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C Jack O'Brien - Portland Winterhawks, WHL (2021 Draft)

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Hes having a great year but started slow, usually on the 4th line for the first month or so. He earned the coaches trust and has spent significant time centering Seth Jarvis which has inflated his point totals a bit honestly. I still think he has been impressive but think fellow 16 year old Gabe Klassen has higher upside on the Winterhawks.
 
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Scores a hatty March 4 vs Tri-Cities and leading the whole whl in shooting percentage, for whatever that's worth but a 16 yr old leading the whole whl in anything must be sign of something (probably not the most meaningful stat but not meaningless)
 
William H Bonney said:
Hopefully we see him at the USAH Select 17s trying out for the Hlinka team. He wasn't at the Select 16s last summer.
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I think he was a bit of a sleeper playing in Michigan despite not being OHL draft eligible. What do you think his odds of making the Hlinka roster is?
 
Had 1+1 tonight in a 5-4 comeback overtime win for Portland. He was Jarvis' center and his assist was a secondary on a Jarvis goal so he is getting inflated a bit but the kid is a talented player in his own right. One thing I've noticed is he scores a lot of his goals in front of the net, despite being just average sized at 6'0. He also shows a good hockey iq by finding the right place to be off the puck when Jarvis has the puck attracting attention and scoring that way. I hope to get an in-person view before the season is over to get a better feel of his upside for next years draft.
 
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The 2021 draft is looking extremely underrated for Americans. I think we could place 10 players in the first round.

Between Beniers, Knies, O’Brien, Hughes, Herschuk, Schmidt, Gallagher, Janicke, Duke, Lucius, maybe Pastujov, Behrens, Gilmartin, Boucher, Brown, Mittelstadt, Argentina, Gratton, Hayes, Coronato, that’s going to be a lot of early round picks.
 
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canucklax said:
Had 1+1 tonight in a 5-4 comeback overtime win for Portland. He was Jarvis' center and his assist was a secondary on a Jarvis goal so he is getting inflated a bit but the kid is a talented player in his own right. One thing I've noticed is he scores a lot of his goals in front of the net, despite being just average sized at 6'0. He also shows a good hockey iq by finding the right place to be off the puck when Jarvis has the puck attracting attention and scoring that way. I hope to get an in-person view before the season is over to get a better feel of his upside for next years draft.
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Surprised to see that was a secondary assist. If you watch the highlight on the goal he comes up with the puck on the faceoff and pushes the it forward to Jarvis, maybe it hits Dureau's skate. Can't tell for the angle but it's not like it was a breakout pass in the other end or something. Really a nice play. You can watch the video at the link at the 30 second mark:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Look at that OT win at Home Ice!<br><br>Check out tonight&#39;s highlights, here <a href="Portland Winterhawks on Twitter">pic.twitter.com/JgLgwNAK9c</a></p>&mdash; Portland Winterhawks (@pdxwinterhawks) <a href="">March 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Also in the previous game in which he had a hat trick, perhaps the most impressive play he made was on the first goal where he didn't even get awarded a point, but if you watch the clip you'll see how he ties up the defender's stick to keep nim from being able to make a stick check on Jarvis as he goes hard to the net and scores. Incredibly heads up hockey. Go to the 10 second mark:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WOW!<br><br>WHAT A GAME<br><br>Check out all ELEVEN goals, here! <a href="Portland Winterhawks on Twitter">pic.twitter.com/IK6dFr1Xg6</a></p>&mdash; Portland Winterhawks (@pdxwinterhawks) <a href="Portland Winterhawks on Twitter">March 5, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Has anyone seen him play recently? I was expecting him to take a jump as a 17 year old but from following Lincoln on twitter it seems he is getting bottom 6 minutes and not producing much despite being projected as a 2nd or 3rd round pick by many sources. In contrast, James Stefan struggled to get regular playing time as a rookie for Portland last year but is making the most of his foray in the USHL.
 
canucklax said:
Has anyone seen him play recently? I was expecting him to take a jump as a 17 year old but from following Lincoln on twitter it seems he is getting bottom 6 minutes and not producing much despite being projected as a 2nd or 3rd round pick by many sources. In contrast, James Stefan struggled to get regular playing time as a rookie for Portland last year but is making the most of his foray in the USHL.
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I'm not really sure why he isn't producing.

He's pretty noticeable when he's on the ice. Not sure why the score sheet doesn't reflect his effort.
 
Some footage from a game from early April. Please note that with the lighting and the color combination of the jerseys, it's quite difficult to see which one is O'Brien, but he's wearing #92 and is playing on the LW.

 
He's the first to return to Portland with Lincoln's season ending, hoping he can show more now that he's back.
 
Still in Portland as a 20-year-old. Seems almost like American college sports where players spend five years playing as a result of the pandemic years.

Is he headed to Canada college hockey or likely to play minor pro/Europe?
 
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