{"id":10198,"date":"2017-05-26T21:55:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T01:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com?p=10198&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=10198"},"modified":"2017-05-26T23:36:23","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T03:36:23","slug":"alex-formenton-scouting-report-2017-nhl-draft-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2017\/05\/26\/alex-formenton-scouting-report-2017-nhl-draft-58\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Formenton Scouting Report: 2017 NHL Draft #58"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Welcome back to Top Shelf Prospects, the daily column that brings you the next crop of professional hockey players. Each day I will bring you a new player profile or topical article in the lead-up to the 2017 NHL Draft. Be sure to bookmark the site, <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/lastwordbkerr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">follow me on Twitter<\/a>, and spread the word for the site that will bring you analytical and critical profiles and scouting reports! Last Word On Hockey Prospects\u00a0is your new headquarters for everything \u201cNHL Draft\u201d! We have a complete listing of our <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockeyprospects.com\/2017-nhl-entry-draft-headquarters\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">draft articles here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/2012\/07\/30\/top-shelf-prospects-colorado-avalanche\/topshelfprospects\/\" target=\"_self\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9613 td-animation-stack-type0-2\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/08\/TopShelfProspects-300x119.jpg\" alt=\"TopShelfProspects\" width=\"300\" height=\"119\" \/><\/a>One of the youngest prospects in this year&#8217;s draft, <strong>Alex Formenton<\/strong> was just\u00a0born just a couple of days before the cut-off. As a rookie with a solid London Knights team, he has had to fight for ice time. When he has played, he made the most of it with 16 goals and 34 points in 65 games this season. However, Formenton struggled in the OHL playoffs, where he was held pointless over 14 games. The Knights would beat the Windsor Spitfires, but ultimately lose to the Erie Otters, failing to defend their OHL and Memorial Cup titles. \u00a0Formenton also played in the CHL Top Prospects game this season.<\/p>\n<h2>Alex Formenton Scouting Report: 2017 NHL Draft #58<\/h2>\n<p>Left Wing &#8212; shoots Left<br \/>\nBorn September 13th, 1999 &#8212; King City, Ontario<br \/>\nHeight 6&#8217;1&#8243; &#8212; Weight 157 lbs [185 cm \/ 71 kg]<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/widgets.eliteprospects.com\/iframe_player_stats.php?player=273622\" width=\"700\" height=\"210\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Skating<\/h3>\n<p>Formenton is an outstanding skater. `He has an excellent first step, very good acceleration, and his top-end speed is amongst the best in this draft class. He can absolutely fly out there. Formenton also has very good edge work. He can change directions quickly, and turns on a dime. Formenton could improve his lower body strength though. This would help in being stronger on the puck, as well as winning more battles along the boards. Formenton could stand to be stronger on the puck in working the cycle game.<\/p>\n<h3>Offensive Game<\/h3>\n<p>Alex Formenton uses his skating as his key offensive weapon. \u00a0He gets in quickly on the forecheck, pressuring defenders and creating turnovers. Formenton can also get behind the defence on a breakout, and can take the long pass to create a breakaway. When he has the puck on a rush, he can take the puck to the outside on a defender and cut to the net. If the defence back off to respect his speed, he can use the defender as a screen and fire a shot on net. Formenton has a very good release on his wrist shot and good accuracy. However he can stand to bulk up, and get even more power on it. His one-timer is decent, but can still be improved. Formenton isn&#8217;t the type of player to create his own shot, but if set up by a teammate he can score goals.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of his ability to be a play maker, Formenton plays a very simple and straight forward game. He makes the safe pass, keeping possession, and the play moving. However, he does not really try to make passes through tight spaces, or to try and create something when it would be more of a difficult play. Formenton will need to play with a creative playmaker if he is to reach his full potential. He could also stand to bulk up, in order to be more effective in the high traffic areas. He tries to play a physical game, but this will be ineffective at high levels unless he gets a lot stronger.<\/p>\n<h3>Defensive Game<\/h3>\n<p>Formenton is a willing backchecker, who fights for loose pucks, and can be very annoying to opposing players. He is tenacious with his support and back pressure and tries to be physical against his opponents. This is another area where he can be even better with more muscle.<\/p>\n<h3>Projection and Comparison<\/h3>\n<p>There have been many whispers about <strong>Christian Dvorak <\/strong>when talking about Alex Formenton&#8217;s potential. This is not to say that he plays a similar game, but rather about how Formenton has not gotten a lot of ice-time due to the depth of the London Knights, and that he could really break out next season. The team that drafts Formenton will be hoping he develops in a similar fashion. \u00a0If he does, it could be a real draft day steal. In terms of a style comparison, Formenton plays a similar game to <strong>Max Pacioretty<\/strong> of the Montreal Canadiens. This is not a talent based comparison, but a stylistic one.<\/p>\n<h3>Highlights<\/h3>\n<p>The following is a compilation of videos, assembled from Youtube.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alex Formenton\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/videoseries?list=PLOgBIUfkk2BOE1Ih8VXmivXAAh_jVPjY5\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Check back tomorrow for the next\u00a0prospect available on our draft board.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/655080540\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 63.468013% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/655080540?et=HqbWcolBRjZepqCvB2HBcA&amp;tld=ca&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=lpNA736-8jbry_wgm_9v-_BDVH94XJAHgXDj3SyhhIg=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"377\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to Top Shelf Prospects, the daily column that brings you the next crop of professional hockey players. Each day I will bring you a new player profile or topical article in the lead-up to the 2017 NHL Draft. Be sure to bookmark the site, follow me on Twitter, and spread the word for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[309,1279],"tags":[919,1691,37,798,655,98],"class_list":["post-10198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-top-prospects","category-nhl-draft","tag-2017-nhl-draft","tag-alex-formenton","tag-hockey","tag-london-knights","tag-nhl-draft","tag-ohl"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}