Draft Profile – Matty Sandeen – LD

It’s that time of the year again. The time we welcome the newest crop of talent into the SMJHL. This Sunday a group of young individuals will hear their names called while given the opportunity of a lifetime. Year after year, thousands of kids dream of the chance getting to play in the SHL as they are lacing up their skates and joining their very first teams. These select few individuals are the ones fortunate enough to be handed a ticket to the SJMHL, the first step towards achieving that dream. One of those prospects, Matty Sandeen, seems be one of this year’s more polarizing prospects.
Sandeen is a young defenceman in more than one sense. Matty has one of the later birth days of the draft class but what I am eluding to is the elephant in the room. While the skill in Sandeen’s game is evident the fact that he has only played one season as a defenceman has every scout struggling to evaluate him. “The lack of a tack record is concerning” said one GM. Another GM quipped, “He was bad defensively. Was that due to him still learning the position or will that be what you get from him moving forward? Right now, it’s really anybody’s guess and that is a huge risk.”
All, the reason we are talking about this kid is because he is a very skilled young hockey player. While he is raw there are already strong elements to his game. Let’s start with his biggest strength, his puckhandling. Plain and simple Sandeen is right up there with the best puckhandlers in this year’s draft class. Matty’s mitts are silky. It’s evident every time the puck is on his stick. From the way he corrals lose pucks to the way he can evade pressure with one quick move. His hands are special, and it helps his game all over the ice. His control and comfort with the puck allow him to hang onto the puck in situations where other players would not. This often allowed for last second seams to open and resulted in a goal or at the very least a scoring chance.
Usually it is a teammate of Sandeen’s who touches twin as the 13 assists out of 17 points would suggest. Don’t let that fool you. Sure, he may not be Shea Weber out there, but I think that his shot often gets overlooked. For a lighter player Sandeen generates a surprising amount of power especially on the slap shot. His puckhandling (this is where I mention how his puck skills help his entire game) and skill with his stick helps him make clean contact with one timer consistently, helping him make the most out of his scoring chances. This past season Sandeen seemed to look to make the smart quick play most of the time which generated many more passes than shots. While that is always a good strategy for a defenceman, Sandeen has the skill to drive play and create his own shot. I believe if he can reach his full potential, he may even end up scoring a lot of goals for a blueliner. As he moves up to the SMJHL and the competition becomes a lot tougher he may not have the leash or confidence to make the most of those skills.
The next best area of Sandeen’s game is his skating ability. While not elite for a smaller player his skating ability is above average. He can generate enough power to accelerate quickly, as well as reach a good top speed. His agility is solid allowing him to evade pressure and sneak into tight lanes with relative ease. Pair his above average skating with his silky mitts (see the trend here) and you see why he can routinely get around skaters and evade pressure. As he grows more comfortable with his position change, I can only imagine he will build on this with gained confidence. As mention he is a lighter player and without a doubt, he could certainly be stronger on his skates (which hints at one of his bigger weaknesses) but overall, his skating is a strength.
Now I did say that this prospect was polarizing among the scouting community meaning that many scouts aren’t exactly crazy about him as a player. Now there are two main reason for that. His lack of physical strength and the fact that he was terrible defensively as a defenceman.
I’ll start off talking about the lack of strength. Just looking at Sandeen you can tell he is not a heavy player. He has a slight frame and is average in height which resulted in him get pushed around in front of the net and struggling against bigger forwards. The important thing to note is that he is young, and he will absolutely add strength. He likely won’t get that much bigger after already going through a large growth spurt the previous offseason. The deciding factor in whether he will be able to make it as a smaller defenseman will be how well he learns to defend with his stick. He will never be a physical defender but if he can learn to break up plays with his stick consistently, he may be able to cover up some of his inevitable deficiencies.
Matty will more than likely get stronger and learn to play as a smaller player but we have to factor in that he is new to the position and new to the defensive responsibility that comes with play D. This last it ended up with a Sandeen being out of position or just clean beat on a play often. While the plus minus was positive the advantaged stats and the eye test are enough to tell you, he was not a plus defender. The coaching staff wisely paired Sandeen with their top shutdown defenceman who was entrusted with helping make up for his partners defensive deficiencies. As someone who watched many of their games, I cannot stress how often Sandeen was bailed out by his partner (who also has a bright future ahead might I add) after getting beat.
Since I included several negative comments from GM’s I’ll add one more. One GM expressed admiration for the new defender. He exclaimed “the way he was able to pick up the position on the fly really demonstrates the level of skill this player has because not a lot of players can do that.” He also added, “The team needed him to make a change for the better of the team and he stepped up and gave it his all.”
              Considering everything above it’s no wonder that I have no idea where Sandeen will go in the draft even as we head into draft weekend.