After last week’s profile on Sascha Boumedienne, the draft board will bring in another defenseman – Kitchener Rangers blueliner Cameron Reid.
Reid, an ultra-mobile defenseman listed at 5-foot-11, is a left-shot defenseman that thinks offense-first. He’s a plus skater, renowned for his work ethic both on and off the ice, but a polarizing player in this draft class. There are questions, like a lot of the other defensemen in this range of the draft, about Reid’s ability to stick at the NHL level due to his size. There’s worry he’s not quite dynamic enough to compensate for not being 6-foot-3, but Reid has quite the skillset and highlight reel to push back against that narrative. Let’s get into the conversation about Reid as a player, and what we like and don’t like about his game.
Pre-draft rankings
No. 21 by The Athletic (Scott Wheeler)
No. 20 by Elite Prospects
No. 37 by TSN (Bob McKenzie)
No. 19 by Daily Faceoff
Bio
DOB: April 8, 2007
Birthplace: Aylmer, Ontario, Canada
Position: Defenseman
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 174 lbs
Shoots: Left
Statistics
What’s there to like?
The biggest plus of Reid’s game is his skating, as he’s a real good skater any way you shake it. He’s able to use his skating to get out of trouble in the defensive zone, in straight-line speed through the neutral zone, and with elusive lateral skating in the offensive zone. There’s not much he can’t do on his blades, with really strong edge work and deceptiveness in how Reid moves, especially with the puck. It’s his biggest weapon, and if you watch any games of Kitchener’s or Team Canada’s junior team in the Hlinka Cup, you’ll see Reid continually use it in all facets as a separator between him and the opposition.
Still, Reid’s skating ability shows the most in transition scenarios, where Reid is given a ton of ice to work with. He goes from 0 to 100 pretty quickly, pouncing on open pucks in the neutral zone and carrying them forward with strong speed. It’s really conducive for the end-to-end rushes that Reid accomplished a few times this past year, an impressive thing for any defenseman to be able to pull off.
In the offensive zone, Reid’s has a pretty accurate and dangerous shot for a defenseman, and his 14 goals with Kitchener this season are indicative of how deceptive his wrister is. He’s pretty darn good at changing the angle on the goaltender through his lateral skating in the offensive zone, and then hitting his spot with his shot attempts. There are a few examples from his highlight reel where Reid utilizes his lateral skating in this fashion, including the following against the Sarnia Sting.
Vision wise, there are some doubters of Reid’s ability to be an above-average creator for his teammates at the next level, but Reid racked up the assists across his competitions this year largely through his plus hockey IQ. With 40 assists for Kitchener and top power play duties, Reid was the 10th highest scorer among defensemen in the OHL. That certainly isn’t Zayne Parekh (109 points) or Sam Dickinson (91 points) production, but Reid’s 54 points is second to only Kashawn Aitcheson’s 59 points among OHL defenseman in his draft class. In a strong junior league, those numbers don’t come from anywhere – and Reid’s abilities as a creator were paramount to this. Whether it was assists off of point shots/rebounds that Reid floated through traffic, or power-play assists from the point, or assists generated with his speed in the transition game, Reid created offense from pretty much anywhere with Kitchener.
For players like Reid to thrive in the defensive zone, they have to make up for a lack of size with a really elite knack for defensive positioning, and an active stick that disrupts play on a frequent basis. Reid will never be able to bully players off the puck with regularity at the NHL level, so his stick work has really improved over his time at Kitchener to compensate for his lack of size. A good example is on the rush in this play against London, where Reid combines solid backwards skating with an excellent poke check to stop the rush. It’s little plays like this that make it much easier to imagine Reid becoming a solid defensive player at the NHL level, and not merely an offensive savant.
What’s not to like?
The biggest concern with Reid isn’t really anything to do with how he plays the game, but rather the natural limitations that come with being a below-average sized defenseman. Oftentimes, the general consensus about defensemen who are 6’0” and smaller is: the high-end skills and hockey IQ needs to be through the roof in order to be a really effective NHLer. Guys like Ryan Ellis, Sami Vatanen, Torey Krug, Jared Spurgeon are all examples of players in that mold that Reid would try to be in the pros.
The point here is: There are legitimate doubts about whether Reid’s high-end abilities and hockey IQ reach that threshold to be an effective NHLer. Of course, traditional hockey men are often going to bet against the smaller defensemen who are offensively oriented, but there are legitimate concerns that Reid could either get a) bullied physically or b) not have the same separating speed and dynamism against grown men in the NHL. Upside with Reid is high, but for Reid to even break the barrier of being an average-to-good NHLer, he’s going to need those plus-skills to remain high-end in the NHL.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
For the Flyers specifically, it would be intriguing to add a legitimately dynamic offensive defenseman to the pipeline by adding Reid. Emil Andrae is a taste of that (the jury is still out on him), but Reid brings a dynamism to the transition game that the Flyers pipeline needs on the backend. It would be an interesting fit to throw Reid into the fold, to bring the extra level of offense that guys like Travis Sanhiem, Cam York, and likely Oliver Bonk don’t have. He’s just got that extra gear, particularly with how he creates offense through his skating, that no one in the system really has.
Could the Flyers actually get him?
As with all the players in this range, certainly. The Flyers’ early 20s Avalanche pick is the range where Reid is expected to go, for teams that are looking to take a swing on an offensively oriented defenseman. Along with Boumedienne, Reid is a solid swing on a dynamic defenseman for any team to take. There’s definitely really high NHL potential here, but the hit on Reid is that he might just not be dynamic enough offensively to compensate for being smaller in size. The Flyers are going to be able to take some sizable swings in the late first round and early second, and Reid is a guy who would be a worthwhile bet for them in this range.
What scouts are saying
“Reid was a bright spot for the Rangers all season, playing big minutes to 0.8-0.9 points per game and wearing a letter in his draft year after a strong rookie season last year (despite playing the second half injured). I also liked him at the OHL Top Prospects Game (where he had three assists on four West goals and also wore a letter). He wasn’t as productive for Kitchener in their playoff run to the conference finals but he was being asked to do a lot for that team and they went as far as they could. He’s a good athlete and a smart, engaging, well-liked kid. He’s a plus skater whose game is shaped by his smarts, movement and mobility. He can influence play with his feet, whether that’s defending and closing gaps, escaping pressure, transporting pucks or getting open and active off the puck. He’s a heady, offensively inclined player, but he defends well with a good stick and sense for timing and disruption and has been a major driver of two-way results for the Rangers. I see a modern defenseman and a worthy first-rounder; he reminds me a little of top young Blue Jackets D Denton Mateychuk. I’m a big fan of the skating-smarts combo he brings. He was tremendous this year — I never saw him have a bad game in my viewings. There are some who wonder if he’s dynamic enough offensively at 5-foot-11/6-feet, but he’s an excellent player in a draft with few of them.”
Scott Wheeler, The Athletic
“His mobility and puck-moving mindset, while maintaining solid defensive positioning, make him an asset at both ends of the rink. He makes good decisions with the puck, reads the play well, and remains composed under pressure from attackers. Reid plays less of a flashy style and more of a simple, calculated game that positively influences the flow of play. He is a very agile and smooth skater, making it look effortless as he carries the puck through the neutral zone. His passing is crisp, precise, and purposeful. He appears comfortable in power-play situations and has clearly earned the trust of his coaching staff in those scenarios.”
Mike Kennedy, FC Hockey
Entering the poll is our first goalie of the ranking – Joshua Ravensbergen of the Prince George Cougars. Ravensbergen is the rare goalie given a first-round to early-second round grade, as the 6’5” goaltender has garnered quite the hype in his draft year.
“Ravensbergen was up and down this season after a standout rookie year in the WHL. His numbers are average, but his toolkit is going to be highly desirable to NHL teams, and he was still one of the better goalies in the WHL. He’s 6-foot-5. He’s very athletic with the quick-twitch in his lower half of a 6-foot-1 goaltender. He anticipates the play well and is quite aggressive in challenging shooters with his big frame. He can be a bit over-aggressive and chaotic in net, bouncing/flopping around too much. His reads do concern me at times, but for the most part, he’s in the right place. He can make a lot of tough saves and does so in a way that makes him look like a potential starting goaltender in the NHL.”
Corey Pronman, The Athletic
