He was the best of the forwards for the USA on the U17 Select team. I can't easily find stats accumulated in one place, but I went through the individual stats of a lot of the players, and I'm pretty sure he had the highest total by a bunch of points. 10 points in 5 games.
He's a very offensively skilled player. It's like a Zegras type puck game, and he's an inch taller already than Zegras. I can definitely see how he scores so many points with the hands and passing. Scored 5 goals too at this tournament and I've read he's more of a shooter than passer, so he's likely a triple threat offensively. Skates well. What's holding him back is probably that he appears to be a winger and then that his compete level is no better than acceptable. You'd think if he was a natural center there's no way he's the guy that's pushed to winger, as he was the best forward on the team by a lot, so he's probably a natural winger.
I think he looks like a first round pick for 2025. I have a hard time believing he's not good enough for the NTDP. There aren't going to be more than 5, at most, NTDP forwards with his offensive game and it could be a lot less than that, so it could be a situation where a Minnesota player preferred to stay home and play Minnesota High School hockey. This U17 Select team for the USA had two players I thought were incredibly good draft prospects (Simpson and Reid). I liked Reid's play a little more, but I think Simpson would still be better than every other prospect that has come through this team in 2021 and 2022 too. If Reid and Simpson couldn't make that team (more likely declined spots), there must be some incredible players on that team.
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www.eliteprospects.com
