Kettles plays a hard-nosed, stay-at-home defensive style, getting the vast majority of his starts in the defensive zone and on the penalty kill. He’s a good skater for his size, but his turns, pivots, and overall lateral movement are slower, which hinders his ability to defend the rush to a certain extent, as speedy forwards can beat him on the outside. His gap control is also slightly inconsistent, ranging from being too aggressive to sitting back a bit too much, allowing forwards to get shots off. In the defensive zone, Kettles consistently gets in shooting lanes to block shots and uses his reach to disrupt the flow of play low in the zone. He does a solid job of killing plays and preventing the puck from reaching dangerous areas. The advantage of his size usually comes from leaning on opponents and using efficient methods to separate man from puck rather than looking for the big hit. The shortcomings in Kettles’ game are what really limit him and are primarily related to his puck skills. His lack of playmaking and puck-handling abilities impacts how well he deals with pressure, leading to jagged breakouts and questionable decision-making. There will be obvious interest in Kettles as a draft prospect because of his size and ability to defend, but in my opinion, significant development with the puck on his stick is needed, and improvements to some aspects of his rush defense will also help his cause. For me, Kettles fits in the late third-round range, with a team believing that, with further development, he can become a third-pair defender who plays a heavy, defensive game.