Tanner Latsch (4.5 Star Amateur Rating, NHL Grade — C+) Forward
So we’ve seen Tanner play on both Olympic sized ice and on a North American sheet. We’ve seen him buy into his role and have seen him play well having varying amounts of ice time. And what we see is always the same. He is smart at the lines when carrying the puck, defending a line rush or breaking up a neutral zone breakout. He is dependable in the defensive zone and plays in straight lines with his stick on the ice. He consistently breaks up “Royal Road” scoring opportunities because he has high level anticipation and the hand eye coordination to get his stick on sauce passes. He’s fearless when blocking shots and he does so while laying down or staying on his feet to eat pucks. He finishes checks all over the ice without taking himself out of the play or exposing passing lanes to do it. He has a powerful stride, is quick laterally and is very explosive when stopping and starting… all of which making him an excellent penalty killer. He is 6’2 187lbs right now and has the frame to carry 200lbs very easily. And lastly, he can score. Tanner does not earn anywhere near the amount ice time that some of his Team USA teammates get, never mind any power play time, but he is fourth (4th) on the team in goals. He’s got zero helpers, not even a cheesy second assist, but he has 5 goals in nineteen U.S. National U18 Team games and 3 goals versus USHL competition. Obviously coaches know more than we do. BUT…. if consistency is what you want in a locker room, never mind an NHL locker room, please explain to me how we can have Tanner as a player with a ‘C+’ Grade for National Hockey League potential and 4.5 Star Amateur Rating but somehow didn’t he just sign an NLI with an NCAA Division 1 program? Now we don’t know his academic situation (or really know anything about him off the ice) and maybe he is waiting to hear an Ivy decision, but he definitely deserves the attention of Division 1 programs because we know he’s getting attention from NHL scouts. So in summary… Tanner is a big, smart, fast, physical player who has trained with and competed against the top players in his age group for the past 2 seasons and yet somehow does not have a college commitment. And oh yeah, he can have a positive impact on a game with limited ice time and even end up on the score sheet. Even Batman would be stumped on this one.