“I would say a trio with me, Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky could be very dangerous. Two big and talented players to whom I could bring my vision of the game and my skills […] It would be an entertaining unit, I think.”
Between now and the draft, TVA Sports and The Journal will publish and broadcast several reports on the players that the Canadian could obtain with its precious first choice on Friday June 28.
Berkly Catton, One of the best playmakers IN the 2024 draft and potential top-7 contender, is not one of those prospects who prefers to wiggle his tongue in an interview.
Eloquent and comfortable in his answers, the young man is a pleasure to interview, especially since he is passionate about everything that concerns NHL teams.
The answer you read above regarding the CH, he threw it out without thinking. Obviously, this wasn’t the first time he’d thought about a scenario like this.
“I see myself more as a winger in the NHL. That explains why I mentioned these two names,” the boy adds with a smile.
Speaking of smiling, CH supporters would have every reason to have a huge smile on their face when imagining the potential arrival of Catton within their team.
“Their figures are no longer up to date!”
Berkly Catton played this season in the Western Junior League, with the Spokane Chiefs.
An excellent puck handler and very effective in transition and on the power play, he stands out first and foremost for his extraordinary vision of the game.
This guy could find your palette across a four-lane highway in the middle of rush hour.
One of the only question marks on his CV concerns his size: he measures, according to the various statistical platforms, 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 163 pounds.
“Their figures are no longer up to date [rires]!”, Catton quickly says.
“I weigh 175 pounds now, not 163!” he says.
“It’s certain that I still have to get a little strength, but honestly, my style of play adapts well to all situations. I’ve never been hit hard before. My intelligence of the game compensates for the few pounds that I concede to my opponents. I have qualities in me that they don’t necessarily have,” says the skater.
Stratospheric statistics
If Catton’s measurements are no longer up to date, according to him, there are still several columns provided by the various statistics sites which remain truthful and impressive: goals, assists and points.
54 goals, 62 assists, 116 points. All this in 68 matches… and at only 17 years old. And above all, an improvement of 61 points compared to his first campaign.
“I think the best way to explain all this is trust,” comments the main person concerned. In your second year in the league, you know a little more what to expect. I also had a lot of success at the last Hlinka-Gretzky Cup and came home full of confidence. Then I had a really good summer of training with my friends Kevin Korchinski, Brayden Yager and Riley Heidt. They are top players who have already been drafted in the NHL, so they push me to the maximum.
Photo credit: Larry Bunt
It must also be said that the majority of Catton’s time in the course of a day is spent… with a stick in his hands and a ball nearby.
“Since I was very young, it’s been like that! I throw pucks and balls in my basement, I dribble with a ball in my driveway. In fact, that’s all I do [rires]! It’s funny, because the years go by, but my love for hockey only grows. I do the same things I did when I was a little boy.”
“If you want your coach to trust you in the NHL…”
When asked which NHL players he would compare his style of play to, Catton throws out two pretty interesting names: Clayton Keller and Jack Hughes.
But what makes Catton so pleasant in an interview is that he is so voluble in talking about the areas he needs to improve.
“My defensive game is at the center of the aspects that I work on. I’m sure this is a response you get a lot from productive prospects, but if you want your coach to trust you in the NHL, you have to be good defensively. I want to be on the ice for the important moments at the end of the game.
“I don’t find my defensive game bad,” the skater immediately specifies. But if I want to be considered “defensively effective”, I think there is still room for improvement. All this will certainly be helped by gaining a few pounds this summer, but also by playing a lot of matches and watching others.
“Even if you don’t want to look at the rankings…”
We often forget that the hopes that make supporters salivate so much are only 17 years old. They are still children. Big kids. But children nonetheless.
Not only is the media attention given to them in their draft year immense, but they also have to live with a reality where they are listed via numerous expert and amateur rankings which are very difficult to ignore.
“Even if you don’t want to look at the rankings, there’s always one that jumps out at you when you open your social media accounts. And if by chance you manage to avoid that, there is one of your good friends who will be happy to show you the latest published (laughs). I have learned to live with that and just tell myself that the team that selects me will do so because they will have been attracted by my game and my personality. That’s all that matters to me.”
And what impact does he think he will have in the NHL?
“Every time in my life when I had to change leagues to face better or stronger players, my level of play always immediately increased. I think it will be the same once in the NHL. They are the best in the world!”
“Whether as a center or winger, I think I will be a big asset on the power play. A player who will put on plays and make his linemates look good. I can also score goals on my own, passing [rires]! In all humility, I think I can really be a good National League player one day.
What if his name was pronounced by the CH? The young man smiled toothily.
“Canadians? The name says it all: it’s a country’s team! It would be a dream. A magnificent city, an impressive arena. One of the best crowds in the National League. It would be… really cool to land there.”
