Toronto Maple Leafs

Size Like Hal Gill But He Can Skate You Say?

6′7″, over 200 lbs, skates very well (for a big man), has a good skill level, enjoys physical play, but may lack hockey sense.

No I’m not talking about Wade Belak, Zdeno Chara, The Incredible Hulk, or Hal Gill, or even Bryan McCabe or Pavel Kubina. I’m discussing 18 year old Tyler Myers, of the Kelowna Rockets. Myers is currently ranked as the 4th North American skater by NHL central scouting and 15th overall by International Scouting Services.

While not noted for being as defensively sound as some of his team mates on the Kelowna blue line, Myers does have a few skills that are not easily taught. He skates well for a big man, he’s happy to join in the rough stuff, and he’s got SIZE. LOTS OF SIZE. He’s 18, and he’s an inch shorter than Zdeno Chara. So far he’s been compared to Chris Pronger a fair bit, but his favourite D man is apparently Niklas Lidstrom.

There are two main reasons why his hockey sense from the defensive position is lacking at this stage in his development:

1) He grew up and played initially the Houston, Texas area (between the ages of 6 and 10). There were only 3 teams in the city, and he lacked for top flight competition. His father eventually moved to Calgary for work, and Tyler went along for the ride. He continued to improve, playing minor hockey for 5 years in Calgary, and then briefly played AAA Midget for the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox, Saskatchewan before being picked up by Kelowna in 2005-06. He hasn’t looked back since.

2) He actually played as a forward until he reached Bantam. That means from the age of 6 to 13 he was skating up front all the time. He has only been learning the positional side of D for the past 5 years or so. On the positive side of that though is, he has offensive instincts, putting up 19 points to go along with 97 PIMs in 65 games this past season.

He credits his father with his solid skating, and it should be noted that his dad played university hockey, so he did have some hockey help around the house at an early age.

His defensive game still needs serious improvements though, as he finished a team worst -16. To put that in perspective on the “scary meter,” the next closest Rocket was LW Brandon McMillan at -5, and only 6 of the 28 players on the Kelowna roster had a minus rating. Two other blue liners on Kelowna, Collin Bowman, and Tysen Dowzak were +20, and +29 respectively. So if Myers shows up in a Leafs uniform and can’t help keep the puck out of his net, don’t say I didn’t warn you it was possible. But to be fair, Dowzak was a -24 a year ago, so the stat might be meaningless and it could change drastically.

Myers is also being wined and dined by the Islanders (6th pick) and Canucks (10th pick). I’m not venturing an opinion on the kid at this point, but he wouldn’t be an off the board selection.