LUCA MARRELLI

2025-07-12

Scout: Jeremy Vercillo

Skating:

Marrelli is a skater with surprising burst for his size. He usually relies on his positioning, but can turn on the jets when needed.

Passing/Handling:

Marelli is a confident puck handler, who just makes the simple play. He doesn't get fancy on the PP, but is cool and collected even under pressure. His passing is always on point -- I was particularly impressed with his ability to making soft passes in tight spaces that teammates could handle. He also seems to be a prime passer to tee-up a onetimer... helps when you have Sennecke taking those though.

Shooting:

He doesn't have a booming point shot, but has a good snap/wrist shot more akin to a forward. He's also good at taking little sifters to get pucks through, although he usually looks for a pass first.

IQ (Vision, Anticipation, Panic/Poise):

I really like his IQ on both ends of the puck. He's a sturdy defender, but also has full-ice vision. He's always looking backdoor even when it looks like he's in prime shooting position himself, often setting up tap-in goals

Forechecking:

n/a

Defense:

I didn't see enough of his defense to be 100% confident in my opinion, but he looked above average here. He shouldn't hurt you or anything, but probably leans more offensive than defensive.

Best Asset:

Vision. In another universe I wonder if he could have developed as a Center.

Biggest Concern:

Seems almost too non-chalant at times. It's hard to tell if that's because he's dominating his level (he is) or because there's a motor concern.

Top Tier/Role Potential:

Top line top-PP defenseman, but not elite.

Justification for Top Tier Assessment:

This is probably a bit of a stretch even for top-tier outcome, but I think he could develop nicely into a guy you want feeding your stars. The odds are though he'll be a 2nd-4th defender on a team.

50th Percentile Tier/Role:

steady bottom-4 D, jack of all trades.

Justification for 50th Percentile Tier Assessment:

Everything looks good enough, but he probably won't ever be the best defenseman on his team or the best prospect in the pipeline. May take some injuries to get opportunities to seize.

Stylistic Comparable:

Rasmus Andersson. Boring but effective.

Scouts Final Thoughts and Additional Stats/Info:

I actually wonder if his path to relevance is a Jackson LaCombe or Brock Faber type path. Obviously those guys both went NCAA, but I could see him being the next man up for a few years and then suddenly just being an effective 20+ minute guy with PP time after someone misses time and he never lets go of that roster slot.

Games Scouted:

NHL prospect tournament games