Samuel Morin Winnipeg Hockey Talk Prospect

Samuel Morin played this past season in the QMJHL for the Rimouski Oceanic.  Already listed at 6’7″, Morin is an imposing physical defenceman.  

image by Richard Lafortune

Skating

Morin is considered a good skater with decent speed and acceleration. His agility is a good which gives him decent mobility but he has a little trouble with speedy forwards and will need to improve this before he can compete at the NHL level.  This is not uncommon for a growing player at this size.

Samuel Morin plays a strong defensive game and does use his size to his advantage in his own zone. Morin is a big hitter, battles hard in front of the net and along the boards.  His positional game is good and he uses his long reach to cut down a lot of the passing and shooting lanes.  Morin plays a very physical game and has a mean streak.  He is also not afraid to drop the gloves and is an intimidating figure.

Offence?

Morin’s offensive game is still a work in progress and may or may not be a factor at the NHL level.  He has a hard slapshot, doesn’t panic with the puck, keeps his head up and makes good crisp break-out passes.

Samuel Morin is going to be compared to Boston’s Zeno Chara but most scouts think that is an unfair comparison to heep on an un-tapped 17 year old.  Morin has a chance to develop into a hard to play against top 4 defenceman. Most scouts have him rated as a very late 1st round to 2nd round pick.

I had just heard TSN Scout Craig Button on the radio and he is the only scout that I have seen substantially elevate Morin’s draft ranking.  In Craig’s second to last mock draft he has rated Samuel Morin at #11 which lead to my Twitter question.  I found this little twitter exchange quite interesting.

@wpgjetshocktalk @thesawch @illegalcurve Better and better with each passing month since he was 15. 6’6 or bigger defensemen are rare.

— Craig Button (@CraigJButton) June 2, 2013

Craig Button is one of the few draft prognosticators who’s word carries a lot of weight with me.  He actually gets out in the field and scouts like real scouts do.  So when Mr. Button tells me Morin could go in the top half of the 1st round I believe him.