Film Room: How Lars Steiner's motor and physical skills could win him an NHL role

Once the top layer of talent runs out, teams often turn to the closest thing they can find to certain value: prospects who display maturity, a high level of energy, and physicality.

Despite his size, 5-foot-9-and-a-half forward Lars Steiner fits the bill. 

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies’ top-line winger has put together a more than respectable season despite injuries, netting 30 goals and adding 25 assists for 55 points in 44 regular-season games in the QMJHL. He left HC Davos’ under-20 program after the Huskies used a first-round import draft pick to acquire his rights and immediately suited up for 2024-25, a season which saw him eclipse a point per game and earn his way onto the top line. He flanked first-rounder Bill Zonnon for the rest of that campaign, learning valuable lessons in the process, but in 2025-26, his top-line centre and top-line left winger’s departures left massive offensive shoes to fill in Rouyn-Noranda.

So far, Steiner’s Huskies are still hanging tough in the QMJHL playoffs, with the Swiss forward operating as an elite forechecker and defensive disruptor while grinding opposing top lines to a halt. 

We’ll look at the standout tools, how they interact, what needs to improve, and what an NHL version of Steiner could resemble.

Motor

Above all, Steiner’s trademark is a tremendous motor.

A non-stop engine propels him up and down the ice, as he outworks all QMJHLers he faces. He barrels through the neutral zone with purpose, instantly zeroing in on his assignments. This allows him to venture confidently deep into the offensive zone and crash the net, with confidence in his feet’s ability to make up for lost ground. 

That same effort shows up on the forecheck, as Steiner wins chip-and-chase races comfortably, battles with intent, and then follows rim plays aggressively as they extend across the offensive zone. He has full shifts at times where he glides for a grand total of five seconds; he hops off the bench, hustles to intercept a play in his own zone, leads the transition play up the ice, chases the dump, climbs the wall, attacks downhill aggressively off rotations, then darts back down the ice as the puck goes the other way.

Skating

A major part of Steiner’s effectiveness as a high-energy winger stems from his powerful strides and high activity rate.

Some key elements stand out mechanically; Steiner’s shin angle and ankle flexion allow him to stack his weight effectively through his forward strides, allowing him to lose very little momentum as he drives his knee forward. His back leg extensions and upper-body rotation could improve further, which only adds promise to a stride that sees heavy usage in any given game.

While his mechanics aren’t quite well-rounded, Steiner powers through his inefficiencies through sheer effort. He blends crossovers with forward strides to win races and get inside positioning, relying on his lower-body power and high activity rate to propel him past defenders and force them into battles. 

Contact skills

Once he engages in those races, Steiner’s astounding contact skills start to shine.

Particularly adept at winning battles from a disadvantage, Steiner is constantly using strategies to trick defenders along the wall. His most prevalent strategy is changing the point of contact on defenders; he attacks on one side, forcing them to brace, before hopping to their opposite side for a stick pry or a hit through the hands. He blends this with timed skate pins — pushing his feet into his opponent’s from behind — to bait defenders into reaching for the puck before forcing them to put their hands up to absorb the check, and as they go to use their feet to trap the puck, he traps their feet, too, freeing the puck for a spinoff retrieval.

Add to that his incredibly sturdy build and ability to adjust his posture — widening it in protection and dropping his hips inside checks —, and you have an NHL-projectable contact game. Steiner should have little issue protecting pucks and winning battles against professional competition, despite his frame.

While he primarily operates as a sturdy and clever contact strategist, Steiner can also force carriers’ heads up through pure trucking physicality.

It’s quite rare for a 5-foot-9.5 prospect to be this adept at laying the body — especially in open ice. With an incredibly stable base and a sturdy frame, Steiner is essentially an immovable object along the wall, and his sense of defensive anticipation in centre lanes makes him just as dangerous in open-ice scenarios. He lines up opponents twice his size, proactively seeks out opportunities to pummel them into the boards, and executes with the flow of play. He averages nearly three hits per game, according to InStat Hockey — an impressive tally for a diminutive winger.

Defensive habits

All of the above culminate when Steiner is operating defensively, and his defensive-zone habits support the tools in return.

A diligent cycle supporter, Steiner is often dropping lower than his centre in his own zone, offering assistance on low-wall battles and offering quick exit outlets to his defencemen. Simultaneously, he has one of the most efficient high-cycle defensive games in his draft class, frequently applying hard pressure on opposing blue-line carriers and blocking point shots through selfless efforts. 

Steiner’s reads also shine brightly when defending; constantly scanning and identifying threats in his blind spots, the winger offers a tonne of impact through clever shutdown reads and threat identification. He spots outlets for pressure with his back turned, scans the ice ahead of him on retrievals, communicates his intent to his defencemen, and then executes quickly. He doesn’t waste a single puck touch, quickly and efficiently moving pucks to his teammates before opponents close down on him, and extending his touches when aiming to create more space for his receiver on the breakout. Add to that a tremendous back-pressure game and aggressive off-puck tie-ups, and Steiner also displays the defensive foundations of an NHLer.

Offensive positioning

That same flair for danger that allows Steiner to apply himself defensively shows up in his net-front game.

A clever offensive rotator with a good sense for net-front timing, Steiner is always evaluating vulnerabilities. Rather than parking himself in high-danger areas and relying on muscle to get inside, he rotates in and out of the crease, offering cycle support and winning battles along the wall before sprinting to his spots. A lot of his scoring comes from recycled possession, as he climbs the wall before attacking downhill, or creates turnovers through body checks before crashing the net.

His sense for blind spots shines when attacking off the wall or when anticipating turnovers. He spots defencemen’s backs, identifies gaps in coverage, and times his sprints down their backs into valuable ice. He also offers strong hand-eye coordination, likely a byproduct of how much time he spends in or around the crease. This allows him to remain dangerous with his back to goal, adding an extra tool for scoring upside to his game.

Meanwhile, Steiner supports offence just as intelligently off the rush, through a highly translatable habit: off-puck assists.

Through constant middle support early-rush passes, Steiner often finds himself driving the crease off the puck. He leverages those scenarios to his advantage, often tying up a defenceman and pushing back the defensive line through his net drives. He draws a check’s attention with his stick, slashing theirs out of the way as he drives the net to simulate a net-front tip attempt, while truly aiming to open up the dot-to-dot pass between his linemates.

While most forwards look to jump on contested pucks when opportunities arise, Steiner is aware enough to know when leaving pucks for his teammates out of battles will result in better offence. He leverages that quick processing to use timely stick tie-ups and hits through opponents’ hands to create easy-to-recover loose pucks for his F2 or F3.

Shooting

While Steiner’s game revolves around a lot of the details NHL teams look for, he’ll only get there at his size if he can contribute at an above-average level offensively.

His release is likely going to be what keeps him ahead of his competition. 

An absurdly heavy wrister headlines Steiner’s scoring toolkit. Aggressive wrist fold, fluid back-leg loading and upper-body weight transfer allow him to laser pucks into corners on set netminders, oftentimes before they can even react. Steiner spent the entire 2024-25 season refining his wrist shot as the right half-wall downhill catch-and-release threat on Rouyn-Noranda’s power play, and has added a lot of diversification to an already-prevalent scoring game.

Steiner became a proficient one-timer threat, a great front-leg snap shooter, and, as we discussed, a dangerous net-front player. He’ll score goals against professional netminders.

What’s next?

Steiner is a fire hydrant on skates. Incredibly hard to knock off pucks, particularly adept on the forecheck, highly engaged physically, and astoundingly mature defensively, he possesses all the foundations to play a checking role in the NHL. His main challenges rest in what he needs to stack on top of that foundation, namely, a more advanced playmaking game and better handling mechanics. Our Head of Scouting and Pro Content, Mitchell Brown, summarized it perfectly in a recent game report:

“Steiner doesn’t waste his touches. He’s very efficient with possession, finding clear, open options quickly and preferring to keep the cycle going over jamming a puck into traffic. When he sees an opportunity to create, he connects instantly (...). He’s not dynamic and sometimes leaves some value on the table as a consequence, but he has a ton of skills that suggest a future NHLer.”

That dynamism deficiency is not only a byproduct of his aforementioned room for skating improvements, but also a direct result of Steiner’s pedal-to-the-metal mindset — it’s hard to leverage pace adjustments when your instinct is always to step on the gas — and of his tendency to favour support over creation. As he enters the offensive zone, Steiner often delegates rush playmaking responsibilities to his teammates, kicking the puck out to the wing and driving the net. He’s selfless to a fault. By always looking to connect and support plays, he ends up seeing much fewer on-puck reps than his teammates do. He creates as much room as possible for others to flash their creativity, without seeing as many reps to work on his own.

Meanwhile, Steiner’s handling mechanics could improve. He shows flashes of shot-angle changes when weaponizing his release, but a stiff upper body and stick-in-front carrying expose him in possession. He rarely beats pressure off the carry, using his reads and effort instead to find the chip-and-chase play and fight for possession.

Even without these improvements, Steiner’s game lends itself particularly well to a bottom-six role.
He’ll need the confidence of an NHL team that his heart makes up for his size. He’ll need to compete with much taller checkers with similar skillsets and maintain his high motor and diligent defensive game on a nightly basis. 

We believe Steiner has the tools to do just that.