Owls' Quick Draft Hits: Cayden Primeau
#Cayden Primeau: Lincoln Stars (USHL)
Our last goaltender of the series comes from a storied NHL lineage: Cayden is the son of Keith Primeau, long-time NHL power forward and shut-down centre (and, for the Flames relationship, his far less successful uncle is Wayne Primeau). Apparently genetic hockey talent is position-independent. However, Cayden’s not just on this list for his NHL bloodlines – the Northeastern commit is a legit prospect in his own right.
The first thing to mention about Primeau is that he’s a big boy – at 6’4”, he’s clearly his father’s son and that whole adage about how “you just can’t teach size” is becoming more important in goaltending evaluation as it loses hold with skater evaluation – and like so many of today’s huge goaltenders, the most important thing about Primeau’s size is that he is smart enough to use it well to challenge attackers, cover shooting lanes and fill the net, predicting plays well and moving laterally accordingly. His mediocre USHL numbers are worrying but don’t show the progression he went through this year (and it’s worth mentioning the Stars were sort of like the Islanders this year where they were a rough team but somehow stayed competitive for the playoff race for a long time), and he’s someone challenging for future looks in the US national program.
Primeau’s more of a hybrid goaltender than many young tenders today, staying standing for much longer before hitting the butterfly, but he moves his legs well and drops into his stance quickly when needed, which means that he gets to maintain the advantages of his upright stance -- better lateral movement and more skating control than he’d otherwise have. He has good quickness in his hands (although this compensates for him often having his gloves out of positon), and shows a very solid blocker. He’s got good rebound control and battles hard in the crease, so he rarely gives up amazing rebounds and never gives up on the ones that get through to him anyway. He doesn’t show much in the way of puck-handling and generally has an unorthodox, but effective, style.
For NHL comparables, I think the best one is Devan Dubnyk. Like Dubnyk, I think Primeau’s likely to need a lot of time to get to his potential if he does, and I think you could see a very rough couple seasons if his coaching isn’t right for his style. He’s a perfect goaltender project though, with the raw athletic ability and hockey IQ to become a real good player if he can put everything together.
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Posted Jun 6, 2017, 4:20 AM UTC