At 112th overall, the Philadelphia Flyers selected right handed defenseman John “Jack” St. Ivany from the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. St. Ivany was ranked 119th by NHL Central Scouting (North American skaters)
St. Ivany is another big bodied defenseman standing 6’2” and weighing in at 198 pounds. He scored 36 points in 54 games last season for the Stampede, scoring six goals and assisting on 30. He saw a 26 point increase from his numbers in the 2016-17 season. St. Ivany is a Yale University commit for the upcoming 2018-19 season. St. Ivany also contributed three points in three playoff games.
This is what Hockey Prospect’s “Black Book” (where he was ranked 189th) for the 2018 NHL Draft had to say about the young defenseman.
Defensively St. Ivany uses his reach and active stick to take away time from his opponent and does a good job challenging plays at his own blue line and closing players off to the outside against the rush. Jack needs to add more grit and physicality and make things harder on opponents in front of his own net and in puck battles as he has been susceptive to losing battles. St. Ivany distributes the puck well on break outs and is able to stretch the ice using his vision and passing ability. He possesses good puck skills and is able to carry the puck up ice and through traffic when the situation calls for it. St. Ivany can run the Power Play at the point efficiently.
St. Ivany appears to be the quintessential Ron Hextall later rounds draft pick. Great hockey sense but skating is lacking. His point totals this season ranked him 5th among USHL blueliners. The 18 year old also was an alternate captain for the Stampeders this season, which bodes well for his character and his leadership abilities. Something that I’d like to see change about St. Ivany’s game is his apparent lack of physical game. For a player his size, you’d like to see him utilize that frame a bit more.
I think this is a kind of player who could turn into a bit of a steal for the Flyers if he’s able to improve his skating. We’ve seen Oskar Lindblom’s skating improve under the Flyers system, so one can only hope that the same fate will reside in St. Ivany. The lack of right handed defensemen in the prospect pool has been lacking for awhile now, and that was something that was definitely addressed in this draft with St. Ivany, and Wyatte Wylie. It will be very interesting to see how his game develops next season at Yale.
Once again coming from the “Black Book” this was an evaluation of a St. Ivany game from October:
St. Ivany was effective tonight. His skating and accurate passes got pucks up and out of his own zone quickly and kept Madison from getting an effective fore-check when he was on the ice. St. Ivany did a good job at the offensive blue line in getting pucks through to the net. His footwork at the offensive blue line allowed him to open up some lanes. Made a lot of reliable and simple plays at both ends tonight.
In the following clip, St. Ivany assists on the second U.S goal around the 1:40 mark of the video.
