Future Watch: Nathan MacKinnon

Guess who: Originally from Nova Scotia, playing at Shattuck-St. Mary’s high school in Minnesota and tearing it apart at the young age of 15 years old, playing a the center position, and was the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League 1^st overall pick… it sure sounds like a certain Pittsburgh Penguins franchise player isn’t it? Well, HL is pround to present our first article on this amazing prospect from Darmouth, NS, Halifax Moosehead’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Already coveted since the age of 14 years old, Nathan MacKinnon had a great year in 2011 participating at the Canada’s Winter Games in Halifax and at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, finishing respectively with 8 goals-3 assists-11 points and 5 goals- 3 assists-8 games in a 7 and 5 games tournament, representing team Nova Scotia and team Atlantic. He also finished his senior season at Shattuck-St. Mary’s with a 39 goals – 85 points in 34 games season, at midget level.

Presently compared to another Nova Scotian Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon gathered so much media and interest throughout the hockey world, especially in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Months leading up to the Q’s Midget Draft, the MacKinnon family had never shown interest for Nathan to play for the Q’s lottery winner, GM Steve Ahern and his Baie-Comeau’s Drakkar team, utlimately forcing him to trade away his 1^st overall prize to the Halifax’s Mooseheads and GM Cam Russell. After a full summer of doubt, whether young MacKinnon was to play in the CHL or the USHL, he finally showed up at the Mooses training camp, in a great form.

Nonetheless, Nathan MacKinnon is finally proving to be worth the blockbuster deal that Russell made to acquire him, as he is already dominating the Q with a 19 points in 12 games production and made most of his early points at the age of 15 years old since he has just turned 16 on September 1^st. His style of game is very striking as he dominates his opponents with a very powerful skating stride and violent wristshot. The Mooseheads are a pretty young team that should become a President’s Cup contender in the next few years, as Nathan MacKinnon will have plenty of great players to support him: Luca Ciampini, Martin Frk, Darcy Ashley, and a certain young midget player from the Lac St-Louis Lions, 2^nd overall pick in the 2011 QMJHL’s Draft, Jonathan Drouin.

Nathan MacKinnon is surely and already considered the best prospect for the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and people sure like to compare him to a young Sidney Crosby. However, that comparison might be a little bit unfair to the young prospect, and he should not carry around that much pressure. Then so, rather to compare him to Sid The Kid, here on HL, we see a lot similarity in Nathan MacKinnon and Boston Bruins own amazing sophomore, Tyler Seguin.

Next on HL, we will resume our covering of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, as we will have features on #4 and #5 ranked players, Leksand’s Filip Forsberg and Everett’s Silvertips Ryan Murray.

Bonus article: Read Goal-happy Moose on a roll on MetronewsMacKinnon's profile on Elite Prospects