Good thing Lassi Thomson is coming to NA, he needs to be coached and work on his defiencies as well as to be put in a role where he could use his assets.
He has to turn things around because in just one year, he got leapfrogged by a lot of prospects and young players in the Ottawa system
Thomson over Heinola is a perfect example of drafting for tools instead of the toolbox
Same goes for Cowen over Ellis in 2009 and Ceci over Maatta in 2012.
Doesn't matter how big a D is, how well he skates and how hard he shoots the puck - if he can't think or move the puck he won't help you.
Ideally a D-man has both, the tools and toolbox because it's hard to succeed in the NHL nowadays without both. Not that long ago, D-men were able to carve out NHL careers with just an "average" toolbox or a weakness like skating (ex : Hal Gill) just by being good positionally. But now that the talent level in the NHL has increased so much, it gets harder and harder every year.
Teams scout other teams like crazy and have in-depth reports on every NHL player as they will want to exploit players weaknesses as part of the game plan. For example, every small weakness a goalie has (blocker, glove, lateral movement) is well known by his opponents. Ceci has a problem with fast decision making, when there is several things happening at the same time that makes him hesitant a fraction of a second, which is not allowed at that level. That's why teams strategy is often to send 2 forecheckers on him to put him under pressure. Opposedly, it's very dangerous doing that against Chabot or Karlsson because their decision making is elite and if you send 2 guys on them, it's probably an odd-man rush going the other way.
NHL D-men prospects really need both tools and toolbox . I mean you can get away if you are undersized by having top notch skating or hockey IQ but in general it's going to be rare.
In some cases, at lower levels when the pace is slowler, some players might not seem to have "toolbox" problems but it eventually becomes a problem as the game gets faster. That's why you could read that type of stuff on Ceci prior to the draft :
While Cody Ceci is great in many aspects of the game, in my opinion his biggest asset is his hockey IQ. He consistently makes good, smart plays with the puck. Regardless of how much time or space he has, he rarely makes a bad play with it
Or another one :
The former 16th overall selection of the Ottawa 67’s in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection Draft, Cody Ceci has shown improvements in all facets of his game. His best attribute has always been his elite hockey sense but, until this season, Ceci lacked the confidence to fully tap his on-ice ability to read and react with the utmost confidence
