Eliot L’Italien (C, L, 6’2″, 187, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, 03/23/2006)
2024 NHL Draft Grade: C
Season stats 2023/24
Games played: 53
Goals: 9
Assists: 15
Points: 24
+/-: +1
Penalty time: 20:00
Penalty time against: 18:00
Average per game
Time on ice: 19:25
Power play time: 03:39
Short-handed time: 02:34
Shots: 2.5
Shots on goal, %: 69%
Faceoffs won, %: 57%
Puck battles: 12
Puck battles won, %: 48%
Accurate passes, %: 80%
Hits: 0.43
Hits against: 0.38
L’Italien is a 6’2″, 185 pound left shot forward who has played in the QMJHL for Blainville-Boisbriand.
He possesses solid skating ability, great puck skills, and patience with the puck in all three zones.
Skating and Speed: L’Italien demonstrates fluid and powerful strides, finishing with a toe snap and a return to a flat edge. He exhibits good straight-line speed and has the ability to change speeds effectively, allowing him to create separation from defenders.
Puck Skills and Vision: With excellent hands in tight situations, L’Italien displays great puck control and the ability to make plays under pressure. He has good vision on the ice and is capable of distributing the puck effectively, although there are instances where he telegraphs his passes.
Defensive Development: Defensively, L’Italien is a work in progress. While his skating has allowed him to recover quickly when out of position, he will need to learn to use his skating as a defensive asset rather than relying solely on recovery speed as he faces stronger opponents at higher levels.
Strength and Puck Protection: L’Italien utilizes his strength and long reach to protect the puck effectively, holding off defenders and maintaining possession in the offensive zone. Despite not being the most fluid skater, he generates power and speed through his skating posture and cross-over technique.
Projection: L’Italien projects to be a middle-six forward at the next level, capable of playing both forward positions with relative ease. While he is solid in the faceoff dot, he will need to continue working on his explosiveness and defensive positioning to excel at higher levels of play.
Overall Assessment: Overall, L’Italien possesses a strong skill set and work ethic that make him a valuable asset for Blainville-Boisbriand. With continued development, particularly in his defensive game and skating technique, he has the potential to become a reliable contributor at the professional level.
QMJHL: Val-d’Or at Blainville-Boisbriand, February 25, 2024: Litalien is a long legged left shot center with fluid powerful strides that finish with a toe snap and return to it’s flat edge. While in pursuit he showed very good straight line speed and the leg strength to slam on the breaks to stay with an opponent when they tried to shake him. On line rushes he used a change of speed and when he recognized that the defender had slowed Litalien turned on the jets to blow past him. He showed a quick stick on rebounds with an expanded shooting area. As a center we felt there were too many times when he telegraphed his passes and this may be because as a younger player his skating has allowed him to force plays simply because he was faster than his peer group. Defensively Litalien is a work in progress. We feel that his skating has always allowed him to quickly recover when he was out of position but as he plays against better players in higher levels he will have to learn to use his skating as a defensive asset rather than a liability.
QMJHL: Shawinigan at Blainville-Boisbriand, September 23, 2023: L’Italien is a long limbed left shot center with the strength to protect the puck and hold off defenders for extended periods by positioning his body and using his long reach to keep himself between the defender and the puck. Although he is not the most fluid straight line skater he showed an upright chest high skating posture that generated power / speed while crossing over and he used his outside edge to have a thorough cross-under. Among Armada forwards L’Italien earned a game high total of 19:13 including 4:31 while positioned on the top of the crease on the top power play unit and an additional 1:05 on the penalty kill which was third on the team for penalty killing ice time. L’Italien earned a secondary assist on the Armada’s first goal of the game which came fifteen seconds after he won a defensive zone face-off and really originated out of strong defensive zone coverage where he was in low support as the center. On the play he used a change of speed while coming over the offensive blueline which caught the opposing defender leaning and L’Italien then lowered his shoulder to drive wide carrying the puck to the strongside post. He was on the ice for two goals against and finished the game -1 on a goal that came off of low defensive zone coverage where he pinned his man but he did allow him to make a 4′ pass to a teammate who then attacked the net. The other goal against came on the power play where his teammate misread the slingshot breakout option so L’Italien had nothing to do with the minus. He also had two grade ‘A’ scoring opportunities with the first coming on a 2 on 1 where he received a royal road pass and he attempted to go five hole on a crossbody one-timer. On the play he had more time than he thought which says something about him scanning the ice while he doesn’t have the puck but we liked his willingness to quick stick a cross body one-timer with authority. At this point in his draft year Neutral Zone has L’Italien rated as a ‘C’ 2024 NHL draft prospect but at his size and with more efforts like tonight that grade could be moving higher.
QMJHL Cup, May 1, 2022: L’Italien is one of the most coveted offensive prospects in this years draft coming off a promising season with Seminaire St. Francois where he wore a letter and led the team in scoring with 17 goals in 39 games. He only played in 2 games here having gotten injured in the second game but he made his presence felt in limited time as a strong, 200ft power forward with a rare combination of tenacity and skill. He’s got excellent balance and a power element to his game that allows him to lower the shoulder, drive the net and get inside positioning on defenders. He can also withstand contact, he fights to get open away from the puck and knows where he is going with it before he gets it. L’Italien proved to be defensively responsible, stopped on pucks, got his stick in lanes and finished every check. Not only is he responsible but he’s competitive and it’s obvious in loose puck battles where he imposes his will physically and outworks everyone on the ice to gain possession. He had one goal in this two games which was a quick, hard snap shot low stick side on a 2v1 which demonstrated his ability to carry the puck with his head up, read the goalie and place his shots in stride which few forwards can do at this level. What makes Eliot a potential first pick is his versatility; he has really patient hands, he waits for plays to develop and then exploits the seams, he’s both a shooter and a distributor who showed an explosive release and also had several cross crease passes off the rush. He has puck touch and just enough creativity to beat defenders 1v1 with skill and he can also overpower them and drive the net. No real holes in his game and he brings a level of grit, hustle and compete that you don’t typically see in a top echelon forward talent; the complete package.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images