I'm really high on Emery. He's got nice tools and I think he's got a lot of upside. 6'3 and skates well. Both good straightline speed and a good lateral skater.
He's an excellent rush defender. He forces players to the outside and closes on them with good timing. He's got a long reach and a good defensive stick. Breaks up a lot of rush attempts / prevents zone entries with a simple poke or stick on puck. Not overly physical or an open ice hitter. But understands space well and is great at closing opposing forwards off at the wall. His in zone defense is mostly good. Very good at breaking up opposing cycles. Either through anticipation with a poke check or a board battle. He’s an excellent penalty killer as well. Blocks shots and closes passing lanes. An area where I can see criticism is that you want Emery to be harder to play against. He can be fairly loose with his coverage in front of the net. I think that comes in time as he matures. He's got the frame to put on a lot of muscle between now and his prime. He's only listed at 185 pounds as of today and looks it to me. Probably plays around 205-210 in his prime.
He doesn't have natural offensive ability, but I wouldn't categorize he his puck game as a big weakness. He's fairly composed with the puck on his stick and makes a good first pass. He doesn't have deceptive offense, but can make simple reads with the puck on his stick. There’s room to grow offensively as he develops.
As an NHLer, he projects as a shut down defenseman and a very good one. Someone you can match up against the other team's top players night in, night out. He’s not going to be a 1, but has upside as a 2/3 defenseman. He can either be a complementary piece on a top pairing or carry a 2nd pairing if he hits his ceiling. He'd be a great partner for a Quinn Hughes or Miro Heiskanen type or could carry a more flawed offensively oriented partner on a second pairing. Floor is probably an unspectacular 6/7. I'd be surprised if he didn't at least get a run in the NHL. I'd compare him with someone like Tom Willander from last year. Anyone needing that type of defenseman should be looking heavily at Emery. Put another way, if he was in Carolina, I think he'd fit right in with some of their guys like Slavin/Pesce/Skjei if his development goes well.
Top 10 is probably high for Emery. Generally speaking, you want someone with more offensive upside with that high of a pick. I think his range is 10-20. Mid teens, I'd be pushing for Emery. Once you get to the mid 20's, I'd be pounding the table.
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