In-depth breakdown: Jimmy Snuggerud (2022 draft profil)

At the 2022 draft, our analyst at TSLH Espoirs, Simon St-Laurent, ranked Jimmy Snuggerud as the 10th best prospect in this draft class. Currently at the World Junior Championship, he is having some very good moments (just like in his NCAA career so far). Here is the profile that Simon drew up prior to the 2022 draft.

Written by Simon St-Laurent

Jimmy Snuggerud is a strong, very talented American winger who has been in my top 10 for most of the season (as high as 8th at the very end of December). Possessing a very varied and complete offensive arsenal, he is what we called a ‘Dual-Threat’. That means, he is as dangerous as a scorer as a passer.

It’s hard to decide between the two, but his shooting probably represents his best quality. The desirable traits of his goal-scoring touch are many and varied. From the outset, his shooting is among the elite of this draft. Both his wrist shots and his one-timer are incredibly violent, making him a threat every time he has the puck. He uses the flex of his stick a lot to unleash his shots and it feels like the puck will literally explode when it leaves his blade. His shots are the vast majority of the time on an upward trajectory and make it very difficult for goalkeepers to control. Beyond the violence of his shots, Snuggerud has scoring instincts that cannot be teached. He is also shown to be very smart in his shot selections and he knows how to be ‘Deceptive’ by hiding his real intentions as he goes to take shots on goal without even looking at the net, turning around or while his shoulders and his trunk are not even oriented towards the net. The right-handed winger also knows how to score goals, usually continuing his actions at the net after taking a shot to grab his own rebound.

His passing skills are just as good, and curiously, when analyzing what makes him so effective in this department, it is the same 3 characteristics as with his shots that stand out; the crispiness of his passes, his ability to hide his intentions as well as the continuation of his actions after making a play. The first thing that really sets him apart as a passer is really the precision and the ardor behind his passes. This allows him to make passes that very few players in this draft can replicate. He’s amazing to use the full width of the rink in the offensive zone to deliver to a teammate, even through a multitude of sticks in his path. Even when he has to execute a pass out of his own zone, we can see that these are NHL quality passes; directly on the blade of his teammate and with enormous conviction behind. Snuggerud is an excellent playmaker thanks to his vision as well as his propensity to be impossible for his opponents to read. Much like his shots, he’ll find a way to hand off to a teammate when his body alignment isn’t pointing in that direction. Finally, what makes him so dangerous in the offensive zone is that he never remains stationary and that he will immediately jump into a free space after making a pass, and with a frame of 6’2, he is very difficult to contain.

To top it all off, Snuggerud has some really good hands that allow him to dangle opponents with ease. He can maneuver impressively under pressure or when surrounded by several players in the neutral zone.

In terms of skating, the American is all in all a good skater despite some slight shortcomings to be corrected. It happens to him on occasion that his feet seem heavy and he needs to keep gaining power if he wants to step up in that department. That being said, he’ll still have some bursts of speed to beat defenders wide and if he has a stride ahead of them, it will be very, very difficult to get the puck out of him with his long reach, his physical strength as well as his size. He also demonstrates some very interesting flashes of agility as he can turn on himself and turn sharply to get rid of the opposing pressure. These elements in his game are all the more effective since Snuggerud manages to combine his puck handling with them, making him very evasive on the ice. It is within the analysis of his skating that it would be most relevant to talk about his puck-protection technique. It’s a facet of the game in which he excels. The main reason he is so good at this aspect is that he has come up with a technique for himself that takes into consideration his limitations as well as his unique attributes. Not being the fastest of skater, Snuggerud will not seek to beat defensemen by using all the space available to him but rather by running into the defensemen and with his reach, he will distance the puck from his body, making it out of reach for his rival. With his size and physical strength, he very often has the advantage. Plus, Snuggerud manages to keep his feet moving and pick up some extra speed so he can beat defenders. When the game is already installed in the offensive zone, he is also very effective in puck protection. It’s very impressive to see him from the height of his 6’2 turn his back on his opponents and continue to handle the puck while looking over his shoulder to carefully assess his next play selection.

For most of the first half of the season, Snuggerud reminded me a lot of Drake Batherson: a very talented right-handed winger, as threatening as a goal scorer as well as a passer, having had a major growth spurt in the year before his draft-year and having some work to do with his skating.

In the second half of the season, he started playing a much more powerful game. He used his size more to apply hits and to forecheck. He is very effective at this aspect and that gave him another tool in his toolbox. By occupying such functions on his line, I however found him more withdrawn than at the beginning of the year and I found the offensive package a little less attractive than what I had led to believe earlier in the season.

In conclusion, the American forward has everything of a future top-6 player; great offensive IQ, major league shot, ability to reach teammates from long range and through the defensive box, hands and agility to be evasive, size and forechecking efficiency. He may not be the next Drake Batherson as I thought at the start of the season, but the team that gets his hands on him in the draft will have a player who could greatly contribute to the success of an offensive line, and this, in more than one way.