Disclaimer:
The following is based only on watching most of a single, very lopsided game between the Red Bull Academy U16 team and the U15 team of HC Lev Benesov.
I just wanted to check in on some 2008 players I was curious about. Unfortunately the stream quality was not that great and it was difficult to make out the numbers on the jerseys and I also could not rewind to rewatch anything, so I'll stick to some general impressions on mostly two players, who stuck out and were easier to recognize.
Tobias Krestan:
I had only seen him once before, if you can call it that, since I was watching about 5 minutes of him that somebody had recorded on their cellphone, back when he was still playing in Bad Nauheim.
Looked like a smooth skater out there. While most other players seemed to stumble and fall quite a bit, he always seemed in control on his skates. He was not super fast, but probably because he didn't have to, he never really was in a race for the puck.
What stood out the most to me was his playmaking ability and hockey IQ. While almost everyone else seemed to be reacting to what was happening on the ice, Krestan looked like he was thinking a couple of steps ahead, at times.
Sadio Kühner:
So far I had only seen that he had great stats as a young player in a league of questionable quality. The first thing that caught my eye was his size. He looked huge out there. Initally I thought that this may be why he had been so successful against older kids, because even though they were older, he was just bigger than most.
But it became clear pretty quickly that he was not just getting by on his size advantage. He is not exactly skating like Seider or Edvinsson or some other big smooth skating defensemen, but he skates well enough it seemed. He should look to improve his skating anyway, but I don't think it will hold him back.
Since the game was so incredibly one-sided it was impossible to really gauge his defensive game, but while he really likes to be involved offensively, even in a game against an opponent that poses no real threat, he never seemed out of control, or like he was taking this lightly. This could indicate, that he will be responsible defensively, and not be to reckless against stronger opposition.
Kees de Jager:
Just a quick sidenote on the undersized Dutch defenseman. He is fun to watch, very engaged all over the ice, but also extremely annoying. I have never seen a player tap his stick on the ice calling for the puck this much.
And while his apparent frustration was understandable when his forwards kept ignoring him hoveing at the blueline or even in the slot, with space and time for days, just to make stupid passes to one another while under pressure, it got really annoying after a while. As the game went on, he stopped doing it, but the first period was just crazy.
But other than that there was quite a bit to like about his game, though he could really use a growth spurt.
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