Berkly Catton
C - #27 Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
5’11, 163 lbs, Shoots: L
DOB: 14.01.2006 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
When the 2023-24 season began every scout in the industry knew that Catton was a prodigiously skilled prospect. There were no doubts whatsoever that he was going to be a play driver for the Spokane Chiefs and that he would score a boatload of points. There was, however, a lot of curiosity about what the overall picture would look like. Here was a potential superstar under a very big microscope in his draft year, but one who was playing on a terrible team without much support around him, and was likely going to be put through the ringer on a game-by-game basis.
Amazingly, not only did Catton live up to the enormous expectations that were placed upon his shoulders, he shattered them. He doubled his offensive output from the prior season and finished fourth in WHL scoring, and he did so even though he went into every match as the number one shutdown target for other teams. And as if that wasn't impressive enough, he also rounded out his game incredibly well, becoming a much more complete 200-foot player, so much so that he ended up leading the entire league in shorthanded points.
When you zoom out and look at Catton's season as a whole, what he accomplished is nothing short of incredible. He consistently played a mammoth amount of minutes, wasn't sheltered from heavy usage, produced at an elite clip and didn't abandon his less glamorous duties, and he did all of that in spite of playing for a Spokane club that got outplayed most games and was never anywhere close to being a true contender. That speaks volumes about how committed Catton is and how much character he possesses.
Are there some questions or concerns about his long-term NHL potential? Yes, to a degree. He is well below average in terms of size and strength, which could cause issues for him when it comes to enduring the rigours of NHL seasons and managing the wear and tear on his body. And maybe those same physical limitations will force him to play the wing instead of down the middle, probably not permanently, but perhaps until his mid-20s. That being said, though, it is abundantly clear that Catton is a rare kind of young talent, and he displays a lot of qualities that are shared by some of the NHL's brightest stars.
Skating
While Catton isn't necessarily one of the fastest players in this year's draft, due in large part to the shortness of his strides, he is certainly among the quickest, if not outright alone at the top of that category. The value of his skating comes more from his acceleration and agility than it does from his top speed. He possesses excellent footwork and balance, which he combines with a motor that revs high and an innate desire to play the game at a breakneck pace. He can get his feet churning in a hurry, and when he does that he can easily push opposing defenders back in a straight line or weave through them or around them with his crossovers. His footwork can be very deceptive, too, which makes it difficult for enemies to anticipate where he's going to attack.
This is a great example of how Catton can be dangerous with his acceleration. You can almost see the realization as it dawns on the Victoria defenders that they’re in a bad spot and that they’re about to get burned.
He won’t win a disproportionate amount of even-odds footraces at the NHL level, but he’s certainly no slouch. In this clip we see him turn on the jets to establish the rush as a clear 2-on-1 and get himself in the right position to receive a pass. His skating technique here looks impeccable, maximizing the output of every step.
Catton has the ability to make defenders look foolish when he reaches his top speed coming through the neutral zone because his lateral footwork is just so fast and fluid. He can shift his weight and change his angle of attack without losing any momentum.
Grade: 55
Shot
Catton potted 54 goals in 68 games this season, so it's safe to say that he knows how to fill the back of the net. However, he's not exactly an elite goal-scorer in the way that those numbers might suggest. His shot accuracy and placement are undeniably superb. When the puck is on his stick in high-danger ice he can beat goalies clean by elevating it, threading it through holes, or making a deft deke in tight. He will occasionally try to score from distance as well and finds some success in doing so at this level, but he probably won't be able to get enough heat behind his shots to regularly beat NHL goalies in that way.
This is a quintessential Catton kind of goal. He attacks the entry with speed, dangles around an opposing defenseman, and then dangles the goalie too just for good measure, before casually sliding the backhand into the net.
Here is a great look at his ability to bury shots from a bit of distance. He’s thinking shot the whole way and he snipes it so perfectly in the top corner that the goalie had no chance.
While Catton does score on this shot, after clearly picking the spot that he wanted to place it, it’s not exactly a howitzer coming off his stick. This is the type of shot that NHL goalies will almost always stop if they can see it cleanly.
Despite what was just said about the last clip, maybe Catton doesn’t need to be an overly powerful shooter, since he’s so good at making quick adjustments between the dots and firing before the goalie can catch up to what’s happening and reposition himself.
Grade: 55
Skill
To put it simply, it's a real treat to watch Catton handle and distribute the puck. There are few players in the world, at any age or in any league, who can do it at the level that he can. It looks like the puck is glued to his stick at times, which is especially mesmerizing to watch when he's carrying it around the ice at full speed and trying to make difficult dangles with it. A huge part of what makes him so good offensively is that he's equally as lethal carving to the inside through sticks and skates as he is when he slows things down and sets up along the wall, calculating what his best option is.
It’s almost unfair how Catton can make his incredible puck skill look completely effortless. Most forwards his age would be thrilled to make a play like this once or twice per season, but for Catton, this is just something that he does on a regular basis and can pull out of his bag of tricks on any given shift.
Catton is the type of player that coaches are more than happy to let hog the puck a little. In this clip he handles the biscuit for just long enough, and carefully gets it into just the right position, to perfectly set up his teammate who activates off the blue line. The fact that it’s a no-look pass is the icing on the cake.
Could you consider this a textbook way to defend this situation? Definitely not. But nevertheless, that’s a ridiculous pass by Catton, who hooks the puck all the way around the right side of his body and connects it tape-to-tape, without plainly telegraphing what his intentions are.
This is the sort of precision shot-pass that an elite NHLer like Nikita Kucherov would make, which would then show up in nightly highlights and year-end YouTube compilations. It’s also just Catton being Catton, and him further displaying all the different ways that he can leave his mark offensively.
Grade: 65
Smarts
Not only is Catton arguably the smartest player in this entire draft class, but he can apply that wealth of knowledge in a variety of different areas. There are many ways to out-think the opposition or cleverly elevate the play of teammates, and he is proficient in pretty much all of them. You can tell from afar that he's a dedicated student of the game and a sponge for knowledge, while also having an innate level of hockey sense and overall understanding of the sport that simply cannot be taught.
Catton has an uncanny ability to keep a running mental log of where everyone is on the ice and what they’re doing. Not only does he know that his teammate is open on the far side in this clip, he also knows that not a single player in a dark sweater is going to expect him to snap a no-look backhand pass as he does.
Watch Catton’s head throughout this clip as he trails the play and gets himself in position to receive a pass. It might seem like a little thing, but scanning this frequently and quickly is a high-level habit, and it’s going to pay huge dividends for him in his career and he continues to get better and better at it.
This is such a cheeky play. He undoubtedly would have clocked that the defenseman going in for the handoff from the goalie was the 16-year-old Jackson Smith, who might not have been experienced enough to recognize the danger he was in. Catton sneaks in quietly and pounces at the precise split second, jacking the puck into his control, and then adding insult to injury by putting some flair on his assisting pass. He didn’t try to spin-o-rama just to be dramatic, though. He saw the attempts to block the lane in front of him and knew that he could change his pass and send it behind the defenders before they could change the positioning of their sticks.
Great situational awareness from him here. Nothing flashy, but he knows that as soon as he slides between the two penalty killers that he’ll have an open lane to the net and that the puck could come back to him, which it does. He also gives a couple of quick extra pushes to time his pass reception better and reduce the chances that someone can catch him from behind. While this is a simple and straightforward play, he executes it brilliantly.
Grade: 65
Physical/Compete
It feels wildly unfair that a prospect as exceptional as Catton might slide a bit come draft day because of reasons that are outside of his control, namely, the limitations of his frame and body type. But the reality is that being an NHLer is a demanding and often dirty job, and some players are naturally better equipped to withstand that grind than others. Now, much to his credit, he’s pretty darn determined and fearless. He rolls up his sleeves when he needs to, and he’s always willing to try taking the puck to the inside, even when he knows that it’s going to result in bumps and bruises. Unfortunately, it cannot be denied that he struggles to withstand physical play at times, and can get neutralized by opponents who are bigger and stronger than he is.
This is the type of highlight that gives scouts a bit of pause because it happens to Catton a lot. A lot of other forwards his age would easily be able to bounce off this check, but it knocks him over and results in a change in possession, even though it wasn’t a very hard bump. Yes, Catton will add some muscle to his frame as he matures, but defenders are going to get bigger and stronger too, and he’s always going to be at a disadvantage in his way.
Here’s another example of Catton on the receiving end of a physical engagement. Not only does he lose the 50-50, he gets knocked over again and goes into the boards. Nothing bad actually comes from this play, but it’s easy to envision how a similar situation in the NHL could be perilous for him if he’s going into it faster, gets hit harder, and slides into the boards in a more awkward position. It’s very easy for injuries to rear their ugly heads in moments like that.
This play isn’t even really a hit, but it’s the type of thing that you see a lot at the NHL level, where a defender angles an opposing forward into the corner and then tries to stand them up. With more strength, Catton could have been able to push the defender off and keep himself moving forward with the puck, but this one ends in a change of possession. It’s going to be imperative that Catton maintains his quickness and elusiveness as he develops, to minimize the number of situations where he can be easily bottled up or knocked out of the play.
Grade: 50
OFP: 59.25
A note on the 20-80 scale used above. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scales, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.