F Trevor Connelly - Providence College, Hockey East (2024, 19th, VGK)

[Mathieukferland]

I wasn't paying attention much but did he show up for the medal presentation?

There was a silver medal remaining in the case after their medal presentation ended; I didn’t see him so I assume it was his

 

[Castle8130]

There was a silver medal remaining in the case after their medal presentation ended; I didn’t see him so I assume it was his

This kid gives me horrible vibes. Even if you draft him and he turns out to be an electric player, you never know if he’s going to have a fit and turn on his teammates. Outside of the two incidents that are public, he also has fits on the ice. His penalty minutes are very high this year and not for good penalties

 

[95snipes]

I said when it announced he would be playing u18s, this was his chance to end the season with a positive spotlight. Everything seemed to be going fine and he found a way to do just the opposite of that. Of all the negative moments Connelly's faced in his hockey career, that has to be the toughest one. All you had to do was fit in for 2 weeks and play well and you likely see your name rise up final lists. The outcome of giving up 3 on the pk was unfortunate, but the hit was completely stupid and it cost them. Just simply not acceptable at that stage of a gold medal game.

Up until that hit, I would given his tournament a B compared to the expectations I had. The Latvia game though he looked like a star. It's games like those that would give me hesitation passing on him. If you took Connelly's best 5 games this year, they're up there with anyone. The red flags though are apparent.

 

[ghettoNancy]

Great skill set, mediocre IQ, questionable decision making. Hopefully he matures into a smarter player at Providence, instead of some jerk off hockey bro.

 

[Corso]

Great skill set, mediocre IQ, questionable decision making. Hopefully he matures into a smarter player at Providence, instead of some jerk off hockey bro

Even aside from the bone headed penalty and the lack of maturity shown at the end; he played OK during the tournament but not enough to solidify himself as a top ten pick....

 

[McMozesmadness]

I have a feeling he’ll still be a late 1st. I think a team with a second pick in round one may take a swing on his upside

I was trying to find comparable picks. Prospects with immaturity and selfishness concerns. Anthony DeAngelo and Bode Wilde fit the bill, however both D. The one name that stuck out for me was Josh Ho-Sang. High end skill, but a lot of red flags

 

[bert]

I have a feeling he’ll still be a late 1st. I think a team with a second pick in round one may take a swing on his upside

I was trying to find comparable picks. Prospects with immaturity and selfishness concerns. Anthony DeAngelo and Bode Wilde fit the bill, however both D. The one name that stuck out for me was Josh Ho-Sang. High end skill, but a lot of red flags

He seems to have more talent and upside than any of those guys except maybe DeAngelo.

 

[McMozesmadness]

He seems to have more talent and upside than any of those guys except maybe DeAngelo.

The hype around Ho-Sang was far bigger than Connelly. At one point he had “generational” hype. Ho-Sang was considered a massive homerun pick by the Isles. He had ridiculous speed and skill. I think the comp is fitting

That said, I still really like Connelly’s upside. At one point in the year I thought he might challenge for my top ten. There are some flashes of Kyle Connor and Nik Ehlers in his game. The top ten ship has sailed, but I don’t know if I can drop him past 20. He’s too talented

To clarify, I’m not saying he will be Ho-Sang, but they play a similar style and a lot of similar concerns exist

 

[Nabrules]

I’ve like him all year but so many red flag on and off the ice, teams will pick the player without the concerns and potential backlash.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

The off-ice stuff is already there. It's questionable where you lay blame for that, but it's there and obviously there is at least some for him.

In every interview I've heard/read from him, what I read about him, what I've heard in listening to podcasts about the NHL draft, and and following social channels of the teams he plays for, I've never really seen this evil guy he's painted as. He seems like a shy, nice kid. Doesn't mean he's not a psychopath (some seem to think that) or anything else. I don't know him at all and can't say what his personality is actually like. I wouldn't even say this hit reflects poorly on his character or anything like that.

I think he's just not a very smart hockey player. Seriously, how often do you see like Connor McDavid or Nikita Kucherov or Adam Fox or Patrice Bergeron or Sidney Crosby or Jaccob Slavin any of the true smart players in the game take a costly penalty like that? The guys in the NHL who take the most penalties and the costliest penalties situationally are usually the dumbest players in the league.

Accidents can always happen, but that to me wasn't an accident. It was a bad decision from a player who makes too many bad decisions on the ice. Even in this tournament you saw a lot of the bad on ice decisions. He's often out of control with his body and drives into traffic with his elite skating/puck-handling, but often there's little substance to it. I don't think his brain works anywhere near as fast as his feet/hands.

Obviously there are the off ice issues to consider, but his decision-making on the ice is something I would be very worried about. I think it could keep him from sticking as an NHL regular. That goes for how well he'll be able to translate his skating/hands to points and situationally will he make these stupid decisions in the NHL that cost his team important games too.

 

[slafcaufzuki]

High Risk, High Reward, simply put. Hopefully he falls to a team with strong leadership and ethics and has a career.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Can someone post the hit for those of us who couldn’t see the game?

If this was the NHL, that’s maybe 2 min. But in int’l play, that’s an easy 5 and a game for head contact. It was a stupid and unnecessary play.

I feel bad for the NTDP kids. Many were bawling after the game and as they were getting their silver medals. Connelly was the “ringer” added to an established lineup. I bet that was awkward when all the others returned to the locker room…

That said, the PK can’t allow 3 goals. Canada smelled blood and went for the kill. Good for them. They took advantage of the opportunity.

Back to Connelly, I hope the team I root for (Blues) passes on him at 16. Talented but seems like he’d be an absolute headache.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Connelly had a tremendous draft season. He was near-flawless at two levels until the poorly-delivered hit, and even still, the Americans played like shit for 10 minutes despite leading and he probably wanted to change momentum more than anything else. Looks like The Athletic’s hit piece seems to have done it’s job by doctoring the narrative with unsourced or off the record quotes seven months after it was reported that Connelly was atoning for his mistakes and people who matter felt like he matured. On top of that, he’s going to play for Nate Leaman, who has a history of getting every player to buy into a team-first culture and be good citizens off the ice. But muh, he was mean to my son at 13, said The Invisible Hockey Mom.

Kevin Hayes shit in a staircase. Laine flipped his coach the bird. Hasek was loathed in his locker room. Messier threatened Kent Nilsson and Shanahan screwed Janney’s wife. Even Guy Lafleur was treated like shit by the Mahovliches. Can we please move on?

This is why draft coverage in hockey is the worst of the four major sports. You have people in this thread genuinely believing a top-10 kid’s draft stock suffered because a dirty hit in a tournament game is a red flag LMAO. As if the Canadians weren't getting called for undisciplined play and majors (and turning pucks over) all tournament long.

 

[57special]

I have a feeling he’ll still be a late 1st. I think a team with a second pick in round one may take a swing on his upside

I was trying to find comparable picks. Prospects with immaturity and selfishness concerns. Anthony DeAngelo and Bode Wilde fit the bill, however both D. The one name that stuck out for me was Josh Ho-Sang. High end skill, but a lot of red flags

Virtanen?

 

[57special]

Connelly had a tremendous draft season. He was near-flawless at two levels until the poorly-delivered hit, and even still, the Americans played like shit for 10 minutes despite leading and he probably wanted to change momentum more than anything else. Looks like The Athletic’s hit piece seems to have done it’s job by doctoring the narrative with unsourced or off the record quotes seven months after it was reported that Connelly was atoning for his mistakes and people who matter felt like he matured. On top of that, he’s going to play for Nate Leaman, who has a history of getting every player to buy into a team-first culture and be good citizens off the ice. But muh, he was mean to my son at 13, said The Invisible Hockey Mom.

Kevin Hayes shit in a staircase. Laine flipped his coach the bird. Hasek was loathed in his locker room. Messier threatened Kent Nilsson and Shanahan screwed Janney’s wife. Even Guy Lafleur was treated like shit by the Mahovliches. Can we please move on?

This is why draft coverage in hockey is the worst of the four major sports. You have people in this thread genuinely believing a top-10 kid’s draft stock suffered because a dirty hit in a tournament game is a red flag LMAO. As if the Canadians weren't getting called for undisciplined play and majors (and turning pucks over) all tournament long.

His advisors and parents were the ones saying that he had changed. Parents also threatened writers of the article with lawsuits. Numerous other people said he was a bully, and were worried that their son was on the same team with him. He shit in a teammates bag, called a kid a racial slur on ice, joked about Swaztika, etc, etc... this is not a normal kid.

Doesn't mean he can't change, but there sure as hell are red flags surrounding him character wise, and that on ice hit was just another to add to the pile. He cost his team a Gold medal because of his unhinged behavior. You think GM's won't see that?For you to dismiss it all as "hit pieces" says more about you than him.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

His advisors and parents were the ones saying that he had changed. Parents also threatened writers of the article with lawsuits. Numerous other people said he was a bully, and were worried that their son was on the same team with him. He shit in a teammates bag, called a kid a racial slur on ice, joked about Swaztika, etc, etc... this is not a normal kid.

Doesn't mean he can't change, but there sure as hell are red flags surrounding him character wise, and that on ice hit was just another to add to the pile. He cost his team a Gold medal because of his unhinged behavior. You think GM's won't see that?For you to dismiss it all as "hit pieces" says more about you than him.

Wrong.

"Oftentimes you have people who don't understand other people's culture and they don't realize how certain things impact them or how having that extra insight and perspective on the world itself can benefit them," said Jazmine Miley, the founder of Hockey Players of Color.

"Ever since Trevor came to us he's been committed to learning and helping, and I think he's really embraced that while working with the kids he has. He knows their lives might be different, but hockey can bring them together."

Top 2024 NHL Draft prospect Trevor Connelly opens up about posted image and what he’s doing to make up for it

Tri-City forward took an offensive photo as teenager and has since dedicated his time to learn from mistake.

www.therinklive.com

 

[Rabid Ranger]

His advisors and parents were the ones saying that he had changed. Parents also threatened writers of the article with lawsuits. Numerous other people said he was a bully, and were worried that their son was on the same team with him. He shit in a teammates bag, called a kid a racial slur on ice, joked about Swaztika, etc, etc... this is not a normal kid.

Doesn't mean he can't change, but there sure as hell are red flags surrounding him character wise, and that on ice hit was just another to add to the pile. He cost his team a Gold medal because of his unhinged behavior. You think GM's won't see that?For you to dismiss it all as "hit pieces" says more about you than him.

Your use of the word "unhinged" is straight up hyperbole.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

His advisors and parents were the ones saying that he had changed. Parents also threatened writers of the article with lawsuits. Numerous other people said he was a bully, and were worried that their son was on the same team with him. He shit in a teammates bag, called a kid a racial slur on ice, joked about Swaztika, etc, etc... this is not a normal kid.

Doesn't mean he can't change, but there sure as hell are red flags surrounding him character wise, and that on ice hit was just another to add to the pile. He cost his team a Gold medal because of his unhinged behavior. You think GM's won't see that?For you to dismiss it all as "hit pieces" says more about you than him.

1. Get your facts straight. He didn’t shit in a bag. It was alleged he pissed on a bag as payback to his teammates putting him through a “humiliating hazing ritual” and teasing him about it in school. That was in the Athletic article, but I guess the outrage was so overwhelming for you that you didn’t read up to that part. Hopefully you’ve recovered from the traumatic experience.

2. Racial slur was never confirmed and just an allegation. Besides, he went through counseling and sensitivity training and as shown above, has been commended for maturing and understanding others.

3. He apologized for the swastika thing and then some. Literally did weeks of volunteer work and interacted with the Jewish community. He said himself he felt terrible about it after meeting with holocaust survivors and understood how his actions were hurtful.

4. Taking a bad penalty that costs a team a game isnt a red flag. That’s silly talk. If it was, then Will Smith had a red flag for taking a senseless hooking penalty late in last year’s GMG to give Sweden a 4-on-3 PP in overtime and force Augustine into making great saves. Make saves???? Oh that’s right, Kempf was definitely NOT making saves in yesterday’s game. He was brutal, and Team USA was outshot 7-0 in the third and being dominated by Canada when Connelly delivered the hit.

In the SF, Canada’s Marelli got 5 and a game for a headshot. Blatant headshot. But Canada, unlike the U.S., killed it off. When it was 5-4, Porter Martone took a bad penalty in the 3rd, but again, Canada killed it off. So don’t draft Porter Martone, guys. He has a red flag for taking bad penalties.

I'm not saying Connelly isn't flawed and that teams shouldn't be concerned with his past behavior, but the penalty has absolutely nothing to do with his character or NHL potential. This was the same BS we heard that Auston Matthews was "losing the room" by pulling his pants down in a drunken stupor.

 

[sigx15]

Delete

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Strikes me as a Nazem Kadri type (a bit ironic, considering that was Button's hilarious comp for Hagens).

He's a skilled, gritty player that can get to the middle of the ice, but he's certainly prone to selfish decisions, both with his hot headed play and his tendency to hog the puck at times.

The off ice stuff doesn't bother me as the selfish play. And it's not like that hit was anomalous behavior, it's generally pretty easy to get him off his game.

Even with all that baggage, I do see a bright NHL future for him as he matures, just like we've seen with Kadri. People tend to overemphasize some of this stuff with teenagers. With the right environment, these maturity issues can be overcome.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Here's a true story:

It's post-draft 2020 I was hyping up this 2021 prospect a bunch -- tweets, podcasts, etc. I ranked him 22nd on my preseason ranking in my draft report and used the Ivan Hlinka and his impressive draft-1 as no-brainer reasons to be high on him. Knew nothing about the kid off the ice, but I know what I saw and didn't care about anything else. As far as i was concerned, he was a lock and it would take a complete meltdown to drop him.

Now we're still early into the 2020-21 season, and I start getting a few text messages or DMs from a few scouts -- U.S. scouts and a CHL scout who is now an NHL scout. And the gist of it was that this kid I was hyping up was an asshole, a braggart, a cocky, entitled, pain-in-ass teammate who rubbed people the wrong way and lacked humility. One text? Ok, just an opinion. Two, three, and then four messages? OK, so obviously there's something up.

Central Scouting watch list comes out and he gets a B grade. So now for the first time since the Puljujarvi debacle, I'm actually doubting myself because of external pressure -- pressure I didn't even ask for because I never ever trust anyone's advice when it comes to prospects. But I dropped him into the second round and wrote that he needed to mature and become more consistent. I easily could have played the "scouts told me" card that these prospect hacks use and wrote a hit piece for clicks, but I didn't, because a) there are a lot of lazy scouts with agendas, b) hit pieces are for grubby journalists and appeal to simple-minded sports fans

So draft day rolls around and he gets passed over in Round 1. Again, this kid had all the tools -- IQ, touch, size, creativity, swagger. I'm actually a little relieved he didnt go in Round 1, but I'm still mad I had to drop him. At this point, I'm hoping that he slips far down enough so the Rangers can draft him and I can dance an Irish jig and promote nothing but his qualities.

Day 2 rolls around, and with pick No. 57, the Toronto Maple Leafs are proud to select, from Tri-City in the USHL, Matthew Knies.

Fast forward to today, to this thread, and to what Matthew Knies has become, and L-O-L. So by all means, red flag Trevor Connelly because he was a shitty teammate and took a bad penalty, and best of luck.

 

[bert]

1. Get your facts straight. He didn’t shit in a bag. It was alleged he pissed on a bag as payback to his teammates putting him through a “humiliating hazing ritual” and teasing him about it in school. That was in the Athletic article, but I guess the outrage was so overwhelming for you that you didn’t read up to that part. Hopefully you’ve recovered from the traumatic experience.

2. Racial slur was never confirmed and just an allegation. Besides, he went through counseling and sensitivity training and as shown above, has been commended for maturing and understanding others.

3. He apologized for the swastika thing and then some. Literally did weeks of volunteer work and interacted with the Jewish community. He said himself he felt terrible about it after meeting with holocaust survivors and understood how his actions were hurtful.

4. Taking a bad penalty that costs a team a game isnt a red flag. That’s silly talk. If it was, then Will Smith had a red flag for taking a senseless hooking penalty late in last year’s GMG to give Sweden a 4-on-3 PP in overtime and force Augustine into making great saves. Make saves???? Oh that’s right, Kempf was definitely NOT making saves in yesterday’s game. He was brutal, and Team USA was outshot 7-0 in the third and being dominated by Canada when Connelly delivered the hit.

In the SF, Canada’s Marelli got 5 and a game for a headshot. Blatant headshot. But Canada, unlike the U.S., killed it off. When it was 5-4, Porter Martone took a bad penalty in the 3rd, but again, Canada killed it off. So don’t draft Porter Martone, guys. He has a red flag for taking bad penalties.

I'm not saying Connelly isn't flawed and that teams shouldn't be concerned with his past behavior, but the penalty has absolutely nothing to do with his character or NHL potential. This was the same BS we heard that Auston Matthews was "losing the room" by pulling his pants down in a drunken stupor.

As someone that was very impressed with his talent but did very little research into his off ice issues. The fact that the person defending him has to make 4 points and he is only 17 is concerning. A friend who is in the scouting business said to me when i mentioned how impressed I was that. 'He's going to drop more stuff is coming out before the draft'. now I dont know if he meant all the things you mentioned or not it very well could be one of the points you are discussing. However you'd have to be pretty naive to say 3/4 things isnt an issue. Thats alot. I agree about the hit though, it shouldnt define him. The rest is pretty concerning.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

For those who care:

As someone that was very impressed with his talent but did very little research into his off ice issues. The fact that the person defending him has to make 4 points and he is only 17 is concerning. A friend who is in the scouting business said to me when i mentioned how impressed I was that. 'He's going to drop more stuff is coming out before the draft'. now I dont know if he meant all the things you mentioned or not it very well could be one of the points you are discussing. However you'd have to be pretty naive to say 3/4 things isnt an issue. Thats alot. I agree about the hit though, it shouldnt define him. The rest is pretty concerning.

I never said scouts/GMs shouldn't be worried. He definitely has red flags, but these red flags are old red flags and he addressed them before the season. The fact that the tight-knit NTDP was willing to add him should have been proof of that, plus all the volunteer and community service he's done the past 12-18 months.

But since August, look at the benchmarks:

-Dominant Hlinka
-Dominant WJAC
-Dominant USHL season
-Good/productive U18 WC

So in the last 12 months, the only red flags that have appeared are the same old stories from when he was 13-16 that the media regurgitated for clicks, and a poorly-timed, decisive penalty in a big game. Sounds silly to me.

I can only go by what the public already knows, and what we know is that he was a shitty, entitled kid who was caught making a horrible mistake and worked hard to correct himself. Normally I'd say this is just a case of a PR fiasco that his parents paid big money to fix, but it really sounds like he's fixed himself and the people vouching for him in the present are totally objective. There is nobody on record saying he was a bad teammate or toxic in 2023-24, and he's not even done maturing.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

If the kid was such an awful teammate and uncoachable cancer, why didn't USA Hockey just leave him at home? They clearly didn't need to bring him and obviously knew about the baggage.

The hit isn't going to change anyone's opinion on him. Those that are out on him were already out on him. Players make bad (even selfish) decisions in games all of the time. It is as old as the game itself.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Anyway, I dug into Connelly's USHL numbers and the primary assist ratio at 5v5 is really good, especially in the second half on a thin team. I watched him enough to know that the bulk of his feeds are creative and timely. My interpretation of the IQ criticism is that he thinks ahead of his linemates and they don't always know what he intends to do, and he overskates the puck a bunch. This is common for pass-first types and we saw Hughes have this same issue early in his NJ career and Michkov when he went to Sochi. Connelly's cycle game is through the roof and NHL player development staffs should already know that another 10-15 pounds of muscle -- which is easy to gain in the short NCAA slate -- could make him one of the game's best young puck protectors in the trenches, which is where games NHL games are won and lost. Throw in his vision and you could see another Connor or Blake Wheeler -- the latter being an asshole teammate into his 30's BTW.

Think of Connelly at 23 or 24 years of age. That's all I care about when I rank kids. I don't care if he goes 175th overall for the off-ice stuff. He personifies best player available after Celebrini and Demidov. My guess is he goes 24-30 range, but top-10 talent for sure.