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NHL Draft 2020, taking a closer at: Sam Colangelo

Posted on by Drew Meyer

Previous articles:

Hendrix Lapierre

Lukas Reichel

Today, I’ll be taking a closer look at the last of the prospects I lightly detailed in my first round draft article.

Three first round options for the Flyers in the 2020 Draft

Sam Colangelo is a very intriguing player, since there are a lot of comparisons you could make in regards to how he plays the game, and none of them are really incorrect. In fact, it really all depends on how you see him being moulded in the future as he gets NHL coaching.

I noted in the outset that he has been compared to Auston Matthews, due to his all-around offensive prowess and ability to make difficult plays. I’ve also seen him be compared to a more physical forward like Blake Wheeler, since Colangelo does possess a power game. Lastly, I’ve also seen comparisons to Jarome Iginla, which again plays on Colangelo’s power-forward like tendencies.

These are all lofty comparisons, but Colangelo’s dynamic nature as an offensive producer makes all of these comparisons apt. He is equal part sniper to equal part power-forward, and it will be interesting in the future to see how his game ends up taking shape. Regardless, he is the type of the player I would love to see the Flyers take.

Once again, here is my blurb on him from the overview article:

Despite having a surname that’s sure to trigger Sixers fans, Sam Colangelo is the archetype of player the Flyers are missing: a sniper. They had a chance to take a similar player in Cole Caufield, and ended up taking Bobby Brink, but Colangelo is an entirely different animal all together.

While Caufield and Brink are small goal scorers, Colangelo is a big body at 6’2”, 205. Playing in the USHL, he tallied 58 points in 44 games (28 goals). Despite not playing on the power play for a majority of the year, Colangelo still was one of the best point producers in the league, and showed his elite goalscoring potential. He’s a great passer of the puck, but he excels in his shooting ability. He can pick corners from both mid-range and from bad angles, and is deadly accurate from near anywhere.

He’s been criticized for his skating and compete level before, but I’ve always found the compete level argument to be flawed. If you’re producing at above a point-per-game level, I don’t care about that. We can only hope that his skating improves, but in the end we could be looking at a Luc Robitaille type player.

Yet again, another player comparison (Well, I would say Colangelo possess more of a physical style than Robitaille did), however, I think I let myself down by proclaiming him as an archetypical sniper. There are more elements to Colangelo’s offensive style, and he is one of the most well balanced players offensively on the draft board.

Let’s take a look:

What do the stats say?

As I detailed in the blurb, Colangelo played this past season in the USHL, and his 58 points (28 goals) was good enough to leave him tied for third most in the league, though with the advantage in that he played less games than the player he is tied with (44 games). He also finished third in goal scoring. This past year was his second season in the USHL, though he only played 11 USHL games in 2018-19. He also scored twice in five Hlinka Gretzky Cup games.

The USHL is also home to the now renowned US National Team Development Program (USNTDP) team, which has produced prospects such as Joel Farabee, Cam York, and fellow goalscorer, Cole Caufield. For context, Caufield scored 29 USHL goals in 2018-19, and while I wouldn’t call Colangelo’s scoring ability as good as Caufield’s, it should be telling that I can remotely compare the two players.

Colangelo has committed to Northeastern University for 2020-21, so I’ll be interested to see how his goalscoring fairs there. In his freshman season at Wisconsin, Caufield scored 19 goals in 36 games (had 36 points overall as well), for a 0.53 goals per game pace. I would expect Colangelo to be below that, but not considerably far below that. I don’t think he will hit half a goal per game, but 0.45 could be reasonable.

The Eye Test

The main draw for Colangelo is his offensive abilities, no doubt. While he isn’t a liability defensively, and can provide a solid and often physical presence on the backcheck, I wouldn’t call Colangelo a “two-way” winger.

Colangelo is a true goalscorer, and can score in a variety of ways depending on what he sees is most effective. His shot was one of the best in the USHL, and he can score equally as effective from mid-range as he can from in close, often picking corners on goaltenders for fun. Additionally, as most goalscorers do, he loves to shoot, and the fact that he has a deceptive shot, as well as being accurate, makes him a threat from just about anywhere. His release is very quick as well, meaning he is quite effective at pouncing on loose pucks and ripping them past goaltenders. You can see that very clearly in the highlight below. That puck is in the back of the net before you blink!

Additionally, while Colangelo is a scorer at the core, he isn’t a bad passer of the puck, and can run the cycle very effectively. He isn’t the fastest player, but his willingness to try moves (which he usually has the skill to pull off) combined with his physicality and strength make him a menace to stop when he gets going in the offensive zone.

This speaks to the power element of his game. Colangelo is big (6’2”, 205 lbs), and is very strong on his skates. He can hold off defenders and outmuscle opposition in the corners and in the slot, and he isn’t afraid to go to the net and make power-moves towards the crease as he did in the previous video. Colangelo also uses his size defensively, throwing checks and using his sheer power to win battles for loose pucks.

Colangelo is a good skater, but isn’t a great one unfortunately which holds him back slightly. He isn’t slow-footed, but doesn’t have great speed in the end. To truly excel at the NHL level, he’ll need to work on that, as well as maintaining his edge in terms of strength. However, at least for the latter, he is already there in terms of size so some work with NHL strength coaches should do the trick.

Overall, I think Colangelo, if he develops to his potential, would be one of the steals of the draft, especially for the Flyers who aren’t known to draft these types of goalscorers. Perhaps Colangelo’s power-forward tendencies catch the eye of the Flyers as well, and I could very well see them thinking that Colangelo plays “like a Flyer”. Regardless, I would like this pick.

Now that I’ve covered the three players I set out to, who would you like to see me analyze next? Please let me know in the comments.

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Talking Points