2019 NHL Draft Recap: Mike Koster is a puck moving defenceman in the truest sense

Now that we’ve gone over how Koster carries the puck himself, lets check out how he passes to his teammates.

Koster always has his head up when the puck is on his stick, and he can identify when and where he needs to pass to. Koster manages risk well, and while he does turn the puck over sometimes (just like every other puck moving defenceman), he does not commit turnovers often. Once he identifies who he needs to get the puck to, Koster is an accurate passer. He rarely misses a pass, and his passes are hard and right on his target’s tape very often.

Here he is surveying his options, and then sending a slap-pass onto the tape of his teammate for a good chance on the rush.

Here’s another example of Koster taking a look at his options and then firing an accurate pass up to a teammate.

On this last one, Koster is under pressure and in an important moment of the game. He quickly looks up, lifts a pass over two sticks and right to his winger, and allows USA to complete a much needed, successful breakout.

As I mentioned before, there are two main aspects of the transition game. We’ve talked about the first part, which now brings us to the second part.

Koster is very good at defending his blue line. He plays a tight gap in transition, keeps his eyes on the opponent’s chest (and not the puck, which is what will get you into trouble), and has a good stick that allows him to take pucks off his opponent while blocking passes.

Here’s a good example.

Koster plays a very tight gap on Kirby Dach here. When he realizes that Dach has passed the puck over to Alex Lafreniere, Koster switches off and plays very aggressively on Lafreniere. He has good stick positioning and as a result, deflects the pass out of harm’s way.

Here’s another example. Koster has his eyes on Lafreniere’s body, and he has his stick out. He plays Lafreniere closely and ends up taking him to the boards where his teammate can then grab the puck.

Overall, Koster excels in transition. He strikes me as the type of defenceman who will excel in zone exit/entry stats as well as those accounting for zone entry denial. By extension, he will probably do very well in puck possession metrics, as well.

Despite being an undersized, skilled defenceman, Koster doesn’t strike me as the type of player that will be a great point producer or a power play quarterback at the next level.

Most of Koster’s offence comes off the rush. He likes to jump in to give his team an odd-man rush, and when he’s carrying the puck he can create some offence thanks to his skating and skill.

Here’s an example:

Koster shows some nice patience and uses his edgework to move around the sliding Canadian player. He puts a nice centring pass towards the goal, but the Americans fail to convert.

Koster hasn’t shown me that he can be a dynamic, creative attacker from the point though, which is what makes me skeptical of his future running an NHL power play. He tends to shoot the puck too often when he should be looking for the best play available. His shot is fine, but it’s not good enough to justify that.

While I don’t necessarily think that Koster is horrible in his own end, he has some warts I’d like to see be ironed out in his defensive game.

Being a 5’9, 172lbs defenceman, Koster isn’t the strongest in puck battles and he’s not gonna be able to clear big forwards from the front of his net. If he can continue to get stronger, he could at least improve in this regard, but he will always have these challenges as a smaller player.

As well, Koster can get caught puck watching at times. Here’s an example:

Koster is staring at the puck the whole time, and doesn’t see the eventual goal scorer standing right behind him. The correct play there would have been to tie up the man, but instead, Koster goes lunging for the puck, and ultimately gets burned for it.

Judging by the information shown on Elite Prospects, it looks as if Koster will play a full season in the USHL next season before heading to the University of Minnesota in the NCAA. Koster will have a ton of time to iron out his defensive game, increase his straight-line speed and get a little stronger. I think that we could see Koster develop into a Matt Gryzleck type of player: maybe not the best point producer or a shutdown type, but an undersized defenceman who excels in transition and is the darling of the analytics community.

I think Koster could get even better than that too, if he learns how to use his tools correctly in the offensive zone. He’s a good passer and a good skater, and if he could begin to use that to his advantage on the power play, he may very well outperform his draft position by a long shot.

Overall, I think that Koster is the type of player that you should bet on in the later rounds. He has talent, plays the way that the game is going, and probably should’ve been selected roughly a round or so earlier.

He’s not a lock to make it to the NHL and he has hurdles that he has to climb in order to get there, but taking a player who has skill and lacks strength is way better than taking a refrigerator (like the Leafs did in the past, specifically in the 2016 draft).