[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (My Boy Cayden Edition);

A unicorn amongst unicorns, LHC Cayden Lindstrom is a swift-skating behemoth, at 6'5",215lbs, with snarl, a nice two-way game, and multiple projectable tools- proof that sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too. An upper-body injury that required surgery has kept him sidelined since December, but before that, he had piled up 27 goals and 46 points in only 32 games, to go with 66 penalty minutes, for Medicine Hat. In last year's Hlinka Gretzky, in a support role, he managed to post 3 points in 5 games, with 12 PIM.

Lindstrom is a power forward who plays a pro-style game, and can take over any game with either skill or brute force. He has a high-end offensive toolkit, with the ability to shoot, or make plays. He's not just an excellent skater for his size, he's an excellent skater for any size. His stride is powerful, and he generates blazing speed from it, with agility and explosiveness from his edges, and the ability to turn on a dime. He's strong on his skates, and hard to knock off the puck. He plays with pace, putting defenders on their heels, and can skate just as fast with the puck, as he can without. His arsenal of shots, and the lightning-fast release that comes with them are all NHL-calibre, as is the deception he uses to disquise them. His one-timer has blistering velocity behind it, his snapshot is hard and accurate, and he can shoot in full flight without losing speed in his stride, or power in his shot. Around the net, he finds open space in the slot to facilitate chances, and he will pounce on rebounds, tap-ins, and tips- or set up an effective screen, using his massive frame. He forechecks hard, driving the net to present himself as an available option for a high-danger pass.

Lindstrom's playmaking ability and creativity are highly underrated- he shows good vision, with the ability to find teammates with difficult, and complicated passes to high-danger, through traffic- he's a proficient tape-to-tape passer, and problem-solver. His hockey IQ has come into question, but I think it's largely because Lindstrom is not afraid to try, and fail, with these plays. He is calm and patient with the puck, even when he's going all-out, and will buy time to wait until the right play unfolds, rather than force a pass, or throw the puck away. He skates with his head up to map out his surroundings, and draws opponents to him to open space to use, and he creates lanes for himself to operate in. He can find holes below the goal line to generate chances, and recieves passes in stride, without the need to slow down. Lindstrom's deception skills are off the charts, and he bends the opposition to his will, manipulating his way around the ice- one of the pillars of his game. He will fake a shot to dish to an open teammate, he will sell going wide to attack the middle, or feign attacking the middle to go wide. He has a dazzling array of feints and manouvers to beat defenders, and is one of the most feared 1-on-1 players in the WHL, moving through coverage with the puck on a string, to dangle around opponents. The puck-control he commands is scary, and his stickhandling is one of the strengths of his game- it's nearly impossible to strip him of the puck, as it seems like it's glued to his stick, and he protects extremely well. For a player as big as he is, it's rare to see such a well-developed small-area game, as he can move around in traffic without hardly getting touched, as if he's skating around pylons.

It's pretty hard to play a physical game, or to lay a hit, when you're in constant possession of the puck, and while Lindstrom prefers to do most of his damage with his skill, he does use his size well, and will dish out punishment in the form of big hits when the opportunity presents itself. Even when he's not hitting, he uses his size to leverage his way around, win battles in the hard areas, as well as dominate along the wall and down low. He's tough and mean, stirs the pot and agitates, and opponents don't fare well when they poke the bear. He's always highly engaged and competitive, finishing his checks, working hard for every puck, and playing with high levels of energy and desperation. His feet are always in motion, and he's highly industrious, seemingly touching every square foot of ice in a single shift. Lindstrom is a solid two-way player, with consistently good stick and body position in all 3 zones- he can intercept plays in the offensive zone, thereby extending possession, and he commands play in transition by skating through the neutral zone, evading checks like he was a ghost. He makes an inordinately high number of entries with control, and attacks the middle lanes with vigor.

Lindstrom backchecks as hard as he forechecks, with a long reach that stymies attackers in the defensive zone, and after performing a smooth retrieval, he will turn the defense around into offense quickly. In the defensive zone, he has a proactive off-puck game that puts him in a good position to take away the middle of the ice, and kill plays. He supports teammates well, blocks shots, wins faceoffs, and is physically engaged against puck-carriers, playing them hard and mean. He can match footwork with anyone, including smaller, more shifty opponents. While he works hard, and understands his duties defensively, he's still quite raw in this area, perhaps because he only started playing C a few years ago- he can be caught puck-watching, and needs to learn how to stick to his man better. This part of his game needs to be shored up. He often tries to do too much on his own, holding on to the puck too long, and trapping himself, or overhandling the puck- all of which can result in turnovers. Lindstrom's hockey IQ has come into question by some, as he makes some bad decisions when in trouble, such as passing to the first teammate in sight, when that teammate is already covered by an opponent. He makes bad passes on occasion, and takes strange routes in the offensive zone, where he gets lost in traffic. Another big issue is that he gets frustrated too easily, and loses his temper, which leads to bad penalties. All in all though, Lindstrom has a skillset that is highly translatable, and a frame that is highly coveted by GM's. I expect him to be picked in the top-5 of this year's draft.