“I think he’s going to be a defenceman who shifts the paradigm of the position,” an Eastern Conference team’s scout told the Elite Prospects Rinkside team regarding Denton Mateychuk, who was highlighted in their article outlining the most divisive prospects in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Meanwhile, a Western Conference scout is quoted in the same article, and his take on Mateychuk was much less optimistic: “Plays a fun style, but he’s small, he’s not that fast, and he can’t defend the rush. Gets hemmed in and runs around. We’re not that interested.”
In other words, he plays such a unique game, that he could change the way defending is perceived at the NHL level.