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I have to remind myself that Noah Chadwick is only 20 years old. He seems to have been around forever, but that’s more a factor of a thin prospect pool and the Leafs return to drafting out of the CHL after a few years almost exclusively drafting in the USA and Europe. CHL players get more attention. I also need to remind myself that more attention paid doesn’t equate with quality of player and Chadwick has drawn attention since his first season post-draft well beyond what someone drafted 185th usually gets.
Noah Chadwick
Vitals
Age as of July 1
20.14
Position
LD
Height
6’4″
Weight (lbs)
187
Shoots
L
Draft Year
2023
Draft Number
185
The Player
Last year, I said this about Chadwick:
He’s only 19, and has at least one big jump to come in his development in all probability. His buzz is all about motion, how quickly he’s outperformed his draft position and how much better he is at everything. He’s going so fast, surely he won’t ever slow down.
Did he take that leap?
Let’s look at this chart:
This is the last two seasons, and is limited minutes in each. It’s not enough time to say with confidence that we know the player, but it’s enough, particularly in the more recent season, to see what type of player he is. It’s not a shock that Chadwick is better offensively than defensively – it’s points that get a player attention, and Chadwick has garnered a lot of attention from prospect-minded Leafs fans for his goal scoring and overall offensive play. What is something to note is that, at age 20 in the WHL, his defence has not improved in a way obvious enough to get noted in 10 games of tracking.
He seems to be at cruising altitude, no big leap evident. Big leaps are on my mind this T25 season. Years of watching Topi Niemelä make only subtle refinements in his core skills have been a lesson. Not that prospects drafted low are unlikely to really improve enough to be better than an AHL player – that is obvious – but how they improve, or more accurately how they often don’t. Growth is not a given. Big leaps are not there for every player and should have already happened by draft day for prospects with, well, prospects.
The reason Chadwick got all that early buzz is because he did take a big leap in his first season post-draft. The kind that gets you noticed – points. He went from five goals and 20 points to 12 goals and 56 points. And then last season he just repeated his post draft year performance. He moves well offensively, and he does effectively move himself and the puck in ways that get goals scored in junior hockey.
Chadwick’s an odd fellow – tall, but with the game profile of a smaller defender because he used to be much smaller in his mid-teens. This makes him a tantalizing possibility for the holy grail of modern defender: someone who can skate the puck, carry the puck, play at both bluelines and be big, forceful and strong in the defensive zone. The offence can fade away and I wouldn’t care if he can do all of that as a pro.
He has all of that in about the same WHL-level proportions he had it a year before, but it is really tough to measure a player at this spot in his career. He’s about to join the Marlies, and he still has those attributes that make everyone want him to be better so he’ll be good.
Recall Hardev a couple of days ago?
As an aside, I’ve found myself very disappointed in the level of defending in junior hockey, especially when I compared Ben Danford to William Villeneuve. A lot of defenders in the clips I’ve watched for Hopkins, Valis, Nansi, McCue, and others just let forwards take space. They don’t make it hard to be in front of the net. Body positioning falls away and it’s just reaching and poking a lot of the time.
There’s a saying (likely considered problematic today, but I’ve decided I’m entitled to it): In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. In the WHL, Chadwick is elite. Move him into a milieu where he has to compete with players like the London Knights put on the blueline – like last year’s WJSS – and he doesn’t seem to be as sparkly. However, he clearly has a pro-like team-player mindset. That’s going to help him when he gets to Toronto and sees the size of the cliff to climb in the AHL. Don’t even think NHL at this point.
Every highlight package, fannish bit of excitement and profile of Chadwick focuses on his offensive game and his points growth – the one that happened a year ago. Since I’m quoting people, I’ll give you Brig’s beauty of a comment from 2023:
Oh boy, here we go. A 6’4″ defenseman who can’t skate and only had 5 goals and 20 points? Classic Hockey Man draft pick by Treliving!Or…Oh boy, here we go again. A lecture about how points from defensemen don’t matter and you gotta watch the games to see the true strength that comes from within like a Hobbit carrying the One Ring across the world into Mordor. Nerd.
I think he is a classic Treliving draft pick, it’s just that the belief that Treliving et al just look at size is, er well, cattle and digestion is involved. But his offensive game is fun, the good forwards he plays with score, he’s mobile and agile enough with the puck, and his defending is… not remarkable. I compare every junior defender to the London Knights because they’re the only team I’ve watched much of. Chadwick would have struggled to get off the third pair just like Jared Wooley did. Wooley is excellent at defence and using his body effectively and has a better shot at the NHL because of that.
For all Chadwick is big and that typecasts him in many imaginations, he’s a defender who needs his transition skills to level up to pro class to carry him further as a player.
The AHL will be the measure of the man, and right now all of us are guessing about what the reading will be, and if there is a leap in his future. That’s what I do know: He needs a big jump up to rise above his status as better than his draft location into something more meaningful.
The Votes
I considered him an AHLer for sure, but I don’t believe, and never have, that there is an NHL player of note in there. Could he be a depth guy? Shrug.
So, to be clear here, I don’t think a ranking of 12th on this list is particularly good or exciting. In the big picture, that is. To be sure, I’d place a bet that he’ll be fun on the Marlies, and a big (tall) breath of fresh air in terms of the whole package of his smarts, commitment, professionalism and work ethic. He is that kind of guy who coaches love and other teams honour with accolades.
Voter
Vote
Cathy
12
Brigstew
15
Species
14
Hardev
9
shinson93
19
Cameron
10
Zone Entry
14
Svalbard38
10
dhammm
9
adam
9
Weighted Average
12.1
Highest Vote
9
Lowest Vote
19
The OpinionsBrigstew: He has a lot of tools and advantages with his size, and he ended his WHL career as one of the league’s best overall defensemen. He moves the puck well, he can quarterback possessions and powerplays in the offensive zone. He could defend well in junior and drive solid possession metrics. But his skating, I think, still needs work, and I worry about how well his skills will work against pros when he has less time and space to make decisions. When he’s played against the great junior teams with good coaching, systems, and star players, he hasn’t looked nearly as good. Cameron: Chadwick and Cowan were my two most watched prospects from the Leafs, his skating has improved greatly since being drafted, although there is still much room for improvement yet. He looked great in every zone and never seemed to look out of place. I feel like Chadwick could definitely make the NHL as a third pair or seventh defenseman after more development.Shinson93: Chadwick is a guy that I certainly think has outperformed his draft position. His ability to drive play in the ozone is not something the Leafs have in excess in their pipeline, so could prove helpful for Chadwick getting opportunities down the line. That being said, I still have a little difficulty seeing his game translate to the next levels, but he’ll get a good challenge on the Marlies this year.dhammm: I still have time for Chadwick, but he’s a victim of the fact that it’s hard to have a genuinely impressive D+2 season in the CHL. How he navigates the jump up to the AHL is one of the prospect storylines I’m most interested in this coming season.Svalbard38: Size isn’t everything for a defenceman, but if there’s one thing we know about Treliving it’s that, in his own words, he likes “long D”. He signs big defencemen, he trades for big defencemen, and Chadwick fits right in in a police lineup of Treliving blue liners. He’s got a good shot, I like his defensive skills, and it’s good to see that he was picked for the All-Star team in his WHL conference. It’s not the highest honour out there but it’s good to hear that opposing GMs recognize him as one of the top defencemen in his league and cohort.Hardev: I’m not so worried about Chadwick’s skating because small improvements will do the trick there. Where I’m hoping for him to take a big step is playing a responsible defensive game. The pro game will be a big difference compared to junior hockey, but I think Chadwick is well-prepared for it. I scoured the internet to find as much as I could about Chadwick’s play on a regular shift basis, but it’s really difficult to get the answers to what you want because those plays aren’t interesting enough for highlight reels. I appreciate Mitchell Brown’s work, and I appreciate how much Brigs puts that focus on Ben Danford, but for Chadwick I had to look at the following secondary sources:He was named captain of his team and was a finalist for WHL defender of the year. Hearing what other people said about him, one consistent takeaway was his willingness to keep learning and working on his game. During his development camp interviews he talked about keeping in regular contact with Jake Muzzin about ways to improve his game and reviewing video with him. He also referenced his team’s second round series against Calgary that he remembered as a time he had to step up most strongly as captain. So I watched those highlights. And because playoff games are lower scoring, I got to see a lot more of Chadwick’s better defending that didn’t result in goals. He was pretty faultless in the must-win game 6 where he scored two goals. And very good in game 7 that they won. Throughout his playoffs I saw a small, but encouraging, sample of Chadwick using his body to clear space and playing a smart, sound defensive game. Those playoffs are something he can bring with him to the Marlies and build into a well-rounded pro skillset. I hope the Marlies play him on the penalty kill to boost that learning, and I wonder how long it’ll take before he takes Villeneuve’s job on PP1. How quickly Chadwick moves up the lineup on defense, and particularly how much time in high leverage situations he earns, will determine his ceiling. I still think he has the potential to be a top-four defender.
That’s Noah Chadwick on the cusp of his pro career. What’s your view?
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