Wojtala Emerging as Power Center

Earlier in the season, in a Q&A feature with Green Bay Gamblers center Anders Lee, this McKeen's correspondent stated Lee was the only true power center in the USHL. While it was true at the time, it was no longer true as of December, as Omaha's Camden Wojtala took a quantum leap after Thanksgiving and had emerged as a force to be reckoned with.

The 6-foot-2, 180-pound pivot had been making normal, steady progress in his rookie USHL season, but almost overnight Michigan's Mr. Hockey for 2008-09 took his game to the next level in the USHL. As the Lancers entered the Christmas Break, Wojtala's skating had become smoother and more powerful and with noticeably more quickness, his presence with the puck had become much more confident and he was becoming a playmaking threat off the half boards and a scoring threat as well, and his ability to protect the puck and buy time for his teammates had also increased significantly. In essence, Wojtala went from marginal USHLer in September, to one of its better centers in December and giving Omaha the one thing they lacked earlier in the season, a true power center that could approach Lee. If Wojtala keeps it up, he'll likely be one of the best centers in the USHL come April and early May.

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey was able to catch the Omaha Lancers in action six times between November and December and enters notes on Camden Wojtala, a steadily improving Mathieu Brisson, a new Ryan Daugherty, a solid C.J. Ludwig, and a few other Omaha candidates for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Camden Wojtala (2010), C, Omaha Lancers

Flipped a switch in his game after Thanksgiving and is now a budding power center .. every aspect of his game now appears more confident .. skating now features good cruising speed, a long and fairly powerful stride, and a lot more quickness, including with the puck .. now able to drive wide thanks to his improved speed and power .. stickhandling is now more confident and has even incorporated some fakes and jukes .. 6-foot-2 center is able to use his size and reach to protect the puck well down low in the corners and along the boards .. improved skating and adaptation to the USHL game are allowing him to win a lot more puck battles and to establish position for the puck earlier .. making more plays off the boards and connects with crisp, accurate passes .. improved presence with puck is allowing him to buy his teammates more time .. also becoming a threat to score goals as a trailer or in front with deflections and such .. puts in a good effort on the forecheck and the backcheck .. wins a lot of his faceoffs now .. it's obvious he has now adjusted to the USHL game and that it's going slower in his mind .. Wojtala is proving why he was Mr. Hockey in Michigan for 2008-09 and he has made the jump .. now a wild card for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, because he could pop up somewhat high in the draft if he keeps up the scoring pace he had entering the Christmas Break .. no college commitment of yet .. as of the Christmas Break, he had 5 goals and 6 assists in 26 games .. had 5 goals and 5 assists in the 10 games prior to the Christmas Break.

2010 Draft Grade: WC (Wild Card)

Mathieu Brisson (2010), D, Omaha Lancers

Started season underwhelming, but has made solid progress .. minimizes crossovers, but could still use a wider base backwards and more speed backwards .. does a good job of letting his gaps close by the blueline and is backing in less and engaging physically more often .. doing a better job of angling opponents .. getting beaten by speed less often, but is still dangerously close to getting beaten by speed .. defensive zone reads are still a work in progress, as he sometimes goes into the same corner as his partner .. passing game has improved a lot .. it was cause for celebration when Brisson made a smooth, crisp, accurate breakout pass on target even in late November, but a switch flipped in December .. appears to have adjusted more to the speed of the USHL .. is now putting his breakout passes on target and making smarter decisions with the puck .. makes crisp, hard, d-to-d passes to transition the puck and smooth point-to-point passes .. presence with the puck has improved a lot .. once prone to making mistakes and turnovers and giveaways, but is now maintaining calm under pressure and effectively moving the puck to his forwards .. shot power is average .. slapshot and wristshot are both crisp, but only average .. has decent size at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds .. Omaha coaching staff has given him copious icetime despite numerous mistakes he'd make every game early on, but this approach of allowing Brisson to make mistakes and learn is now paying off .. Brisson's stock for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft is going up, and he's a bit of a wild card because of the substantial improvement he made over late November and December .. committed to Cornell .. as of the Christmas Break he had 5 goals and 7 assist in 27 games .. tallied 8 points in 5 games from Dec. 5 through Dec. 18.

2010 Draft Grade: WC (Wild Card)

Ryan Daugherty (2010), RW, Omaha Lancers

Now that the knee is 100 percent (or at least not a visible issue), he is a completely different player (read, now quite effective as a power forward) .. now showing some speed with the puck and is able to use his 6-foot-2, 192-pound frame to drive the net .. has a wide skating stance, keeping him in a power stance more often .. has decent stride extension, cruising speed, and acceleration .. lacked the speed and quickness hobbled with trick knee last year, now is finishing his checks and laying down some big hits in the corners and along the end boards .. is also a threat for the open-ice hits .. able to thrust and muscle into opponents in puck battles and create turnovers .. can really launch into his hits now .. is almost omnipresent in front of the net when Omaha is established in the offensive zone, and is adept at re-directs and deflections .. also pounces on rebounds .. has a fairly hard wristshot and a decent slapper .. showing much more confidence with the puck now that his skating/knee is no longer an issue .. puts in a good effort on the forecheck .. was once slow to assignments due to his knee injury but is now always on top of opponents .. willing to take a hit to make a play .. also still willing to drop the gloves .. called upon to take faceoffs fairly often, even though he's primarily a right-winger .. streaky offensively, but definitely a pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft now that he's healthy .. committed to Northern Michigan .. as of the Christmas Break, he had 11 goals and 7 assists in 24 games, as well as 61 penalty minutes .. had a seven-game pointless streak Nov. 21 through Dec. 11, but had 7 points in the final four games prior to the Christmas Break.

2010 Draft Grade: C+ (Sixth round)

Justin Holl (2010), D, Omaha Lancers

Limited viewing, but fairly impressive in that viewing .. has decent size at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds .. has nice cruising speed with the puck and likes to skate the puck .. skates it from high in his defensive zone deep into the offensive zone regularly and can make some plays from down low after he does .. showed a lot of confidence skating the puck for a USHL rookie in November viewing, even though he didn't have a preseason and a month of regular season action like other USHL rookies .. can pass the puck, too, putting his breakout passes on the tape .. able to fire a hard, crisp wristshot in stride .. definitely could have played in the USHL this season, but is playing high school hockey in Minnesota and will join the team after high school season is over .. looks definitely worth at least a late-round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft .. committed to Minnesota .. played four games for Omaha after the Upper Midwest High School Elite League ended in early November and went without a point in 4 games .. scored 6 goals and 5 assists in 22 games for Team Southwest in the UMHSEL .. as of Christmas, he had scored 4 goals and 2 assists in 7 games for Minnetonka in Minnesota high school action.

2010 Draft Grade: C+ (Sixth round)

C.J. Ludwig (2010), D, Omaha Lancers

Didn't enter 2009-10 looking to take notes on a 5-foot-11, 190-pound defenseman in his third year of draft eligibility, but Ludwig forces me to take notes with his solid play .. one of the best all-around defensemen in the USHL in his second season in the league .. steps up for some big open-ice hits and often levels opponents trying to check him .. also adept at angling opponents to the boards and taking them out with a well-timed hip check .. also an adept shoulder checker .. has good speed forwards and backwards .. maintains a fairly wide base, minimizes crossovers, and has good all-compass mobility .. has good speed with the puck and can skate the puck with confidence .. has a hard one-timer that he does a good job of keeping low .. also has a hard slapper and a crisp wristshot .. will take a little off his shot to help with deflections and is a good judge of when to do so .. confident with the puck at the point and will throw in some nice fakes .. distributes the puck well from the point with hard, crisp, accurate passes .. the same is true on the breakout .. able to thread some seeing-eye passes through traffic .. good defensive awareness and knows when do drop to make the sliding shot block or pass block .. not unlike his father, Craig Ludwig, in the number of shots he blocks, be it standing, dropping to a knee, or sliding .. definitely the most talented of the Craig Ludwig progeny .. C.J. brings a strong combination of skating, skill, two-way hockey sense, and a team-first attitude, which is probably why he's the captain .. a long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft because he is a sub-six-foot defenseman out of the USHL in his third year of draft eligibility, but Ludwig is very deserving of late round consideration .. committed to Northern Michigan .. as of the Christmas Break, he had 5 goals and 10 assists in 27 games, as well as 75 penalty minutes .. had no points in his first six games of the season.

2010 Draft Grade: D+ (Long shot)

Danny Mattson (2010), LW, Omaha Lancers

Found himself on Omaha's third line most of the first half of the season .. has good cruising speed with the puck, but sometimes has some wasted vertical motion .. shows some quickness on the forecheck, but could use additional quickness with the puck .. has a fairly powerful stride, which becomes obvious on the forecheck .. heads-up stickhandler who is able to assess his options .. a bit of a playmaker off the half boards and can connect with crisp passes through traffic .. has a fairly hard wristshot .. puts in a good effort on the forecheck and finishes his checks .. able to use his straight-line speed on the backcheck to strip opponents of the puck .. a good player who'd be a top-six forward on a lot of USHL teams, but Omaha has extremely good depth .. a candidate for promotion to a higher line if Omaha decides to change up their line combos some .. currently a long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, since he's 5-foot-10 (180 pounds), in his second year of draft eligibility, and averaging less than a point every other game in the USHL .. committed to North Dakota .. as of the Christmas Break, he had 5 goals and 5 assists in 25 games .. had a four-game pointless streak to start 2009-10 and a seven-game pointless streak Nov. 21 through Dec. 11.

2010 Draft Grade: D+ (Long shot)

Jeff Teglia (2010), G, Omaha Lancers

Statistically, one of the top goalies in the USHL in 2009-10 .. still has his unorthodox style, but less unorthodox than last season .. does make a lot saves by staying square to the shooter, taking it to the torso, and allowing no rebound .. maintains a compact butterfly when using it .. generally makes crisp glove saves that often feature some extra flair .. utilizes his glove a lot, making low glove saves on a lot of shots where butterfly goalies would make a pad save, but this reduces rebounds some .. has nice extension on his kick saves and generally puts the rebounds into the corners .. plays a bit deep in his crease at times and relies on reflexes some .. will utilize double-pad stacks, or falling-back splits saves, making him look like a goalie out of EA Sports' NHL 1993 video game .. a decent puckhandling goalie who can clear it up off the glass hard or connect on long-distance passes .. not afraid to sling his stick forward to make poke of sweep checks .. doesn't utilize a lot of the pad slides most modern goalies use, but is still quick across his net .. throwback goalie is a long shot for selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but he has been very important in Omaha's massive success so far in 2009-10 .. no college commitment of yet .. as of the Christmas Break, he had played 1266:15 min over 21 games and compiled a record of 16-4-1, 1 shutout, a 2.18 G.AA, and a .918 save percentage.

2010 Draft Grade: D+ (Long shot)

Colin Markison (2010), RW, Omaha Lancers

Sees limited icetime and is a healthy scratch from time to time, a testament to Omaha's depth .. 5-foot-10, 190-pounder is stout and has a low center of gravity .. well-developed lower body strength evident in street clothes and on the ice .. has good speed with the puck and excellent quickness .. finishes his checks on the forecheck and at the point .. able to make tight switchbacks with the puck .. does have some skill .. able to make some nice toe drags and can feed teammates .. has a crisp wristshot .. a long shot to an extreme long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft as a fourth liner, but he's a solid hockey player with a definite potential as a powerful defensive specialist with a little skill at higher levels, possibly more .. committed to Vermont .. as of the Christmas Break, he had 3 goals and 3 assists in 21 games.

2010 Draft Grade: D+/D (Long shot to extreme long shot)