With the second entry on our annual The Win Column Calgary Flames Prospect Rankings, we see a new 2024 NHL draftee. This draftee at #14 is the second-rounder, 62nd overall Kingston Frontenacs winger, Jacob Battaglia.
Here is everything you need to know about Battaglia’s development so far, his strengths and weaknesses, and the projection for his future in the C of Red.
Battaglia’s development so far
The Mississauga, Ontario product started off his OHL career getting selected in the second round, 27th overall, of the 2022 OHL entry draft by the Kingston Frontenacs.
From there he was able to carve out a role in Kingston’s middle six as a power-playmaker where he posted a respectable seven goals and 20 assists in his 2022–23 rookie season.
In his sophomore season, the 6’1″ winger jumped on scout’s radars as a physical presence with real offensive upside, putting up 31 goals and 34 assists—good for 65 points in 67 games. In these 67 games he averaged 17:22 TOI.
This production and play style led to him being selected in Day 2 of the 2024 NHL Draft. Look for him to continue his momentum expect him to suit up for the black and gold Frontenacs for at least two more seasons before being, as Paul Brandt would say: Alberta Bound.
Battaglia’s strengths
Battaglia’s game is a mix of playmaker and power forward with high-end puck skills, senses, and physicality/motor.
Puck Skills
Battaglia has a toolkit of a playmaker with clean passing, and shooting skills that make him a consistent offensive threat for any other OHL team.
On any given night Battaglia executes 21 passes, with an 80% accuracy rating, and an arsenal of passing options from seam passes, bank passes, and slip passes to name a few. He generates good power on the passes as he shows an aptitude for both short and long passing.
To combine with his passing aptitude he also shows hints of good shooting posture as well. This is highlighted by his good shooting posture that displays good leverage, weight transfer, power (often jumping into pucks), and a generally quick release.
To wrap all of these up, the Canadian also has quality hand-eye generating good deflections and an ability to pounce on rebounds. Not to mention his ability to generate space. This makes him a capable net front presence especially during his 3:21 of power play time per game this past season.
Hockey senses
Both in offensive transition Battaglia is a playmaking menace with high-quality vision, play anticipation, and option identification, which allows him to excel in touch and go offence. Quick ups that go on and off his stick in a flash.
The Mississauga product shows a good developing hockey IQ as well through good play reading, lane awareness, and offensive awareness. This is best exemplified through his ability to read plays and then implement a cut back which changes pace and throws defenders off, while also opening passing lanes.
With this deception and puck skills combo, Battaglia can be a chance-generating machine.
The 6’1″ winger also shows good poise as he effectively scans and knows all of his playmaking options, in advance but won’t execute a play until he feels it is the best play option.
Physicality and motor
Battaglia shines in the rougher parts of the game, as previously mentioned he absorbs pressure well, thrives in space creation (furthering his offensive deception), and battles consistently hard.
The Frontenac’s winger is not scared to throw the body around, through clean and smart physicality he can introduce a momentum swing in a game. He also thrives in the O-zone slot as a net-front presence that establishes good body positioning while serving as a capable screen for his teammates.
Although his puck battle winning percentage is only at 44% for the 2023–24 season, he rarely takes a shift off and consistently battles showing above-average balance combined with quality muscle mass and strength making him an effective power forward.
No matter where Battaglia is on the ice he looks to get involved in plays, when taken into account with his other factors this displays a good compete level and motor.
Battaglia’s weaknesses
Despite his strengths outnumbering his weaknesses, he does have a glaring area of improvement.
Poor skating
Simply put: Battaglia is not a pretty skater. His skating is a major flaw in his game that often leaves him scrambling and consistently falling behind the pace of play. However, the winger often uses this deficiency to his advantage in changes of pace to slow the game down.
Overall his skating struggles because of his abnormally upright posture, mechanically short stride which leads to plenty of busy feet, and a significant lack of flection. This lack of flection is particularly deadly as it severely hampers his agility, stride, power, and acceleration.
The Mississauga product is not getting full extensions which also harms both his inside and outside edgework.
Sometimes this poor skating even harms his playmaking abilities as higher-end opponents can read plays and close options down on him with good angles of attack. So if he can not overcome his skating issues, he will need to add even more levels of deception to his game to transition to the NHL.
Battaglia’s next steps
First thing is first, Battaglia is expected to return to the OHL for the 2024–25 season where Flames management and fans alike are expecting a breakout season for the young winger.
Expect him to get even more ice time than the 17:22 he did this past season as he will further solidify himself as an offence driver that he very well can be. After a couple of seasons in the OHL expect him to make his pro debut with the Calgary Wranglers.
If he can overcome his significant skating problems, expect him to be a serviceable top-nine option for the Calgary Flames in the future. He would serve primarily as a secondary scorer as he thinks the game at a well above-average level, and has the puck skills and physical instincts to make him an asset.
Calgary Flames 2024 Top 15 Prospects
Honourable Mentions | #15 William Stromgren | #14 Jacob Battaglia | #13 Aydar Suniev | #12 Luke Misa | #11 Etienne Morin | #10 Henry Mews | #9 Samuel Honzek | #8 Matvei Gridin | #7 Jakob Pelletier | #6 Andrew Basha | #5 Jeremie Poirier | #4 Hunter Brzustewicz | #3 Matt Coronato | #2 Dustin Wolf | #1 Zayne Parekh
You must be logged in to post a comment.