March 28, 2011
Draft Mid-Terms
Domestic Skaters, Part 4

by Jonathan Willis

Displaying pretext

There are more than a few interesting players in this edition of Draft Midterms: Kyle Rau won this year's "Mr. Hockey" award and along with Cason Hohmann provide a pair of high-end scorers, Neal Goff is a 6'4" rail who might be the youngest player drafted this summer and Barclay Goodrow is a power forward in the making who comes from a rugby background and whose father was drafted by the Canadian Football League. Along the way, we'll also consider a player who might be the nastiest defenseman in the draft, a 6'3" Finn who left the Finnish system to play in Southern California, and the player who was the highest-scoring forward in Saskatchewan midget hockey last year.

171. Todd Fiddler, Left Wing, 5'11", 193 lbs. WHL: 70GP, 23G, 15A, 38P, -2. Fiddler poured it on in the final month of the season, scoring six goals and adding five assists in nine March games, but it still has to be considered a disappointing season for a guy who led the Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League in scoring last season. On the other hand, Fiddler does score goals, he did come on late, and he did what he did without the benefit of a lot of power play time.

My call: Fiddler is an interesting prospect but I suspect not much more than a late round player.

172. Cason Hohmann, Center, 5'8", 160 lbs. USHL: 49GP, 22G, 28A, 50P, +19. Speed and puck skills are the primary calling cards for the undersized Hohmann, who scored two of his points while on the penalty kill and put up a remarkable 76% of them at even-strength. He's a fierce competitor, although that may not be enough to overcome his size issue.