photo: mississauga.com
Basic Player Overview
DOB: January 18th, 2002
2019/20 Team(s): Mississauga Steelheads
Nation: Canada
Position: Left Wing
Height/Weight: 5’11″/180 lbs
Handedness: Left
Introduction:
After being taken with the 8th pick in the 2018 OHL Priority selection draft, Hardie experienced what could be described as an underwhelming rookie season. Starting the year not ranked and off the radars of many, Hardie’s play and production took a massive jump from his 22 points in 62 games in his rookie season, to being over a point per game player this season putting up 63 points in 59 games. An offensive winger, with his sneaky good shot Hardie became a go to player in the offensive zone for the Steelheads. In terms of the other side of his game and his consistency, I liked something that commentator Julia Tocheri said. In a game this season against North Bay, Tocheri described the play of Hardie and Cole Schwindt throughout the season like this, “When they start to roll they are hard to stop, but when they are down on themselves they hard to start up again.”. This rings true for Hardie with his defensive game and consistency needing to improve if he wants to be an all around player that he could be, combining his offence and defence.
Skating:
Hardie is a smaller guy with stockier build, who isn’t as mobile when moving east-west or stopping and starting, but can accelerate well going north-south to be able to get after pucks and forecheck well. He lacks that quick jump that you see from some players to give that extra step, but once Hardie gets his crossovers going and he gets moving, he wins races for puck and is a hard forechecker.
A good look at the pressure he can put on the opposition with his skating when he’s running on all cylinders is in video below. He takes the pass in stride, and then when reaching the Battalion defencemen chips the puck past him. Once he chips the puck by the defender, he does a great job of keeping his feet moving, allowing him to not only go by 2 Battalion players, but he his first on his own dump in giving his team possession of the puck, which is exactly what you want to see on a chip and chase zone entry.
In this next clip against Saginaw, we can see where his lack of mobility and quickness, combined with a bad read on a challenge results in him being the last forward coming back. The Saginaw player makes a nice cut to the middle, however Hardie ends up a step behind the play because, he doesn’t have the quick mobility or that quick first step to catch up to him even when he’s beat like so.
On this next play, Hardie is forced to react to the bobbled puck at the blue line by Schwindt. However, as the puck is carried into the zone, he isn’t able to separate from the back-checking Spirit players partly because he doesn’t have that quick couple steps to give him that speed. Hardie will need to work and develop those first few quick steps to accelerate, as it will help him transition to higher levels as the games get quicker.
Offence and Scoring Ability:
Being the highly offensive winger that he is, Hardie loves to get on the offence and getting opportunities to get out in transition on the rush, whether it be odd man rushes or sprinting ahead for a breakaway chance. Hardie has shown a tendency that when he is in his own zone, and he sees the puck look like it is going to be turned over to his team, he darts up the wall or up the middle.
If we take a look at the clip here against North Bay, he does a good job to go and pressure the right point, once the Battalion defencemen shoots the puck Hardie is no longer visible on the screen. As we keep watching, and the puck eventually ricochets to Cole Scwindt. Schwindt turns and makes a breakaway pass to Hardie. As soon as Hardie saw the puck take the deflection and he recognized Schwindt was taking possession of the puck, he was gone and looking for that stretch pass. Hardie is able to get a great scoring opportunity because of this, hitting the post after a quick shot.
In addition to his transition offence, providing him scoring chance on the rush and on breakaways. Hardie loves to use his sneaky good shot to shoot the puck on net and loves to use it to score. Hardie finished in the top 20 in goals, and was 7th in shots on goal with 252, not to mention he had 347 shot attempts. If we take a look at the zone chart of every shot Hardie took over the course of the season including: goals, shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots, we can see the increased number of shots below the face off circles. That number than increases further from 68 and 79 on the outside to 97 shots in the slot of the home plate area, the home plate area being where the vast majority of quality scoring opportunities happen.
Taking a look at the shot map, providing a more specific look at where Hardie’s shots and scoring opportunities come from. He has a nose for scoring in and around the net, as the closer he gets the more goals he is able to generate.
So we know Hardie likes to shoot the puck, but what makes his shot so good. There’s a combination of his release, accuracy, and he is constantly looking up and picking his spots on the net. He is able to look up recognize where the openings and weak spots on goalies are and make accurate shots, about 65% of his goals were blocker side which tends to be a more difficult save for goalies to make.
Looking at this goal against the Hamilton Bulldogs, you can see he receives the puck on the power play at the bottom of the circle, not an ideal spot for a left handed shot. However, he makes the adjustment to take an advantage of the space that is there and once there he has the option to pass. Hardie sees an opening in between the goalies blocker and body and snaps the puck through it for a goal. A combination of a goalie’s mistake and a scorer taking advantage and making him pay.
On this next goal vs Windsor, he is able to corral the rolling puck, and in one motion, turn his hips to face the net, and move himself away from the first defender. On his shot, he has a couple things to contend with in addition to trying to beat the goalie. There’s the first Windsor player in the middle of the slot trying to block the shot, and then the battle to the goalie’s blocker side. On this shot, Hardie is able to pull, drag, and snap the puck, firing a rocket that picks the corner of the net between the goalie and his teammate battling.
Along with his scoring ability, Hardie has also shown soft hands and passing abilities, being able to make accurate passes through traffic. Here is a beautiful pass against North Bay that results in a goal, he uses his soft hands to avoid the stick of the Battalion defender, and then makes a hard accurate cross ice pass right on the tape of Whittaker. A type of pass he was able to make throughout the season.
Strength and Compete:
Looking back to the quote from Tocheri, Hardie’s compete level can be described like his overall play. When he’s on and competing hard he can be a difference maker on the ice. However, unlike some of those top end players who if they are off and not competing at their level will still find a way to make a positive impact on the game. when Hardie isn’t competing and playing up to his level, he can be described as just being there. You know he’s on the ice but he isn’t creating or the offensive threat that he can be.
A great example of what Hardie can do when he is using his strength and competing at his fullest is in in the play against North Bay below. He’s taking the pass up the middle and then has to contend with the checking Battalion player. Hardie uses his strength to lean down on his stick and competes hard to win the battle for the puck, giving him a scoring opportunity. Although he fans on the shot, this play is a great example of the battles Hardie wins when he’s using his strength and exhibiting a high compete level.
In the same game here, you can see he just isn’t strong enough on his feet, and doesn’t put up much of a fight to keep possession of the puck a shrug off the check from the Battalion player. There’s plays like this throughout the season where Hardie gets knocked over too easily, where you would like to see him make it a battle for the other player when they try to push him around.
Defensive Game:
Hardie’s biggest area of struggle and need for improvement in his game is his play in his own zone. He has shown little flashes of being able to play well defensively. When he’s playing well defensively, Hardie is moving with a purpose in his own, seeing where he needs to be and gets there, he’s making nice passes on the breakout to get the puck out of his own zone. He likes to make that breakout pass up the middle to his centreman or a wide pass up to the far winger, from InStat Hardie averages about 2.10 breakout passes a game which is fairly close to 3.85 breakouts he averages.
The clip below against North Bay shows Hardie using a slick tip pass up the middle on the breakout that he likes to use. He sets himself up on the boards perfectly to take the puck rimming around the boards, drawing the North Bay defencemen in from the point trying to pinch. Once the puck reaches him and the defencemen pinches, he angles his stick and makes a quick backhanded tip pass to the streaking Steelhead’s player up the middle. A great breakout that leads to an odd man rush and a goal for the trout.
Although Hardie can make those nice tip passes and breakout passes out of the defensive zone, he often struggles with the consistency of this. At times he can get caught not being hard enough on the puck or being too fancy and doing too much when in his own zone. On this play below, on the hard rim he loses a bit of control of the puck, and tries to tip it to Schwindt. He isn’t strong enough when trying to get the puck to his centremen resulting in a turnover, and doesn’t have enough urgency to try and get the puck back. 6 seconds later the puck is in the back of the net.
The next couple plays, both against Peterborough contrast each other and show what Hardie can do when he’s engaged in the defensive zone versus when he’s not paying attention. the first play Hardie takes notice to Der-Argunchintsev just off the wall picking up the puck. SDA beats the first Mississauga player and now has a straight line to the net. However, Hardie reading the play is in the right position to be able to cut him off before he can get a scoring opportunity. After which, he creates a turnover through good pressure on the Petes player.
In contrast to the play above, on this next play here, Hardie gets caught puck watching on the play happening in the corner, and he loses sight of Nick Robertson going past him to the front of the net wide open. Hardie eventually recognizes this late, and follows Robertson back to the net where because he still followed Robertson, he was able to intercept the missed centering pass.
These small things of being more aware, having more urgency and being able to get the puck out in the defensive zone more consistently, can help him become a better all around player, and a possible steal in the draft.
DY Environment:
Hardie played the vast majority of the 2019/20 season on a line centered by Florida Panther 3rd round pick Cole Schwindt, along with Nicholas Canade on the other wing. Canade attended the New Jersey Devils prospects camp as an undrafted player.
Statistics:
Draft Rankings:
#111 – Recruit Scouting (Gavin Chiasson’s Final Rankings)
#163 – NHL Central Scouting (NA)
#166 – Future Considerations
#80 – Mckeen’s Hockey
Expected Round of Selection:
He is expected to go anywhere between rounds 4 and 6 in the draft.
NHL Comparable:
With Hardie’s size, build, and production an NHL comparable specifically on the offensive end for him can be a Kyle Palmieri. A player who similar to Hardie throughout his career has been able to put up goals, and also possesses a fairly lethal shot. However, the comparison shifts to a player like Evan Rodrigues now of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who has struggled at times with finding consistency and that 2-way game, similar to that of Hardie’s play.