NHL Prospect Profile: Milos Roman

Statistics

Scout Quotes

The bread and butter of Roman’s game is his playmaking ability. He has excellent vision and high-end hockey IQ. Roman sees plays developing and finds open teammates in traffic. He can make passes through tight areas, and threads the needle on defenders, or makes an accurate saucer pass on a teammates tape. Roman is a good stick-handler and uses his body to protect the puck on the cycle. He can extend plays and allow a teammate the time and space to get open. Roman works hard to pressure defenders in the corners, creating turnovers on the forecheck. He wins battles for pucks, and when he does, can quickly turn that into a scoring chance.

If he develops to his potential Roman could be a middle-six centre, capable of playing a two-way game at the NHL level. He will need to work on his shot, as he could become a bit too predictable without one. As a late birthday, Roman has one more year of junior eligibility before he is likely to head to the AHL. – Last Word on Hockey

AJ’s Thoughts

Roman is one of my favorite mid-round prospects in this year’s draft class. I was really impressed with his work at the WJCs this year despite being on an overmatched Slovakian team. He impressed on a Giants team that just doesn’t have very much draft-eligible talent. He’s a slick playmaking center who uses exceptional vision to create for his teammates. He’s a patient player with the puck who has solid puck skills and can make plays with regularity. His own goal-scoring ability is lacking at times as he does not showcase great shooting ability.

He suffered an ankle injury this year that forced him to miss a sizable portion of the second half of the season and that combined with a weaker Giants squad seems to have kept his draft stock from rising too high. He’s a responsible player in his own end whose skating is going to need some work moving forward. He’s not a poor skater but it’s an area where he’s going to need to focus on refinement as he gets into more physical levels.

Highlights

Avalanche Fit

Roman is an interesting guy for the Avalanche. He has decent enough size and he fits an organizational need for offensive upside at the forward position. He’s good enough as a two-way player that he should be able to stick as a center moving into pro hockey, especially given his generally good ability in the faceoff circle. As an older birthday, Roman is potentially heading into his final year in the CHL, which could facilitate a trade to a stronger WHL team. It also means he could be jumping to the AHL after just one more year in the WHL, which is interesting for an Avalanche organization that has aggressively promoted prospects when given the chance. Given his expected draft range, it would likely require Colorado using their third-round selection on him, at which point he would be a great value and an excellent fit. Even if Colorado used the second of their two second-round picks on him, he would still be a quality swing of the bat on draft day.

Rankings

#66 Future Considerations
#70 McKeen’s Hockey