A strong, athletic, offensive-minded defenseman who is an elite level skater. He possesses a great first few steps and strong lateral mobility. He is able to turn on a dime to break down a defender or to escape a powerful forecheck. Uses his smooth, wide skating stride as he rushes the puck up ice or even end-to-end. He’s a great puck mover and makes a grade ‘A’ first pass. He uses his skills on the power play well and has shown the ability to anticipate when to send a back door pass and when to hold onto the puck. He plays the blue line well on the power play, has excellent patience and can play either point. He plays with his head up, looking around, and has a good first step. He is calm with the puck, has good hockey sense and can get the puck on net through traffic. He has a good outlet tape-to-tape pass, and can play big minutes. Defensively he has a good stick, gets it into lanes and seems to have a longer reach than you would expect a player of his height to have. (May 2012)