Brandon Carlo - 6'5'' 203lbs right shooting defenceman
projected to go late 1st round or early 2nd, but his stock is rising. He is currently playing for the Americans top shutdown pairing at the WJC.
From an organizational need perspective he checks off many boxes for the Flames. However his offensive game is at the moment below the standards of Hanifin, Werenski, Roy, Provorov and Kylington.
Red line report writeup from October:
http://www.redlinereport.com/wp-cont...-spotlight.pdf
Future considerations October notes on Carlo:
http://futureconsiderations.ca/noteb...y-vehvilainen/
Quote:
October 9, 2014 – Tri-City @ Saskatoon (WHL) – D Brandon Carlo, Tri-City, 6-5, 205
“He’s an absolute monster out on the ice and skates extremely well for his size. His footwork is not perfect but definitely at a higher level than you would expect for someone who is 6’5 and over 200 pounds. He’s got a good powerful skating stride and displayed solid lateral mobility on a number of occasions including during some 1 on 1 defensive plays.
The other big thing I noticed about his game aside from skating is just how mean he is. Was constantly in player’s faces; chirping and talking trash. He also was a big fan of using his stick behind the play. Constantly poking player’s legs; slashing them. A borderline dirty player who has a very mean edge to his game.
His game is not limited to being a defensive player only. He was very involved in the play – especially early – looking to jump up into the rush and push the pace. He passed the puck well all night and showed off a very hard shot on a couple of occasions. With that hard shot he did a good job getting himself into shooting position while also showing the ability to handle the puck in such a way to give himself space to shoot it. He’s got good offensive instincts to go with his skating and snarl.
He did have some miscues in the game though. I noticed one bad play with the puck and it came as he blindly threw it up the middle, resulting in a scoring chance against. There was also a play in the second period where he tried to dangle across the offensive blueline with his head down and got absolutely lit up.
He played roughly 22-24 minutes, I would guess, seeing time on the second PP unit while also killing penalties. Wore an “A” as an alternate Captain. Overall, I love his upside. While he does rely a lot on his size and strength at this level, I think he has the tools to still “play the game” at the next level. His size and skating combo is rare and coveted by NHL teams. Not only that, but I think that combination will allow him to play at the NHL level sooner than most players drafted in his same range.
I would fully expect some teams have him rated as a top 20 player in this draft and I would say he’s an easy top 40 selection for me at this point in time.” – Cody Nickolet
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