2020 Draft: Finley says 'hockey's in my genes' thanks to father

Every Thursday, NHL.com will look ahead to the 2020 NHL Draft with an in-depth profile on one of its top prospects.

Jack Finley started playing hockey as a defenseman like his father, former NHL player Jeff Finley. It didn't take long to realize that wasn't going to work.
Jack switched to forward, and now the 6-foot-6, 213-pound center with Spokane of the Western Hockey League has become a top prospect for the 2020 NHL Draft.
"I'm a big-body, two-way playmaking center," Finley said. "I've got good hockey sense, good playmaking ability and I think I can play in different positions, top line playing against their top line, playing top minutes, and I just try and be reliable playing in a situation, whether it's penalty kill or if we're up a goal or down a goal, and use my body and my size in front of the net, down low and in the corners."
Finley always has been good playing down low in the zone. The issue was him going anywhere else on the ice.
"When he was 6, 7, 8 he wasn't the greatest skater, so every time they'd put him back on defense and he'd just sort of stand in front of the net and wait for the play to come to him and all the other kids were out chasing the puck around," said Jeff Finley, who played 708 NHL games in 15 seasons with six teams and has been an amateur scout with the Winnipeg Jets since 2019. "So, I just always asked his coaches, if I wasn't able to be out on the ice with him, can you just play him at forward just so he can skate, work on his speed, get him chasing the puck like everyone else. And [Jack] just never looked back. He just always loved being a forward, had no interest in playing defense."

Finley had 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 61 games and won 53.4 percent of his face-offs this season. He's No. 38 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.
"His game has come a really long way," Central Scouting's John Williams said. "I first saw him as a 15-year-old, and even as a 16-year-old last year he had some trouble at times. He's a big kid and he had a little bit of trouble with the pace at times. Part of it had to do with a lack of strength in his legs and he just couldn't get up and down [the ice] as well, would tire easily. He's obviously really worked at it, he's improved significantly. ... He's a very smart player. His details are very good, his positioning is very good, good face-off guy, uses his reach very well defensively, takes away space, takes away lanes, takes away time for guys. Offensively I think he's more of a pass-first kind of guy. He sees it well, he's good down low, using his reach, taking a hit along the boards and still being able to use his reach to get the puck to an open guy."
Finley said St. Louis Blues center Ryan O'Reilly is one player he tries to pay close attention to when he watches NHL games because of how committed O'Reilly is to playing a 200-foot game.
But the person he probably pays the most attention to is his father.
"The player I am has a lot to do with him," Finley said. "He's pushing me, my biggest supporter. He's always texting me or phoning me after games and telling me things to work on, things I did good."

Former NHL defenseman Jeff Finley as a member of the St. Louis Blues
Jack liked being coached by his father when Jeff's schedule allowed for it, but Jeff stepped back when Jack became a teenager. Finley said the best advice he gets from his father now is about off-ice things.
"Just being a leader and leading by example, being someone who other guys can follow and gravitate to just by doing the right things," he said. "He's never forced me into hockey or forced me into anything. I think just that itself has grown the love of the game for me. Certainly fortunate to have him and have him as someone helping me."
That help extends to the golf course, too. Father and son play often during the offseason, along with Jack's younger brothers, 15-year-old Mason and 13-year-old Max, each of whom also plays hockey. Jack admits Jeff remains the best player in the family, but he's working to get there, just like he's working to match his dad's NHL career path.
"Obviously hockey's in my genes just because of my dad," Jack said. "And I think just as I've grown as a player, it's just added layers to my game."
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