I've been watching Haoxi Wang with Oshawa, and he's slipped in my rankings for defensemen because of those viewings. And by that I mean he's slipped in my rankings a LOT in the last couple weeks.
I had Wang as a possible middle second-round pick before he went to the OHL, and I was a fool for it. Now, I'd have Wang as much more of a longshot, in the middle rounds of the Draft (not before pick #97, e.g. the fourth-round for me).
And the reason for that is two-fold; Wang's actual Hockey skills are much more raw, and undevelopped than I first thought from having watched some tape of him in the OJHL, and he's also simultaneously a much worse thinker for the game than I initially suspected given how well he showed in that same OJHL league.
Skills-wise, Wang's puck-handling is beyond rough at this point; I mean, he borderline makes a guy like Jarred Tinordi in his draft year look like Datsyuk on the ice with the puck on his stick. And I should know, my favorite team drafted Tinordi back in 2010 despite me really not liking his play too much at the time.
Then there's also the fact that Haoxi Wang's passing has been litteral TRASH in the games he's played for Oshawa. He's constantly passing too far in front or back of his teammates' positions on the ice whenever he tries to reach someone, killing clean possessions in the offensive zone, in transition, and even on defense. And that's when Wang doesn't just miss the timing to pull-off the passes due to hesitation and instead has to rim or elevate the puck to get it out of his own zone.
I have rarely seen a prospect touted as highly as Wang was to start the year have such poor core passing skills in many years as a prospect enthusiast. It's kind of crazy to be completely honest.
Thing is, if we start analyzing Wang's Hockey sense in the CHL, things get even bleaker. I've spoken about the hesitation in Wang's game offensively, and I don't like his pure reads/instincts much in ANY of the three zones, but the worst part for him is his poise (or complete lack thereof) when he gets pressured with the puck on his stick in the defensive zone.
In those occasions, I feel that Haoxi Wang starts seeing only what is directly near him, nothing else, panics, and shows a level of anticipation that would get beat by a lot of beer-leaguers, as sad for Wang as it is to say.
Of course, a bad play and/or awkward puck-clear is what unfolds afterwards 90+% of the time in those circumstances. But thankfully for Haoxi Wang, he isn't as deficient defensively as he is with the puck on his stick, and his "A+++" blend of size/skating/strength allow him to be a big factor along the boards and the net so that mitigates the demerits Wang brings his team by being such an horribly below-average handler/passer with the puck.
Suffice to say, seeing such rare physical and skating potential being squandered because of very under-developped skills is ****ing frustrating to watch.
If Wang's handling/passing skills were simply "below-average" by NHL standards instead of being the horrible mess that they currently are, I'd be more confident in Wang potentially finding success at the NHL level. And the same thing is true for an improvement on what I find is an all-around "below-average" Hockey IQ on Wang's part.
The sum of these warts is why I dropped Wang so much in my rankings recently despite him flashing an elite-level size/skating combo on a nightly basis and being a potentially mean, physical player to boot.
I believe that, given what I've seen so far, even if Wang develops PERFECTLY from now, which isn't at all the likeliest outcome, we're most likely looking at a "Mike Commodore with much better skating and lesser IQ/hands" type of defensive defenseman as the best outcome for Wang.
So yeah, to me Wang has been a massive disappointment ever since I started paying closer attention to him in Oshawa and I would now have him in the 30s for DEFENSEMEN at the draft.
Off the top of my head, and in no order, I'd say that Schaefer, Smith, Aitcheson, Hensler, Fiddler, Mrtka, Reid, Amico, Limatov, Trethewey, Agafonov, Brzustewicz, Huang, Cameron, Sharpe, Radivojevic, Boumedienne, a lot of others that I forget, would be better picks at this point than Wang.
Some would say that I'm writing off Wang too soon, that 5 games in the OHL isn't enough to conclude one way or the other. They'd be right, but I saw so much wrong there with Haoxi Wang on the ice for Oshawa watching every single minute of those 5 games that it's been freaking hard to NOT outright put Wang on my DND list until, say, the 5th-round and be done with it.
Me tabbing Wang as an hypothetical 4th-round pick is actually an act of some moderation on my own part, if you can believe it. Knee-jerk reaction would be to say 5th-round pick+, as I've already said.
