Great insights and review / analysis here....is benji from X on this board? Props.
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I've watched a decent amount of footage of Greentree. Here are some thoughts:The first thing I wanted to look at is his skating. He has decent east-west movement and edgework and once he's moving, he isn't particularly slow. The Combine results verify this- he was top-25 in the agility test. Acceleration is the biggest issue, he has trouble escaping pressure if he isn't already in motion. That said, he's already 6'2 215 as an 18-year-old. Clearly a mechanics issue, some time with a power skating coach will do him good. A concern the Kings might have, however, is if he naturally has a low proportion of fast-twitch muscle fiber in his legs. The good news on that front is it looks like he has good hip strength and mobility, which bodes well for the probability this is the case.Playing for Windsor hasn't been particularly great for his development. It's not a great team, doesn't have a great system, and opponents know to mark him. This has led to some bad habits but also has allowed him to showcase his rush game and leadership skills. As
@OliverFiglin1
pointed out, his next closest teammate had just 66 points, 24 fewer than him! In particular, his linemates' spacing sucks, which leads to his hesitancy to dump and chase and underutilization of the space he creates for his teammates- even though he clearly intends to use it on any given play. Additionally (back to his skating), Windsor doesn't have a strength & conditioning coach and their skating coach didn't play hockey (she's a figure skater), which could be a possible reason why his skating hasn't improved much since his D-1 year.However, he is a very cerebral player and uses his length and lateral movement to control time and space. He controls gaps well and has a knack for finding space on the ice where he is in a dangerous position (to pass or score). Despite his size and acceleration, he is great at thinking ahead of the play to position his body to move in the most advantageous direction. In particular, he is very adept at playing an outside-inside game, starting on the wings and moving toward the middle or starting below the net and moving above the goal line. This bodes well given that he is a bigger player, as it looks like he'll grow to 6'3-6'4, 225-230, similar to Kopi's size. He doesn't use the boards much, but as he grows into his body more, that should change. He isn't particularly bad along the boards, but he just doesn't utilize them as much as you'd expect. He's not afraid to take a hit to make a play, which also bodes well for his NHL future.His hands, shot, and passing are all great. In particular, his wrists look very strong, which plays into his deking style well. Unlike smaller players, who utilize the triangle under a defender's stick, Greentree often uses his length to escape pressure. He's already pretty strong on the puck, so if his skating improves [significantly], it'll be quite hard to stop him. Having Kopi and Byfield as teammates will be huge for his development in this area. If he and Byfield can play on the same line early in his development, they will be a problem. (
@NHLRussell
) Additionally, an aspect of his game that I haven't seen much commentary on is his backhand- it's quite different than a lot of players who use it as much as he does. Combining his wrist strength with the fact that his lower hand naturally grips rather far up the stick, he can generate more power with the puck further away from his body. This allows him to frequently get passes and shots on goal around defenders. Also, he's got some damn silky mitts. Just go watch some of his highlight reels.The biggest concern I think NHL scouts have with him isn't his skating, though. He has a natural tendency to cheat with his positioning (or cherrypick), which they characterize as poor defense. Now, normally you'd think that this is due to the system he plays in and coaching would help, but I believe that it's actually because he analyzes the game a lot further in advance than most players do. On the ice, this primarily means that he gets ahead of himself pretty often during transition plays, which his skating then turns into a liability. As a result, expect him to play as an F3 in Hiller's system, not an F2. I actually think this may be a good thing given the Kings' current roster composition, as he can play with any of the Kings' main line pairs: Kempe (F1) - Kopitar (F2)Byfield (F1) - Fiala (F2)Moore (F1) - Danault (F2)Thomas, Turcotte, and Laferriere all fit mostly as F1/2s.I suspect this may be a reason the Kings targeted him and other earlier-picking teams didn't. Either way, the Kings got a stud.
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