Bio
Stats
Scouting Report
Before we get started, can we talk about this pass for a minute?
A backhand, no-look pass between his own legs and right on the tape. The key part is that he doesn’t take himself out of the play after setting up his teammate for a prime shooting opportunity (seriously, Fortier, take the shot). Instead, he slows down and cuts toward the post to put himself in position for a tap-in. Just a really nice play from the big fella’.
Okay, so based on that one highlight, Finley is going to be an awesome hockey player and dominate in the NHL, right? Well, maybe, but lets not get ahead of ourselves quite yet. Jack Finley had a solid first year in the AHL putting up 12 goals and 9 assists in 67 games, finishing second in rookie goals to Lucas Edmonds and fourth in points by first years players for Syracuse.
He might have been able to clock a few more points, but an upper-body injury limited him to just the 67 games. As the Lightning start their training camp he is still recovering from the injury, which prevented him from participating in the recent rookie showcase in Estero. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time Finley has had to deal with missing time as a left-shoulder injury cost him basically the entire 2020-21 season.
Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to let it heal fully before seeing game action this season, because he is something of a unicorn in the Lightning development system – a forward with size. It’s not unusual for the Lightning to have large individuals in their prospect pool, they just happen to usually be goaltenders or defensemen. Finley, who stands 6’6″ and weighs 223 pounds defiantly stands out on the ice (especially when put on the ice with Alex Barre-Boulet and Felix Robert).
One nice thing to see last season was that he used his size to his advantage. A quick scroll through his goal highlights presents a common theme – he likes to score in close to the net. Most of his goals last year came via tips, redirects, or rebounds, which is exactly what you want to see from someone his size. There is no need for him to be blasting the puck from 35 feet away when he can muscle his way to the front of the net and eclipse the goaltender’s view.
The winner of the 2023 Ephesus “Brightest Prospect” award is still a bit of a project. With his size it’s sometimes easy to forget that he just turned 21 a few weeks ago. Finley also missed an entire year of development when he was off the ice with his shoulder injury in the 2020-21 season. So, there is room for improvement in his game, most notably in his skating.
As we mentioned in last year’s profile, his future in the league isn’t going to hinge on his ability to fly down the ice with reckless abandonment, but he does have to get it to the level where he stay in on the action, and, like all forwards in the organization, be able to get back into the play defensively. There was improvement in that aspect of his game last year and working with the skills coaches in training camp and over the summer should continue to help him improve. Lets be clear, he’s not a liability on the ice in terms of skating, in fact, he has a pretty smooth stride and since he’s the size of a baby dinosaur he can cover a lot of ground with just a few strides.
Defensively, he uses that size and reach to envelope his opponents and is pretty good at his positioning. In fact, one of the things that stands out is his attention to the details of the game, something you don’t always see with big, young players who can get by in junior hockey by simply being bigger than everyone else and can have a tendency to let the fundamental side of hockey be ignored. Not so with Finley.
By all indications, Finley projects as a bottom-six center who will create a little havoc on offense, smother defensive chances, kill penalties, and drop the gloves from time to time. It’s a role that is still needed in the NHL, especially if he can become proficient in providing some net-front offense, think of the career Brian Boyle had and it’s likely that Finley can follow along on a similar path.
The Syracuse folks (Lee and Alex) were highest on him in regards to ranking, which makes sense since they got to see him on a nightly basis throughout the season. Personally, I had him 10th. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he gets a taste of the NHL life this season, but it’s more likely that he spends at least one more season with the Crunch and then makes a bid for the fourth-line center role in the 2024-25 season.
