Jeremie Poirier

Skating:

Smooth skater, both in a straight line and in small spaces. He should be a nice piece in transition offensively.

Passing/Handling:

He miscued on a few stretch passes, but he's comfortable skating with the puck and consistent with the in-zone passes. I think this is one of his better skills.

Shooting:

Doesn't have a booming shot, but a nice wrister that can find its way through traffic. I don't see 15-20 goal talent here or anything. He had 4 goals this year and three of them were bad/lucky goals, and the last was a 5-on-3 one timer.

IQ (Vision, Anticipation, Panic/Poise):

His vision with the puck is very good. He's patient and always knows where his teammates are. His "danger meter" could use some fine-tuning though as I think he makes risky plays in the zone at times.

Forechecking:

N/A

Defense:

Defense is where Poirier struggles -- he seemed much more lost than when I watched him last year. Maybe the long injury hurt his development, but he was out of position a number of times, overly aggressive leading to 2-on-1s, and got outmuscled along the boards.

Best Asset:

PUckhandling and passing.

Biggest Concern:

Defense

Top Tier/Role Potential:

Sheltered offensive Dman.

Justification for Top Tier Assessment:

His tools are there, and I could see him making waves on a PP1, but I just don't see the defense hitting top-4 NHLer level.

50th Percentile Tier/Role:

D5/6 with PP2.

Justification for 50th Percentile Tier Assessment:

If he doesn't hit the offensive upside, he may struggle to see more than 15 minutes a night. If he's not the PP1 choice for a team that will cost him a lot of his minutes.

Stylistic Comparable:

Tony DeAngelo (without the behavioral problems)

Scouts Final Thoughts and Additional Stats/Info:

I really think the injury that cost him the first half of this season did him no favors. He suffered a skate laceration October 21st that required surgery, and didn't play again until March 3rd. In 4 games pre-injury he had 7 points. Will be keeping an eye on him early next year. If he bounces back with a full training camp instead of joining the team mid-playoff push I'm intrigued, especially with the openings in Calgary, but if he continues the downward trend I'm out.