| Joshua Nadeau | Penticton Vees | BCHL | R | RW | 5’8″ | 159 | Maine | 2023 | St. Francis de Madaska, NB | 2003 | 2022-2023: C+ 2021-2022: C+ |
BCHL: February Re-cap, March 3, 2023: Josh is a skilled slippery point-producing forward. He has exceptional vision and hockey IQ. He is extremely shifty both with and without the puck. He applied good pressure on the forecheck using his speed and shiftiness to jump around defenders and beat them to the puck. He showed creativity with the puck and passing abilities. He is excellent at quickly changing his passing and shooting angles/lanes with quick drags of the puck or subtly shifting his body. He sees the ice well and makes the pass quickly before the defense can process it. He was excellent on give-and-goes and quick puck movement with his teammates. He scored 4 goals in this game including a natural hat-trick in the 2nd period. He scored the 1st goal getting to the front of the net where he found a loose puck off the shot from the point and quickly turned around and snapped it pass the goalie. He hit the post with a drag and shoot from the R dot. He was 1-on-2 but neatly dragged the puck to the middle somewhat splitting the defenders and allowing him to get off a quick shot off the post. He scored his 2nd goal buzzing around the Ozone for several chances and eventually skating the puck around the top of the L circle sweeping the pass back the other way to his brother then getting to the front of the net where he one-touched the return pass and then finished on his own rebound. He scored his 3rd goal in-tight at the R post around three defenders who failed to pick him up as he was able to one-touch the rocket backdoor pass from the L side into the net. He scored his 4th on a 2-on-2 rush with his brother in which his brother skated the puck over the R blue line while he smartly opened up and then one-timed the pass from the slot pass the goalie. He quickly flipped his hips on the fly to open up and then got the one-timer off quickly with excellent velocity and accuracy. Grade: A
BCHL: BCHL All Star Game, February 11, 2023: The older Nadeau is a highly skilled and confident playmaking center from the Penticton Vees. Played on the top unit here and was a threat to score each time out on the ice. Josh is smaller but uses his footwork edges and balance to navigate each zone and get to playmaking areas. He is creative and constantly made cross-ice passes to change angles and spread the defense. He changes speeds well to manipulate space and create easy zone entries. He picked up an assist in the game by driving the net hard with the puck freezing the defender and sliding a pass tape-to-tape to a teammate. Patient and confident with the puck on his stick he draws defenders to him and either slips the puck to a teammate or beats the defender in space. The late 2003 was consistently noticeable here and competed hard. Grade: A-
BCHL: Penticton vs Vernon, January 1, 2023: Nadeau totaled 19:38 in ice time including 1:57 while on the power play and 0:19 while shorthanded. He finished the game even with 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 shots, 1 PP shot, 2 grade “A” opportunities, 1 hit, received 1 hard body check, had 1 shot blocked, 9 giveaways, 0 takeaways and he won 18% of his 17 puck battles. Joshua Nadeau has a very high skill set. Makes plays under pressure and can make them look easy at times. Scored the second goal of the game by going to the net off a forecheck spinning off a check and batting in a pass from his brother (Bradly Nadeau #82). The pass was about 3 feet off the ice and he swatted it out of midair with his feet moving all in one motion going towards the net. Not only does he have the skill set but he finishes his checks and forechecks with a purpose. Isn’t the biggest player on the ice but doesn’t shy away from the hard areas. This allows him to come up with pucks in the offensive zone where his creativity and playmaking abilities come into play. Grade: B+
Neutral Zone 2022 NHL Draft report, July 4, 2022: Why to draft, During the 2021/22 BCHL regular season he scored 40 goals in 54 games and added another 12 goals in 17 playoff games. He draws an incredible amount of penalties. He scored 19 goals at 5on5. Why not to draft, He won 45% of his puck battles. He is undersized at 5’7″. Does he have the pace to be a scorer in the NHL?
BCHL Playoff: Trail Smoke Eaters vs Penticton Vees, April 5, 2022: Extremely shifty and crafty player. Not the biggest player, but skates well and can change the angle of his body/hands to evade defenders. Can take the puck from the defensive zone and skate it into the offensive zone creating chances off the rush. He can weave in and out of traffic and shoot pucks through defenders (using them as a screen). Plays in all situations, 5 on 5, PK and PP. Not the grittiest player on the PK, but his hockey sense allows him to be in the right positions, filling lanes and picking the puck up in loose battles. His skating ability also allows him to separate himself from his opponents allowing him to create offense in short-handed scenarios. A well-rounded game, that allows him to play on both sides of the puck.
BCHL: Penticton Vees at Cranbrook Bucks, March 24, 2022: Pace through neutral zone as puck carrier, soft chip to strongside corner and won race to establish cycle. Bumper on the power play, received a pass on forehand as bumper then made a no look backhand for a one-timer on the left dot lane. Got smoked to start 2nd period, but rather than change or look distracted he won a race for a loose puck in the neutral zone to generate a breakaway & a grade “A” scoring opportunity. Shifty below the goal line, stutter step to initiate contact and quick first step out of contact to make highly skilled passes that linemates can one-time. First shift after Vees 2nd goal Nadeau was excellent.. strong in the corner while cycling, maintained possession looking for linemates in dot lane & finding them, won race to rebound and fired a bouncing puck that generated another rebound scoring opportunity. High end passing skills, especially on backhand passes which often times look like the passes surprise his teammates even when they are directly on the tape.
BCHL: Wenatchee Wild vs Penticton Vees, February 12, 2022: Despite his size, finds a way to control the puck and protect it in all three zones. Although an offensive minded player, back-checked accordingly and picked up loose pucks in the defensive zone. By stopping on pucks in the defensive zone, it allowed him to utilize his quick first step and start the transition rush the other way. Not going to wow you with his physical play, but consistently went to the hard areas and wasn’t afraid to take a hit to make the play. Goes to the net and finds the honey hole areas for quick release plays on net. Scored a bang-bang goal to tie the game (4-4) by moving his feet, beating a defender to the net, and putting a quick one-timer net front top shelf. B+
BCHL: Prince George Spruce Kings vs Penticton Vees, January 19, 2022: Arguably the Vees best player right from puck drop. His shiftiness with the puck is ELITE. Can grab the puck in any zone and somehow find a way to get it to the net. Used his skating ability and changed the angle of his body/hands to avoid checks and maintain puck possession. Snuck behind defenders during OZ play and could get open right in front of the net. Scored the 2nd goal of the game for the Vees by getting net front (unnoticed) and one touching a nice pass top shelf passed the goaltender. Although not the biggest forward, he doesn’t put himself in bad situations. Uses his vision and reads to understand where to be with and without the puck. B+
BCHL: Prince George Spruce Kings vs. Penticton Vees, November 2, 2021: Nadeau has an extremely high skill set. He is not the biggest player but makes up for it in shiftiness and his ability to make plays with the puck. Prince George defended against him well, but he was still able to make plays that led to scoring chances. He has excellent puck skills as he can stick handle the puck while keeping his feet moving. He has that unique ability to get by defenders with a combination of speed and skill, on multiple occasions, in the neutral zone, Nadeau carried the puck, had his feet moving and shifted his body from the inside to the outside to take the defenders wide. From here, he could make plays accordingly as he had more time and space. Grade: B
2021 Prospects Jr. Showcase in Fredericton, September 2, 2021: Throughout the showcase it was easy to see why Josh has already committed to play at the University of Maine in the fall of 2022. Nadeau stood out in every game and training session, displaying blazing speed, quick hands, a nice shot and great playmaking skills. He’s not a big player, but that doesn’t stop him from driving hard to the net and initiating contact with opposing forwards and defensemen. Nadeau did it all and then some at the showcase.
Logo courtesy of the Penticton Vees