Height: 5’10”
Weight: 168 pounds
Date of birth: September 30, 2000
Hometown: Thorold, Ontario
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
OHL Draft: Round 6, 114th overall, 2016 Priority Selection
NHL Central Scouting Rankings: Pre-season, November: Not Ranked. Mid-Term: 135th North America
Tyler Angle played his Minor Midget AAA hockey with the Southern Tier Admirals during the 2015-2016 season. The Thorold Ontario native appeared in 34 games scoring 19 goals and adding 13 assists while compiling 66 minutes in penalties. The diminutive pivot was selected in the 6th round of the 2016 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.
The following season would begin in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Angle would play in 11 games and notch 5 goals and 3 assists. Injuries and a depleted lineup forced the Spitfires to call up Angle when their preference was to probably have him spend the year in Junior B. He would appear in 41 games that seasons scoring twice and adding two helpers as a 16-year-old.
Last season Angle appeared in all but one game for the Spitfires. He scored 10 goals and added 7 assists in those 67 games.
This season Angle has been a bright spot for a Spitfires squad fighting for their playoff lives. In 56 games (9 fewer then his teammates) he is fifth on the squad in goals (20), fifth in assists (24), first in power play goals (8) and first in powerplay assists (11).
As a September 30, 2000 birthdate, Angle missed being eligible for the 2018 National Hockey League Draft by just two weeks. And despite having almost two full seasons in the OHL, NHL Central Scouting didn’t seem fit to have him on either their pre-season or November’s players to watch lists. However, when they released their mid-term rankings, they found a spot for him at 135 among North American skaters.
Central Scouting, a majority of times, tends to lean towards bigger players even though independently, NHL Teams are shying away from it. But Angle certainly plays much bigger then his size. He will not shy away from contact nor will he duck from a hit to make a play. He’s kind of a pest out on the ice and is willing to take the licks that come with that.
Again, despite the size, Angle is incredibly strong on the puck. His work ethic and puck pursuit are at an extremely high level. And when the puck is on his stick he protects it extremely well. He’s incredibly difficult to take the puck away from when he is using his skating, smarts and overall awareness. I think that if he were 6 feet tall or taller with his skillset, that he would crack the top-100 on Central’s list.
I want to categorize Angle as a shooter first, and I think if you asked folks around the game you might get the same result, maybe overwhelmingly. But I’ve seen enough awareness, vision, puck skills and patience to suggest he has some very good playmaking skills, and that becomes most evident with the man advantage. But his primary assists and secondary assists are split evenly at 12. He ranks 85th in the OHL in points and when you compare him to those ahead of him, the vast majority have more primary assists to secondary assists ratio.
Angle’s shot can be called underrated. He’s accurate and he can fire the puck quickly. His shooting percentage is at 13.3%. But when you break it down by shot difficulty you get a better picture. He’s fired 151 shots on goal this season but only 15 of those are high danger area shots with a shooting percentage of 33.3%. When you get to the mid-danger zone, he’s fired 26 shots at the net and a 15.4% percentage. But his low-danger area shots are at 110, showing that he’s willing to fire the disc from anywhere. And he’s scoring on 10% of those.
In the faceoff circle Angle does what is expected. It’s a tough spot for a draft eligible player and he’s winning 51.5% of his draws. When you consider there are only 8 draft eligible players at or above the 50% mark, he is holding his own.
Defensively, it’s a repetitive statement when it comes to draft eligible players: It’s a work in progress. His awareness and smarts means he has good positioning. His relentless puck pursuit means he backchecks hard. He plays bigger then his size so he’s willing to battle in the hard areas. And he has shown he can kill penalties.
If he can continue to work on his defensive game, add some much-needed bulk and keep his work ethic at the level he’s at now, I don’t see why he can’t be an effective third liner at the next level who can eventually kill penalties and put up some points.
Stat page from Elite Prospects
OHL Writers 