .. strong d-to-d passer in transition or at the point .. capable of laying down moves and fakes that send opponents stumbling .. like Matt Donovan last year, he responsibly pinches to join the play, but has more speed to recover .. plays on the first powerplay unit and on the penalty kill .. alternate captain .. needs to improve his physical game (more so the timing) and make sure he doesn't lose defensive positioning, but still a strong candidate to go in the second half of the first round .. offensive awareness is good, but not as developed as John Carlson's at this point last season .. played for Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge tallying two assists in five games .. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 6 goals and 9 assists in 17 games.

Eric Alexander (2009), LW, Chicago Steel

Was a dominating power forward at the Fall Classic and is putting up the numbers during the regular season .. benefiting greatly from skating with Andrew Miller .. definitely has a scoring touch to finish plays Miller creates .. has a quick wristshot .. also has a quick off-foot snapshot .. adept at protecting the puck in the corner and along the boards .. a threat to skate the puck off the boards .. engages physically and can get a bit aggressive .. thrusts into his checks and can make hard hits doing so .. effort does seem to wane at times, now that he's no longer a checking-line forward like last season .. combination of size and finishing ability makes him a potential pick in third year of draft eligibility .. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 13 goals and 8 assists in 20 games.

Philip Samuelsson (2009), D, Chicago Steel

Standout feature is his shot power .. has a very hard, low slapshot from the point with an incredibly quick wind-up and release .. makes crisp outlet passes, but they're sometimes just off the mark .. no crossovers backwards, but speed backwards is only adequate and is too easy to beat wide .. sees some time on the second powerplay unit .. fairly regular member of the penalty kill .. looking like a possible late sixth or seventh round pick.. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 6 assists in 18 games.

Matt Lindblad (2009), C, Chicago Steel

Good two-way game could easily make Lindblad an unsung hero .. has good speed and speed bursts, which he uses on the forecheck ..controlled forechecker, doesn't run around .. conscientious in joining his defenseman down low and helping out in front of the net and in the corners .. smart backchecker is very helpful for his defensemen .. a crisp passer who likes to move it back to his points .. played on the powerplay, but is a primary penalty killer for the Steel .. second year of draft eligibility, and may not be drafted, but is a player to monitor .. no college commitment of yet .. at Chicago's 20-game, mark, he had 2 goals and 8 assists in 15 games.

Dean Chelios (2009), RW, Chicago Steel

Traded from Cedar Rapids to Chicago Nov. 5 and his game has taken off .. looked vastly improved at the Fall Classic over 2007-08, and now his confidence is matching his icetime .. showing some nifty stickhandling through traffic .. has a quick wristshot .. demonstrating good patience with the puck around the net .. able to execute quick give and goes crashing the net .. engages physically along the boards and puts in a nice effort on the forecheck .. playing on the powerplay and seeing some PK time .. third year of draft eligibility, but Chris's son now starting to live up to his name and just might be worth a seventh-round pick if he keeps it up .. no college commitment of yet .. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 3 goals and 9 assists in 8 games for the Steel, and 1 assist in 6 games for RoughRiders.

Brett Beebe (2009), C, Chicago Steel

Traded from Waterloo to Chicago on Nov. 18, and it's made the difference .. now seeing the icetime his skill level and effort warrant .. puts in a consistent effort and plays with some sandpaper .. a fairly tenacious forechecker who finishes his checks .. willing to engage physically around the net and to get the puck and can fight through checks .. has some playmaking ability .. doesn't watch his passes in the offensive zone but instead, uses quickness to drive toward the net or open space .. sees some time on the powerplay but is a primary penalty killer for the Steel.. with the icetime has come the production for the second-year draft-eligible forward .. just does many of the little things well and right .. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 1 goals and 3 assists in 5 games for Steel.

Charlie Thauwald (2009), LW, Chicago Steel

Skating is still clunky as at the Fall Classic, but putting in a good effort to compensate .. turning radius still needs improvement .. at times, circles when he should stop and start .. played on Chicago's fourth line with fellow physical forward Alex Simonson to form the wing pair on a checking line .. finishes his checks and can step up to make big hits on unsuspecting opponents near the boards .. obvious at Fall Classic he'd need to play a physical role for the Steel, and he's doing it .. skating is still too rough to really consider him for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft .. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 1 goal and 2 assists in 18 games.

Kevin Lind (2010), D, Chicago Steel

Started the season playing Midget AAA for the Chicago Mission but called into action after being selected by the Steel with the sixth overall pick of the 2008 USHL Futures Draft .. played U16 last season, but still making a decent adjustment to the USHL .. a bit of an offensive defenseman at U16, joins the play some at the USHL level .. adjusting to the speed of the USHL and is a bit upright accelerating backwards .. also takes quite a few crossovers backwards to try and keep up with USHL pace .. plays with some of the physicality he showed at the Midget Buc Bowl .. looking far better than former Steel d-man Barron Smith at this time last year .. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 1 assist in 13 games.

Max Nicastro (Det), D, Chicago Steel

Overshadowed by John Moore, but still Steel's number two defenseman .. plays a fairly physical game and can make some big hits .. keeps his gaps fairly short and is able to stop backwards quickly if an opponent stops quickly .. steps up for hits and picks up penalties on reputation .. makes crisp and usually accurate breakout passes .. d-to-d passing looking as good as it did at the Fall Classic .. still features his hard shot from the point .. plays on both the powerplay and the penalty kill .. played for Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge and had 1 goal and 3 assists in 5 games.. at Chicago's 20-game mark, he had 3 goals and 7 assists in 17 games.