Rangers Draft RW Gabriel Perreault in 1st Round (23rd Pick)

[Drew a Penalty]

 

[Sod16]

Weakness said to be skating.  No problem!  We've never had a first round pick who dominated as a youth but did not end up with the wheels to be much of a player in the NHL.

[Pete]

They'll never fucking learn 

[siddious]

He out scores will smith and the other guy and beat Austin matthews records… there’s potential there 

[Drew a Penalty]

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Background

Perreault is the first-line wing for the U.S. NTDP this season. He's had one of the highest point-per-game rates in the program's history this season and broke Auston Matthews' single season point record, which was shortly followed by teammate Will Smith breaking it as well. He is the brother of Anaheim 2020 first-round pick Jacob Perreault and the son of former NHL player Yanic Perreault. He is committed to Boston College.

 

Analysis

Perreault is an extremely skilled and intelligent winger who can make a ton of positive things happen inside the offensive zone. Perreault makes highly-creative and unique dekes and passes with the puck at a high rate, both off the perimeter and in small areas. His puck game is clear NHL power-play quality, and he will score as a pro. The issues on Perreault's game is his 5-foot-11 frame and his lack of footspeed. He shows good second effort and can win puck battles at the junior level, although whether he can do that versus men is a concern. His hockey sense is so elite though that I think he can overcome those issues and become a very good top six winger.

 

https://theathletic.com/4538998/2023/05/30/nhl-draft-rankings-2023-bedard-pronman/

 

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I’ve stuck my neck out on Perreault since the start of this season and I’m prepared to hold firm with my evaluation through to the end of this draft year, too. Eventually, when the points pile up like they did, and they happen making the kinds of plays that he did, you can’t ignore them. Say what you will, he’s now the NTDP’s single-season points record holder. He didn’t even pass Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes by a narrow margin when it was all said and done, either. There are many who’ve settled on Perreault as more of a mid-to-late first-rounder because of the combination of his skinny frame (though he has looked stronger all three times I bumped into him over the course of this season at the rink), the linemates he plays with, and perceived questions about his skating. He’s likely going to be the fourth player from the national program picked because his game is believed to be less projectable.

 

I’m less and less convinced of that. He’s a clever-beyond-belief, maneuverable facilitator and playmaker who plays the game with a light touch and a heady spatial awareness of not only where his teammates are, but where he is in the flow of play (and relative to defenders). The son of longtime NHLer Yanic Perreault and brother of Ducks prospect Jacob, Gabe doesn’t have his dad’s defensive acumen or his brother’s build (he’s listed at 165 pounds now), but he’s an intuitive, highly intelligent player who sees the play develop offensively at a more advanced level than his two family members did/do — and than almost anybody in the draft does. He’s got some of the quickest hands in the draft. He problem-solves his way out of trouble as well as anyone in this age group. He’s got dexterous tools catching, tipping and redirecting pucks. He arrives into space at exactly the right times to make himself available and finish plays. His ability to bait defenders and open them up so that he can slide passes through their feet is so impressive. He gets shots off extremely fast and without bobbles in catch-and-release sequences. He plans things out on the ice at speed and then finds ways to make his desired play. He’s a slick one-on-one player but will also wait that extra split second and then just sling a pass tape-to-tape across the grain. He became a real puck thief by year’s end, consistently tracking back hard to empty the tank and make effort plays on lifts.

 

And he’s a better skater than he gets credit for, with above-average speed for my money and room to add power and pick up another step as he gets stronger. Because of his genetics, he should add the necessary weight and strength eventually. I’d eagerly bet on him and with the proper patience I expect the right team will reap the rewards of a top-six playmaking winger. There might not be a player in this draft class who thinks the game offensively at his level.

 

https://theathletic.com/4575346/2023/06/13/nhl-draft-2023-ranking-wheeler/

[Drew a Penalty]

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23. New York Rangers: Gabriel Perreault, RW, USA U-18 (NTDP)

May 7, 2005 | 5′ 11″ | 163 pounds

 

Tier: Bubble top and middle of the lineup player

Player comparable: Lucas Raymond

 

Background: Perreault is the first-line wing for the U.S. NTDP this season. He’s had one of the highest point-per-game rates in the program’s history this season and broke Auston Matthews’ single season point record, which was shortly followed by teammate Will Smith breaking it as well. He is the brother of Anaheim 2020 first-round pick Jacob Perreault and the son of former NHL player Yanic Perreault. He is committed to Boston College.

 

Analysis: Perreault is an extremely skilled and intelligent winger who can make a ton of positive things happen inside the offensive zone. Perreault makes highly-creative and unique dekes and passes with the puck at a high rate, both off the perimeter and in small areas. His puck game is clear NHL power-play quality, and he will score as a pro. The issues on Perreault’s game is his 5-foot-11 frame and his lack of footspeed. He shows good second effort and can win puck battles at the junior level, although whether he can do that versus men is a concern. His hockey sense is so elite though that I think he can overcome those issues and become a very good top six winger.

Thoughts on the pick: Perreault is one of the most skilled and intelligent players in the draft. I thought he’d go higher, but his frame, a barely 5-foot-11 winger who is skinny, combined with his subpar skating, gave a lot of NHL scouts pause despite his tremendous offensive abilities, so I’m not stunned he got to No. 23. He has a long way to go to look like an NHL player, but he has the talent to be a top six wing for the Rangers down the line. In an ideal world, the Rangers would have added size, and they wouldn’t have picked another wing, but Perreault was too much talent to pass up at this point in the draft for them.

 

https://theathletic.com/4645546/2023/06/28/nhl-draft-2023-first-round-grades-analysis/

[Cash or Czech]

22 minutes ago, Drew a Penalty said:

 

https://theathletic.com/4645546/2023/06/28/nhl-draft-2023-first-round-grades-analysis/

Well, Raymond is as good as Lafrenierre so we basically got a first overall again!

[Drew a Penalty]

 

Featuring an interview with Rangers assistant Dan Muse.

[RichieNextel305]

Solid pick. Pure scorer.

[Valriera]

About as good as you can hope this late but unexciting

[Phil]

 

[RodrigueGabriel]

I'm actually excited. A Lucas Raymond comp is better than I thought the Rangers would get at 23. A little light into the abyss.

[BrooksBurner]

From the tape I've seen already, I don't see the skating as a big problem. He's not as polished of a skater as a guy like Will Smith and that's evident by the tape, but I think they've missed the mark a bit on where Perreault's skating is at.

 

 

 

The absolute sell job of shot before the pass on the first play of this video is excellent. He seemed to know where he wanted to go with that puck before he even got it. Enough speed at 35 seconds - not blazing by any stretch of the imagination, but enough. Good awareness and play anticipation to crash the net at 1:32. Great hands in tight, high skill play at 1:45. Good cut and penetration to middle of ice and finding the trailer for the goal at 2:40.

 

As always, a highlight tape can make a lot of shit players look good, but I see enough here to be reasonably excited about the pick.

Edited June 29, 2023 by BrooksBurner

[Drew a Penalty]

I know we're all a little shell-shocked from poor skaters lately but this is a fantastic pick at 23. Perreault has the high level of skill that we always beg for. He'll be given adequate time to develop and light up college. We'll have a really good player in 3 years. Let him marinate. He's going to do the work.

[RodrigueGabriel]

Just now, Drew a Penalty said:

I know we're all a little shell-shocked from poor skaters lately but this is a fantastic pick at 23. Perreault has the high level of skill that we always beg for. He'll be given adequate time to develop and light up college. We'll have a really good player in 3 years. Let him marinate. He's going to do the work.

And his USNTDP coach is now an asst with his new team. So no alienation/lost-in-the-NYC-wilderness kind of shit that we've seen with too many prospects.

[Drew a Penalty]

8 minutes ago, RodrigueGabriel said:

And his USNTDP coach is now an asst with his new team. So no alienation/lost-in-the-NYC-wilderness kind of shit that we've seen with too many prospects.

 

 

And it seems like Perreault is really a disciple of Muse. 

 

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“His vision and how he can read the game is at a very high level. The way he reads, what he sees, where he knows the play is going, how he can anticipate the play to develop on both sides, the obvious is what you see watching the game on the offensive side but the same can be said for the defensive side. He can anticipate where players are going to go next with the puck and because of that he can position himself really well,” Muse said.

 

“And then you combine that with the skill set that he has and obviously it has led to a lot of points. And he’s still tracking back, he’s still being detailed, and he creates offence that way too. It’s not just with time and space, it’s also coming back off the track in transition and that part of his game has come a long way.”

 

https://theathletic.com/4420509/2023/04/27/gabe-perreault-2023-nhl-draft/

 

From what I've read about what Muse looks for in a player, Perreault seems to be his model.

 

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“I’d be excited if I was a team (picking him),” Muse said when asked about the potential for more growth and development. “I see what he has done here and you’ve got to have somebody that’s going to be all in to make strides off of the ice in terms of nutrition and doing the right things and I’ve seen it now for a year and a half. What you’re seeing now versus if you go back a year and a half, he has made monster strides in that area already and that only indicates that he’ll continue to make strides moving forward. He took full advantage of the strength program. From Day 1, he was doing extra.”

 

This all reads very well. It instills some confidence in me that he'll take the next two years or so at BC to bulk up and work on his skating.

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“He is the best player on the team. We’ll see how that projects NHL wise because the skating needs a bit of work but it won’t bust him.” - NHL Scout, May 2023

 

“He works hard...I think his skating is better than some people think and he is obviously really skilled.” - NHL Scout, June 2023

 

“Really good kid. Knows exactly who is he as a player and has a plan. I could put up with the best interviews ever.” - - NHL Scout, NHL Combine

 

“I can’t rave to you enough about how good his interview was. You just don’t get interviews like that one too often.” - NHL Scout, NHL Combine

 

“It’s tight for me between Gabe and Ryan Leonard. Different players but both bring a ton of value to your team.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards December 2022

 

“In a lot of my viewings he was the best player on the team. How will it translate?” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards, May 2023

 

“I got feedback from several scouts that the big three NTDP players (Smith, Perreault and Leonard) all interviewed very well. I got some good detail from multiple scouts about the questions and answers for Perreault and I can understand why they were so impressed.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards, June 2023

 

“Incredible intelligence on the ice and off ice.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards, June 2023

 

Some quotes about him from the 2023 Black Book.

[Dunny]

I'm good with it, and fixing skating is easy, just put him in power skating. I'm a genius.

[Ozzy]

I can dig this kid.  I think it's a pretty solid pick for us at #23.

 

Let's see how it goes...I'm feeling good about our draft picks under Drury....apparently there's a plan here.

[Sharpshooter]

Definitely lucky this guy fell so far down. I'm sure the skating issues has something to do with it, but still. Fantastic pick by Drury.

[siddious]

29 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

I can dig this kid.  I think it's a pretty solid pick for us at #23.

 

Let's see how it goes...I'm feeling good about our draft picks under Drury....apparently there's a plan here.

Definitely better than under Gorton in my

opinion (jury is still out until these guys make the nhl)- I’ll give him that. 

[Sharpshooter]

Gorton just reached way too much for my liking. I liked getting Othmann and Drury didn't fuck around here and just took BPA. 

[Zuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuc]

I don't think Gorton's drafting was that bad. Schneider at #19, Cuylle at #60, Garand at #103 and Berard at #134 in 2020. 2019 wasn't great, but not really bad either. Robertson and Henriksson in the 2nd round and Zac Jones in the 3rd. In 2018 they messed up the Kravtsov pick, but Miller at #22 and Lundkvist at #28 were solid picks, Lindbom early in the 2nd was a huge miss. In 2017 they missed big again on Andersson, but Chytil in the 20's was a great pick.

 

A lot of late round Euros that never made it and a couple obvious big misses (Lias, Kravtsov), but I think overall it was decent. Good in the late 1st-3rd round range, sucked at early 1st and late rounders.

 

The book is still out on Drury, we'll see in a few years I guess.

[siddious]

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Essentially all of the most-trusted experts had Perreault rated as the top player available when the Rangers went on the clock. Most had him ranked among their top-12 prospects overall. And pretty much everyone I spoke with leading up to the draft didn't think he'd be available when pick No. 23 came up.

 

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The slip may have occurred because some teams believed he was a product of his environment. The Illinois native played on the USNTDP's top line with two players who were selected well ahead of him − Will Smith (No. 4 overall, San Jose Sharks) and Ryan Leonard (No. 8 overall, Washington Capitals) − raising questions about how much they elevated his game.

 

But here's a fact that can't be denied: It was Perreault who broke the program's single-season scoring record, racking up 132 points (53 goals and 79 assists) to surpass Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews' previous mark by 15. That's pretty good company.

 

https://www.lohud.com/story/sports/nhl/rangers/2023/06/28/ny-rangers-nhl-draft-tracker-analysis-picks-nhl-draft-2023/70360644007/

 

also I guess he played LW on that line 

[Cash or Czech]

His scouting report gives me Panarin-lite vibes tbh