RW Tyler Thorpe - Vancouver Giants, WHL (2024, 130th, MTL)

[montreal]

Didn't see a thread on him, 1st game of the season,



Nice Backhand Pass/Chance 6:34
Great Chance 7:16
Another Good Chance 12:30
Assist 13:22
Goal 17:08

 

[CanadienShark]

I appreciate all the work you do @montreal . Many others here do as well. Thorpe is a prospect I know absolutely nothing about, but your videos are a great help to assist all of us in getting to know prospects.

 

[Bouboumaster]

I didn't even know that this dude was in the system lol
We need him and Xhekaj 2 on the fourth line ASAP

 

[montreal]

Thorpe Welcomes DuPont 2 WHL 0:02
Thorpe Rings One Off Crossbar 1:32
Thorpe Turns and Shoots 2:27
Thorpe Hit/Take Down Penalty 3:28
Thorpe Solid Hit 4:25
Thorpe Assist 7:42
Thorpe Close to Another Assist 8:46

 

[CanadienShark]

I didn't even know that this dude was in the system lol
We need him and Xhekaj 2 on the fourth line ASAP

And Tuch.

I'm in love with our mix of prospects from Demidov/Reinbacher, down to Xhekaj/Beck.

If half of them pan out, we've got a decent future core of prospects, let alone young players like Slafkovsky, or even Caufield and Suzuki to a lesser extent.

 

[montreal]

Backhand Pass Behind Net 0:59
Thorpe Gets Smoked/Then Several Punches 2 Face 5:50
Shorthanded Break 7:18
Tip Shot Chance 8:33

 

[montreal]

After Whistle Scrum 2:48
Assist 3:05
Solid Hit 5:00
1 on 1 Chance/Spin Shot 7:15
Assist 8:19

 

[montreal]

Stick Check Saves Likely Goal 2:06
Big Hit 7:26

 

[JadedRandom]

I've liked his play so far this season, but he really is one of those types that will thrive or falter based on how much he improves his skating.

Right now, Thorpe is still far from NHL-average in four-way mobility, and he'll need to get as close to it as he can if he wants any chance at an NHL career.

That said, I like the pick and small gamble by Bobrov, on a guy with an underrated skillset and some interesting potential to tap-into.

Thorpe showed well at camp anticipating plays, his release and shot were much better than I thought they would be, and he just plain was effective. Now, a couple games into the season, he's continued to show some good progression and confidence, which are great signs that I hope continue being there going forward.

 

[Pip]

Poor start to the season, although I’ll give him some leeway considering the injury last year. His biggest issue in my eyes is that he doesn’t manage the puck well. He often fires blind passes to no one or bad angle shots. Was hoping that he would hit the ground running after a reportedly good camp but was bumped off the top line quickly and has struggled to produce at the rate expected for someone his age at this level, nor is he generating the chance volume to support this being unlucky.

Hope he can pick things up now that they are done their Alberta road trip.

 

[montreal]

Thorpe Hit/Fight vs Ashton Cumby 4:02
Thorpe Nice Assist 9:39

 

[montreal]

Thorpe Nice Pass 3:21
Thorpe Almost Backhander Goal 3:56
Thorpe Shot Almost Tipped 4:49
Thorpe Goal 5:04
Thorpe Big Hit 10:34
Thorpe Goal 11:01

 

[montreal]

all his goals, assists this month

 

[MS]

This was a guy I was hyping a bit last year but I'm not really sure what to make of him right now.

He has the best shot in the WHL, full stop. His wrist shot is an absolute laser that explodes off his stick at 90+ MPH with basically zero backswing and goalies at this level don't even realize he's shooting before the puck is past them into the net. It's a ++ tool that totally projects as a legit top-6 NHL scorer trait.

And with that shot and at 6'4 with credible skating relative to this level he should be absolutely dominating the WHL as a drafted 19 y/o and be scoring 50+ goals ... but he just isn't. He's really good at scoring off the rush with his shot but you can't live off transition scoring at higher levels - you need to be able to find seams in opposing defenses in contained situations, need to be able to get into dirty areas and score dirty goals. And he just doesn't seem to have either the instincts or the jam to do that right now, and his production has basically flatlined from last season, on pace for 55-60 points.

 

[montreal]

This was a guy I was hyping a bit last year but I'm not really sure what to make of him right now.

He has the best shot in the WHL, full stop. His wrist shot is an absolute laser that explodes off his stick at 90+ MPH with basically zero backswing and goalies at this level don't even realize he's shooting before the puck is past them into the net. It's a ++ tool that totally projects as a legit top-6 NHL scorer trait.

And with that shot and at 6'4 with credible skating relative to this level he should be absolutely dominating the WHL as a drafted 19 y/o and be scoring 50+ goals ... but he just isn't. He's really good at scoring off the rush with his shot but you can't live off transition scoring at higher levels - you need to be able to find seams in opposing defenses in contained situations, need to be able to get into dirty areas and score dirty goals. And he just doesn't seem to have either the instincts or the jam to do that right now, and his production has basically flatlined from last season, on pace for 55-60 points.

he's got heavy feet and below average skating/speed, that's going to need a lot of work.

 

[MS]

he's got heavy feet and below average skating/speed, that's going to need a lot of work.

Pro-wise yeah. His stops/starts are weak and he struggles tracking the play back. But relative to other WHL players it’s not terrible. And weirdly he’s mostly a rush scorer which is where sluggish skating is most magnified. His skating shouldn’t prevent him from being lethal on the PP.

 

[KristichBabych]

This was a guy I was hyping a bit last year but I'm not really sure what to make of him right now.

He has the best shot in the WHL, full stop. His wrist shot is an absolute laser that explodes off his stick at 90+ MPH with basically zero backswing and goalies at this level don't even realize he's shooting before the puck is past them into the net. It's a ++ tool that totally projects as a legit top-6 NHL scorer trait.

And with that shot and at 6'4 with credible skating relative to this level he should be absolutely dominating the WHL as a drafted 19 y/o and be scoring 50+ goals ... but he just isn't. He's really good at scoring off the rush with his shot but you can't live off transition scoring at higher levels - you need to be able to find seams in opposing defenses in contained situations, need to be able to get into dirty areas and score dirty goals. And he just doesn't seem to have either the instincts or the jam to do that right now, and his production has basically flatlined from last season, on pace for 55-60 points.

I think he tries to change is style to be more physical this year… He had more fights this year, so maybe he wants to be a 4th line guy and wants to develop new tools for the AHL… But me too, I had better expectations for his offensive side.

 

[montreal]

Pro-wise yeah. His stops/starts are weak and he struggles tracking the play back. But relative to other WHL players it’s not terrible. And weirdly he’s mostly a rush scorer which is where sluggish skating is most magnified. His skating shouldn’t prevent him from being lethal on the PP.

I'm wondering what they do with him next season since he turns 20 in August, not sure he's ready for the AHL yet.

 

[JadedRandom]

I'm wondering what they do with him next season since he turns 20 in August, not sure he's ready for the AHL yet.

Thorpe could perhaps spend another season in the WHL.

Either that or they start Thorpe in the ECHL hoping for him to find his way to the AHL roster ala Sasha Pastujov.

And yeah, skating will be the limiting factor for Thorpe going forward. Sadly, as a winger there are a LOT of stop-and-gos so that lack of pace gets compounded quickly.

To add, Thorpe's lack of both acceleration and top-line speed is especially egregious in puck pursuits along the boards, and when trying to build speed in the neutral zone.

I find that even by WHL standards Thorpe's already a bit slow. By NHL standards Thorpe's skating is plain inadequate.

If we could graft NHL-average skating to Thorpe, he'd be a definite NHLer and likely middle-6 winger.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure Thorpe's skating is fixable at this point since I haven't seen much improvement over the season and last Summer on this front for him. And I don't think he has the hockey sense to compensate for that either.

So yeah, it's not impossible that Thorpe develops in an asymmetric way in his D+3/4/5 and manages to become an NHLer. Though I wish it were otherwise, we nonetheless have to admit that this last scenario is unlikely at this point and that Thorpe might not make it to the highest level.

 

[montreal]

Thorpe Assist 0:49
Thorpe Goal/Schmidt Assist 1:15
Bad Luck Thorpe 1:50

 

[montreal]

 

[Scintillating10]

Be on line with Tuch and Xhekaj next year in Laval.

 

[JadedRandom]

Be on line with Tuch and Xhekaj next year in Laval.

Thorpe looked very good in practice games in the Summer after the Draft, where he surprised me with his shot, puck-protection abilities and overall skillset for such a huge frame, but I don't know if Thorpe will show the same play-quality in actual games in the AHL.

Thorpe's most glaring flaw back in his draft year to anyone who watched him play was definitely his skating. His first couple of steps were quite slow, and Thorpe showed a disting lack of elusiveness on his skates before the Draft and during the Summer camp.

Thing is, I saw only a bit of improvement to Thorpe's skating throughout the year, and that lack of progress has definitely soured me a bit on his future in the pros. Right now, Thorpe is a slightly below-average skater for the CHL but gets by using his massive frame and puck-possesion abilities.

Except that the pace is much higher in the pros, and that the average player is also much stronger compared to the CHL so that Thorpe may have trouble distinguising himself as much in that sense and may struggle right out of the gate.

For comparisons' sake, Jared Davidson is smaller but a much better skater than Thorpe. And even he had to "ride the pine" a bit and adapt to the pro speed before he started making something of himself at the AHL level.

Ultimately, it could be that Thorpe will have to bide his time for a bit, grind away at practices in the AHL and "get to speed" before he sees regular shifts for Laval.

It could also be that I underrate Thorpe's hockey sense and that his speed ends up being a non-factor in the AHL because his game fits better at the pro level than in juniors.

I sincerely hope the latter ends up happening and I have to eat crow on this one.

But having watched a fair amount of Thorpe in the WHL this year for the Giants I am not sure at all if his game will translate as well to the AHL as recent mid-round picks of ours like Xhekaj and Davidson.

Anyways, I still like this signing by Montreal as Thorpe displays some "+" attributes to his game that could lead him to become an NHLer one day with development. But there's a reason why Demidov has TONS of comments on his thread whilst Thorpe has very little.

It is warranted.