Prospect Update: Ian Moore

By Thomas Harrington

A third round pick from 2020, Ian Moore played in the USHL this past season and will be playing NCAA hockey at Harvard University next season.

This was Moore’s lone season in the USHL, and it was a successful one. Playing for the Chicago Steel, Moore played in 45 games and scored 10 goals and 24 points. His 10 goals were tied for first among defensemen on Chicago, and was third in points. In the entire USHL, his 10 goals were tied for fourth among denfesemen, and tied for 14th in points. In April, Moore was named the USHL Defenseman of the Week. He also helped lead Chicago to the best record in the USHL. In the playoffs, Moore played in eight games and recorded three assists, helping Chicago win the USHL Clark Cup Championship.

This coming season, Moore will be a freshman at Harvard, assuming that the Ivy League plays. They cancelled the 2020-2021 season because of the Covid-19 Pandmeic. As with most freshmen in the NCAA, Moore likely won’t get prime minutes with his new team, so my expectations for him won’t be sky-high. He’s probably not going to replicate the numbers that he had in the USHL. What I do want from Moore is to play in most, if not all, of Harvard’s games this coming season. If he can get more minutes and put up more points as the season goes along, even better. Moore also attended the World Junior Summer Showcase for Team USA and I expect him to make the roster in the winter.

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For his size, Moore is a very good skater and is very good with the puck. He’s also a right-handed shot. If he can develop into an NHL player, he could be a top four defenseman who gets a ton of time on the powerplay. However, he’s got a long way to go before that happens, and hopefully Harvard is the place for him to develop into what Anaheim hopes is a future star.

Moore is a number of years away from the NHL. I expect him to spend anywhere from two to four years in the NCAA before he turns pro and joins San Diego. From there, I expect him to get at least a year in the minors before he gets a shot at the NHL. So I think we’re probably at least three years away from seeing him in Anaheim, and I don’t think that five years is unreasonable. The Ducks do like to let their NCAA prospects take their time in the college ranks before turning pro, and I don’t think they’ll treat Moore differently in that regard.

Moore is currently unsigned and will be until he’s done with his NCAA career. When Anaheim thinks that he’s ready, I expect Moore to sign a standard entry-level contract. However, if he doesn’t progress, Anaheim could choose to not sign him. Alternatively, Moore could also choose to not sign with the Ducks if he doesn’t think he’ll get playing time with them. If either of those happen, he would become a free agent at the end of his college career. However, I do think he’s a valuable enough player right now that I expect Anaheim to sign him in the next few years.

The next prospect update will be on Olle Eriksson Ek.

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Prospect Update: Bryce Kindopp

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August 29th, 2021