Chris Hylands - Scouting Report

[hylands 845]

Chris Hylands

Mexico City Kings | | #13

RW | 6'0" | 175lbs

 

 

Overview

  It was a bit of a tough year for newcomer to the league Hylands. Signed as a free agent going in to the season, Chris struggled tremendously off the start. Maybe he wasn't being helped by playing for the leagues worst team, but if the kid was really as good as people said, you would have expected him to put up way more points. However, if you look at things in context, Chris was the highest scoring RW on the Mexico City Kings this season. Putting up 16 goals and 18 assists, Chris appears to be a balanced player, but if you were to ask him, he would say he is a "shoot first" player. The majority of Hylands's points were scored in the 2nd half of the season, indicating that his production is trending upwards. It seems the scouts have taken notice as well, because at the time of writing this report, Chris Hylands sits at 2nd overall in the VHLM Dispersal Draft rankings, and 16th in the VHL Draft. All of the fundamentals of a great hockey player are possessed by Chris and he just needs to take the next step to become an elite winger for any team.

 

Strengths

  Chris has a wicked snapshot that leaves his stick quicker than lightning strikes. Being a left handed shot coming off the RW can be seen as a disadvantage sometimes, but Chris doesn't let that phase him. He can pick any corner from almost anywhere on the ice and has been known to score from behind the goal line almost on a regular basis. Though he hasn't quite found the scoring touch in the VHLM yet(side note: he did have a 4 goal game this season), he used to score for fun in the minors and many scouts expect Chris to produce at the highest level once he settles in.

 

  Not only is Chris extremely valuable as a goal scorer, he is an excellent two way forward. You will never find Chris coasting back to the defensive zone, and it seems like his defensive IQ is almost better than his offensive IQ. He could easily play as a defencemen if he were just a tiny bit bigger, he's just that smart in the defensive zone. You can count on him to be one of your best penalty killers, he has absolutely no fear and will leave his heart out on that ice every shift. Not only that, but he is an offensive threat on the PK as well, having picked up 3 shorthanded goals this season alone! Just an all around, extremely reliable hockey player that loves to make the smart play, rather than the flashy play.

 

  Lastly, Chris possesses insane skating ability. He is extremely quick on his feet, but is also very powerful when skates. He is nearly impossible to catch when he gets going, and when he comes out of a battle with the puck he can get up to top speed nearly instantly with what seems like zero effort. He glides past defending players like they aren't even there and he is always winning loose puck battles just on pure speed alone.

 

Weaknesses

  Chris seems to have a little bit of an attitude problem. His discipline is extremely low and he is always taking poor penalties. With the skill that he has, any time he spends in the penalty box is only hurting his team. He has a bad habit of mouthing off to the referees and getting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on top of other penalties he's taken because of his poor discipline. One can only hope that this is a side product of Chris being extremely young but also extremely talented. If Chris can calm down his attitude and work on his discipline, he will be a stud player for years to come.

 

  Hitting the weights doesn't seem to be one of Chris's priorities because this guy has what seems like 0 strength. Corner battles are not what you want to send him in to because he is easily knocked over and it almost seems like he has terrible balance which is weird considering how fast he can skate. This is probably because he is so young, and you can reasonably expect him to get up to speed with the rest of the league pretty quickly once he starts to mature.