Nate Knoepke

Aaron Vickers

A big, composed two-way blueliner…has a powerful skating stride that allows him to cover a lot of ground…not a true coast-to-coast puck rusher but is responsible for generating multiple offensive rushes for the NTDP, and carrying the puck up ice…plays a lot of big minutes on both sides of the puck…calm and poised with the puck allowing him to deal with a hard forecheck…makes the correct play for the situation, whether that be making a skilled breakout pass or just dumping the puck off the glass…has a powerful shot from the point that is both a rocket and on target but he can also wrist a seeing eye shot on net for deflections as well…likes to be involved in all facets…defensively he uses his long reach and size advantage to get sticks on pucks and keep opposing attackers to the outside…uses his body to separate opposition from puck…could develop into a top four do-everything kind of guy at the next level. (November 2016)