Cale Makar has won just about everything there is to win in hockey in the past few months, so to compare a recently drafted 18-year-old to the Colorado Avalanche standout is not fair to either party.
Yet there’s little arguing that Makar is the gold standard right now when it comes to being a defenseman in the NHL, so if you’re going to try to be like anyone in the league, why not watch the best?
And for Blue Jackets first-round pick Denton Mateychuk, there’s plenty that can be learned.
“I really like watching his game,” Mateychuk said of Makar. “He’s one of the best players in the NHL, probably one of the best defensemen, if not the best, and to see the things he’s doing offensively and defensively, he’s just a great player and a player I want to be like.
“He’s a guy who is really special. He’s always using little fakes and stuff like that. I try to implement those into my game, things like that.”
Video: Media Avail: Mateychuk
For Blue Jackets scout Troy Dumville, who watched Mateychuk play around 20 times leading into this summer’s draft when Columbus chose the defenseman 12th overall, there are some comparisons to be made between the two players.
In the eyes of Dumville, it all boils down to creativity.
“He’ll see one, two or three options on a breakout, and you think he’s going to go to option one and then all of a sudden the puck moves to option three,” Dumville said. “He does a lot of things that will make fans pretty excited.
“Makar is obviously an elite player. I’d hate to put any kind of pressure like that, but (Mateychuk) is going to be a fan favorite. He plays hard every night. He’ll do whatever it takes to win. He’s going to be a fun player to watch for the fans.”
Mateychuk showcased those skills this past season with Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League. A native of tiny Dominion City, Manitoba, just north of the American border, Mateychuk had a breakout campaign with the Warriors, posting nearly a point per game with a 13-51-64 line in 65 games.
When Minnesota Wild prospect Daemon Hunt went down with an injury in the second half of the season, Mateychuk — just 17 years old but with an “A” on his sweater — stepped up down the stretch. He posted a 4-10-14 line in the last nine games, including a six-point game.
“He’s just a heart-and-soul kind of kid,” Dumville said. “He was a good interview early on. He actually seized an opportunity in the second half where a drafted player on his team, Hunt, went down with an injury and he rose. All of a sudden, he took over the team and took them into the playoffs. That’s not easy to do at 17 in the WHL playoffs.”
And while Mateychuk’s offensive skills naturally make people take notice, he’s not too shabby in the defensive end. It’s easy to look at the two defensemen the Jackets took in the first round and peg 6-3 blueliner David Jiricek as the big body and Mateychuk (5-11, 194) as the creative skill player, but Mateychuk brings physicality and fierceness to the game as well.
“I think some people see him maybe as a small defenseman, but we don’t at all,” CBJ general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “I don’t know if he’s 5-11 or 5-10, but he’s thick, he’s strong, he’s competitive. He’s been dominant in the games that we watched and our scouting staff watched. He’s a point-per-game defenseman in the Western Hockey League and an assistant captain already at that age. I think there’s a great future ahead of him.”
Mateychuk lists Boston standout defenseman Charlie McAvoy as someone he watches as well as Makar, and you could do worse than having two of the top defensemen in the world as players you cue up on tape each night.
In all, there’s a lot to be excited for, as Mateychuk profiles as the kind of creator from the blue line that teams are often searching for.
“He just has really good vision,” Dumville said. “When he walks the blue line, he can find the shooting lanes. He’s just so smart, and he’s not predictable. That’s the one thing I wrote in my reports a lot is this kid is not predictable. He’ll shoot one time, find an open lane, he’ll put one off the backboard if he sees a guy. He just has a lot of creativity to his game. It’s never the same thing twice, and it’s kind of fun to watch.”
Mateychuk’s hometown has around 350 residents and is located just about 10 miles north of the border in Manitoba, but the family is doing its best to put Dominion City on the map. Denton’s brother Maddux plays college baseball at Campbellsville University, while his younger brothers are also high-level hockey players as well.
The trip to Columbus for the team’s summer development camp after the draft was a bit of an eye-opener for Mateychuk as it showed just how close he might be to realizing his NHL dream.
“I think it’s excitement for the future,” he said of the feeling of putting on an NHL sweater for the first time. “It’s just starting to settle in that this is the NHL. Now I’ve been drafted, it’s time to make the step to play in the NHL. That’s my next goal, to be a Columbus Blue Jacket in the NHL, and that’s what I want to do.”
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