Film Room: How Ryan Roobroeck could leverage his skills to become a top NHL prospect again

What happened to Ryan Roobroeck? 

Last season, the prolific goal scorer put together an impressive campaign in the OHL, becoming just the seventh player to score more than 40 goals in his draft-minus-one season since the turn of the century. He followed that up by producing at over a point-per-game in the playoffs, and an impressive nine points in seven games at the U18 World Championships en route to a gold medal.

To put it simply, Roobroeck looked like every part of a top NHL draft prospect once last season ended, and, with his tantalizing package of size and skill, a potential top-five pick for the 2026 NHL Draft. 

But a lot can change in a year, and little about the Roobroeck’s NHL draft season went to plan. But before we dive into what contributed to his slide down public rankings, let’s break down the offensive elements of his game – all of which are still NHL-calibre skills.

Puck skills

Roobroeck’s offensive game is defined by his shooting skill. With a powerful and nasty curl-and-drag wrister in his arsenal, he needs little time and space to unleash it. Even if he has clearly decided on taking the shot, and defenders are moving to block his lane, he’s able to find the tightest of seams through traffic to beat goaltenders cleanly. 

A tactical off-puck mover as well, Roobroeck can find the soft areas of ice, evade detection, and get open to shoot off the pass. 

Though Roobroeck is often stationed along the perimeters, especially on the power play, where it’s most advantageous for him to unleash a shot through traffic, he can finish in and around the net, too. Using his large frame as a screen while battling for position with defenders, he can get his stick on shots himself for redirections and bury loose pucks or rebounds with quick hands in tight. 

Though he’s a shoot-first forward, Roobroeck’s playmaking abilities also took a step this season, as he was more willing to defer to his teammates. He became more of a factor in transition, engaging defenders as the puck carrier, making moves to the middle of the ice, before delivering slick passes to open teammates off the rush, even flashing dynamism at times. He was also an effective second forward into the attack, providing the necessary rush support, getting open, and orchestrating complex passing plays. 

Capable of one-touch passes, saucers over sticks, and pulling defenders out of position on his attacks before passing back across the grain, Roobroeck protected pucks well in space. In the instances where he carried the puck into the offensive zone, he almost always sought and executed the highest-value play. 

While Roobroeck isn’t the most deceptive playmaker, he flashed manipulation off his cycle creation. He recovered pucks down low, made passes off the walls, and delayed to sell shots before passing off.

Roobroeck’s flashes of high-end playmaking were exciting, clear evidence of his high-end vision and puck skills. However, they were often just that: flashes, and few and far between. Though an NHL-calibre skater in terms of mechanics, because he operated at a much lower pace than what is typical of top-end prospects, Roobroeck looked largely inefficient in games. 

He could pop in jaw-dropping moments, but because he wasn’t consistently driving or creating on his shifts, he looked more like a skilled support player on his line. It wasn’t uncommon for Roobroeck to go long stretches in games without being noticed, gliding into the play and hanging around the perimeters. 

However, when his pace, engagement, and skill all come together, Roobroeck looks like a dominant dual-threat scorer, capable of breaking games open and changing his team’s fortunes on a single shift. 

Physical potential & off-puck game

While Roobroeck isn’t a power forward, his willingness to better leverage his physicality was immediately apparent early on this season. He backchecked and sealed opponents off with his frame, and was capable of dropping players with hits in open ice and with reverse hits along the boards.

When Roobroeck decides to engage opponents with his frame, he’s smothering. He recognizes vulnerable puck carriers and understands how to win pucks back, either hammering them into the walls to extinguish the rush and allow his teammates to regain possession or setting picks to disrupt possession before recovering pucks. It’s easy to see the physical potential he possesses.

However, those plays aren't seen in every game from Roobroeck. He’s not a consistent factor on the forecheck, on the few occasions that he ends up down low in pursuit of pucks. While he’s more than capable of engaging proactively and battling along the walls, he's more often too idle and disconnected from the play.

When he was consistently engaged, though, Roobroeck proved to be an effective off-puck player. He applied backpressure on puck carriers, hustled to beat opponents in footraces to 50/50 pucks, won battles along the walls, and kick-started the rush the other way after picking off passes or forcing turnovers in the neutral zone. 

Behind the fall

Roobroeck set the bar extremely high with his 41-goal season, but his overall production took a hit compared to the season prior. He finished his draft season producing at 1.18 points-per-game, a drop-off from the 1.36 points-per-game rate last year. 

Roobroeck is one of the most notable fallers on our scouting team’s rankings over the course of this season. But production is only one part of the story. 

He began the year at tenth overall on our team’s September board. We chose to rank him more conservatively at first, respecting his package of size and skill, but acknowledging inconsistent viewings and concerns about his pace and motor. It wasn’t uncommon to see Roobroeck float for long stretches before flipping a switch and taking games over for a shift or two. Often, he looked like someone waiting for plays and opportunities to present themselves to him.

We hoped that Roobroeck would figure things out in time, but we hadn’t seen enough tangible improvements in his game by the time our second ranking rolled around in November. As a result, he slipped to 23rd. 

The calendar flipped to 2026. With concerns continuing to linger, Roobroeck dropped out of our first round completely in our January ranking to 34th. But around that same time, Roobroeck’s game turned a corner, standing out positively at the OHL Top Prospects Game and carrying that momentum into February. 

Unfortunately, though it finally looked like Roobroeck was steadily improving, he sustained an injury soon after, which turned out to be season-ending. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for both him and the IceDogs. The injury sidelined him during the most important part of the year. Without their star scorer, Niagara finished seventh in the conference and was dealt another early postseason exit. 

With so few second-half viewings and other prospects continuing to improve their own games, Roobroeck was a casualty on our April ranking, falling to 42nd. 

What happens now?

With no more games left to play and improve his draft stock, Roobroeck’s fate at the draft relies on his body of work this season and how he performs at the Combine in June. How he interviews with NHL teams in the final weeks leading up to the draft could be even more vital. 

On skill alone, Roobroeck remains a top-15 talent. He’s a 6-foot-2.5 winger who can beat goalies cleanly with his shot, thread difficult seam passes in the offensive zone, and has also shown game-breaking ability at points this season. But there are some drawbacks: the production regression, the fact that he’s one of the oldest players in this class, with a September 2007 birthday, and that he lacks both offensive pace and the necessary physical skills to safely project his game to a power forward, top-six role. 

Passivity and low motor remain the root cause of Roobroeck’s inconsistency. Though he flashed higher pace at times, and better engagement and energy in his final weeks of the season, his game – and point totals – would benefit significantly from more assertiveness, effort, and tenacity. And he’s shown that he’s capable of it this season – when every facet of his game is firing on all cylinders, it’s a sight to behold. From one of my game reports last December: 

“It may have taken until the final ten minutes of regulation for it to happen consistently, but Roobroeck's game-breaking ability finally emerged. It came in flashes in the second period as well, with one of the best shifts he's played all season: Roobroeck combined his physical skills with effort, energy, and outworked every player on the ice, before coming back down the slot, and ripping a shot off the post.”

NHL teams that can afford to be more patient, like a perennial contender or a team with multiple picks in the first two rounds of the draft, could take a chance on him early and bank on him figuring out how to pick up the pace and leverage his offensive gifts to dominate games next season. 

Instead of an exciting bet in the top-10, though, Roobroeck is more of a boom-or-bust prospect. Still, it’s impossible to ignore the talent he possesses. While he may never be a true play-driver in the NHL, if he can recalibrate the parts of his game to better suit professional hockey, his elite finishing ability and passing skill could see him realize his potential as a top-six scorer.