The late rounds of the draft give teams the opportunity to find diamonds in the rough. These prospects still have much development left to do and it’s on the teams to identify those players that could be poised to breakout in the future. Peter Stratis has established himself as a solid OHL defender though he hasn’t lived up to his 1st round OHL Draft position as of yet. This post will profile the young defenseman out of Sudbury.
Who is Peter Stratis?
According to his OHL page, Peter Stratis is a 6’0, 183 lbs. right handed defenseman for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League. He was born on January 18, 2000 and comes from Scarborough, Ontario. According to his EliteProspects page, Stratis played bantam hockey with the Don Mills Flyers program in 2014-15 and midget hockey with the Mississauga Rebels in 2015-16. Stratis was the top scoring defenseman in the league while with the Rebels with 49 points in 70 games. Stratis also appeared in 2 games with the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Junior Hockey League in 2015-16. His strong play that season boosted his OHL Draft stock and he ended up being selected 11th overall by the Ottawa 67’s in the 2016 OHL Priority Selection Draft. His rookie season with Ottawa in 2016-17 saw him put up 15 points in 49 regular season games and play in an additional 6 playoff games. Stratis also earned a call up to the Canada White U17 team for the Under-17 World Hockey Championship. Known as a solid defender without much flash to his game, Stratis was able to have a slight uptick in production in 2017-18 with 13 points in 39 games with Ottawa before being traded to the Sudbury Wolves in January. Stratis would then go on to put up 12 points in 28 games for the league’s worst team.
Where is Peter Stratis Ranked?
Peter Stratis is projected to go in the 7th round if he’s drafted so there aren’t a lot of public rankings available for him. Here are some of them though:
- NHL Central Scouting Services: North America - 139 (Final), 116 (Midterm)
- The Draft Analyst: 316 (Final Top 500), 244 (January Top 500), 144 (Preseason Top 500)
It’s interesting to see how Steve Kournianos of The Draft Analyst changed on Stratis as the year progressed. Clearly he doesn’t think Stratis warrants a draft pick but there could be scouts out there that disagree.
What Others Say About Peter Stratis
Back in December, Brock Otten of OHL Prospects ranked Stratis 47th on his Midseason Top 50 for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Here is what he had to say at the time on Stratis:
Heady defender who makes up for a lack of dynamic physical skills with a good IQ for the game at both ends. Looks comfortable running the point of the powerplay as a distributor and makes quick decisions with the puck in the defensive end. Solid positional defender who has an active stick and above average mobility. I guess the question is, does he do anything well enough to be an NHL defender? Doesn’t possess great size. Doesn’t have a big point shot or dynamic puck carrying ability. Isn’t a physical defender and doesn’t profile as a stay at home type. Confident that he’ll develop into a very good OHL defender by his final year in the league, but not sure if he’s a serious NHL prospect though.
Reading this description and there definitely seems to be a whole lot of “average” in there. By no means is Stratis a bad OHL player, he’s quite serviceable, but as Otten asked midway through, does he have enough tools to be a NHL player someday? This isn’t the most encouraging report. Let’s check out what Otten had to say about Stratis is his recent Top 50 OHL Players for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft - Part 1: Honorable Mentions:
Jack of all trades defender that the Wolves acquired from Ottawa this season. Stratis’ game is built around his good mobility and he likely develops into a quality puck mover at the OHL level by the time he graduates from the league. I suppose the problem for Stratis is that he doesn’t rate as above average or elite in any particular category. And he’s only average sized at 6’0. So projecting him as a future NHL defender is tough. He’ll need to improve his ability to run the point on the powerplay, especially, if he wants to increase his point production and subsequently draw more attention from NHL scouts. If the Wolves are going to finally turn this ship around in the next two years, Stratis is going to need to be a big part of that as a top 3 defender.
Once again it seems that Stratis rates out as an average, if unspectacular player at this point in time. It seems that he didn’t take as big of a step forward as most would hope for a second year defenseman in the OHL. The good news for Stratis is that he still has time on his side and will have a great chance to earn a lot of tough minutes for a rebuilding Sudbury team.
Finally, let’s take a look at some of what Dominic Tiano of OHL Writers had to say about Stratis back in April:
First and foremost, Stratis is an excellent skater with a very good first couple of strides and he can reach top speed quickly. His mobility is very good including his lateral movement and his backwards skating...
He thinks the game at an above average level and he thinks it quickly. Beginning in the defensive zone, he understands gaps and closes them quickly. He has a very active stick and uses it effectively. He won’t overpower you with physicality and it is an area where he could use some improvement. He makes a good first pass to clear the zone but doesn’t skate it out with regularity.
Offensively, Stratis has shown that with his vision and passing, can quarterback a powerplay. However, he needs to work on aspects of his shot, specifically, his release, needs a heavier shot, needs to get his shot through and needs to shoot with a purpose.
It’s interesting to see that Tiano rates Statis’ skating and mobility a bit higher than Otten. Based off this scouting report it seems that Stratis has a nice base set of skills to build off of to potentially take that next step. It will be up to him to find ways to make improvements and earn a shot at the NHL.
An Opinion of Sorts
I’ll start with what I like about Stratis’ game. He keeps it simple in his own end, works hard, and disrupts plays with good gap control and an active stick. At the very least he has the basics down and can use that as a base to improve upon. The few times I saw him play this past season he was really solid in his own end and seemed like he could have a bit more offensive skill than what he’s shown thus far in his OHL carer.
With all that said, I’d rather the Devils not target him in the later rounds of the draft. Sure does a lot of things well but nothing about his game is above average at this point. I have no doubts that he can turn into a really solid OHL defender over the next two seasons, but I really have my doubts about him having enough skill to play at the NHL level someday. If his defense was better you could see that carry him despite not being much of an offensive producer. At this point it seems unlikely for his defense to improve to that degree. While I think he has more offensive development left in his game, mainly being more consistent with his passes and improving his shot, I don’t think it’s ever going to be enough for it to translate over to the professional level. I wish Stratis the best in the future and hope he proves me wrong, but at this point I have to say I would prefer the Devils to pass on this prospect.
Your Take
What are your thoughts on Peter Stratis as a prospect? Do you think he would be worth a shot late in the draft or would you pass up on him completely? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!