– Cedrick Guindon –
Rockland Nationals (HEO) | Center | 2020 OHL Draft Eligible
Rockland, Ontario | 5’8”, 141-pounds | April 21, 2004
The HEO’s unanimous top prospect this season is Cedrick Guindon of the Rockland Nationals. A smooth skating and highly intelligent forward, Guindon has taken the league by storm this season, pacing the HEO’s leading scorers. Despite being of smaller stature, he is able to out-think his competition in order to dictate the pace of play. At the bantam level in 2018-19, Guindon’s production rates outdid those of Connor Lockhart and Mason McTavish.
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Guindon is a wizard with the puck and can utilize his skating abilities to make defenders look clueless, with tricky edge work at top speeds. With quick and creative hands, Guindon excels at creating time and space with the puck, but can also drive the net himself. A gifted goal-scorer with a very deceptive wrist shot, Cedrick Guindon is a name you’ll be hearing more and more of as the 2020 OHL Draft approaches.
Strengths:
- Poise and Creativity
- Shot Deceptiveness
- Decision-Making and Sight
One of Guindon’s most impressive attributes is his ability to handle the puck under pressure. He is able to see the open ice away from the immediate platy and utilize that to his advantage, chipping the puck away from danger and using his speed to retrieve it. On the other hand, Guindon has the ability to stickhandle his way through traffic all the while avoiding potential checks.
Related: Check out our 2020 OHL Draft Rankings
As a playmaker, Guindon uses that same vision to slip cross-ice passes under sticks and through feet. He is tremendous at using his puck skills to pull defenders towards him in order to ultimately open up space for his teammates. Guindon is an impressive decision-maker too, both with and without the puck, selecting his opportunities to be passive or aggressive.
Guindon is also a very lethal shooter with a highly deceptive release. He will often use opposing defenders as a screen, shooting through legs or quickly pulling the puck around their feet before ripping a wrist shot past the goaltender. Guindon displays impressive accuracy with his shots too often picking corners and beating goaltenders with clean, open looks. Overall, Guindon is an electric forward with a high-end offensive production ceiling.
Areas of Improvement:
- Simplicity
- Lower-Body Strength
The most obvious concern about Guindon’s future is his size and ability to sustain his offence at the major junior level and beyond. Listed at 5’8″ and 141 pounds, Guindon will likely have to add some muscle before becoming an impact player in the OHL. However, that hasn’t held him back yet, and at 15 years of age, he certainly has time to naturally grow.
More so in the scope of his play, Guindon may find the need to simplify his game at times as he progresses through his career. What works for him in the HEO may not go over so smoothly in the OHL, namely his desire to hold onto the puck and to make high-risk, high-reward plays in the offensive zone. It will be very interesting to see how Guindon grows and adapts to playing against faster and stronger opponents in the coming years.
Future Projection:
Guindon is a highly intelligent forward with loads of creativity and confidence with the puck. His ability utilize the play around him to his advantage is second-to-none and he continues to prove that his shot is at an elite level.
As Cedrick Guindon continues to pick apart the HEO and surpass the production levels that the likes of Connor Lockhart and Mason McTavish set, it’s clear that he deserves to be considered as a high-end first round pick for the 2020 OHL Draft.
Prospect Pipeline 