Braydan Smith

Neutral Zone’s Ian Moran, January 20, 2023: As a 6’4″ right shot defenseman Smith is a true project. He will need to continue developing his foot speed and explosiveness, but he has a good deep kneed skating base that will allow him to carry dramatically more weight than his current 170lbs. Offensively he is most effective when he keeps it simple and uses his defensive partner as an outlet whenever possible. Truthfully there are times when he gets himself in trouble when he has too much time to think on control breakouts, but in general he seems to understand what he is and what he will be while playing at UConn and beyond. Along the offensive blueline I feel he has too many shots hitting shin pads cleanly, but he does handle bouncing pucks cleanly and does not need the extra stickhandle before letting it fly. As far as getting his shots blocked I feel that through consistent practice repetitions this can come to an end. He also might need to change his mindset to understand that banking a puck off the end wall to create chaos along the goal line is a good thing. Defensively I would like to see more abrasiveness and consistent snarl. He certainly has the frame to punish opposing forwards along the walls and I feel an extra shot to the kidneys would go a long way when clearing shooting lanes. But honestly there are times when he just seems too passive. I’m not saying he needs to run around trying to kill guys being a headhunter, but I do feel that he would get more respect out there if he consistently punished a few guys. At this point in Trail’s season he has played 31 games and has 12 penalty minutes. I have no doubt his life would be dramatically easier if that penalty minute total was up to around 50 with a few well placed cross checks and post whistle stinky mitts in the scrums. I feel for his overall development he needs another year in the BCHL where the pace is high and plays are encouraged to be made. After that he gets to UConn in the summer of 2024 and trains with the mindset of being an impactful freshman who weighs in at 210lbs and plays against the other team’s top offensive units. To me this would prepare him for his role in professional hockey.

Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images