Neutral Zone’s top-ranked American-born 2005, Will Smith, is no longer committed to Northeastern.
It was revealed this weekend that Smith was back on the market after the Northeastern logo was removed from his name on the U.S. NTDP’s line chart. We have Smith ranked as the top American-born 2005 and we have him as the No. 2 overall 2005-born player, only behind North Dakota commit Grayden Slipec, who is from British Columbia.
Smith is from Lexington, Mass. He has appeared in 23 total games for the NTDP this season and has six goals and 11 assists as the team’s top-line center. He has 13 points in 12 games for the U17 team and he has four assists in 11 games for the U18 team. Smith had played for the Boston Jr. Eagles before joining the NTDP this season.
“He is a smooth, highly skilled, sharpshooter who oozes confidence,” said NZ scouts. “Like the great players, he makes difficult plays look easy; he’s always in control, he slows it down and can pick defenders apart 1v1 or he can utilize his teammates and create 2v1s and 3v2s out of even man situations. He produced both in zone and off the rush, he showed some protection along the boards and in the corners and was able to hold pucks out of defenders reach and then snap it off.”
Our scouts evaluated Smith at the NTDP evaluation camp just this past summer.
“He has all the tools; size, skating ability, stick skill, shot, passing, athleticism, hockey sense. He scored highlight-reel goals, he made sensational assists on the rush, he dangled the best defenders in the country like they were cones and he has a swagger about him that you want to see in a goal scorer. For the most part he did whatever he wanted out there; he can beat any defender, he could snap it off anywhere in the offensive zone, the power play flowed through him; he did it all. Arguably the most dynamic offensive talent in this age group and made difficult plays look easy because of how smooth and composed he plays.”
