Future Watch: 2021 second rounder Riley Kidney

MONTREAL -- Riley Kidney is the epitome of an intelligent player.

But how do you define 'Hockey IQ', exactly?
In some cases, it's a blanket term meant to describe a player that doesn't quite have the skill to compete against his peers, but has enough experience and vision on the ice to maintain a respectable level of play.
In recent years, however, the term has taken on a much more distinct value.
Gone are the days of using it with a thick layer of ambiguity to mask the lack of in-depth analysis available during the Draft.
"To me, hockey IQ means a few things," explained Acadie-Bathurst Titan head coach Mario Durocher. "A good hockey sense and good vision are key, sure, but in the end, intelligence on the ice means a player is able to use all his tools in unison to create better results. Talent is just one part of it, but without the processor to put all the talent together, it's usually wasted."
Thanks to his ability to anticipate the play, when it comes to Kidney's potential, the talent is far from wasted.
He's the type of player who makes his teammates better. He likes to drive the play, generating controlled exits and controlled entries with the greatest of ease, which, in turn, creates passing lanes and scoring opportunities for his linemates.

"Riley can process everything at a very high speed and makes life on coaches much easier," said Durocher. "I trust him explicitly in almost every situation. One of the best things about Riley is his ability to dictate the pace of the game. Thanks to his skill with the puck and his intelligence, he can slow it down or speed it up according to what the situation dictates."
Quickly earning the trust of your head coach doesn't necessarily qualify as an asset in traditional hockey analysis, but if you're making the head coach's job easier, there's a very high likelihood it'll translate into more opportunities, and thus more chances to progress to the next level.
And though he does play in every situation for the Titan, Kidney's greatest strength when it comes to scoring remains within the realm of 5-on-5 play.
In 38 games, Kidney scored 13 goals and 15 assists but only 9 of those points came on the power play.
In other words, when all things are equal, Kidney has a penchant for outshining his opponents.
"He's a great playmaker," explained Jerome Berube, Head Scout for
HockeyProspect.com
. "He's very good at 5v5, one of the best Draft-eligible players in that respect. What he did at 5v5 was very impressive."
And much like Kidney's head coach, Berube is impressed by Kidney's intelligence.
You can't guarantee a player will make it to the NHL based on intelligence alone, but it does take on significant value when discussing players who were drafted beyond the first round.
"It's never a bad idea to gamble on smart players," said Berube. "The older they get, the tougher the challenges become, the better suited they'll be to adapt to the situation. There are a lot of players in the Draft, but if you can put your hands on a smart player that's progressing nicely, you're improving your odds that they'll eventually make it to the big leagues."
Of course, like all prospects, Kidney has some apparent weaknesses, or as I like to put it, aspects of his game that could stand to be improved given he's one of the youngest prospects in the organization.
His shot, for example, is far from elite, though it has improved significantly since his rookie season with the Titan.

His skating is another area that needs work, but it's also an aspect of prospect analysis that's generally exaggerated to the point of satire.
Remember when the Canadiens drafted Cole Caufield 15th overall in the 2019 Entry Draft?
We all knew he could score goals, but beyond the concerns for his size, there were early whispers that he wasn't the greatest skater.
Those whispers quickly became a common refrain mid-way through the year.
By Draft day, the skating woes were characterized so harshly you'd think analysts were describing a peg-legged pirate with a rowdy parrot on his shoulder that told him when and where to score goals.
Turns out Caufield not only improved his skating, as most prospects tend to do, he's also become an elusive skater that frustrates defensemen with his ability to speed up and slow down the play.
Kidney is not Caufield, that much we know, but he does serve as an example of how we must give prospects an opportunity to address areas of concern prior to penciling them into their potential NHL roles.
"He really improved in that area," said Berube. "And it's not a red flag. When it comes to skating, you need to verify lots of things. First off, has he hit his physical peak? In Riley's case, he has not. When it comes to his skating, I'm not overly worried."
Recent signs have shown that Kidney not only has the ability to adapt to every situation thrown his way but he also improves his level of play when it matters most.
After concluding a good, if not a relatively underwhelming regular season in terms of overall production, Kidney scored an outstanding 17 points in just 9 playoff games.
This can be seen as two things: either he picked up his level of play when the going got tough, or it was simply the natural progression of a player who is far from reaching his peak.
"I think it's just a normal progression in his case," said Berube. "They didn't get a full year, and there was a lot of 'stop and go.' It was difficult to find a rhythm during the regular season."
His head coach, however, had a somewhat different explanation of the incredible uptick in production from his young star.
"He really picked up his game a few levels," said Durocher. "His talent really shone. That's what I adored from Riley in the playoffs, when we needed him, he showed up in a big way."
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: Kidney's game improved due to natural progression, with the added bonus of performing at an elite level in the playoffs.
And though they disagree about the cause of his playoff production, both Durocher and Berube agree that Kidney reminds them of a certain player currently on the Canadiens roster.
Now, before we get to the player in question, I'd like to make one thing clear: player comparisons, for the most part, are not very helpful. They put a ridiculous amount of pressure on younger players while setting expectations to an unrealistic level, which usually results in disappointment when a player selected in the second round doesn't turn into the next Mario Lemieux.
However, comparing certain aspects of a prospect's style of play to current NHLers can be useful, if done with the caveat that there are no expectations tied into the comparison.
This brings us back to the Canadiens player in question.
Those of you that have watched Kidney probably know who I am talking about.
"There's a little bit of [Nick] Suzuki in Kidney," said Berube. "He's calm, he's not all over the place, he knows where to be and when. He's got great attention to detail. When we talk about hockey IQ, he's right where you want a player to be."
Berube is not saying Kidney will reach the same level of production as Suzuki, but it's impossible to get away from the comparisons in the style of play. They're both incredibly smart, can both control the play, and both know how to adapt to every situation.
In other words, Kidney drives the play, much like Suzuki has done throughout his short, yet illustrious career in the NHL.
"He really reminds me of Suzuki," said Durocher. "He's smart and has excellent vision. There's not one player on the team that doesn't want to play with him. Obviously, Suzuki is an excellent player, and Kidney has some work to do in the defensive zone to match his defensive prowess, but there are a lot of similarities in their game."
Unbeknownst to them, Kidney also mentioned Suzuki as a player he likes to emulate, which bodes well for his overall progression and NHL aspirations.
Again, no one expects Kidney to lead the Canadiens in playoff scoring in his first two years in the League as Suzuki did, but the comparison gives you an idea why coaches and scouts beam with excitement when discussing his potential.
"He gets it," explains Berube when discussing Kidney's style of play.
Simple words, yet when it comes down to it, it's the best way to describe this particular prospect.
Riley Kidney gets it.
And because he gets it, he's already got a step up on his competition, and will likely have a much easier time forging his way to the NHL once his apprenticeship in the QMJHL is done.