So Far So Good in Development of LA Kings’ Prospect Jacob Moverare
- Updated: December 9, 2016
Last night I was fortunate enough to cover the Ontario Hockey League game between the Los Angeles Kings’ prospect Jacob Moverare’s Mississauga Steelheads against the local, (well local to me), Kitchener Rangers on behalf of CaliSports News, and from what I witnessed LIVE at the game, it is so far, so good in regards to Moverare’s development and evolution as a player.
Born on August 31, 1998 in Ostersund, Sweden, the 6’2, 198 pound defenseman was drafted by the LA Kings’ 114th overall in last June’s NHL Entry Draft. The positive attributes about Moverare that impressed GM Dean Lombardi and his crew was his known killer instinct, (apparently the kid does NOT like to lose and will do anything in his power to prevent from losing), is willing to learn and improve himself so he can be a better and more effective player, (such as with his skating abilities but more on that later), how strongly he focuses on the things that he needs to and his impressive skills in puck handling with an instinctive eye for play making, (for example, he already has 14 assists this 2016-17 season for the Steelheads so far), and a mature calmness when without the puck while defending. It doesn’t hurt either that he has a potentially strong shot from the point as well.
In the first period alone against the Rangers, Moverare stopped a 2 on 1 attack, cleared his crease of a loose puck before any Ranger player could tap it in, cleared his zone of the puck defensively while circling around an aggressive opponent and even blocked a shot with his shin, which he purposing kicked out in danger in hopes of stopping the shot, (he ended up blocking yet another shot, this time a hard slapper from the point in the 3rd period while killing off a penalty. The whole arena cringed at the sight and sound of the play, but Moverare shook it off like it was nothing). Impressive.
Moverare seemed to be in control of any defensive situations that came his way with an aggression and physicality that my colleague here at CaliSports News and for MakeWayForTheKings.net Ryan Cowley described to me as, “Very Scuderi like,” and I would have to agree, though Moverare does have a potentially more offensive upside to his game than ‘Scuds’ ever did. Moverare was being utilized in both offensive and defensive situations, including on both the power-play and the penalty kill. This is good news considering that Moverare was a healthy scratch at the beginning of the OHL season in October, but in a short two months has now more ice-time, responsibility and assignments during a game, which only means that Mississauga head coach, (and former LA Kings’ player development coach) James Richmond has put more faith and trust into him. That’s a very good sign.
As mentioned above, the one major flaw on Moverare is his skating ability, or lack thereof. He does possess excellent ‘take off’ acceleration power and speed when skating forward on attack, but it’s when he needs to skate backwards to defend, or move laterally is where his skating and posture becomes more clumsy and even clunky. Though also noted by Cowley, “Moverare was gradually getting better and showing great progress after just two months.” Fair enough. As mentioned earlier, Lombardi was impressed in Moverare’s attitude of always being willing to learn and improve and his focus, and you can see it when he plays, as when he’s on the ice he is constantly in motion. Whether it’s going forward, side-ways or backwards, he is constantly moving or better yet, practicing what he needs to practice, whether it’s during a real-time situation in the heat of the game or after the whistle has blown and the play has been stopped, he is constantly practicing his skating skills. He is skating forwards, backwards and side stepping, sometimes around his entire zone, and other times in just small bursts right on the spot. He did this for the entire game. Most impressive.
(Moverare in constant motion while waiting for the puck to drop)
Even with his clumsy/clunky backward/lateral skating style, Moverare was still skilled and intelligent enough to properly cover his man, break up a play or do what was needed from him defensively while he was at his most vulnerable. That is definitely not a trait you can teach someone. The kid was born with a natural skill and a high hockey IQ and it definitely shows. If he continues to have the right attitude and keeps improving and evolving in the right direction, it will only be good news for the LA Kings’ organization in the near future.
Moverare finished the game with no points, but displayed some solid and (again I have to say it), intelligent defensive work, slick passing while on attack and was a plus 2, while having a bit over 20 minutes of ice time, contributing to the Steelheads’ victory over the Rangers 5-1 in their own barn. His best moments in my opinion, was during the 3rd period when the Rangers had almost seven straight minutes of a power-play, (one five-minute major, that was immediately followed by a two-minute minor penalty by the undisciplined Steelheads,) while Moverare and company held the fort successfully with their strong, boxed out aggressive coverage of constantly staying on the Rangers, (and in their faces), and keeping them scoreless for the entire seven minutes. It was during these chaotic moments that Moverare regularly cleared out his zone of the puck, blocked that hard slap-shot and even threw in some checks along the boards. The hometown Kitchener fans were not impressed, but I sure was!
Overall, Moverare gets a thumbs up from me. He still needs some work and improvement with his development of course, which is why the Kings’ powers that be had decided to keep him at the junior level instead of bumping him up to the AHL level with the Ontario Reign, or even the ECHL with the Manchester Monarchs, but one can easily see with their own eyes that he is already adapting really well with the North American style of play, while evolving and improving his weaknesses at the same time. And don’t forget, he is only 18 years old with some offensive potential!
Like I said, so far, so good.
*Special thanks to Alyscia Warner, the Kitchener Rangers’ organization, the helpful staff of the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, Ryan Cowley, Mario Hicks, Theresa Walsh Duarte and Faye Walsh for their help with this article and to everyone who brought a teddy bear and participated in the LIVE Teddy Bear Toss for a great cause! What an amazing sight and experience that was!
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, all the time!
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