Flashback towards the end of the 2016-2017 season for the Montreal Canadiens: Alexander Radulov completes a pretty successful return to North America, Galchenyuk ends the season with 44 points in 61 games, playing mostly on the wing, and the best scorer at Center position is none other than Phillip Danault with 13 goals and 40 points. Behind him, Tomas Plekanec follow with a meager total of 10 goals and 28 points. The Canadiens’ shortcomings at center never were so clear.
During the draft, Trevor Timmins and his team set their sights on young college player Ryan Poehling, seeing him as the best center available and as a player who could eventually fill a role in their top 6. He is not a very popular player and his offensive totals of seven goals and thirteen points in 35 games disappoint many, suggesting that the Canadiens may have just acquired yet another defensive middle-nine forward.
However, Poehling did a good job to appease such concerns in the following season. The youngest of the three Poehling brothers, who all play together for the St Cloud State Huskies, has a very interesting offensive talent and he let it speak in 2017-2018 as he doubled his goal totals and tripled his assist totals, scoring 14 goals and 31 points in 36 games. And then, to make sure that the message was heard loud and clear, he scored the following goal:
It is important to note that during his draft season, Poehling was the youngest player in the league. Upon his arrival in the collegial ranks, he chose to simplify his game to be able to adapt and not put his team in trouble. He was somewhat reserved in his creativity, making sure to be responsible defensively and not to hurt his team with rookie mistakes. Considering this, his first season was satisfactory and he was already showing promises with, among other things, several goals scored with nice deflections.
(Source: eliteprospects.com)
Offensively, Poehling stands out with his creativity as a playmaker. He is an extremely fast and explosive skater with excellent acceleration. Thanks to his 6’2 » frame, he is able to protect the puck and enter the offensive zone with speed with the puck on his stick. He excels at drawing the opposing defenders towards him, selling a shot or rush to the net before finding a teammate with a pass.
He also excels at using his puck handling to create passing lanes. Thanks to his speed, opposing defenders must respect his ability to go to the net on a rush and and can not cheat to cut his pass options.
Poehling scores the majority of his goals not with his shot but with his impressive hand-eye coordination. At least half of his goals are on deflections, which are one of his specialties. Thanks to his speed, he is also able to sneak in behind opposing defenders on the rush, heading to the net in order to redirect passes from his teammates. He has quick hands to jump on rebounds in the crease.
His shot is not bad, but it’s not his favorite weapon and he does not seem to have a real « sniper » instinct when it comes to shooting. His shooting is often used to create rebounds for his teammates. He also gets a good amount of breakaways and has good hands that help him beat opposing goalies.
Poehling is a responsible player at both ends of the rink and he chooses the simple, efficient play over the flashier one most of the one. His goal is to move the puck up the ice quickly and without turnovers once it is recovered. He works hard at both forechecking and backchecking and his intensity is unquestionable. He also seems to have an excellent attitude and is a very hard-working player who seems to realize the work he has ahead of him.
He is physically strong and does not get pushed around in puck battles. However, he is not an aggressive player, using his size to protect the puck or win battles but not much for hitting. His speed, his hockey sense and his intensity allow him to create several turnovers and he knows how to jump on then quickly to head at full speed towards the opposing zone.
At the international level, Poehling had a few interesting performances: three goals and five points in seven games in 2017 at the under 18s, one goal and three points this year at the under-20s, and his best performance in 2016 at the Hlinka tournament, before being drafted, where he had four goals and six points in four games.
Poehling clearly has top 6 potential. We could compare him to a player like Jordan Staal – if he develops to the maximum of his potential I think he can be a 20 goals, 50 to 55 points player, an excellent and reliable 2nd-line center. Should he not develop offensively, he would also have the toolkit to play as a third or fourth-line shutdown center.
So far this season, Poehling has three goals and fifteen points in fourteen games, staying over the one point per game pace. The St Cloud State Huskies will want to redeem themselves after a fast exit during their yearly tournament earlier in 2018, when they were eliminated very quickly despite spending the majority of the season at the top of the rankings. We will want to see the young center from Minnesota continue his one point per game pace, in addition to getting better performances at the end of year tournament in 2019.
It is possible that we see Poehling at the doors of the NHL next year and he is the kind of player that Claude Julien should like. He will have three full seasons of experience in the collegial ranks but a little adaptation period in the AHL, as for Jake Evans, would be good if ever he seems to struggle with the 82 game calendar which will be new to him.
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