D Chase Cheslock - Omaha Lancers / USHL (2023, 154th, NJD)

[Kase]

Cheslock joined recently Omaha Lancers in USHL and after seeing him play for few games, I can say he is looking very impressive.

6'3", +200 lbs two-way control/possession RHD with solid all around mobility. I think the most impressive thing about Cheslock is his smarts. Such a smart player with and without the puck and because of that he is able to impact the game in all zones. Just smart solid passing, nothing too fancy in that regard so far, but he distributes the puck smartly to push the play and to maintain possession. He takes care of his own end well, but is also willing to make things happen offensively. So far I haven't seen him necessary create many high danger scoring chances for his teammates or for himself, but he has the skating, puck skills, reach and passing to do so. Shot looks kinda weak tho.

Small sample size still to get a proper read on him, but so far I'm excited about his play and will definitely continue to follow him closely.

Team that gets this kid, whether it's in this year's draft, next year's draft or as a NCAA free agent, is going to be very happy. 7 years from now he will be a stable top 4 dman, at least. Hopefully in NHL. I'm a believer.

If there are any NHL scouts lurking, for some reason, this one is for free.

Chase Cheslock at eliteprospects.com

Click to read more...

 

[Kase]

Okay, I watched couple more games from Cheslock and I'm starting to feel pretty confident about his projection, but I'm trying to not to go over the board with the hype.

Very high chance for top 4 dman
Very legit chance for top pairing dman
High end upside: Slavin

Currently I have him as the 4th best dman in the draft behind Reinbacher, Simashev and Gulyayev.
10th in the overall ranking.

Need to watch bit more from Gulyayev to check if he deserves the spot above Cheslock.

 

[Lavar Ball]

Okay, I watched couple more games from Cheslock and I'm starting to feel pretty confident about his projection, but I'm trying to not to go over the board with the hype.

Very high chance for top 4 dman
Very legit chance for top pairing dman
High end upside: Slavin

Currently I have him as the 4th best dman in the draft behind Reinbacher, Simashev and Gulyayev.
10th in the overall ranking.

Need to watch bit more from Gulyayev to check if he deserves the spot above Cheslock.

That's quite the praise! I will have to check him out, thanks for bringing him to our attention

 

[GermanSpitfire]

That's quite the praise! I will have to check him out, thanks for bringing him to our attention

Agreed - I’m going to catch some film also.

Love when people have glowing opinions of kids that are undervalued.

 

[Kase]

That's quite the praise! I will have to check him out, thanks for bringing him to our attention

Highly recommended! Let me know what you think once you get a look on him, I'd like to hear others' opinion.

Yeah that might be a bit aggressive ranking for a player who I haven't seen ranked anywhere, and who I didn't know even existed before today...

But I got a great feeling on my gut when watching him, and not many dmen have managed to do that, and those who have are doing okay so I've learned to trust my gut.

The last two games against Des Moines seemed like he was really testing his limits, probably got a bit too adventurous on neutral zone at times, but still a solid performance.

Lancers have 8 regular season games left and aren't going to make the playoffs, but there's going to be a good amount of material on him from his USHL performance. I think there's going to be some teams that really like Cheslock and some team "reaches" to pick him in the 2nd round, similar to Lohrei.

 

[Kase]

Yesterday's game against Tri-City was easily the worst performance by Cheslock that I've seen so far. Passing was off and he wasn't nearly as stout defensively. In previous 5 games he was consistently great if not amazing in those aspects.

Need to watch rest of the regular season games to see what the actual norm is for him, but if performances like this happen regularly, then he doesn't deserve the praise that I gave him and Lohrei's draft range would be way more appropriate. Maybe even lower.

This is why I'd like to see at least 10 games, especially from defence men, before trying to project them, as I put very high value on consistency in defensive and transition play (If that's where the player's main value is, so this wouldn't apply to players like Hutson who's value comes from something else). Let's see how he performs in rest of the games before deciding what is an appropriate projection for him and how badly I jumped the gun with him. But the last game definitely isn't what I'd want to see from Cheslock.

 

[MMC]

Welcome to New Jersey

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Love this pick. This kid has shown some really great flashes, just needs to add some consistency in his decision making.