Every single NHL team needs and wants a sniper on their squad, and every single year an NHL team will attempt to find or recreate a sniper in the NHL entry draft.
No matter the draft year, there will always be a young player who is taken because of his shooting and scoring ability. No matter if it’s the magical finishing, the elite shot, the aim and the strength, or if he’s simply tallied a ton of goals, year after year there is always a player that’s regarded as an elite goal scorer.
In the 2022 NHL entry draft, there hasn’t been much debate as to which player is the best and brightest sniper. There have been countless names floating around– such as Joakim Kemell and Isaac Howard– but one of the players that’s recently caught my eye is Moose Jaw’s Jagger Firkus.
Born in Irma, Alberta, the winger has been on a heater in the 2021-22 WHL season, recording 36 goals and 80 points in 66 games. Playing along the likes of names such as Denton Mateychuk and Ryder Korczak, he’s managed to prove himself as an elite goal scorer with many underlying talents.
Just like any young player, along with all of his skills and abilities, come some negative aspects which are extremely hard to avoid. In today’s scouting report, we’ll take an in-depth look at one of the most anticipated goal scorers in this year’s NHL draft in Jagger Firkus, and attempt to receive a better understanding on how we truly feel about the Canadian-born speedster.
Offensive resilience
Yes, his shooting and scoring is undeniably his greatest asset. The clips, stats, and obvious proof exemplify that Jagger Firkus was put on this planet to score goals and rock the nicest mustache you’ll ever see. But one of the things that I’ve noticed with him is his top tier offensive instinct.
What makes Firkus stand out from every other goal scorer is how he does not wait for a pass in a high-danger moment. Whenever he sees the puck even slightly available to grab ahold of, he’ll strike the opposition’s puck carrier and steal the puck away.
His offensive resilience comes in many shapes and forms which makes him so much more versatile when it comes to trusting him in clutch situations and in times where you desperately need the puck in your possession. He regularly has the upperhand because his ability to steal pucks by basic takeaways is one thing, but being able to carry it without getting knocked off of it with ease is another. For a guy who weighs 154 pounds, it’s seriously impressive how easily he knows how to hold onto the puck even throughout the toughest situations.
Our first clip comes from a game against the Winnipeg Ice. It starts with the defenseman sending the puck out of the zone, which gives Firkus the green light to go ahead and begin chasing after the puck. Using his quick feet and his deception, he takes the puck away from the feet of the defender. As he’s struggling to reach over and get possession of the puck, he starts to get pressured by the Winnipeg defender. In the midst of the battle he manages to focus on retrieving the puck so that he could even have a sliver of a scoring chance. He gets tied up, the puck floats away, and yet he has no quit.
This is where it gets impressive (if it hasn’t been already). Despite him being in a locked position with the defender, he still escapes from the trap-like instance, and through stick checks and maybe a slash or-so, he gets the puck on his stick and he holds on. For a lightweight player playing against a bigger defender like that, it’s beyond impressive how he managed to put up a heck of a fight like that and still have tenancy of the puck. That’s just one of his countless instances where he showed no sign of stepping down in offensive territory.
Here’s another moment where Firkus is able to hold himself away from any pressure to step up a goal:
Coming in hot by the side of the wall, Firkus continues with the puck until he suddenly makes a quick spin move to turn the defender away from him earning himself a bit of extra space and time. (Firkus pulls off this spin move quite a bit whenever he’s in these types of vulnerable situations). Then, he makes a backhand cross-ice pass onto the stick of his teammate, and it’s a goal. By the way, you’ll see Firkus make a ton of these backhand no-look passes. They’re nice when they are, but when it doesn’t go through, it’s a massive shot to the foot.
Anyways, that proved how a lighter player like Jagger is able to shimmy away defenders to earn him some space and time, exemplifying his perfect offensive willingness. Now that we’ve covered the first part of his offensive resilience, let’s talk about how his elite keepaway skills let him excell in the o zone.
Here, Firkus does lose the puck and it goes into the corner up the ice, but he speedly recorvers himself by rushing towards the battle. The defender does realize Firkus is coming up behind him, but what he doesn’t expect is Jagger lifting his stick and stealing the puck away. This is just the first part of his keepaway skill.
The defender knows he screwed up, and once Firkus gets full control of the puck, he’s off to the net like the wind. When Firkus has the puck on his stick and he’s on his way into the offensive zone, it feels like he can go unfazed because of how impossible it is to take the puck away or even catch up. Firkus attempts to make a nice little deke on the goalie, but no goal is scored.
There have been so many instances where defenders think they can outsmart and outplay the almost-40 goal scorer, but he simply beats them out because of his fearlessness when it comes to these clutch positions.
In the video above, he scores one of his nicer goals of the year thanks to, once again, him being relentless whenever he knows he can score. Firstly, he joins the rush before anyone else does, so his teammate sends him a pass. The pass goes a bit over the ice, so using some great hand-eye coordination, Firkus knocks the puck out of mid air and it starts to bobble. While it slowly starts to slip away from him, the defender chooses to make his attacking motion. While him being the bigger and likely stronger player may give him the high ground, Firkus has no care in the world and he straightly finds his way through the defender and the blue line, gets ahold of the puck, and finishes the play off with a beautiful backhand deke.
This video above shows us how Firkus’ keepaway skill helps him out in the toughest situations. After a close battle in the slot, the puck rolls out to the side and Firkus is the first one out meaning he’s the one to go get it. As the defender does get to it before Jagger does, he starts to fumble around with it while Jagger pokes away at it. Firkus decides to end the tomfoolery by finally kicking the puck away from the commotion, and once he does that, he regains possession and tries to set up a play from there on out.
Here’s a hard working two-way clip by Firkus to not only take away the puck, but also nearly scores:
Firkus tries to carry in the puck which doesn’t work, and he’s stuck skating back to fix his mistakes. Making a nice mohawk turn while quickly and endlessly moving his feet to let him turn back to the play in time, he catches up to the attacker to make him lose the puck. Once that happens, he steals the puck away and sends his teammate with a gorgeous pass. His teammate carries it to the top of the blue line but then gets it knocked off of his stick. Fear not though, because Jagger Firkus arises from the shadows (the defensive zone) and his explosiveness becomes the savior. He dances through the opponents and nearly scores a highlight reel goal. As mentioned previously, once he gets the puck on his stick, it gives everyone the feeling that nobody will be able to stop him. He starts skating like the fastest man alive and his hands become boulders in the sense that nobody would even dare to move them.
That’s what Jagger Firkus can bring to the table whenever he has the puck in the offensive zone. It’s even a warning, too. Just know, if Firkus does gain possession in the offensive zone, it’s time to lock things down because he will embarrass you.
Here’s one last clip of Firkus dancing through the offensive zone:
He gets the puck and his feet immediately begin to move showing his explosiveness. Carrying it through the zone he shows off his quick thinking by causing traffic in the lanes, moving to the side, and scoring using his elite shot. That segways into his next skill: his marvelous shot.
Possibly the best shot in the draft?
Before we got into what made Jagger such an offensive monster, I mentioned how Firkus may arguably have the best shots in this draft. When it comes to aim and the quickness of the release, Firkus has a massive plus. Being able to rip it past the goalie in the hardest areas to score puts him at the top of the list, but his ability to score bombs of one-timers on and off the powerplay put him ahead of the competition.
Photo Credit: InStat Hockey
For example, the photo above is where Firkus took all of his shots in his most recent games. As you can visualize on the graph, the majority of the shots come from inside of the circle, closer to the hashmark areas. Firkus constantly positions himself in those areas because that’s where he shoots best. Sure, he only scored once out of the six total goals from that area, but that doesn’t make him any worse when it comes to shooting from that mark. He knows his sweet spot, and that sweet spot is obviously in the circles. A natural sniper’s habitat, if you will.
In the clip above we can see Firkus generate on the powerplay. Standing at the top of the wall he awaits a pass. Once he gets it and settles the puck, he moves in with his eyes locked on his target.
Now take a look at his wind up and his shooting process.
He widens out his stance, he drags the puck back for extra power, and fires that one at the net with no mercy to spare. Thanks to him looking at his target, using his excellent aim and power, he roofs it right past the goalie and ties the game up at one. That’s a goal that many players can’t score. And the players that do score that type of goals, we call them snipers. Because that’s what Jagger Firkus is; a sniper.
In the clip above we can see Firkus take advantage of his one-timer. I told you this earlier, but he’s got a psychotic one-timer which he loves to utilize. It’s a basic setup by his team as he slowly and steadily paces himself to position himself in the perfect scoring lane, and once his teammate makes a nice no-look pass, he’s already waiting for it with his shot winded up. The defender and goaltender notice Firkus far too late, and even if they did notice it, that shot is unstoppable. It goes off the back bar and in, and oh boy, that is a goal 9/10 times.
Here’s another one-timer goal that Firkus scored on the powerplay against the Medicine Hat Tigers:
As his teammates set up a play behind the net and move it up to the quarterback, Firkus joins in a little lower at a slower pace, and gets the puck right to him. Completely uncovered, Firkus opens up his hips and angles himself to get a nice little look to the net. Getting that puck on his stick, he wastes no time and that puck is sent to the top shelf. Once again, his elite shot, accuracy, and timing are all on display. One of the coolest things about this goal is how he ever so casually kept moving forward having his body look straight at the goaltender, while managing to pull off a fantastic shot from a quick pass. He calculated perfectly, and it showed off how he’ll do anything to score a gaol.
Could Jagger have the best shot in the draft? I would argue he does, but we do have to be wary of how it transitions into the NHL. He has a long way to go, but if he keeps getting stronger and he gradually improves his shot, I truthfully think he will be more than capable of scoring multiple 40 goal seasons in the NHL one day.
Long-range passing skillset
Jagger Firkus has a weird quirk. Every player in the NHL has one, but Firkus’ is out of the ordinary. For some strange reason, Firkus can pull off almost any long-range pass to exceptionally set up his teammates wherever they are. But he always struggles with the smaller area passes.
For example, here’s one of his long range passes where he coughed the puck up before getting it back and sending it across the ice:
Watch how he had almost no issue with the actual pass itself. He had some troubles with getting the puck to settle on his stick and managing to get it without wobbling, but the second that he sent it across the ice, it’s like all of those issues miraculously disappeared.
For some reason, Firkus always turns pucks over or doesn’t complete passes when his teammate is nearby him. But whenever there’s a player halfway across the ice, he can make the hardest passes seem so easy. It makes no sense, and everytime I watch it happen, it honestly makes me laugh. It really doesn’t make sense to me how that works.
Here’s another long-range pass of his. This time it’s his backhand pass that has shown some inconsistency. Like said earlier, when he pulls off a backhand pass it looks great and everyone is happy. Like this one where he avoids contact, keeps the puck on his stick for a moment, and then fires it far towards his teammate. But sometimes that pass can be intercepted and the other team is given a scoring chance.
To be frank, that wasn’t the smartest pass to make. In the NHL, that’s very likely a turnover and a goal for the other team. But due to the lower level of hockey, that pass is fine enough. I do think Firkus needs to have a bit more passing awareness and I do think that he needs to polish off that passing touch, but there is potential and I do think it’ll transition into the NHL well with time.
In the clip above, Firkus does the really awkward thing again. He struggles to catch the pass and settle it down, but the second that he sends it to his teammate across the ice for a long pass, there’s no complaints whatsoever. It’s the perfect speed and hardness, and the aim is indisputably elite. It doesn’t make sense to me, but if it works, it works.
In the video below, Firkus makes a long-range pass while exemplifying his offensive skills.
He picks the puck up, carries it out of his zone, and dodges a hit while simultaneously setting his teammate up. He wastes no time after making the pass as he joins the offensive zone rush and carries himself to the net hoping for either a pass or some sort of tip. You can tell he is by extending out his stick a bit more than he usually would. It’s a goal scorer’s move due to him taking initiative to somehow get a puck on net even in the toughest situations.
Jagger Firkus is more than capable of making high-speed, high-danger passes in the most creative and entertaining ways, but he does need to fix some things up when he does try to do that. He needs to learn how to make shorter-area passes, and he does need to have a little bit more care when making passes. Firkus tends to get a little bit lazy when he thinks he’s safe and that does hurt him quite a lot. His passing awareness is one of his working blocks, but with some of the passes he’s made, I’m more than sure that he will get better and his passing will be at a higher level than it’s currently showcased at.
Things Jagger can work on
Awareness.
All sorts of it.
Sometimes it feels like due to him casually floating around in the offensive zone waiting for a pass when there isn’t much happening, he’ll lose sight of a defender which causes an odd-man rush for the other team because he can’t catch up. He gets caught off guard way too easily. It feels like Jagger loses all sight of the puck whenever it isn’t in his possession or in the offensive zone. He usually waits around for a pass in the defensive zone and never catches attackers who slowly come closer to the net. For example, in this tidbit below Firkus is given a penalty kill opportunity. He doesn’t use it well.
He chooses to make a poor line change despite the defenders on the other team making a pass down the ice. As Firkus and a teammate start to change, Matthew Savioe (one of the best prospects in this year’s draft) joins the rush and he scores. Firkus showed that he had no idea where the puck was or what to do when the puck came back into the defensive zone. It single handedly cost his team a goal, and there’s no avoiding that.
Not only is his defensive awareness a massive red flag, but his defensive laziness is a negative as well. It isn’t as bad of an impact as other players we've seen in the 2022 draft, but it’s still something that does make my blood boil.
An example of this was this goal. Firkus was standing up high and at the top of the circle with his stick in the air. Then an open Saskatoon player gets the puck and starts to attack the net. He gets his first shot off, but the goalie holds on. At that point, that’s the signal for Firkus to try and relieve his goalie because he has enough time to come back and get his stick on the other player’s stick. Instead he chose to stand around a little too late. Once he did start applying pressure, it was too late and the Blades scored.
It would be nice to see Firkus move as fast or act as effectively in the defensive zone as he does in the offensive zone. When it comes to offensive hockey, Firkus is always involved and he’s always explosive and engaging. But whenever it’s time to play defense, Firkus kind of hangs around looking like he doesn’t want to give any effort. It’s something that urgently needs to be fixed.
We’ve talked about this earlier, but passing awareness needs more work. In the video below, Firkus makes that backhand pass we’ve seen him make before, and it doesn’t work. He had his head down, and he didn’t pay much attention. It’s a turnover, and he gifts his opponents with a free goal. He needs to work on taking his time to make sure he knows where and to whom he’s making the pass to.
Finally, it would be nice to see him get a tad bit more aggressive. He’s only 154 pounds and that is extremely light so it does explain a few of his mistakes, but he does need to learn how to show more tenaciousness. Too many times I’ve seen him back out of a play because he’s too worried of getting hurt. I need to see him become much more fearless in physical situations. Firkus needs way more willingness to get into the dirty areas and grind the puck out. As hard as it is for him because of his weight, he needs to be much more aggressive with and without the puck. This’ll be a huge factor for him coming into the 2022-23 season. Learning how to get your hands dirty is a big part of growing as a hockey player. You can’t make a revolution in white gloves.
Jagger Firkus is one of the more alluring players in this draft class because of back-and-forth-ness. He’s able to pull off the craziest and most athletic moves in the hardest situations, but he also has his facepalm moments where he screws up to the point where it’s almost comical.
Firkus has one of the best shots in the 2022 NHL entry draft, if not the best, and I’m more than positive that it’ll earn him many goals in the NHL one day. His accuracy and his quickness when he shoots is outstanding and that’s what makes me love the player. His offensive tenaciousness and resilience feels unmatched with 2022 draft class WHL players, and it makes him a ton of fun to watch.
Could Jagger Firkus become the best goal scorers from this draft class? He does have many working areas, but with the way he's been improving and with proper coaching and development, it’s not a long shot to say that he does have some of the best NHL certainty out of anyone else in this year’s class.
Photo Credit: Chris Tanouye/Getty Images
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