By admin
I feel at a certain point in the draft; this will be a discussion at draft headquarters. I think Jake O’Brien will be the first player named and then someone will bring up Brady Martin, who has been rising for weeks now. Here’s my take on this center battle:
Jake O’Brien – I feel like he’s a high floor guy. He has a lot of NHL certainty. According to InStat, 4:56 power play time concerning because it might have inflated his point total. 1:45 on PK great. 62% shots on goal. Is that sustainable? 46% face-offs are ok but should improve. He draws penalties. 40% d-zone starts great. Tricky escapability. Good vision and excellent passing. Short skating stride but has ok speed. Good edges. Needs to get stronger.
Brady Martin – He’s a few inches shorter than O’Brien but much tougher. That’s part of the reason he’s rising. He’s averaging 2.8 hits per game and that’s higher than most in this draft. I did notice his smooth one timer. He can pick corners. According to InStat, he has 28% d-zone starts. He plays on the PP and PK. He’s a good skater but it’s only slightly better than it was a year ago. He needs to work on it.
Both are two-way players. O’Brien might be better in that category. Martin’s physicality is something you can’t ignore. Does is come down to a team’s philosophy? I think so. My ranking tells you my opinion, but Martin is two inches shorter. I think that matters if O’Brien gets much stronger. If he does, besides the height, will give him the ability to score the same way that he does currently.
I think it’s close, but I still think most teams would take O’Brien. However, if there is a team looking for increased physicality, they’ll get that in Martin, in 3-4 years. Neither player has a fast track to the NHL – – most don’t.
Note:
I appreciate the response but with travel costs getting more costly, I am adding a tipping link if you appreciate the website. This website will remain free, but this may allow me to cover more events than I currently do.
I will have another center debate shortly.
Here is that link
