Owen McLaughlin | Sioux City Musketeers | USHL | L | F | 5’11” | 165 | North Dakota | 2022 | Spring City, PA | 2003 | 2020-2021: C |
McLaughlin was a 2021 round 7 #206 overall by Philadelphia Flyers.
USHL: Tri-City v Sioux-City; Chicago v Green Bay; Fargo v Sioux Falls, January 12, 2022: A deceptive player in the offensive zone. Has that unique ability to truly orchestrate the powerplay. Almost all plays on the PP#1 come from his stick. Controls the puck well, regardless of if there is pressure. Doesn’t panic, holds onto it, and shields it with his body. When attacking the net, has his head up and hands in a shooting/passing position making it hard for him to be defended. Consistently dragged defenders towards him and found his teammates open in scoring areas with time and space. The 2nd goal of the game for the Musketeers was a great display of McLaughlin understanding his special awareness. For example, he saw the defence pinched up, snuck behind them, corralled a pass at full speed and made a nifty move in tight to beat the goaltender on a breakaway. Scored a short-handed goal at the end of the game that again, showed his spatial awareness, a nice set of hands and scoring touch. A-
Neutral Zone NHL’s Ian Moran’s comments, July 2021: Owen is the type of player that you remember. He has excellent edge control and can almost turn at right angles. He plays with his eyes up always prepared and anticipating the next play. He works the mid-wall really well on the power play having the touch to throw soft sauce to the bumper or cross box bullets to the shooter on the far face-off dot. He’s still pretty light, but after a few years training and maturing at Penn State his body might catch up to his mind.
Neutral Zone’s Ed Besinger, June 2021: Owen is an athletic centerman listed at 6’0 and 160 pounds. He played this past season for the Mount St. Charles U18s which culminated in a trip to Nationals in St. Louis, Missouri. He also suited up for the US Development Team for 11 games. He is scheduled to enroll at Penn State in 2022-2023. He plays with pace and is effective on the line rush. Smooth hands and carries well with speed. Distributes well on zone entries and quickly identifies the correct passing option. Is creative and patient and will let plays develop. Doesn’t force reads through the neutral zone or cross-ice. Puts the puck into space for teammates and rarely handcuffs them with tough passes. He has slick hands and is tough to separate from the puck. He makes plays in tight spaces and has touch on his passing. He is a possession forward that likes the puck on his stick off-the-cycle to either distribute or snap pucks on net. Seamless catch and release and shoots to corners and for rebounds. Defenders are always aware when he is on the ice and he will draw one or two defender to him before finding and open teammate. Tough to track down below the dots in the offensive zone and is strong enough to power through traffic and fight for position.
U18: USA Hockey Nationals, May 2018: McLaughlin was an absolute star this week and made a dynamic impact every game really driving his teams’ success. With the puck on his stick, he is absolutely electric and elusive as he is impossible to hit and knock off the puck. He flies up the ice with pace and attacks defenders with the puck so he can dictate the play. On the power play, he is the secondary rusher on the breakout and he attacks with speed creating easy zone entries to hold possession into the zone. Pucks are glued to his stick until he wants it off. Owen has incredible vision and continued to put the puck in dangerous scoring areas, getting pucks through traffic to his teammates in great scoring positions. McLaughlin is able to generate offence at will and is almost untouchable when he is in possession. His shot rockets off his stick quickly and is extremely accurate as he scored a few goals on the rush, shooting in stride far side low blocker, off the post and in. Owen played like a superstar this week and really stepped up when his team needed him to perform. GRADE: A
Mount vs Mount Showcase, December 2020: Owen was a puck magnet and if we were a puck we would want to be on his stick too. His first touch is soft and smooth. He played every situation with his head up and his eyes movement allowed him to anticipate or jump on loose pucks quickly and effortlessly. He had a bounce in his step and his stride was powerful, but the power he generates from his outside edge while coming out of turns allows him to create separation in an instant. We loved his ability to pass through tight seams, the defender’s triangle or find the backdoor defenseman through the Royal Road.
NE Prep: Hill School vs Dexter, January 2020: McLaughlin was the most dangerous player on the ice for Hill. He created space for himself through his incredibly high poise and strong edge control. He did an excellent job manipulating the defender’s gap into his favor and finding open teammates in the scoring area. He is still very slight, but his balance is excellent and his ice awareness is elite. He is a player to look for as he continues to mature physically because he can flat out make plays.
U16: Notre Dame Shootout, December 2019: McLaughlin was one of the best players on the ice all weekend. He was a puck magnet and seemed to always have the puck on his stick and carry play every time he was on the ice. High-end speed, quickness, lateral ability, puck skills, shot, and IQ; he is elite in all categories and is a pleasure to watch play hockey. Owen often seems to be thinking a play ahead of everybody else and makes everything look effortless and smooth. He runs the point on the power play and he can do so much with the puck with that extra time and space. Excellent poise and maturity to his game. Outstanding talent. Grade: A
U16: ECC Labor Day, September 2019: McLaughlin was probably the most consistent offensive threat for the Minutemen listed at 5’11 145. He was quick both on and off the puck with good offensive instincts to boot. He has quick hands and makes quick decisions which forces the defenders to adjust the way they gap up. He showed good footspeed and a clean acceleration ability from a standstill and that led to quick strides that he used coming off the edge and slipping through defenders going up the middle as well. He kept his head up and was looking for a teammate to pass the puck off but when none existed he did a nice job of backing the defenders off and then jamming on the brakes with a nice hesitation move to rattle them. He also doubled as a point man on the power play, setting up the offense once they gained the zone and working the rotation coming from the top. Hard not to like his combination of effort and quickness which will pay dividends especially as he gets older. Grade: B
Select 16’s USA Hockey National Camp, September 2019: McLaughlin played fast and was light on his skates. He made a ton of plays all week as he won puck races, spun away from defenders and pushed pace in open ice. His straight line speed is not elite but above average and his mobility is excellent. He scored on the first day as he went in all alone and made a nice deke and bury, five-hole. He had the puck a lot, made some great rushes up ice where he dished to great spots. He can go end to end. His hands are soft or quick depending on the situation. Threw some sauce and zipped passes on odd man rushes right on the tape. He delayed and hit the weak side defenseman and made a couple accurate, clever backhand passes. He had some quiet moments and there were times we thought he heard footsteps. He will have to become more consistent and add some strength, but he has some real tools. Interesting player here. Finished with three points. Grade: B+
Liberty Bell Games 2019, June 2019: Owen was slippery each and every game, constantly churning his feet and using crossovers to make d-men second guess themselves. He has quick hands to match his shiftiness which makes him even more dangerous, but needs to attack the middle more as he played on the perimeters a little too much. He thrives when he has the puck dots down in the offensive zone as he has very good vision and can find guys coming in late.
Atlantic District Development Camp, June 2018: A bit of a surprise here. Good skills made stuff happen all weekend. McLaughlin had an excellent showing and was selected to Neutral Zone’s All-Camp Team.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images