There is a Cullen Potter in every single draft class. A forward that is on the smaller side but has a toolkit that is overflowing with translatable skill. This all causes the online scouting world out there in the public to obsess over the player and think he should go much higher than he inevitably does. But when it comes to Potter, he isn’t just another small guy who prospect experts love to go against the grain. The way that he has approached his early development and what he has done in his draft year is worth the hype.
For one, Potter left the National Development Program after last season, deciding to go to Arizona State University during what should be his final year of high school. He is the first ever forward to forego playing his Under-18 year in the program after playing on the Under-17. That takes some guts. While his peers are busy trying to score a bunch of points in a non-competitive junior league, Potter at 17 years old was playing against competition several years older than he was. And while he was playing on the wing while in the program, he was a center before joining, so he then rightfully returned to his natural position in college hockey.
Plainly, if you want to sell anyone on Potter and if anyone is doubting him because he didn’t rack up a boatload of points during his draft year, it’s easy. He’s a center that is possibly the best skater in the entire draft and started playing college hockey a year early. Pretty good, no? One has to imagine that if he stayed in the national program, or even somehow made his way to the Canadian Hockey League, he would have triple-digit points and everyone would be looking him in the same light as some of the other junior stars. Instead of trying to raise his stock, he wanted that foundation developed earlier than normal to make him a better player in a few years compared to if he just stuck it in juniors. Let’s dive in.
Pre-draft rankings
No. 22 by NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters)
No. 31 by Elite Prospects
No. 20 by TSN/Bob McKenzie
No. 25 by Daily Faceoff
Bio
DOB: January 10, 2007
Birthplace: Hortonville, WI
Position: Center/Left wing
Height: 5’10″
Weight: 172 lbs
Shoots: Left
Statistics
What’s there to like?
Potter has one thing that drives his entire game: Pace. We have heard that term so many times when it came to what John Tortorella was trying to squeeze out of this roster and generally, what this Flyers roster lacks. Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost were traded because they lack it. They drafted Jett Luchanko higher than public scouts thought he would go because he has excellent pace. It’s a theme that teams are trying to build and engrain in their roster.
This 5-foot-11 center has it in spades. He is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best three skaters in this entire draft class (and most argue that he is the best skater out of them all) and he uses it to his advantage in all areas of play. He will be able to jet himself into extra space to create offense for his linemates in the zone, after he pushed the opposing blueliners back on their heels on the rush. And then in the same shift he will put immense defensive pressure on any team that is set up on his own zone by attacking loose pucks and trying to tenaciously strip possession away — all because he can get to areas on the ice quicker than everyone else.
But it’s not even just speed, he can get on his edges and then use some hyper-agility to brush off defenders, setting up offensive plays on his forehand or backhand. Simply put, his skating really is the driving force being a whole lot of his game but he has the smarts and drive to utilize his elite tool for his team’s advantage.
As Elite Prospect’s Mitch Brown wrote in a Feb. 15 scouting report when Arizona State was facing the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Potter doesn’t need to have the puck to impact the game.
“Potter continues to stand out for his defence and off-puck engagement,” Brown wrote. “He had a bunch of impressive sequences defensively, particularly tying up off-puck threats and sprinting back into the play to tip away pucks. Very engaged, scanning and switching quickly. The mobility gives a lot of range defensively — one second, he’s down low, the next he’s pushing a shooting threat to the point.”
That’s the stuff. And that’s what I think teams will fall in love with: The Effort. And that’s why if his critics go rambling off about how he is too small, we can all brush it off and want him anyways. He has the speed, skill, and work ethic to make it all work in the NHL, in our opinion. We already know all about that profile with Luchanko, but imagine if Luchanko went to college instead and was more offensively talented.
What’s not to like?
Obviously, as we already mentioned, the size it going to be critiqued whether or not we want it to be. But with such speed and ferocity to his game, we think he should be able to overcome being a couple inches shorter than other prospects.
Maybe if we could point out one thing that we noticed while watching him is that sometimes he will be skating into no man’s land with the puck. Not very active with possession but just holding on to it, waiting for something to come to him or generally overskating a zone entry. Something like that. But that’s all about developing that Hockey Brain as the speed of the game picks up the more levels he progresses.
When it comes to specifically what Flyers fans might not like is not for sure knowing if he will be a center in the NHL. No one except Caleb Desnoyers in this projected first round is 100 percent likely to be a centerman in the National. Even the best players have a little bit of doubt, so when it comes to Potter, maybe his game does translate more as a transition-heavy winger that has a heck of an offensive toolkit, but that’s not a bad thing to have either.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
Sure, sure. You can worry all about the projected size of Potter and how it’s another diminutive forward added to the Flyers’ prospect pool but he’s different. In a sort of Jett Luchanko way with a solid base and is such a good skater that his physical size will mean very little, Potter’s skill would be undeniable in this pool.
If he fulfills his destiny, Potter isn’t at the level of a Matvei Michkov of course, but as a very complementary forward who can play in all three positions if needed and pushes the pace among the best, he would be such a great addition. And because of that speed and skill that Potter is able to inject into the Flyers, suddenly the Flyers have two very fast centers and might just have a player that can be a top-six contributor despite everything else. It’s a swing and probably one that other fan bases become so envious of.
Could the Flyers actually get him?
A month or so ago, it seemed like NHL teams were starting buy the Potter hype. You would see him go in the first 20 or so picks in a mock draft or ranked super high by someone putting their own ranking together. But, with the release of more reliable mock drafts from people who know what teams are thinking, Potter is suddenly being hypothetically taken in the final few picks of the first round.
That is great news for the Flyers. Say they go for the super safe pick with a Caleb Desnoyers at sixth overall. Okay great, that’s your guy who will possibly be a very good middle-six center for a decade. Safety. Now, it is the time to swing big. Potter would be the perfect bet on his skill making him make an impact in the NHL and by everything we’re reading from people in the know, he should be available with the Colorado Avalanche’s pick that the Flyers have, and maybe even the Edmonton Oilers’ pick near the end of the first round.
If Potter is still available when the Flyers are a few draft picks away from making their selection, we can guess that a whole lot of people will be banging the table and yelling really loud for Danny Briere to walk up to the podium and say his name.
What scouts are saying
“I always default to players who bring great joy to the game, push pace, and electrify the crowd to get points on the board. Potter is that, and I haven’t found anyone else who consistently brings that kind of energy to this extent. I must stress that he’s a 2007-born playing centre, a position he didn’t play last year, and has grown a tremendous amount in that role. Incredibly efficient pushing pucks up the ice in a variety of methods, driving half of his team’s offense, and chipping in defensively more than you might think, Potter’s overall metrics at 5v5 don’t trail a guy like Hagens that much. The name that has come to mind more and more recently with Potter is Kyle Connor, who potentially like Potter, ended up as a mid-first round pick after a hugely productive USHL season. You can question Connor’s defensive results, but you can’t question the speed, skill and finishing ability he has that continuously puts him among the league’s best scorers. Obviously that’s a high bar to meet, but Potter is explosive and dynamic unlike so many in this class, and I believe his low assist totals often stem from outskating linemates and skating into unwinnable offensive zone situations a little too often. Is that his fault? I’d say at times yes, but surroundings matter in hockey, and again he is one of a small handful of 2007-born NCAA players this season. Every game he excites me, and every game the number of times I wonder what the hell he’s doing has declined over the season. There’s part of me that wanted to put him a tier higher, but I do wonder about how effective he’ll be in the NHL under physical pressure, but if a guy like Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Jordan Kyrou or Kyle Connor can make it work successfully, I could see Potter being the next one that does the same at whatever position he lands himself in.”
—Will Scouch, scouching.ca
“Potter is a speedy forward whose game revolves around his complete skating ability. In transition, he uses his speed to fly through the neutral zone, gain entry into the offensive zone and create chances in a variety of ways. He can take defenders wide before driving toward the net or slam on the brakes just inside the blue line before finding a trailer in the middle of the ice. Additionally, his lateral quickness and agility are just as impressive, allowing him to cut into the middle of the ice from the wing. After activating that speed, he’s able to thread passes across the seam or to high-danger areas throughout the first period. Even though he’s a smaller player, Potter succeeds in tight areas in the offensive zone, primarily due to his edgework. He can elude opponents below the dots to create space, which he then parleys into a scoring chance for himself or a teammate.”
—Kareem Elshafey, FCHockey
“The best-skating forward in this age group by a margin, Potter is a small but talented and extremely fast player who uses his electric speed to put defenders on their heels, back them off, create opportunistic chances, get out in transition and jump onto loose pucks. He’s a fun player to watch with his ability to go inside-out and outside-in on players, his ability to round corners and his desire to attack off the rush and challenge D by turning on the jets.”
–Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
And with Potter now gone from the board, we turn to add another prospect to the poll. In comes 6-foot-4 defenseman Blake Fiddler from the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings.
“For his stature, Fiddler moves very well off the puck and has the ability to join the rush as an extra layer. Defensively he does whatever it takes to keep pucks out of his net. He gets in shooting lanes to block shots and he’s efficient with his outlets.”
—Jason Bukala, Sportsnet
