In hockey, as in life, there are archetypes built on hyperbole and buzz words which are designed to fit every player into a pre-defined box. Scouts and evaluators often fall prey to lazily characterizing young prospects in this way; the power forward, the two-way centre, the speedy winger, the one-dimensional scorer, the elusive European, the stay-at-home defenceman. But sometimes, just sometimes, there’s a player that is so uniquely different from everyone else in approach or in ability, that you can’t help but notice him. These players have mastered their skill and used it to set themselves apart. The Gifted is a 10-part series which examines through video the NHL’s most fascinating prospects and the unique skillsets that define them. It runs every Wednesday.

The Gifted: Part 1: Carl Grundstrom | Part 2: Jordan Kyrou | Part 3: Vitalii Abramov | Part 4: Juuso Valimaki | Part 5: Vili Saarijarvi | Part 6: Filip Chlapik | Part 7: Travis Sanheim | Part 8: Timo Meier | Part 9: Kirill Kaprizov | Part 10: Elias Pettersson

Every team has one. Even in beer league, there’s always that one player who just does the same thing every time he touches the puck. He throws it on net. He wants the goal so badly that he’ll throw the puck on net from anywhere. When he digs it out of the corner and the point’s open, what does he do? He throws it on net. When he’s in on a 2-on-1, what does he do? He throws it on net. He doesn’t look pass. He doesn’t even pretend to look pass. He just gets pucks on net.

Carl Grundstrom is that player, but at the highest level.

It’s not easy being successful as that player. In hockey’s elite levels, when you’re predictable, you’re easily defended. If you’re going to be that player, and remain successful, you have to do a few things really well.

You have to be fast, a skater who can out-race most others for loose pucks. If you’re going to throw everything on net, you need to be able to win the races for your rebounds too.

You have to be physical. If your primary focus is picking up shots on goal, you need to be relentless in your pursuit of the puck and just pesky enough to win it back and piss someone off in the process.

Most of all, you need to have a good shot. Shooters need to score.

Fourtunately for Grundstrom, the Toronto Maple Leafs second-round pick in 2016, he checks all three of the necessary boxes.

In order to understand just how he makes it work, I cut and edited all 43 of his SHL points (24 goals and 19 assists) as well as all nine of his Champions Hockey League points (five goals, four assists). They reveal some interesting truths about players like Grundstrom, players the Leafs have a penchant for pursuing. (See: Nikita Soshnikov and Leo Komarov, who operate in a similar fashion, though not to Grundstrom’s extreme.)

One of the first things you’ll notice about Grundstrom’s complete stat line is that his goals outnumber his assists 29-23. That might suggest, at least on its facade, that Grundstrom is a better passer than given credit for.

But what if I told you that of his six assists in the SHL’s regular season last year (to his 14 goals), only one actually came off of an even-strength a pass?

This is it, the crowning jewel:

And even still, there’s something in this play that epitomizes what Grundstrom is all about. Notice the way he adjusts his stance as he carries the puck behind the net. As soon as he hits the near post, he slows down his pace, edges just for a split second towards the back of the net and… looks for the wraparound attempt before No. 64 does an excellent job closing his lane, forcing him to his backhand, and taking away his shot.

His other five assists last year? They came on the power-play or looked something like this (Grundstrom is No. 3):

And this might be the fourth requisite skill: If you’re going to be a shooter, shoot low. Shoot for the rebound. Grundstrom has mastered this. In today’s game, top prospects are often picky about their shot selections. They want to shoot to score and that means finding open net and picking your spot. Most often, that means they tend to shoot high and miss the net. Grundstrom doesn’t have that problem and regularly generates assists off of his shots as a result.

Grundstrom can beat goalies high too though. He may be predictable in a lot of ways, but where he finishes is not one of them.

Here, with a rebound option clearly open in front, Grundstrom picks his spot under the bar and scores far-side high:

On this goal, through traffic, shooting low or finding the trailer (passing? Ha!) are the high percentage plays but Grundstrom takes a risk and scores high and short-side.

And here, without any other options and all alone, Grundstrom just gets to use his low-kick, stunted release to let one go:

Grundstrom’s not limited to an in-stride wrist shot either. He is built heavy and powers through on his extensions to give himself a heavy one-timer — which he loves to use, rather than corral passes and make a play.

He also goes to the net with with an aggressiveness that few other prospects on the planet do. If your modus operandi is to get pucks on net, you can often find those pucks in and around the crease.

Here’s Grundstrom scoring off of a redirect off of his pants:

And this net-driven, crease-craving nature isn’t new.

Here’s Grundstrom (No. 44), driving the crease to score off of his skate in 2014, full cage and all. Watch the bottom of the frame from the start, and notice Grundstrom’s sightline from his defensive zone blueline onward.

There, he knows the play is going the other way and he goes end-to-end in four seconds to push towards the front of the net. On a play that developed like this one did, most third forwards (F3) would have avoided the three opposing players collapsing on the front of the net and slid high into the slot.

Not Grundstrom.

In order to finish off plays in front, you have to know better than most where the rebounds are going to end up, too. If there’s one thing he likes more than shooting for the rebound, it’s attacking the far post for them.

Note where he ends up on a slew of his other goals:

And then there’s that physicality.

When Grundstrom doesn’t have a lane on net to just shoot it, he’s got the strength and the ability to control play off of his backhand (as seen in his lone primary assist) to guard against checks as a carrier. As a result, a lot of his goals start to look the same.

Notice on both of the following plays how, as soon as he touches the puck, he’s dropping his lead arm and attacking the inside lane on defenders:

And there’s a mastery to making these plays, at the top of the crease, so consistently. For Grundstrom, it’s in his edge work. Notice here, on a third nearly identical goal, how Grundstrom opens up his stance after taking the puck to the front of the crease, enabling him to beat the goalie to the far post.

You put it all together and you’ve got a player who, in spite of a complete lack of awareness (though it might not even be that, maybe Grundstrom does recognize the pass options and just chooses not to find them), succeeds off of the strength of one perfected tool. You give a physical, athletic, up-tempo hockey player a relentless puck-pursuing spirit and pair it with a turn-and-shoot or turn-and-drive attitude, and you’ve got something. While Grundstrom is never the primary driver on his line, he complements players who can find him in space and learn the ins and outs of his unique style.

Sometimes it manifests itself in plays like this, where on three different sequences Grundstrom takes a shot, follows the play behind the net to retrieve his own rebound, makes a pass to the point because there’s traffic in front and he doesn’t have a shot option off his backhand, drives to the front of the net, picks off the point shot, and turns to his backhand to score:

Most of all, it endears him to coaches — coaches who trumpet the cliched “pucks on net” catchphrase.

Before we know it, it could take him to the NHL.

(Photo credit: Christian Bonin | TSGphoto.com)