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Taylor Cammarata: Little Known Draft Eligibles |
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When you see draft rankings the first thing that pops up are the numbers. You see the goals and points and PIMS and make a quick decision, usually to see more detailed reports about their play style.
This happened to me when I was looking at USHL eligible players on the Central Scouting List and ISS since I don't get to see a lot of American junior hockey and there aren't nearly as many writers as there are compared to the CHL.
I got to see the Waterloo Black Hawks play online with a lucky stream and one player really impressed me. 17 year old Taylor Cammarata. I decided to check into him more.
He has the usual issue of being considered too small to be a top-prospect. He's 5'7 and only 157. From what I saw in a very limited viewing he's got elite speed and pulls defenders to him. He reminded me a lot of Mikhail Grabovski using his speed to get behind defenders and using hard work to get around bigger opponents.
I looked at several mock drafts and rankings to see where people have him and I was really surprised.
Craig Button doesn't have him in his top-75, the ISS doesn't have him in their top-30 and central scouting has him at number 18 on their list of players from the US system.
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=49649
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=9530
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=9653
You might be wondering why I'm confused as to why he's not on any list, simply put it's because he leads the USHL in points and is fifth in goals.
GP G A P PPG PIM +/-
20 14 24 38 1.90 10 15
These are his stats so far this year and are even more remarkable when you see that the players ahead of him from the US system are not even close to his output.
Cammarata won rookie of the year last season in the USHL after a monster year of 27 goals and 69 points. He led his team in points and goals and followed it up by being their top player in the playoffs (second in points for the whole playoffs). This is even more impressive considering the top USHL drafted forward last season was Zemgus Girgensons who had 24 goals and 55 points that year, ya I know he brings size, two-way play and physicality but the point is Cammarata is a monster offensively.
In the U19 tournament (16 years old at the time) he had a goal and 3 assists in 4 games and was one of the top Americans.
"He was one of the most noticeable guys on the U.S. team," NHL Central Scouting's Chris Edwards, who watched each game of the tournament, told NHL.com. "Every time he was on the ice, he made something happen. … He was around the puck, creating, scoring. He was very noticeable every game, every shift."
When I did some more digging I found something really interesting. When he was 14 and 15 he played with Nathan MacKinnon who went the Sidney Crosby route by playing his midget hockey with Shattuck St. Mary's the famous American hockey program. The scary part? He destroyed MacKinnon in goals and points leading the league each year in both goals and points.
For Shattuck St. Mary's Bantam T1: Cammarata scored 92 goals and 170 points in just 58 games. MacKinnon himself scored 54 goals and 101 points in 58 games. That's just absurd.
Then the next year for Shattuck St. Mary's U16: Cammarata scored 71 goals and 138 points in 54 games leading the league while MacKinnon scored 45 goals and 93 points in 40 games. Note that both are the same age, MacKinnon being 4 months younger only though 4 inches taller.
Now MacKinnon brings more to the game than just his scoring and offensive skills and he'll obviously be the superior player, he brings a great two-way game and is very hard to take off the puck and so on. But you can't ignore the absurd offensive ability that Cammarata has brought each year at every level.
I also like this kids attitude, here's some quotes.
"I've always been a little bit smaller, but I think it helps my game. I'd rather be 5-7 than 6-4. I'm harder to hit with my size, I think it helps me a lot."
I like that confidence.
Now size is always a factor, yet recently Rocco Grimaldi (then 5'6) went 33rd overall and the general talk around him by scouts was that he was a top-3 scoring talent but was small which made him fall out of the first round. Cammarata is eclipsing him by a healthy margin when comparing their draft year, hell Cammarata was better at 16 then Grimaldi was in his draft year. So where is the hype for this midget? Why is he a paltry 18th on the list of just American players? How can a player constantly leading leagues in goals and points be so far down these lists?
I don't really have an answer and I hope he climbs the rankings as he should. If he goes where these scouting agencies are predicting it will be in the 4th or 5th round. If he goes there some team is going to be laughing all the way to the bank.
I'll leave this with a quote from his coach P.K. O'Handley.
"He's a pretty smart kid and he's figured a lot of it out on his own. "We give him an idea here or there, but he's a pretty resourceful young man and a smart young man. I don't mean smart with just his skill. He's smart in general. He's got a very, very good understanding of the game for his age -- all aspects."
Thanks for reading.
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