Luke Prokop (4.25 Star Amateur Rating, NHL Grade — C+) Defense
Neutral Zone NHL’s Donald Godreau, May 2020: A big bodied defenseman who plays strong along the boards, and in front of the net. He wins most of these one on one battles by using his natural advantages like leverage and power. In the defensive end he shows a good understanding of where to be positionally and plays with a nice stick taking away time and space. He is a solid penalty killer for the Hitmen, doesn’t mind getting into shooting lanes, and understands when to stay positionally sound and when to get aggressive on the puck. In the open ice, he can look a little clumsy. His gap control is okay, but he can be exposed in transition against quicker players, and he doesn’t look as menacing in open ice as he does in the tighter confines of his defensive zone when things are at a more controllable pace. While he is a formidable opposition in physical confrontations, he doesn’t always look like a natural engager, he doesn’t consistently play a punishing game. His skating is solid for his size. His straight line speed is good, he has a big aggressive stride, and every so often he’ll bust out on a break out with his feet like a freight train and overwhelm opponents with his size and aggression as a puck carrier. He is capable of making good decisions with the puck in his own zone, and will show patience and good accuracy with heavy passes. He isn’t however a natural play maker. He doesn’t quarterback the powerplay, nor does he show a ton of confidence with his feet and puck possession along the blue line. He makes quick decisions. He has a heavy slap shot, but does seem to need time and space to feel confident before winding up and letting the puck rip. To us, right now, Luke seems like a tweener defenseman, still trying to figure out exactly what he is. He has a the size and strength, the solid read and reacts in his own zone to be a solid defender, but he isn’t a natural tiger. He has okay offensive instincts, and picks his moments to pinch, and join the rush wisely, but doesn’t have the puck skills to back up his play. Grade: C
Neutral Zone NHL’s Ian Moran, February 2020: Luke is a smooth skating right shot defender. He has poise and vision in transition, showing the ability to hit the stretch man in stride or a quick up immediately following a turnover. He is not a top pairing guy, but we feel he is well suited to play top 4 minutes by potentially being a shooter on a second power play and also being a regular contributor to penalty killing situations. Luke has some bite to his game and is willing to block shots.
CSSHL Midget Playoffs, April 2018: Prokop is an early pick in the WHL and has games within the WHL. Prokop has a very high ceiling as he does everything extremely well at this level and he should translate well to the WHL. He is a big, smooth player that always makes the heads up play. He moves pucks extremely well and propels his team forward on the offense. He runs the top on the power play distributing pucks all through the zone. He is relied upon in all situations.
WHL Cup (2002s), October 2017: The size and strength Luke brings to the game is his biggest asset. Even with this, his skating is still very good. He deals with the rush well, uses his stick smartly and if streaking players get too close, he put them on their bottoms with a single push. On offense he keeps it simple, just looking to protect the blue line and getting pucks deep. Grade: B+