Riley Kidney needs a strong season in Laval.
Some prospects make it difficult to determine what they can do and what they might be in the future. Riley Kidney is one of those players for me. There are expectations for him to make it to the NHL. He is a 21-year-old winger, who will be 22 in March. He’s in Laval, and he’s not having a strong offensive season.
In 2021-22, he had a 100-point season for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Ok, there have been other players with massive offensive seasons who can’t bring that to a different league like the AHL.
Last season with Laval, Kidney had seven goals and 13 assists in 65 games. That’s not great but it was his rookie season.
This year, according to InStat, he has been playing 12:25 minutes per game and he only gets 5% defensive zone starts. That tells a story. His 81% off offensive zone starts is paying some dividends, but not enough considering he has one goal and six assists in 22 games.
For a second-round pick in 2021, he’s been underwhelming for sure. His skating is good. I like his passing, and he doesn’t shy away from contact. All of those are positives.
I see him more as a wing than a center. His face-off percentage is 43%. I think he needs to assert himself a bit more. He’s fighting through defenders, and that could add up down the road.
I’ll reassess him in a few weeks. This is an important season for his development. The AHL can be a hard league to adjust to.