Alex Huang
Position: D, Shoots: R
H/W: 6-foot-0, 161 pounds
Date of Birth: 2007-07-30
Stats to Date: 60GP – 5G – 32A – 37PTS
Alex Huang is one of the most exciting players out of the QMJHL this year. At first glance, you can tell that some parallels can be drawn between his play style and that of certain stars like Lane Hutson or Quinn Hughes. While he is a ways away from reaching this, Huang has a particularly high ceiling.
The combination of high involvement and play-driving, especially towards the middle of the ice, impressively fluid four-way mobility, and high-end puck control makes him a flashy and fascinating option as early as the second round for NHL teams. Luca Cagnoni is a highly comparable player in terms of playstyle and development who was picked back in 2023 and is already aging extremely well.
There are concerns with Huang, such as his underdeveloped frame, his overall shot in a vacuum, and certain aspects of his defensive game. He will need to address these while continuing to develop the rest of his game in order to reach his potential.
Huang has not exactly been lighting up the QMJHL this season, but, born on July 30, he is one of the youngest players in the draft, and has been very good as of late, with 18 points in his last 15 games. Throughout the year, his level of confidence and dominance has increased exponentially. Expect Huang to be among the top of the QMJHL in terms of scoring among defencemen in future years.
Skating
Alex Huang’s skating is a strength of his. The most noticeable and strong aspect of his skating is his amazing agility. Huang tends to move around the ice with a very wide stance. His legs are far apart, his center of gravity is low, and his knees are bent, allowing him to rapidly evade pressure and deceive opponents by moving laterally. Huang is difficult to stop physically, since opponents tend to engage and lean into Huang as he quickly escapes and blows past them.
Huang especially uses his stance to stay mobile at the blue line, to juke out opponents and find shooting lanes or simply buy some time and space, as well as below his goal line when initiating breakouts. Those are two key components of a puck moving offensive defenceman’s game, in which he excels.
The Chicoutimi defenceman has mastered the skill of changing direction. He’s able to break and move in the opposing direction in a split second, to turn on a dime, and to move laterally and backwards with the puck. How well Huang moves is not a questionable aspect of his game. He clearly watches and studies modern elite offensive defencemen and copies their mobility.
You can see flashes of pure agility and evasiveness in this clip. He turns in any direction in a split second, he is able to embarrass his opponent with only his feet, making him fall on his own.
In this clip, Huang displays his impressive four-way mobility. While moving backwards and laterally simultaneously, he corrals the puck, pivots and fluidly moves past an opponent. Although this clip did not lead to anything significant, you can tell how easy skating is for Huang.
Again, nothing spectacular, but you can see how fluid and agile Huang is on his feet, in any direction.
Huang can be a positive factor in the transition game thanks to how quickly he can pivot from one direction to another. Here, as he gets the puck, he is able to move quicker than his opponents and initiate the zone entry.
Once again, Huang eliminates three forechecking forwards on his own by simply moving quicker than they expected.
In terms of speed, Huang is not the most explosive skater. His acceleration is fine, but improving the first few strides will be needed for him to continue that evasive and tricky role to the next level, where forecheckers are able to turn while maintaining momentum and pursue players at a greater pace.
Huang’s top speed is also not particularly high; he is not a speedster by any means. Given how much he loves to carry the puck in the neutral zone and attempts to be dangerous off the rush, a greater top speed would complement his play style.
In this clip, you can see what Huang’s top speed looks like. Again, it’s acceptable, but it’s not some tremendous speed that sets him apart from other defencemen available this year. He also turns the puck over at the end, although I would not hold it against him as this is, from what I have seen, an exception to the rule when it comes to his skill level.
Overall, Huang’s pace of play is still solid. While I am being critical of his top speed and his acceleration, his skating is overall a strength of his, and it is easily noticeable when watching a Chicoutimi game. His overall pace is faster than that of most players, as he is able to use his edges when turning to maintain his momentum.
I would really like to see Huang implement his mobility to activate deeper in the offensive zone. He is dominant at the blue line but tends to limit himself to that section of the offensive zone. If he uses his skating skill to play deeper along the boards, many more high-danger passes can result from it, and his point total would explode.
Grade: 55
Shot
The primary issue with Alex Huang’s shot is that it lacks significant power. At only 161 pounds it will always be harder for him to transfer as much weight as possible into power, simply because there is a limitation in the total weight applied. When Huang shoots, it tends to be pucks that are trackable without too much trouble for goaltenders. This season, on 129 shots on goal in the QMJHL, Huang has been able to find the back of the net only five times, for a shooting percentage of 3.87%. This season in the NHL, among the 200 defencemen who have played the most, this 3.87% shooting percentage would place him at 133rd. For an offensive defenceman, this is simply too low. If Huang wants to elevate his offensive game even more, he needs to be more of a shooting threat.
Here, a perfect set-up is made for Huang for a one-timer opportunity. The pass is perfectly between his feet, but as his shot flies away from his stick, you can see how minimal the power is. The opposing team is not at all worried and easily blocks the shot.
This is especially noticeable in motion. As previously established, Alex Huang is an offensive defenceman with heavy tendencies to not only contribute, but even lead rush chances at 5-on-5, being an active offensive contributor. That being said, when he enters the offensive zone with the puck at a decent speed and attempts a shot, Huang is almost always unable to generate significant power.
This is the perfect example. It is amazing to see Huang’s confidence level, flying with the puck and looking to score, but his shot is simply caught by the goaltender without too much trouble, and the scoring opportunity already comes to an end.
From a technical standpoint, the shot is not great either. Because of how mobile and evasive Huang is, he often has this low and wide stance, allowing him to escape pressure quickly. That being said, he also tends to hold that stance when shooting. This is not ideal, as the weight cannot effectively shift from the back to the front. This results in weaker shots.
There are still positive sides to Huang’s shooting ability. For example, he is very efficient at finding shooting lanes while maneuvering laterally at the blue line. For defencemen, being able to get shots from the point through traffic and on net is crucial, as it can lead to either unpredictable bounces that can slip by a goaltender, or rebounds near the net, which are high danger chances.
Here is a clip reinforcing the point previously made. Huang is able to use a deceptive motion at the blue line by promptly stopping and slightly moving back in the opposite direction, baiting out the incoming pressuring opponent, allowing him to have a clean, open shooting lane. This move is often used by the elite offensive defencemen in the NHL, like Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar and Lane Hutson, as it can mislead and trick incoming pressure, as well as the goaltender who has to adjust quickly.
Another example, this time Huang uses a fake slapshot attempt to make the opponent in front of him bite, opening a lane for him, and follows up with a wrist shot that gets to the net.
Here, Huang uses his mobility to access the best possible shooting lane and gets a nice shot.
Another positive aspect is that Huang is not a trigger-happy defenceman. He shoots a lot, but he gets the most of it instead of firing away the second he gets the puck. A ton of young offensive defencemen tend to shoot as soon as they get the puck at the blueline with enough time and space. Developing a habit of automatically opting for low-quality shots is detrimental to their game, as they tend to miss either great passing opportunities that can lead to an even greater scoring chance, or simply an opportunity to be deceptive and hold the puck for a little longer to bait out an opponent and keep the goaltender guessing.
Huang is able to do all of the above, and especially the latter. He often shows great patience when receiving the puck at the blue line, being able to keep the goaltender guessing. He draws pressure to him and evades it by faking a shot or with a toe-drag motion, even crafting an unexpected pass at the end of the sequence. While the patience in identifying different options that are open to him shows great smarts, this specific instance of patience is directly tied to the shooting department. I will further analyze how he uses patience and deception in many more areas in the smarts section later on.
This clip showcases Huang’s patience with the puck at the quarterback spot on the powerplay. In movement, he keeps his opponents guessing on if he will shoot or not, buys himself some time, spots a teammate who is open and ready to shoot, passes, and collects an assist.
He does it again, this time at 5-on-5. Huang collects the puck along the boards and holds on to it until he spots a teammate who he can pass to for a deflected shot. Perfectly executed plan.
Here is a double example. Huang first shakes off a player with his classic deceptive move and gets a shot to the net. Then, he attacks a free puck and follows with a nice patient toe-drag move to create the shooting lane that was previously blocked by an opponent.
Grade: 47.5
Skills
It is unquestionable that Alex Huang has flashes of high levels of skill. He’s able to execute his ideas effortlessly, and frankly most of his overall game relies on his skill level with the puck. He loves to have the puck as much as possible and play a fun and exciting game.
What separates most 17-year-olds in terms of puck skills is how they execute at speed. It is evidently harder to control the puck and drive through opposing sticks and bodies when flying at a high pace than when going slowly. On that note, Huang is able to drive and carry the puck through pressure at or near his top speed while keeping his head up and without losing control of the puck.
Here's Huang, deking through a defenceman while skating near his top speed, successfully entering the zone. He was able to realize that if he meticulously places the puck between the legs of his opponent, it will go through.
Exact same move again by Huang here.
Here’s an even more impressive clip, showing the true puck skills that Huang possesses.
What is interesting about Huang’s puck skills is that oftentimes, he tends to do more with less. He doesn’t need to overly rely on excessive, flashy moves. All he needs is one or two calculated moves to go around players.
Additionally, Huang is extremely confident. This is one of the biggest green flags for players like him that have this high upside, because in order to reach that high upside they need that unwavering confidence. He loves attacking the middle of the ice and is not scared of making a mistake or turning the puck over.
This is a great example. Huang turns a switch on and decides to trust his skill and make things happen by himself. He probably should have shot at the end though.
You can see how confident he is in this clip. As soon as he moves forward, he identifies the first player he wants to shake off, skates directly towards him, and completely dekes him.
Huang also has an excellent sense of timing. His stickhandles are frequently perfectly timed, making his opponents look like fools for committing and missing.
This is exemplified in this sequence, where Huang, with a simple yet perfectly timed move, makes an opponent commit with his stick, and gets around him.
When combined with his skating, his puck control and sense of timing allow him to be this great evasive puck breaking defenceman.
Being able to dangle with ease when going fast speaks volumes about Huang’s puck skills and will make it a lot easier for him to translate his game to the next level. When players take the next step and go from playing junior to pro, they quickly realize how little time they have with the puck before someone comes at them, and how there is no room for error. Mishandling the puck and causing turnovers are what get noticed from coaches and fans the most, and a great level of puck control makes those moments less frequent.
A current issue with Huang in terms of how translatable his skills come with his frame and skating style. Unfortunately, a lot of the risks and problems with him always come back to this. Huang is not scared to attack the middle and to stick handle through many opponents. The problem is that given how light he is and how long his stance is when he moves, it is super easy to push him off the puck when he comes directly at you. Although he is evasive, when he skates towards his opponents and expects to go through them with his stickhandles, he gets easily shoved around.
Grade: 55
Smarts
Although Huang shoots fairly frequently, averaging 4.81 shot attempts per game, his biggest offensive weapon is his playmaking ability. Huang understands that great playmakers don’t just identify passing lanes – they create them. This is what separates a decent playmaker from a great one; if you can not only spot the available passing lanes, but create them yourself, you will be a lot more helpful to your team. Huang is able to hide his intentions by looking in a certain direction and passing in another one, by executing passes through players from one side to another, and by drawing pressure towards him to open up space for his teammates.
Huang, in this clip, displays impressive agility, quickly corralling the puck and turning promptly to attack the net. He then looks to his right but slips a pass to his left. This shows that he is able to hide his intentions.
Once again, Huang, after carrying the puck to the middle of the offensive zone, is able to spot a supporting forward that is literally behind him to complete a pass. At first glance, no one would expect Huang to make such a pass, which is what makes him a dangerous offensive passer. This speaks to how aware he is of his teammates’ positioning.
Yet again, another pass that is unexpected yet creative. He analyzed quickly that his shooting was not as good of an opportunity as if he would pass it to his teammate on his right, and he ended up being correct.
It is impressive to see here how he uses a pass through the air above everyone to score a primary assist. Not a lot of defencemen at his age are able to see this play.
As previously mentioned, the Chicoutimi defenceman has a soft spot for attacking the middle of the ice. He notices when there’s an opening between the players and jumps on it. This is something he does all the time.
Defensively, Huang is super effective with his stick. It seems like his stick is on the shorter end for a defenceman, and he fully uses the handling ability that it provides, getting his stick in the way and swinging it everywhere, causing chaos in the puck carrier’s mind.
Here, Huang stays calm and collected, and doesn’t bite on the opponent coming with speed. He simply pokes him with an active defensive stick.
Yet again, Huang does not bite on the toe drag and successfully removes the puck from his opponent with an active stick.
That being said, just like with most young offensive defencemen, Huang needs to be more careful when he pinches. When his team doesn’t have possession, he tends to get ambitious, perhaps too much, and can pinch to intercept the puck when it is not the right time to do so, resulting in an odd man rush. This is something that Huang unfortunately does too often. He doesn’t quite have that sense of responsibility or self-control yet, and his explosiveness in his first few steps is not good enough for him to recover consistently.
His decision-making is also not fully refined right now. There are times when he doesn’t select the best option, where he shoots when he should have passed or held the puck, and vice versa. This is something to monitor in the coming years and is a knock for now on his “hockey sense”.
Grade: 55
Physicality/Compete
The physical aspect of Huang’s game is currently a concern. He tends to be pretty ineffective physically, whether it’s him trying to pin an opponent against the boards or trying to use his body to separate an opponent from the puck. When Huang does try to hit an opponent, oftentimes he is the one falling down or losing balance. Players can get around him without too much trouble; he is not a scary defender to attack. This might be due to his current weight. As previously mentioned, Alex Huang is 6-foot-0, but only 161 pounds. He will really have to add some weight in order to be an efficient defenceman in the NHL, because otherwise he will not be able to play along the boards or move forwards who are much bigger than him away from his net.
Here is an example where Huang attempts to prevent an opponent from entering his zone with his body, but both the timing and his lack of physical strength made it easy for the opponent to go through Huang.
It’s not that Huang doesn’t hit. He does attempt a decent amount of hits, but they never really result in anything and are super easy to shake off. That being said, Huang already has that mentality of occasionally throwing his body around, so the only real addition that needs to be made is putting on weight. Standing at 6-foot-0, he is decently tall enough to make it work in the NHL, and given that he is still 17 years old, he still has a bunch of time to add that missing mass. It would be a riskier pick if Huang was 5-foot-9, per se.
Right now, Huang’s hits are often done with his arms, propelling his opponent along the boards. This is unconventional, because not only does it prevent you from being able to use your stick at the same time, but the impact is also less significant. Huang really needs to add weight to his frame to hit conventionally and be more efficient.
In these two examples you can see he tends to push his opponent with his arms instead of truly hitting them with his shoulder while operating with his stick.
This is what an average Huang hit looks like at the moment. He attempts them, but they don’t really do anything.
You can see in this clip that Huang takes the correct route for that puck battle. He sees that there’s an opportunity for him to slide himself between the opponent and the puck, to gain possession. While he didn’t end up using his body to do so because his opponent shied away from engaging physically and chasing the puck, the execution from Huang was still correct. The only problem is that if the opponent chased the puck and tried to push Huang away, it likely would have worked because Huang can’t impose himself physically.
Same thing here, correct route and hip rotation, and it worked this time.
Finally, this sequence perfectly portrays Huang’s physical level but also his compete level. He easily gets outmuscled and pushed off by his opponent, which is quite a worrying sight for a defenceman, but was still able to battle through adversity and make sure the puck ends up on his side of the ice.
This physical engagement from Huang and his decision-making in terms of how to insert himself between his opponent and the puck makes me believe that the compete level is pretty good. Again, the only real problem is the lack of strength.
Grade: 50
OFP: 53.25
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.