[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (B's and C's Edition, Vol. 1):

LC Mateo Nobert (6'0",168lbs)
Blainville-Boisbriand: 57gp/ 28g/ 39a/ 67pts, +1, 24 PIM

Center Mateo Nobert (ranked # 56 NA Skaters, # 26 by Button) was drafted in the first-round of the 2023 QMJHL Entry Draft, with the 3rd-overall pick, and his age works in his favor, with an August 12th, 2007 birthday- making him quite young by draft standards. The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada finished the regular-season in 8th-place, but were 5th in goals-scored- with two players in the top-10 on the league's scoring list, in Justin Carbonneau (2nd), and Vincent Desjardins (9th). Nobert was normally centering those two all season, and was a huge contributor to the Armada's powerplay, with 33 of his 67 points coming via the man-advantage. Though he missed the first game of the playoffs, Nobert still led the team in post-season scoring, with 5 points in 4 contests- en route to the Armada being eliminated in 5 games by the Sherbrooke Phoenix. A well-rounded, and underrated playmaker, Nobert drives play with elite skill and sublime offensive instincts, wielding sky-high IQ that is present in every facet of his game. With high-end puck-skill, he exudes poise, patience, and confidence under duress with the puck on his blade, and his feeds come off of his stick with the perfect weight and velocity to the recipient's tape, and usually provide an advantage to the receiver. He handles like a magician with the puck on an invisible string, making defenders miss with his arsenal of stickhandling tricks to deke and dangle his way up the ice.

A highly skilled passer with a soft-touch and sneaky deception, he exhibits flashes of high-end vision and creativity, and generates a lofty number of grade "A" chances for his linemates- showing the ability to make dynamic plays. He reads the ice well, and is an elite processor- always a few steps of ahead of the play with advanced awareness and anticipation, expertly finding space and time to operate, get pucks off the wall, and create distance from defenders to scan for available options. Nobert has well-developed passing skills to connect through traffic, get pucks to the slot, and distribute across the ice with crisp, accurate feeds. He understands how to deceive and manipulate, in order to open space and passing seams with delays to draw pressure, and he reads gaps in coverage to move through and occupy, with expert spacing to give himself a little elbow room. Obviously, he is used on the powerplay a ton, and he likes to run the play from the half-wall. Off the puck, he displays intelligence, and skates routes to open space, shift defenses, support the play, and remain constantly playable for his teammates. He is an excellent skater, with the speed to split defense-pairs, blow by opponents in open-ice, and win races to loose pucks- he's also light on his feet and decently agile to pivot off of hits, and make spin-o-rama plays. His stride isn't mechanically perfect though, as it's slightly short with a need for a bit more extension, and he has to build strength in his lower-body in order to become more explosive. Nobert will crash the crease without fear, and has a solid net-front presence to clean up garbage, with excellent hand-eye coordination for re-directs; he owns a hard wrister, with decent precision and a snappy release to freeze goaltenders, as well. He can shoot while in-motion, fire off the catch, and can unleash a dangerous laser off the rush. He combines his hands together with his speed, and his ability to outmaneuver his opponents, to fly through the neutral zone in transition- skating intelligent routes to locate open space, and using his vision and passing skill to create clean entries.

Nobert forces turnovers, mistakes, and uncontrolled play all over the ice with his ability to exert intense pressure on opponents, and he is known to be an impactful defensive performer, who is a constant disruptor- angling attackers to the outside, stripping pucks, and intercepting passes to the slot. He identifies threats early, removes their time and space, and works to get inside position- always staying on the right side of the puck. He supports his D down low, and will switch off with them when they need to leave their post. When he gets bigger and stronger, he will no doubt be a stalwart shut-down artist. Despite his size, he competes hard to win battles, and digs out more than his fair share of rubber. A physical player, he will throw his weight around to dislodge possession, ties opponents up against the wall and pins them there, leans into defenders in front of the net, and fights to win positioning. Wielding pace, physicality, and an active stick, he forechecks tenaciously to pressure opponents into giveaways, and uncontrolled play. Nobert tries to get too fancy at times- always going for the pretty play, or forcing something that just isn't there. Most of his problems seem to come from his lack of strength and mass, however; he seems bothered by heavy traffic and tight-areas, and appears to need ample space to make plays- relying too heavily on his skill and finesse. He often loses battles, and gets pushed around a bit- most of his issues will be solved as he gets bigger and stronger. He needs to get significantly better on the faceoff dot, as he hovered around 40% this season- perhaps another issue that is caused by his lack of strength. Nobert has some high-end skills and potential though- look for him in the second round this summer, but don't be surprised if he's taken in the first.