March Notebook: Galloway

Every season, scouts from Future Considerations spend countless hours gathering information on the next wave of NHL talent coming down the pipe. Future Considerations Eastern head scout Dylan Galloway is no different.

Here is Galloway’s notebook for February.

Philip Tomasino, C, Niagara, 6-0, 180, 7-29-2001
Tomasino utilizes his skating and stick handling ability well to punch through the defense, with a dump and chase, speed past the defender and be first on the puck deep in the zone. He doesn’t possess blinding speed, but Tomasino can utilize a quick step to transition the puck deep into the opponent’s zone and has definitely improved his approach to entering the zone over the season. Though he has always been a controlled-entry monster, Tomasino used to stickhandle himself into a corner and be held out to the perimeters, resulting in a turnover and short zone time. Tomasino seems to have adapted and is better utilizing his smarts and speed to blow past the defense to get possession of the puck in deep and get the offense set up for more sustained pressure. He is also really sneaky in the offensive zone, doing a really good job of finding open ice and getting there to give his teammates passing options. He does this particularly well around the net front. Tomasino needs to work on his focus on calming down his play a little bit. If he can slow himself down a little and focus on just making the simple play rather than being over excited and missing an opportunity like that he will be a much more effective player. Tomasino has the talent and skill to be a highly effective puck rushing, offensively focused forward, but only if he can slow his game down a little.

Mason Primeau, C, North Bay, 6-5, 200, 7-28-2001
The big power-forward has a nice ability to break the puck out and use his size to get through the neutral zone. Primeau has a decent first few steps for a big player like himself, though his skating could use some work for sure as it is bit sloppy. He boasts a good shot that has some decent heat behind it. He had a few good passes as well, showing off some decent vision. In general, though, Primeau isn’t very effective at utilizing his size to win puck battles in the corners and carry the puck from the perimeter to the middle of the ice. From shift-to-shift, Primeau can be very effective to virtually invisible, which is hard to do for a guy that’s 6-foot-5. Primeau needs to improve his consistency and compete to take himself to the next level.

Matvei Guskov, C, London, 6-1, 170, 1-30-2001
Guskov doesn’t display any sort of blistering speed, but the two-way forward can definitely keep pace with his peers, and he utilizes his long legs and powerful strides to get up and down the ice efficiently. In particular, Guskov is excellent in transition with the puck, using his big frame to protect the puck and his solid skating to gain the offensive zone with speed and control. He’s got decent vision and smarts with the puck, recognizing skating and shooting lanes. His shot is slightly above average and displays good velocity and accuracy on shots from distance. Guskov’s defensive zone play is inconsistent at best, though he does put in the effort. He consistently gets back on the back check, however he would puck-watch a little too often, losing his positioning and his man. This is definitely his biggest wart, though he showed willingness to play a defensive game and learn from mistakes. Generally, Guskov showed he has some good tools, just needs to put them together to help his team create more pressure in the offensive zone and get possession and into transition from the defensive zone.