Chase Bertholet

WHL: Winnipeg Ice NHL Prospects, May 2021: Chase is the type of prospect that could fly under the radar for most teams. Especially in the pandemic year, his game may be undervalued by some. The reasons are simple, Chase doesn’t have anything in his game that stands out as elite, but on the flip side of the coin, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything he’s not really good at. With his skating, Chase plays with good pace. He has a nice smooth stride, but what we really like is his edge work, his quick feet, and how he gains really good speed out of his turns. What his feet allow him to do, is be a real menace defensively, and on the forecheck. He doesn’t seem to give puck carriers any room to breathe. He collapses nicely into the slot, because he has good enough feet to charge out to the puck if the play moves to his area. On the forecheck, Chase is hard to shake, he pursues with good angles, forcing skaters where he wants, and he uses a good stick and gets low to take away passing lanes to negate any obvious or positive puck plays, and when opponents try a quick change of direction, Chase is able to stick to them like glue. He plays with great energy, and doesn’t shy away from being a physical player either. He doesn’t necessarily go looking for the physical play, but when he sees an opportunity, he doesn’t shy away either. Offensively he doesn’t play with a ton of flash. He drives hard to the net and he tries to be a good net front presence. His offensive game certainly needs some more seasoning, but when he does find himself with time and space, he shows that he will take that time to assess and try to make plays for teammates. He has a decent release, but his shot isn’t an elite one, he will do a lot of his goal scoring in tight.