| Niklas Hubner | ERC Ingolstadt | DEL | L | D | 6’2″ | 181 | Ingolstadt, GER | 2004 | 2021-2022: C+ |
Ian Moran’s Thoughts: There is a lot to like about Hubner’s game and future. First off he’s big and very fast. He moves very well and has high end straight line speed. This past year he played in both the DEL and the in the DNL U20 where he was a point per game defenseman. He’s going to have to learn to sit back a little bit while defending, but he has NHL size and is incredibly athletic. I’d take a chance on him in the 4th-5th round, ask him play in the CHL for a year and then work with him in the AHL for a year. In the end you might have yourself a mid-round pick who plays games.
U18: Team Germany vs Team Canada, April 24, 2022: In the 8-3 loss to Canada Hubner earned a game high of 23:13 TOI, including 2:56 while on the power play and 4:08 while short handed. He showed very nice deception and lateral quickness while manning the top of Germany’s umbrella. The left shot showed the footwork to explode to his right looking as if he were going to pass to Fabian Lutz, only to quickly open his hips allowing him to get over the puck for a well timed pass to Veit Oswald. His passes were firm and flat giving his teammates the option of firing one-timers or making a pass. Although his skating style lends him to be out over his toes, Hubner showed patience while in defensive zone coverage, but once he recognized a bouncing or bobbled puck he had a good first step to shut down the cycle.
DEL: ERC Ingolstadt vs Schwenninger Wild Wings, April 1, 2022: In the 7-0 victory over the Wild Wings Hubner earned 11:53 inn TOI, including 0:22 while short handed. While in pursuit he 6’2″ under-ager showed excellent straight line speed. We also liked the quickness he showed when slamming on the breaks while in defensive zone coverage. Hubner plays on his toes and is always ready to attack, but we feel as his defensive game continues to mature he will need to adjust his skating posture to playing with his hips lower because quick skillful NHLers will recognize when he is leaning and exploit him. An example of this happened mid-way through the first period. There was a quick turnover at Ingolstadt’s defensive blueline and as the weakside defender Hubner got caught leaning the wrong direction. This led to a stumble, which happens to everyone, and a breakaway from the blueline in.