Kyle Peace | Prospect Scouting Report

[Peace 1,534]

Kyle Peace
LW | 5'11" | 180 Lbs
26 Years Old
Drafted 7th overall by the Saskatoon Wild
 

Kyle Peace is the second iteration of what has now become another blood line in the Victory Hockey League. Kyle's father [Rylan] found success at the highest level of VHL competition, including a single season with triple digits (103) while played for the HC Davos Dynamo back in season sixty five, but the Peace surname was cemented in mediocracy at the tail end of Senior Peace's career with Toronto. What was a great start in his prime faded into being 'just good enough', 'good but not great', or perhaps 'good but not good enough'; never able to win any individual awards, despite fifty one and forty goal seasons, and never discovered post season success with any of the teams he played for. Kyle looks to elevate his families name into the hall of fame, create a lasting legacy that will see fans donning the Peace jersey long after he has retired, like so many NHL icons past and present.

Peace's development has been aided by the tools he has had available to him, which shouldn't be surprising as he is the son of current Toronto Legion general manager Rylan Peace. Kyle has trained alongside former and current Legion players while also having access to their coaching staff, training staff and prospect camps. He's unofficially attended training camps, observed high level games from the bench and witnessed VHL-level strategies employed by Toronto against other teams. 

PROS:

Skating: Junior Peace's skating ability is second to just Vinny Detroit -- the top rated S80 prospect at the time this article was written -- who scouts have given just one extra point in the skating judgement among prospects eligible for the upcoming VHL Entry Draft. Kyle's skating (79) falls comfortably ahead of the third highest prospect in the category, Logain Ablar, who was rated at an impressive 76 by scouts as recently as August 8th. Peace has the necessary footwork to develop his skating at a VHL level, and continue to improve upon his explosive starts and consistent skating throughout all three zones of the ice. Although he's not a speedster by any means, he has the poise and balance in his feet some veteran VHL players lack.

 

Puck Handling: It seems the PPA -- or Peace Player Agency -- spends a significant chunk of time training their prospects to be great puck handlers. Peace's puck handling skills (83) are the highest in the S80 draft class by a healthy margin, and represents one of his most lethal skills that will undoubtedly develop further at the VHL level. Scouts have said Peace's puck handling magnetizes the eyes, you simply can't stop watching the second coming of Peace work his business, and have been consistently using the age old 'the puck is on a string attached to his stick!' trope that so many impressive puck handlers have been chained too in history.

Scoring: Peace's fifty seven points could be contributed to his teammate Montana obliterating his VHLM competition, but the reality behind those healthy numbers are a modest scoring rating (80) when he was individually judged by scouts on August 8th. He may not be the top in his class, where he technically ranks third in scoring ability, but he's got a lot of time to develop himself into an elite VHL scoring forward. The scoring archetype has been long sought after by most player agencies in the VHL, which has quickly become one of the more reliable ways to train a prospect for consistent VHL performance. Kyle Peace looks to take a step in the right direction on a path to the hall of fame by using his scoring abilities to manifest the right archetype proven successful in history.

 

CONS:

Passing: Kyle Peace is tied for the worst passing ability (40) among prospects in his draft class. He's certainly a puck hog, who uses his great puck handling and scoring abilities to earn points and generate scoring opportunities for his team, rather than creating those opportunities off a direct or indirect pass in the offensive zone. If 'Junior' wants to find any long term success at the VHL level he will have to develop his passing ten-fold by the time he's a regular on a teams' roster, elsewise he could be received as a liability by a franchise or teammates.

 

Checking: Kyle isn't a big body, and truthfully he doesn't play like he's got one anyway. When a hit is registered to his name... well it was more of a bump than an actual hit, he's never laid someone across the ice and rarely causes turnovers by using his body in order to generate offensive opportunities. His checking skills (40) are fine for the VHLM, but he certainly won't be causing turnovers VIA his body at the next level of competition, which will be the VHLE for the Canadian prospect. 

Leadership: True proper leadership isn't something that can be trained into an individual right away -- should such thing actually exist -- and droves of people would argue you have to learn those hard 'leadership lessons' as you develop as an individual in our society. Some are born with the tools required to understand the innate skill and can use the lessons they've learned right away, while others simply cannot understand the concepts being directly or indirectly taught to them. It takes time for them to understand and eventually they reach a level of 'learned leadership', and this is where Kyle stands. He has some of the tools you acquire in leadership training, but lacks the practical experience to truly lead a team at this point. He may never be ready until he is already retired given how fast a VHL players career ends.