Tomas Chrenko:
Projection: Middle 6 Center
Strengths: Sneaky release, Compete, Offensively versatile
Weaknesses: Size, Lack of handles
Analysis:
Tomas Chrenko is a competitive, disciplined, scoring centerman.
Chrenko is one of the hardest-working players in this draft. He never
takes a shift off, always puts in effort supporting his teammates in
his own end or on back checks, and makes an effort to create turnovers
with his defensive stick. For all the work he puts in, he gets
rewarded by nearly never taking a bad penalty and is constantly
noticeably impacting the game. On top of his competitiveness and
discipline, he can be very dangerous in the offensive zone. He has a
very sneaky release that he can fire through traffic or beat goalies
one-on-one clean. If he gets enough space in tight, he has fast hands
to make quick moves around goalies. Although he’s not the most
creative playmaker, he is great at finding open ice and taking
advantage with his agility and foot speed.
His biggest weaknesses, like most other skilled forwards, are because
of his size. He’s on the smaller side, especially in terms of
centermen, which could be a big problem when it comes to translating
into the NA pro game. His lack of size inhibits him from being an
effective force along the boards if the opponent has body position on
him. It also makes him struggle a bit in the faceoff dot, but I have
noticed an improvement as the season has progressed. He also gets
knocked off pucks more often than most, but he doesn’t wait to hustle
to get it back. His puck-handling skills are also slightly subpar in
my eyes.