Skating:
- Straight Line Skating:
Mesar very rarely moves in a straight line. Because of this, it’s difficult to gauge just how proficient he is as a purely straight line skater. Looking at the few examples of his straight line stride, Mesar demonstrates he is very talented as a straight line skater. He has good posture with ample upper body tilt, a 90 degree knee bend and full back leg extension. Mesar’s hip rotation is also solid, creating a longer and more powerful stride. He maintains a positive shin angle through adequate ankle dorsiflexion and his upper body moves along in sync, helping create momentum in his stride. The only critique I have about Mesar’s skating, however small, is that he loads slightly more from his hip and knees than his ankles during his push off. It’s not overly encumbering or noticeable, but it does point to an area for development.
Filip Mesar had a top speed of 36.58km/hr in the 6 Tipos Extraliga games I’ve tracked of his this season. Not only is this a fast top speed but interestingly, unlike most other skaters his age, Mesar builds all of his momentum using crossover acceleration as opposed to any sort of a straight line stride This points to massive potential in the long term as a skater. Blending quick changes in speed and direction are almost impossible for defenders to stop when done well.
-Lateral and Backwards Skating:
I’ve mentioned already that Mesar very rarely moves in a straight line. He is constantly weight shifting, crossing his feet, and changing his speed and movement patterns. His ability to create acceleration in small areas is second to none in this draft class. Mesar also holds quickness in all directions, carrying speed into his changes of direction. His turning radius is strikingly small. He rotates his upper body into the turn before his lower body and shifts his weight forcefully onto his front foot, leveraging his edgework work to his advantage. He is mechanically sound in his movements, getting low and keeping his knees over his toes. Leveraging this low center of gravity to elevate the force he generates through his hips. This helps him pass and shoot in stride as well as decrease his turning radius.
Filip Mesar has a stride to crossover ratio that very closely resembles 2:1. His 1-2.33\ stride to crossover ratio is the lowest number in my 2 year dataset of prospects and really an outlier compared to his peers. His ability to create speed through linear crossovers is second to none and the value it holds to generating greater speed and shift angles is key to his entire game.
Skills:
Transition Offense
It really doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Mesar excels at creating offense through transition play. There is no denying that a large part of that comes back to his proficiency as a skater, but his subtle read and reaction of opponent movement cues and his anticipation of teammate routes are both crucial aspects. Something I’ve noticed time and time again watching Mesar is his posture as the puck carrier in a zone entry. He keeps his off foot raised until the defender sets his feet, he then shifts his weight and adjusts his off foot’s edgework accordingly.
When the defender plays Mesar well, and doesn’t set his feet directionally first, he has some issues and often skates himself into pressure. This points to a larger issue with Mesar. Without the puck, he understands offensive layering very well, but with the puck he has some issues recognizing open teammates.
In the build up phase, Mesar demonstrates great hockey sense in his movements. With the puck, he either looks to switch the play to the weak side, changing the flow and direction of play leading to space for others or carry it up himself, something that has proved very successful for him this season, in no small part due to his skating ability. Without the puck, his anticipation for transition opportunities is outstanding. I’ve mentioned above that without the puck, Mesar understands offensive layering very well, he can get in behind the defensive line, weaving in and out of space seamlessly with his teammates to create the sort of organized chaos players like himself thrive on. To do this he blends his skating ability with his ability to read and manipulate opponents movement cues into consistent numerical advantage situations for Poprad.
Shooting:
Mesar’s shot is accurate and effective. He transfers his weight effectively through his body, keeps his chest and shoulders over the puck creating a good amount of downforce and he positions his hand out with his top arm unlocked. His lower body is similar to sound, he keeps his hips loose, allowing his knees and feet to channel his upper body movement and create a smooth weight transfer that is accurate and quick to release even under pressure. This in no small part is due to the consistency of his mechanics, having the same quick release no matter the pressure.
Mesar’s smart movement patterns allow him to find space to shoot in high danger areas. He is rarely static even with sustained offensive zone pressure, always moving in and out of space. When he has space Mesar almost always looks to shoot. He looks to shoot even when the shot is a low percentage play where another option would be more optimal. He is shooting at 10.53% right now with an xG tally of 3.17 (+0.83) and has already shown regression in his scoring since his last goal on October 17th, indicating that Mesar’s true scoring ability is somewhere between his hot start to the season and his scoreless streak in his last 12 contests. With that being said, getting to higher danger areas before shooting will help Mesar make better use of his shooting skills.
Anticipation:
Not a great deal of Mesar’s offense comes from sustained offensive zone pressure. Getting in behind the defensive line while staying at least adequately postinally disciplined requires anticipation skills. It is most noticeable on the breakout that he reads defenders movement cues at a very high level. He reads hip movement, feet movement and the angle and speed of play very well and manipulates them to his advantage. A good example of this is in the clip below, Mesar head scans notices the defender closest to him is focused away from him crossing his feet towards the puck and he quickly capitalizes, accelerating past the defensive line, collecting the pass and getting a breakaway opportunity.
Mesar displays the same scanning habits all over the ice that he does on the breakout. In the offensive zone he is constantly scanning for space and the position of opposition players. In the defensive zone his anticipation skills become slightly less prevalent because of where he positions himself. He usually places himself high in the defensive zone, looking to activate when possession is won back for the quick counter attack opportunity. This mindset certainly works toward his strengths as a skater, but also can leave assignments with open space in valuable areas.
Stick Handling:
Mesar is easily overpowered physically meaning that to be able to translate his offensive prowess to higher levels he needs to be able to escape physical pressure. He has done this in the Tipos Extraliga by blending his arsenal of offensive skills. That includes stick handling, which is crucial to Mesar’s game. He is a creative and effective stick handler, blending a good mechanical base with great timing and reading of opponent movements. To start his mechanical base is solid, he has a good base creating a smooth weight transfer through a Y angle in his feet. His upper body is equally as sound, keeping a good top hand grip and quickly changing direction through his upper body first and transferring it to his lower body by keeping his hips loose.
Reading movement cues from the opposition is the most critical part to his success as a puck handler. Being the last one to commit directionally allows him to keep his puck handling simple and repeatable. One of his favourite moves is a simple in and out that once again, leverages his skating ability. He starts by putting the puck into a position to be stickchecked, getting the defender to swing his stick towards him leaving them in a vulnerable spot. He then collapses his weak side ankle so that he can transfer his weight smoothly and pull the puck towards him, getting around the defender and leaving open space behind him.
In the sequence above I think it's good to note that his upper body acts in a similar way to how he gets around defenders in his zone entries that I mentioned earlier, but his lower body differentiates the 2 movements. On the zone entry he keeps his weak side foot raised, in an effort to be able to quickly change direction if need be, in the move directly above, he keeps his weak side foot on the ice, only committing his direction after the opposition begins to swing his stick towards him.
Perception:
-Tactical Recognitions
Producing in the Tipos Extraliga at a rate that Mesar has been this season is rare but not completely unheard of. Mesar has started the season averaging the 9th highest points per game (min 10 games played) for a U18 player in league history. That list of U18 producers is impressive company. It includes 5 future NHLers, a top 10 pick (Brandt Clarke) and a future top pick (Simon Nemec). The only exception on the list is Martin Uhnák, who is a good retrospective on how usage can distort a player's production. In the case of Mesar, his role has changed at many points during the season. He has bounced between the 2nd and 3rd line, playing both center and wing if need be. Through it all, Mesar averaged 16:46 a game this season with a carousel of linemates and coaching staff, and has seen his ice time dwindle in the last couple games and his point drought reached 8 games.
Poprad underwent a coaching change in November which may help explain Mesar’s declining ice time. Under Peter Mikula Mesar averaged 17:19 a game and under new coach Corey Neilson Mesar’s ice time has been reduced to 15:47 (-1:32) per game. Neilson plays a very aggressive 1-3-1 forecheck that requires seamless positional interchange and a larger defensive responsibility for the centerman due to the pinching defender. In addition to this, the coaching staff gives players the freedom to leave defensive assignments early in anticipation of counter attack opportunities. Playing this fast style, Poprad has averaged 4 goals per game since the coaching change, good enough for best in the league while also conceding 3.8 per game bad enough for the league's worst. One would think Neilson’s style would benefit players like Mesar the most, however Mesar has managed just 1 point in his first 8 games (including continental cup) under Neilson. Part of this is bad luck, with Mesar creating 0.92 xG (roughly his average over a five game set before the coaching change) in that time period but a part of that also comes back to his lack of understanding in offensive layering with the puck and the absence of proper vision and timing to compliment his speed, often arriving at the right areas with the wrong speed or at the wrong time. This creates many loose puck opportunities, which Mesar is not adept at winning.
Speed Perception
Gauging Mesar’s speed perception is difficult. His scanning habits are solid and this is evident by his movement patterns without the puck, like his movement on breakouts. He reads the play well away from the puck but his ability to recognize valuable plays at speed while in possession needs work. Faced with pressure, although mechanically he remains consistent, mentally he makes mistakes I believe he wouldn’t have made. Using this information, I can infer that as of now speed perception is an area for development in Mesar’s game.
The main focus in Mesar’s immediate development should be largely focused around his decision making processes. Whether it be making plays under pressure, or getting into higher danger areas before shooting, improving his decision making processes will lead to quicker, better decisions and make better use of his skillset. It's difficult to do this but it can be done, as teams like Dortmund have proved in its implementation of reaction speed drills like the footbonaut into heavy rotation in day to day settings with young players. With that being said, I believe in Mesar’s high end arsenal of skills that screams high end potential. I believe the evidence supports Mesar being a top 20 pick in this year’s draft.