Scouting Ryan Fitzgerald
The Scout’s Notebook is a sneek-peek at the notes we compile on the players we see. These are snapshots, conveying our impressions of how a player looked in one particular game or over a small sampling of games.
I got to watch Ryan Fitzgerald at the Junior Bruins Shootout tournament in September. There were a few noteworthy prospects in that tournament, but nobody stood out as much as Ryan Fitzgerald. He played on a line with Carolina 7th round pick Brendan Collier and 2013 draft eligible Devin Tringale, and the threesome just dominated the tournament. One of the nice things about seeing games live is that you can pick up on a player’s on-ice personality. The small rinks and good vantage points at NESC arena in Marlboro, MA let you see and hear everything on the ice, and I was surprised to hear Fitzgerald relentlessly chirping at the opposition. Fitzgerald plays such a composed and cerebral game that I didn’t figure him for a rat, but he certainly showed his antagonistic side in this tournament. I came away very impressed with Fitzgerald’s game so it was no surprise when, only a few nights later, I watched him win Player of the Game honors at the All-American Prospects Game.
The core of Fitzgerald’s game is his hockey sense. He sees the ice and has a keen understanding of time and space. He’s able to delay, misdirect and then strike with a hard pass or quick shot. He’s not afraid to get his nose dirty, and is brave enough to try quick faints and dekes around the goal (that expose you to big hits) but overall he is more content to stay on the outside, draw defenders toward him and then pick apart your defensive structure, than drive the puck to the net himself. His skating is slightly above average and because he’s not very big, could stand to be better. He’s a diligent defensive player and an ace of face-offs. He must’ve won 90% of his draws in the All-American Prospects game, including a clean win in the offensive zone that directly led to a goal by Seth Jones. His game reminds me a bit of Derek Stepan.
Fitzgerald doesn’t have the kind of ‘plus’ physical tools that teams look for early in the draft, but he has NHL-caliber intelligence and skill and the fact that he comes from NHL bloodlines means he knows what it’s going to take to get there.
Bill is the northeast regional scout for Future Considerations, the Boston Bruins correspondent for Hockey's Future, and a former collegiate goaltender.
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