Film Breakdown: Thomas Bordeleau's performance vs. Michigan
Alternate title: Why I agree with Elite Prospects that he should have a first-round grade
Elite Prospects put out their 2020 draft guide on Tuesday. I spent a few hours going through it, and one thing that stuck out to me in my first look was how high they are on incoming Michigan freshman, Thomas Bordeleau. Most places have him in the early 30s, and Bob McKenzie’s last ranking had him at No. 51.
Elite Prospects has Bordeleau at No. 23 overall. I was excited to see that because while I’ve seen him much, much less than their scouts have (as in, I saw him one time, when the U18s played at Michigan in January), I came away from my one viewing really impressed.
This tweet from J.D. Burke sums it up as well as I possibly could after having seen Bordeleau play.
There were probably some external factors that went into Bordeleau’s success against Michigan in the one game I saw — the Wolverines played, well, like it was an exhibition game and Bordeleau was undoubtedly motivated to succeed in his future home rink — but I came away with a really high opinion on the player.
The numbers
Don’t take these numbers as gospel, because I literally tracked them on a scrap of paper, but they’re close enough to the true numbers to give a good sense of Bordeleau’s play.
First, from the box score, he had three assists, two shots on goal and finished with a +3 rating. He took 22 faceoffs and won 13, according to the box score, though my tracking has him at 10-8. Regardless, no other player on the ice — on either team — took more than 14 draws or had more than eight wins.
According to my tracking, which is across all situations, the U18s had 21 controlled zone entries and just five uncontrolled entries with Bordeleau on the ice. And also with Bordeleau on the ice, Michigan entered the zone with control on just eight of 20 attempts. When exiting the zone, the U18s left the zone with control 21 out of 32 times while Bordeleau was on the ice.
Additionally, he played most of his minutes against Michigan’s top line, played on the top power play and penalty kill units, and took more defensive zone draws (eight) than he did in the neutral zone or offensive zone (five each).
Bordeleau was on the ice for three goals for, none against, 25 shot attempts (which includes shots on goal, misses and blocks) in favor of the U18s and 13 shot attempts against. The majority of those shot attempts against came from Michigan’s power play, and 5v5 data would probably demonstrate an even larger advantage in favor of the U18s with Bordeleau on the ice.
It was clear to me from just one game: Bordeleau drives play, is trusted with heavy defensive responsibilities, and makes plays across the ice.
The tape
Bordeleau is wearing No. 9 in blue. I’ve selected a few key sequences to highlight below, but all 19 minutes and 28 seconds can be found here.
The play above happened on his first shift of the game, and I was sold. His vision and playmaking — especially just 10 seconds into the game — caught my attention right away.
Just a couple minutes later, Bordeleau came out on the top penalty kill unit for Michigan’s first power play.
He won the draw and immediately headed up the wall to be an outlet for the battle on the boards. As the puck rimmed around, he already knew what he was going to do. Cam York overcommitted to the wall side and it didn’t even take Bordeleau a breath to get past him. A last-second reach from York’s stick didn’t come close to slowing him down.
Landon Slaggert (19) flew up to join the rush and Nick Blankenburg didn’t have a chance at stopping the pass. Bordeleau didn’t show the pass until it was too late for Strauss Mann to commit to the shooter, and all Slaggert had to do was put it in the net. Heck of a first impression for Bordeleau in front of his soon-to-be home crowd.
The scorers gave Bordeleau the primary assist on the U18s second goal, shown below, and they may have been onto something.
The play starts, just as the first goal did, with Bordeleau jumping on a loose puck and heading up ice with a head of steam. His right to left movement through the neutral zone looks simple, but it’s an extra layer of deception that makes it harder for defenders to commit to stopping a route. It’s easier for a skater moving forward to change direction than it is for a skater moving backward, and Bordeleau knows how to exploit that.
Michigan’s defenders seem to be expecting the pass to to Jacob Truscott at the top of the circle, but Bordeleau identifies Slaggert as the trailer, who finds Luke Tuch for the finish.
On the U18s fourth goal of the game — and Bordeleau’s third assist of the night — it was the first time the goal wasn’t created by his work off the rush. This time, Matthew Beniers (a late add to Michigan’s freshman class for this fall) went to work and flashed his speed to get around Luke Martin. Beniers somehow sent a pass right to Bordeleau’s tape, who found Ty Smilanic for the finish.
And while his passing acumen was on full display throughout the night, Bordeleau wasn’t afraid to hunt for his own shot when the moment was right. On more than one occasion, he grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone, created a controlled entry and got a good look on net — one such instance is below.
Bordeleau also contributed defensively, as he did for the U18s throughout the year. Whether it was hard work on the backcheck, sound positioning in the defensive zone or laying out to prevent Jacob Hayhurst from a shorthanded scoring chance (seen in the clip below), Bordeleau was nearly always in the right place at the right time, using his skating and hockey IQ to make plays on both ends of the ice.
Final thoughts
I was super impressed with Bordeleau in my one viewing, and the game reports in the Elite Prospects draft guide tell me this wasn’t a one-off. He’s a high-level playmaker and an incredibly smart hockey player who will, in all likelihood, be successful at Michigan this season (if they’re able to take the ice).
The team at Elite Prospects also pointed out that Bordeleau didn’t necessarily have the support he needed to produce at an elite level offensively, and he still led his team with 46 points in 47 games. It was a weaker year for the U18 team, particularly in comparison to the 2018-19 group that produced eight first round draft picks, but at Michigan, Bordeleau will be surrounded by elite talent.
The Wolverines’ freshman class is otherworldly, and surrounding a playmaker like Bordeleau with elite finishers like Kent Johnson will likely enable him to produce a few more points than he did this past year.
I sure hope there is a college hockey season this year, because this team is going to be incredibly fun to watch.
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