I’m going to stop myself just short of saying Moldenhauer is an elite skater. I wouldn’t say Moldenhauer showed he was an elite transition guy, but One of the potential issues with microstats like this is it may be affected by the specific set of games chosen to be tracked. I’ll admit, I’m quite surprised to see his transitions rated so poorly. Outside of the second powerplay, Moldenhauer was used on the top penalty unit. That was ahead of Cam Lund (34th), Dylan James (40th overall), Ryan Greene (57th), and Adam Ingram (82nd overall) who were all taken before him. He actually finished with the highest primary points per 60 minutes rate in the USHL for draft eligibles. Moldenhauer also finished 2nd in even strength primary points, only five behind the leader with 21 fewer games played. He might have finished a bit better, but played on the 2nd powerplay unit on a stacked Chicago team. Despite his illness, injury and slow start, Moldenhauer finished with the highest point per game pace in the USHL for draft eligible forwards, not counting the USNTDP program. But in the second half of the season, he had 29 points in 20 games. In the first 21 games of the season, he had only 14 points. When Moldenhauer finally returned for good in late November, he was playing okay but not as well as expected.
#Mono vox youtube full#
Scott Wheeler told the full harrowing story, and I recommend you read it not just for that part but also how well he overcame it. Two days later, they discovered it had just barely nicked his carotid artery and he had to have an emergency blood transfusion and 175 stitches to fully stop the bleeding.
Then 39 seconds into his first shift after returning, he was accidentally kicked in the face by a player which cut him along his jawline. First, he missed over two months through training camp and into the season with an illness, possibly mono, which caused him to lose 15 lbs. So Moldenhauer had one of the crazier seasons in the draft.
I watched a bunch of his games with the Chicago Steel, and his few games with Team Canada at the U18s, to get a feel for who he is as a player. Nicholas Moldenhauer is the second player taken in the 2022 draft by the Maple Leafs, 95th overall.