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| (above) Zac Larraza saw his draft stock rise steadily this past season |
The 2011 NHL Entry Draft is scheduled to be held on June 24–25, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. University of Denver incoming Freshman forward Zac Larraza (6'2 - 195 lbs.) will certainly be drafted, but the question is where?
Larraza has size and skating ability to be a high draft pick, but his statistics on the USNDT the past two seasons were underwhelming. In Lou We Trust, breaks down Larraza's game and lists many interesting quotes from NHL scouts.
Zac Larraza, Forward - As far as physical tools go, they don't come much better than this Arizonian. Good size? Check- 6-2, 195. Great skater? Check- rangy with quick burst and fluid stride and agility. Puck skills? Check- can make moves at speed and back defenses up. Where it gets dicey is in the intangibles department and thus far, he's not been able to put all of his impressive parts together. He's played better as the season progressed, and there is a lot of raw upside here, but some scouts just don't feel that he's ever going to get it. He's going to Denver University, so if he's going to develop into a legitimate NHL prospect, it will happen there or it won't happen anywhere. Worth a mid-round gamble because of what he brings to the table.
3 comments:
"He's going to Denver University, so if he's going to develop into a legitimate NHL prospect, it will happen there or it won't happen anywhere."
I like this blogger. Very intelligent :-)
Seriously though, it does seem like Gwoz and Co. have a good reputation among the NHL teams and just the hockey community in general.
I do believe that it's one of our biggest recruiting assets.
Misspelled should be LARRAZA
Thanks for the heads up. Corrected.
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