https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/20...powerful-motor
What Others Are Saying About Jacob Battaglia
We’ll start with Smaht Scouting, who has Battaglia ranked the highest among outlets that actually gave a scouting report along with their ranking. Here’s what Josh Tessler of Smaht Scouting had to say about the big winger:
Has excellent stick-handling and mobility to navigate around pressure along the half-wall. His straight line speed still requires further polishing, but his edgework has proven to be quite strong. Battaglia can pivot out on a dime, delay to throw off the attack and that leads to a fellow teammate skating into position to give Battaglia a quality passing lane to exploit. Battaglia won’t be the primary puck mover on the line, but will play an excellent support role.
The notes about his skating is reminiscent of Jack Hughes to me, in that their edgework is the real appeal of their skating ability as opposed to their straight line speed. Obviously Hughes is on a much higher level with his skating that just about everyone else in the world, but my point is Battaglia seems to be another player whose edgework outpaces his raw speed.
Next we turn to Recruit Scouting, the lowest we see Battaglia on the list of outlets we have a numbered ranking for:
Jacob Battaglia isn’t the most skillful player on the ice at any given point – but there’s a good chance he’s the hardest worker. He hits the ice with speed every time he jumps over the boards, and has a real impressive knack for finding ways to get involved in any kinds of play. He makes an impact every shift, even if it’s small or ultimately inconsequential. But finding ways to make those small marks is something a lot of players at this age need to work on – and Battaglia has done a lot to improve at it this year.
So here we get a picture of a player with a high compete level. Given the size of his frame, a strong player with a high compete level sounds like a player who can cause a lot of chaos for opposing teams. The acknowledgement of Battaglia improving a lot in making “small marks” this year is also interesting to me, especially when considering the Central Scouting ranking above. CS currently has Battaglia ranked 42nd among North American skaters, but that’s an improvement from 56th from the midterm rankings. So we may very well have a late bloomer on our hands in Battaglia, a prospect who would go a LOT higher in re-draft think pieces a few years down the road.
Finally, let’s go to Jordan Orth of The Hockey Writers, who profiled Battaglia himself about a week ago. The piece starts off with this overview:
After a slow start to his 2023-24 season with the Kingston Frontenacs, Jacob Battaglia slowly worked his way from playing bottom-line minutes into eventually playing top-line minutes and being one of the team’s strongest powerplay players. His relentless work ethic and motor helped him do just this, along with being on a Kingston team that had an underwhelming start to their season.
This tracks with the rise in the Central Scouting ranking, as well as what we saw in the Recruit Scouting blurb regarding his rising stock and his high compete level. Battaglia appears to be a prospect who is rapidly rising up draft boards. Maybe not all the way to the top of the draft or even the first round, but he’s a prospect with a lot of helium so to speak.
Orth also goes on to note that Battaglia has a ton of skill with the puck on his stick, a high motor (which is again in line with Recruit Scouting), and great hockey IQ. Orth lists his skating as his biggest weakness, though he does point out his skating is not terrible. Just that he needs to work on it to attain success at the next level.
With the 62nd OA pick, the Flames select RW Jacob Battaglia
