Wild fan here who has watched a lot of Beckman down in Iowa. He got Wild fans excited when he lead the WHL in scoring in his D+1 year, mainly on the strength of his shot. Think of him as a poor man's Holtz.
- He is not a Center
- He tries on defense, but is offensively inclined. You want him on your PP, not PK.
- Long enough (at least 6'1"), but not strong, at least not yet.
- Average(not bad) skater. Fast enough to maintain distance on a breakaway against an average defender, not fast enough to pull away.
- Best asset is his shot.
- Is well liked.
- works hard.
- mediocre hockey IQ?
- Is one of those guys who has probably plateau'ed as an AHL'er, but there is the possibility that he is a late bloomer. His main weakness is lack of strength. You would think he can overcome that with a good summer of training/eating, but he hasn't yet.
Thank you. I had him pegged as an AHL player and kinda thought the Devils traded a Clarke for another one. The "works hard" is more than Clarke ever did.
My concerns:
Are his puck skills good? Stickhandling. One on one.
Passing accuracy or due to his desire to shoot so much is a puck hog? Puck hogs who easily get stripped of the puck aren't good for their line mates.
Is he a team player? Well liked by his mates?
Is he successful in board battles?
Does he work the corners?
Does he go to the net without the puck. Not just a perimeter forward.
*Of his 190 shots what's a guess as to how many are on net or is that the number of SOG. Are his missed shots not in this number? I guess what I really want to know is his shooting accuracy. That was not clear in any of his assessments I've found. A guy known for his shot that takes 190 of them and only scores 19 goals raises a question mark.
Clarke was our leading goal scorer, 25 in each of the last 2 seasons. Beckman was the Wild's #1 with a total of 19. Was the rest of the team that poor at finding the net or were they simply a team with no play makers. The Comets do get the puck to the shooters, but their main problem was they couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a scoop shovel. Most common shot is high and wide or directly into the keeper's crest.
Hope you can help me out here. I'm hoping he is a better player than Clarke. Most of what I asked reflects what Clarke was, a perimeter player who was inept in his own zone, was a poor puck handler when pressed, forced shots when passes were the better option, poor forechecker, lost most every puck battle, not physical and knocked down a lot, could score goals with a good shot as long as he had time to set up the puck and had no bodies in his way. Puck skills so weak, shootouts were a spot he didn't belong. This is not a good description one would expect of a team's top goal producer. He took a team high 202 shots and scored 25 goals. I know he missed the net an exorbitant number of times.
I'm hoping Beckman is a hockey player, not just a guy who can contribute a few goals.
*I have found a discrepancy, not that it matters, but AHL.com has listed Beckman's '23-24 shots at 150. That's 40 short of the 190 I've seen on this site. According to AHL.com Sammy Walker led the Wild in shots with 176.
A little more research shows that Beckman led the Wild in shots at 190 in '22-23 and that's the year they used to pump up his image a little after the trade, but he did score 24 goals that season. So, basically Clarke level goal scoring on a commensurate number of shots. This leads me to believe Beckman will replace Clarke's goals. As far as goal scoring, it just might be an equal swap. More a case of 2 teams giving up on their AHL goal scorers and swapping them to another franchise to give them a chance to improve under someone else's watch.
