To summarize Nick Serratore’s role for the London Jr. Knights in a couple words; goal scorer. So far this season, we’ve seen him play on numerous occasions this season and sure enough he has found the back of the net in each one of them.

For the amount of goals he seems to score, it's noteworthy that he doesn’t “create his own chances”, per se. Offensively, he’s a fairly intelligent player and seemingly knows where to be to pick up loose pucks or increasing/reducing speed to create passing lanes for his teammates. With the puck on his stick, he follows the old adage “shooters shoot”.  His shot carries above average weight, with the ability to find holes and a quick release. It’s rare that he doesn’t capitalize on a high value scoring opportunity.

There is something to be desired when reviewing his overall work ethic. He’s a bit of a permitre player, but in fairness, he’s effective in that role. If you think of how he projects in the years to come, he may not be a player to carry a line, but could be very effective in the right situation. When on the puck, he definitely shows a second gear, but fairly passive off of it. We’d like to see a little bit more on the back check too, just a bit more motivation to match his compete level offensively.

Permitre play may be derivative of his overall skating ability. At this juncture we are penciling the attribute as average, but is probably trending towards slightly above average. He lacks separation speed on the rush and as previously mentioned relies on his positioning to capitalize on chances. You generally won’t see him burning defenseman on the outside. With that said, his first two steps are okay so he can get to his top speed fairly quickly, and edgework follows suit. It’s definitely an area which could use some overall improvement, but as we’ve seen, high end skating ability isn’t a requirement to develop into a valued prospect.

To date, there are some qualities we like in the London native, but we’ll continue to monitor the tools which need development. Right now, he projects a definitive top-200 player in our rankings, but we have some questions about his overall ceiling and how skill set matches compared to similar prospects drafted into the OHL.