2016 NHL Draft Profile: Jordan Kyrou

Sarnia Sting forward Jordan Kyrou is an interesting sleeper for the NHL Draft this year. He had a strong year in Sarnia and played on the top lines for Team Canada at both the Ivan Hlinka Tournament last summer and the World U18 championships this past spring. But he's received virtually no hype or attention because it's hard to find anyone ranking inside the top-30 for this year's Draft. But when anyone extends their Draft list out past the first round, Kyrou is almost always in that next group of five to ten picks. He's not quite a first round guy, but still definitely a player worth paying attention to in the early parts of the Draft.

Player: Jordan Kyrou

Team: Sarnia Sting(OHL)

Position: Right Wing

Height: 6'0" Weight: 179 lbs.

Stats: 65 games, 17 goals, 34 assists 51 points, +13

Final NHL Central Scouting rank: 34th among North American skaters

What I Like:

-Creates Space with His Feet

Kyrou is a quick, shifty skater that does an excellent job of changing speeds and changing directions to keep the defense off-balance and create open lanes for himself.He's really good at attacking east-west rather than just playing a north-south type of game. In this clip, he makes a nice cutback to create a shooting lane for himself to score a nice goal.

-Excellent Vision

Kyrou's best asset is his terrific passing ability. He can see plays developing and make quick decisions to get the puck where it needs to be at the right time, like on this goal he set up with a pretty one-touch pass from behind the net.

-Soft Hands

He handles the puck really well and has the ability to make high-skill plays with speed. He handles pucks well and when he gets into an opportunistic position with the puck, he rarely makes a mistake with it.

-Room to Grow

Kyrou is listed at 179 lbs, but looks like he has a lot of room to add more muscle to his frame. He can be knocked off the puck and neutralized a bit now against stronger competition, but should only get better as he fills into his frame.

What I Don't Like:

-Can He Handle Better Competition?

Kyrou made a big splash at the World U18s, scoring four goals in Canada's opening romp over Denmark, but was relatively quiet after that. There are no Denmarks in the NHL, so will he be able to produce at the same rate when facing really tough defenses?

-Defensive Play

Kyrou is far from a complete 200-foot player. He'll have to put in a lot of work to get better on the defensive end, an issue that will likely be corrected with some time in the minors. The good news is that that is easier to teach than his superb offensive skills.

-Lack of Shooting Ability

Kyrou doesn't really have a pro-level shot, which makes him a bit of a one-dimensional threat. A number of his goals came as the result of sneaking in towards the net and scoring from close range. As he adds strength, hopefully he'll be more of a scoring threat from distance.

Draft Projection:

Both Central Scouting and myself have Kyrou projected to go in the early part of the second round and that seems about right. Kyrou isn't quite a complete enough player to be in the discussion for the first round, but it's hard to imagine a player with his offensive upside lasting into the third round. He'll be one of the first players off the board on Day 2 of the Draft.

Pro Projection:

Kyrou projects as a scoring line winger that picks up a lot of assists due to his passing ability, and excels on the power play. He's not likely to be the star player on his team, but should be a player that makes the top players around him even better.