Nolan Cunningham (3.75 Star Amateur Rating, NHL Grade — C) Defense
So how does a player like Nolan Cunningham end up on our New England Prep NHL Draft Watch List? Well, a little birdie thinks that he is a kid on the upswing. No, it wasn’t an agent. No, it wasn’t a college coach. It was a Neutral Zone scout who has spent some time in rinks who has an eye for late bloomers. Anyway, back to Nolan. He is the son of the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Brooks Bandits Assistant Coach and Assistant General Manager, Scott Cunningham. And do you know who played for the Brooks Bandits before winning the Hobey Baker Award and heading out to Colorado to start their NHL Career? Bing, Bang, Boom …. Cale Makar. Now obviously Nolan Cunningham is not Cale Makar, but Nolan has grown up watching Makar and has paid attention to what he has done to prepare himself for professional hockey. So what do we know about Nolan’s game? He is a right shot defenseman who has a great stride and good foot work. He retrieves the puck quickly on dump ins, moves his feet well in transition and has the puck skills & touch to make hard accurate tape to tape passes through traffic. He has a quick release from the point and shoots with his head up looking for potential tips. This is a big year for Nolan, who is probably not on any NHL team’s radars and probably not on most college team’s lists either, but he is going to be counted on to play in every situation imaginable for Kent’s Hill. And this is why our interest is peaked. Nolan is the son of a coach. He has spent time hanging around the rink(s). Has he absorbed the “hockey talk” that coaches naturally have while watching games? Has he watched Calgary Flames games with his Father and had casual conversations about gap control, reading breakouts, killing penalties or power play concepts that he can implement this year on the ice. What it really comes down to is Nolan’s brain. We feel he has the physical skill set to play at a high level. And this prep season we will be watching to see how he processes the game and how quickly he can make decisions. Again, Nolan is a long term project who has grown up around hockey. We are excited to watch him develop and to see if he can establish himself as a high end defenseman in New England Prep hockey this year.