Freshman defenseman A.J. Thelen and sophomore forward David Booth were ranked 16th and 24th, respectively in the NHL's midterm Central Scouting Report, released Jan. 14.
Dan Marr is the director of amateur scouting and player development for the Atlanta Thrashers. He spoke with The State News on the Spartans' possible draftees in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
State News: What's the word around the league on Thelen?
Dan Marr: The impressive part with him, number one, is that as a freshman, he's produced the type of offense that he has and was selected first-conference team. That's quite a feat for a freshman. Not many guys can step up and contribute - that's an eye-opener for people at a pro perspective. He's a real man - young and can skate and move the puck as well.
SN: What does he still have to learn?
DM: Positioning - that's a teachable item. He's got to learn how to use his size and the reach that he has. But those are more good habits you can develop. When you're a freshman, and you're a junior and senior coming for the puck, you hesitate, but that's natural. Any rookie goes through that stage. But he's a pretty heads-up player. I don't think it's often that he makes a mistake again.
SN: And Booth?
DM: The World Junior (Championship from late December to early January featuring the best players younger than 20) ended up being a timely boost for David. It's a big year for him - the knee injury put him back a little bit - but he was able to use the world juniors to spring himself back. He contributed - the bigger ice helped him - giving him more space to operate in. So he came back to Michigan where he was near the top of his game. I don't think he's looked back, as long as he's skating and playing physical and being aware of that. He's the first on the puck - he's strong enough where he should win all the one-on-one battles.
SN: A.J. just turned 18 on March 11. How much does age play a factor in a player's development?
DM: It's more a nature of the beast, but you give the edge to the younger player (draft-wise). There's one year of development that you haven't seen from him. It doesn't matter how old he's at, more and more teams are going to make such an investment (to the younger player).
SN: Thelen led the CCHA defenseman in scoring, won the league's best offensive defenseman award - how should we expect him to develop in 2-3 years?
DM: He's already got the big shoes to fill to duplicate what he did. There is a sophomore jinx because he's got all the recognition - teams will key on him more next year. What's going to happen is does he find ways around it? Does he find new avenues, new ways to generate scoring chances? I don't anticipate his game to change, just refine all the habits that he's done. He'll just learn to adapt to the little things so they're automatic. He'll know to have his head up sooner, what his passing options are. He'll develop those.
SN: A majority of draft picks are coming from the Canadian Juniors, but it seems like more and more are coming out of college hockey.
DM: USA Hockey put that development program (based in Ann Arbor) that's starting to produce all the top-end players in the draft. They're doing a good job of identifying the top players, and they had success at the under-18. The same group won the gold medal at world juniors.
Junior players are already in a professional work day because the length of the schedule is the biggest thing. College guys only get one day off, they practice and need academics. In juniors, they're geared more toward a pro lifestyle.
