NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Parker Wotherspoon

Get to Know Parker Wotherspoon:

Date of Birth: 24th August, 1997
Place of Birth: Surrey, BC, Canada
Ht: 6’0″  Wt: 172 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Defense
Team: Tri-City Americans (WHL)

Wotherspoon had a competent but quiet rookie season in the WHL, but his second year with the Americans, he positively exploded. He went from an 18-point first year to finishing his second season with 9 goals and 33 assists. His excellent skating and calm, focused defensive play helped carry the Americans to the WHL playoffs and he was called up to join Team Canada at the IIHF Under 18s.

Parker’s rankings put him anywhere from the 40s to over 75th, but the average tended toward somewhere in the 50s. This could place him in a similar position to his brother, Tyler Wotherspoon, who was drafted in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Calgary Flames.

Wotherspoon has a reputation as an adaptable skater, the sort of all-rounder who assists no matter where he’s positioned on the ice. We’ll see below why he could make an excellent addition to an NHL club looking to bolster its stock of two-way defender prospects.

Statistics:

What Scouts See:

Ben Kerr, Last Word On Sports:

Parker Wotherspoon is an outstanding skater.  He has very good speed and acceleration in both directions, thanks to a long and fluid stride.  Wotherspoon also has outstanding edgework, agility and pivots.  This gives him the ability to cover a lot of ice, to pinch at the blue line and get back defensively and makes him very hard to beat one-on-one.  His balance and lower body strength could stand to be improved, but this should happen as he matures and adds some bulk to his frame.

Cody Nickolet, WHL Scout for Future Considerations Hockey:

A well-rounded two way blueliner. Everything he does is calm, smooth and with a purpose; excellent composure. He’s a high-end skater, not quite “effortless,” but close. He’s got good acceleration to his stride and excellent top-end speed, which he uses to rush the puck up the ice in an attempt to create offense… Defensively he is very smart and composed, displaying excellent gap work and a great stick when defending both off the cycle and off the rush. He is not the flashiest player, but shows a willingness to get involved in all zones. He never tries to overdo it and he knows his limits. He is a heads up guy who shows great awareness and vision.

What BSN Avalanche Sees:

While Wotherspoon isn’t the biggest guy on the ice, he’s got fantastic acceleration and his unique skating style made him easy to spot on the Americans. He can throw hard hits but doesn’t make it the focus of his game, instead focusing on putting himself in the right places to make plays happen–or to break them up, especially in the neutral zone. He’s got a lot of zing to his skating and even late into the third period, he never skates like he’s tired or dragging his feet, an endurance that really shows compared to his WHL peers.

Wotherspoon’s skating while in possession of the puck or when his team is attacking reminds me a lot of Avalanche defender Zach Redmond. He’ll make a series of innocent-looking cycle passes, but has a knack for spotting the gap and feeding any teammate that looks even a smidge open. While it doesn’t always generate goals, it generates a lot of shots and points to a good vision on the ice. Not coincidentally, he occupies a similar spot on the Americans power play as Redmond does on the Avalanche, and it’s easy to envision Wotherspoon eventually translating that to the NHL level.

As with many talented skaters who still have room to grow, sometimes he tries to get too cute and ends up off-balance. He has a quick stick that aids in his defensive work, but he hasn’t mastered keeping it under control yet. Consequently, while he sometimes forces turnovers, he also commits hooking and tripping calls that could be avoided.

Overall, Wotherspoon is one of those players who doesn’t work to deliver bone-shattering hits and dazzling shots. He just puts in the work, does it well, and outskates most of the competition one-on-one with a determined nonchalance.

Media:

NHL Potential:

Having watched him play, I personally feel that Wotherspoon has a higher chance of finding real success in the NHL than several prospects ranked above him. His ceiling may be lower when it comes to points totals and other defenders in the 2015 class may have a harder shot or silkier hands, but Wotherspoon’s game is mature and he does a lot of difficult things right. His ability to gauge when and how to pinch can sometimes look light years ahead of similar players his age and the endurance in his skating shows that he can play a full 60 without running out of gas.

If he can fill out, discipline his stickwork, and grow up in a system that suits his particular two-way style of play, Wotherspoon could easily be a middle-pair NHL defender, possibly even top four with the right coach and teammates. He has the potential to be the second- or third-round pick that 29 NHL clubs will kick themselves for overlooking.

Expected Draft Position:

Wotherspoon’s highest ranking is Central Scouting’s 43, and that’s a good starting point. This is a strong draft year and a team seeking a two-way defender has a lot of options. However, having watched how he remained consistent and even improved as the WHL season wound down, I think Bob McKenzie’s over-75 ranking sells Wotherspoon short.

BSN predicts Wotherspoon will go between 45 and 55.

How Parker Wotherspoon Fits into the Colorado Avalanche Organization:

I’ve mentioned how Wotherspoon plays a similar game to the Avs’ own Zach Redmond, so where he would fit into the organization would be similar to the role Redmond plays. Wotherspoon has also shown that he can quarterback the power play, and it’s exciting to imagine a player with his intuition filling the role that Redmond and Tyson Barrie often take on the Avs’ PP.

Depending on the shape of the Avalanche’s defense in a few years, Wotherspoon could make an excellent complement to a shut down defender on the right side, be it Stefan Elliott or an acquisition that replaces Nate Guenin. He could truly blossom under the mentorship of players like Redmond and Barrie, who share many of his strengths.

Wotherspoon is the type of player who embodies the qualities Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy seem to look for in a two-way defender. And given time and practice, if he carried his current level of defense into the NHL, he could be a definite improvement over several of the prospects and younger defenders in the Avs’ pocket already.