| Noah Ellis | Muskegon Lumberjacks | USHL | R | D | 6’2″ | 192 | UMass Amherst | 2022 | Urbandale, IA | 2002 | 2019-2020: C+ |
USHL: Weekend #4, October 27, 2021: A tall and strong defensemen on the back end, who skates really well for his size and position. He is a really well rounded defensemen that plays the game really solid in all three zones. He showed the ability to really drive the puck with some heat on it when he got the chances but he was not the most active d in the offensive game. He can pick his spots here and there and chip into the offense but much of his offense comes from second hand production and just making a solid pass that leads to some more from others. His skating is really smooth and is what makes him really effective in defending. He is able to track forwards and stay with them in all areas. He can keep up with forwards skating backwards and with his mohawk ability to almost skate lateral alongside the forwards which greatly cuts down on the forwards ability to get to the middle of the ice and the high danger areas. In his own zone, he makes a really clean first pass and seems to always find the easy way out. He is able to use the net well which bought him even more time to make a clean play. I liked the way he would have his head up and surveyed the best option to start a breakout. He would find if the center or the wing were a better option, many times resulting in clean breakouts that allowed his forwards to attack through the neutral zone with speed. He also did a great job of staying tight with his defense partner and always being an option for his partner to move to when they were caught in a tight situation. Grade: A-
USHL: Des Moines, Sioux Falls, NTDP 17, Chicago, November 28, 2020: Great two way player that shows good habits in his own zone. Closes fast on players with a good first step and is able to pin along the boards taking them out of the play. Uses his stick well getting it on pucks and is willing to get in front of shots. The willingness to go along with the work ethic he brings, makes him a hard player to miss. Grade: B
February NHL Draft Rankings, February 2020: Noah was ranked #161 with a ‘C+’ Neutral Zone NHL 2020 Draft grade.
Noah Ellis NHL Scouting Report: (1) Brain – Noah is a confident defenseman who maintains a net side presence in the defensive zone. He has his head on a swivel and has good awareness of what is happening away from the puck. While defending line rushes he matches speeds well and does not look to take chances that will leave his partner in odd man situations. (2) Vision & Poise – When breaking the puck out he makes quick decisions and tape to tape passes. We noticed that in the neutral zone he had a tendency to force the puck to the middle and telegraphed his board to board passes to the weak side. We will watch to see if this tendency leaves his game as the season progresses. In the offensive zone Noah walked the blue line with his head up and his shots got through. This is worth noting because in previous games we had noted a number of his shots were blocked. (3) Feet – Noah is a big body who moves well. His hips are loose and the rigidity we saw when he was younger has vanished. He has a long powerful stride and is quick laterally. (4) Compete & Effort – Even though Noah is a big boy who moves well we noted that he has a high compete level. He consistently won battles that were not in his favor. (5) Contact or Physicality – He is not a banger. He uses his feet and brain to play with tight gaps and eliminates his opponents through smart angles. He is above average at boxing out and keeping the shooting lanes clean for his goalie. (6) Release – His shot has improved dramatically over the past year. His head is up and his shots are no longer hitting shin-pads. (7) One Timer Ability – We did not see Noah attempt any one timers in Pittsburgh (8) Body Language – (Only Note Extremes) (9) Special Teams Potential – We project Noah as a third pairing defenseman who will not be a power play guy. We do however see him as potential penalty killer. He has good feet, clears shooting lanes without getting tied up and is generally aware of what is going on around him. (10) Intangibles – From what we can tell Noah has not played a whole lot of hockey while he was growing up. He has played in some high level games for his age group, gone to National Camps and done well and even played Internationally at The Hilinka, but he has only played about 65 games over the past two seasons. This is a plus for us because he has shown rapid development in a short time and is obviously very athletic. We feel that by Christmas Noah will have taken a huge step and we are looking forward to our next viewing.
USA Hockey Select 16 National Development Camp, July 2018: Ellis is a good-sized, strong skating, versatile defenseman out of Iowa Wild U16 program where he led all defenseman in scoring. He is on the raw side and this was quite a jump in competition from what he’s used to, but he showed real upside. He isn’t pretty but covers a lot of ice, he plays a physical, hard to play against style 1v1 and in his own end and can carry the puck up ice. He zips passes off and has a strong shot from the point. With that being said he missed some passes that went from icing and while he got a shot on net that was tipped for a goal he also hit a lot of shin pads and sticks and caused some turnovers as a result. The most promising sign for Ellis’ upside is that he’s hungry; he plays hard, he’s athletic and showed the strength and toughness to win puck battles all over the ice. The late round Des Moines draft pick finished the week with 2 assists in 5 games and is listed as undecided for 2018-2019 season.
USHL Phase I Draft:, May 2018: Noah was ranked #199 with a 3.5 Neutral Zone amateur star rating.
Tier 1 Elite Playoffs (2002s), March 2018: Noah played a strong two way game as he defended well with position and moved pucks well offensively. He has size and strength with the footwork to go along with it. He logged positive minutes in all situations for his team and was their best player on the blue line.