Corey Kitson Scouting Report

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Corey Kitson Scouting Report

 

Mississauga, ON -- The VHL and VHLM seasons have both wrapped up, with Miami and Malmo winning their respective leagues. As the off-season starts, teams and fans are looking more in-depth at what the s80 VHL draft class has to offer. In a class stacked with defense, no one stands out more than Corey Kitson. The 6'2 nineteen year old defenseman recently wrapped up his second VHLM season and his first full one with the VHLM runner up Mississauga Hounds. The Hounds were a stacked team with talent, especially on defense, containing 3 of the top 5 defenseman in the class. Kitson was the stand-out player for them, so let's take a look at his stats.

 

In 72 games Kitson was an offensive threat, recording 36 goals from the blueline, over half of them coming on the powerplay. He dished it out wonderfully as well, racking up 47 assists for a total of 83 points. Kitson's offensive game is said to almost be VHL ready, just needs to close a few holes in positioning and shot accuracy, but the fundamentals are there. One thing that could be considered lacking in Corey's game is his lack of physicality. In 86 career VHLM games he's only recorded 92 hits, over half of which came in 14 games. The positives to this though are his lack of penalty minutes, and by staying out of the box he can continue to kill penalties, which he does so tremendously, even adding a bit of offense to the PK with his 1 short handed goal last season.

 

There are questions about whether Kitson should spend time in the newly founded VHLE, or if he should head straight to the VHL to play against tougher competition. Scouts are unsure of the effect that a season in the VHLE could have on a player's professional career, and whether it would stunt or increase their growth as a player. Corey Kitson is on record as saying "I want to play in the VHL, none of that europe stuff. Everyone before me has done fine in the VHL so why can't I. I don't want to have another season of shitting on kids, it's time to face some real competition and play real games".

 

As for how this will effect his draft stock? No one knows, but VHLE GM's will be hesitant to pick him up in the initial VHLE draft, but reports out of VHL team front offices state that they "love the confidence" and "Kitson has the potential to become a generational talent". Kitson has also reportedly signed with the same agency that picked up players such as Elias Dahlberg and Kyl Oferson, both exceptional offensive talents, so we're sure Kitson will share similarities with their games.

 

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