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C Jay O'Brien - Charlotte Checkers, AHL (2018, 19th, PHI released)

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From Corey Pronman at The Athletic after seeing O'Brien earlier in the year at the Beantown Tourney.

Jay O’Brien, C, 2018 draft eligible: O’Brien has emerged as the top high school player in the 2018 draft. Between my viewings of him at the All-American game, the USHL Fall Classic playing for the USNTDP and now at this prep tournament, he’s established himself as a clear top two-round pick in this year’s draft class with top 45 range possible. He’s a skilled center who can create chances, but every scout you talk to about him will first point to how hard he works to win battles and gain pucks. Often at the fall classic he would shove players off him with such ease to win a puck. “His work ethic and drive to get better is as good as anyone I’ve ever coached,” Andrew Orpik his coach with the U18 Cape Cod Whalers said.
 
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Neutral Zone did their recap of the recent U18 USA Nationals Tourney - Jay O'Brien was the top player, scouting report of him from the tourney.

Jay O’Brien (R, 6’0”, 175lbs, Cape Cod Whalers, Late ’99)- Most NHL teams were on hand throughout the week to watch Jay O’Brien and gauge just how high up the draft boards he belongs. He opted out of going to the USHL after the season, so this was one of the best chances to see him before the draft and there were several scouting directors in attendance along with the regional scouts. O’Brien didn’t disappoint; he led the tournament in points with 11 in 6 games and was dominant offensively throughout. He’s a polished skater who can pull away from opponents in the neutral zone, he has a rocket release and can shoot to score in stride and with defenders in his face. His stickhandling and creativity with the puck is rare and he’s able to make a lot of opponents miss. Nobody in the tournament could match his skill set and he always had the puck on his stick and was a legit scoring threat every time he was on the ice. Dynamic, skilled, sharp shooting forward who will join Providence next season and should make an immediate impact as a top six forward. (6-5-11, 6GP)
 
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Does anyone have clip of Jay O'Brien?
 
From what I have heard from others, he sounds good. Think the 1st might be a bit of a reach but could be gone by the Leafs 2nd.
 
Lays said:
For easy-to-find clips, look at YouTube I think they have 1-2? Shift by shifts of him up there to give you a good idea of how he plays
Edit- not a shift by shift but a full game of Thayers where O’Brien is on the ice a lot. Pretty easy to spot him (#9)
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Oh, I knew that and had seen part of that clip already. I could not find any dedicated clips on Y/T, nor on twitter, hence my post.

I just didn't want to parse through an hour-long clip. I thought someone might have had a short clip where we could just focus on O'Brien, like we do for other prospects who have their own threads.

Just how below the radar is this guy, we can't even come up with video that's only about him?
 
Runner77 said:
Oh, I knew that and had seen part of that clip already. I could not find any dedicated clips on Y/T, nor on twitter, hence my post.

I just didn't want to parse through an hour-long clip. I thought someone might have had a short clip where we could just focus on O'Brien, like we do for other prospects who have their own threads.

Just how below the radar is this guy, we can't even come up with video that's only about him?
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You can watch him on hockeytv.com. I'd think he's probably not that much under the radar for pro scouts. He had some games on the USNDP and I read some scouts specifically went to those games to watch him.
 
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Get North said:
Only a handful are successful. I'd rather take my chances drafting in places with more reliable track records, especially the first 3 rounds like CHL, USHL, NCAA, Superelit, etc.
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Do you have any actual evidence to back that up? If anything, to my eye, high schoolers taken early have quite a high success rate.

Others have mentioned McDonagh, Mittelstad and Kevin Hayes. Chris Kreider, Jake Gardiner, Derek Stepan, Nick Leddy, Brock Nelson, TJ Oshies, Matt Niskanen, and Nick Bjugstad are some more. That's more than a handful.
 
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Hossa said:
Do you have any actual evidence to back that up? If anything, to my eye, high schoolers taken early have quite a high success rate.

Others have mentioned McDonagh, Mittelstad and Kevin Hayes. Chris Kreider, Jake Gardiner, Derek Stepan, Nick Leddy, Brock Nelson, TJ Oshies, Matt Niskanen, and Nick Bjugstad are some more. That's more than a handful.
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Hal Gill.
Tony Amonte.
Charlie Coyle was in the EJHL, one year removed from playing at Thayer.
Blake Wheeler.
Brian Gibbons.


The list goes on and on
 
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Hossa said:
Do you have any actual evidence to back that up? If anything, to my eye, high schoolers taken early have quite a high success rate.

Others have mentioned McDonagh, Mittelstad and Kevin Hayes. Chris Kreider, Jake Gardiner, Derek Stepan, Nick Leddy, Brock Nelson, TJ Oshies, Matt Niskanen, and Nick Bjugstad are some more. That's more than a handful.
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You can add Anders Lee and Jonathan Quick to that list too.
 
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Posted this over in the Habs draft thread, may as well post this up here too.
Put together sequences from three of his earlier games this year - at the Prospects game, vs Michigan State and that Thayer game that's up on YT.

He's wearing #21, #11 and #9.
 
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G0bias said:
Posted this over in the Habs draft thread, may as well post this up here too.
Put together sequences from three of his earlier games this year - at the Prospects game, vs Michigan State and that Thayer game that's up on YT.

He's wearing #21, #11 and #9.
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Talk about a puckhound. O'brien looks like probably the best player out there(prospects game), but idk if everyone was trying very hard. Didn't look good in the Spartans game, but looked good again in the hs game.
 
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Castle8130 said:
Talk about a puckhound. O'brien looks like probably the best player out there, but idk if everyone was trying very hard.
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At the prospects game? Nope definitely not but it's a good opportunity for some of the lesser known guys to show scouts skills they might not have noticed before.
 
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G0bias said:
At the prospects game? Nope definitely not but it's a good opportunity for some of the lesser known guys to show scouts skills they might not have noticed before.
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Do you have the dates on the games? Which games were more recent?
 
I have the fingers crossed he falls to the Ducks. But taking him at #23? I don't know. But from the skillset he is great.
 
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