[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (E=NG Edition):

The Edmonton Oil Kings' rebuild is coming along nicely, finishing the season 17th overall in the 22-team WHL and 11th in goals-for, which is a fairly sharp uptick when one considers that they were among the worst franchises in the entire CHL in 2022-23; dead last in the WHL, and last in goals-scored by an appalling 57 tallies. As far as prospects go for the 2024 draft, Gavin Hodnett and Adam Jecho are the two Oil Kings that are garnering the most attention, but RHD Parker Alcos has some fans in the scouting community. The 6'3", 174lb righty is young, with a July 20th birthday, and only managed to post a modest 1 goal and 15 points in 67 games with 29 PIM, but numbers don't always tell the whole story.

At this stage of his development, Alcos is largely a stay-at-home minute muncher who can move the puck, but flashes good two-way potential. Over the course of the 2023-24 season, he shown plenty of growth, and has earned more and more ice-time and responsibility from the coaching staff as the year progressed. He is a smooth skater with excellent mobility for a player his size, and is hard to stop when he's going full throttle. He can win races to loose pucks with his powerful stride, and transitions smoothly to backward skating when the play turns around. He shows strong edges for quick pivots and can surf around the neutral zone, cutting off huge swaths of ice from opponents, rarely overskating his target. Though he's far from being a stalwart playmaker, he can effectively QB a powerplay from the line, and will pinch into the play- but picks his spots very judiciously, and will sneak in on the weak side to make high-danger plays. He shows some passing skill, making good decisions under duress, and can thread the needle through traffic on occasion. There are times when he flashes creativity and offensive ability, and he wields quality puck-skills, but he could use more deception to help facilitate his ideas into fruition. He skates with his head up to choose the correct routes to take, and to choose the right pass to make. With no goals in 2022-23 split between the Oil Kings and the Northern Alberta Extreme U18 Prep Team, and only 1 tally this season, it's fair to say that he's not much of a goal-scoring threat, and his shot is said to be nothing special, unfortunately.

Alcos is physical, but not really mean, finishing his checks in the line of duty, but is aggressive at the same time and has no problem in getting his nose dirty in the greasy areas of the ice to win battles. He contributes to transition through the neutral zone in quick touches and give-and-go's, but his true value is shown in his retrievals and in his ability to kickstart the breakout with smart, snappy passing. He scans well, looking over both shoulders to map out his surroundings while he wins races to loose pucks, and establishes body position. His breakout passes are usually kept relatively simple, but he flashes high-end proficiency in this area with some long stretch passes from time to time. While we wait for his offense to come along, it can be said that Alcos already has a fairly well-developed defensive game, and is a deft rush-defender with excellent tracking data for his own-zone contributions. He is already a shutdown defenseman who pays the proper attention to details, and relies on good positioning and an active stick to make stops. He boxes opponents out from the net, and makes an effort to snuff the rush in the neutral zone proactively by cutting off lanes with his extra-long reach. He angles attackers to the outside, and finishes them with bodychecks, but his gap-control could be a bit tighter as he gives rushers too much space at times. Alcos has some NHL tools and long-term upside, but needs to further develop some other tools in order to guarantee a future in the big leagues. He will need plenty of time. Look for him in later rounds.