London's Armored Knight

Sam Gagner
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Country: Canada
Position: C
League: OHL
Team: London Knights
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 190
Shoots: Right
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Scouting Report: The second ingredient to London’s double headed monster exudes the on-ice charisma of a sure captain .. an all around force who meshes with Kane extremely well because of smarts and skills .. a great skater with impressive acceleration, agility, and straight line speed .. always in the “mix” and has that sixth sense on developing plays .. buzzes along in all three zones ready to initiate an offensive attack or support his defensemen .. is solidly built and athletic .. can transport the puck with a great lead pass or confident rush with a head of steam .. has extremely soft hands which often get overshadowed by his linemate’s .. is able to pull off some highly skilled moves in motion .. is the linemate who is relied on to go into danger areas and be the one to absorb contact in order to move the play .. admirably sticks with heavy checks and jostling .. a skilled passer with necessary vision to be a force blue line in .. plays the power play, penalty kill, and 5 on 5 .. is an opportunistic shooter who is a reliable threat to score .. superb on breakaways .. could stand to stick out more offensively .. needs to round out skating just a little more .. Gagner is a coach’s dream who has little to no visible flaws in his game.

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2006-2007 Regular Season Stats

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53 games 35 goals 83 assists 118 points +32 36 PIM

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2007 Playoff Stats

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16 games 7 goals 22 assists 29 points +1 22 PIM
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WJC - Team Canada (Limited Icetime)

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6 games 0 goals 0 assist 0 points +/-0 8 PIM
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Draft Day Status/Projection: Gagner is a pretty safe bet to be drafted top 10 and DraftBuzz has him rated 4th overall. If Kane moves on to the NHL, we are anxious to see Gagner get his chance to carry the London offense as the team's centerpiece. He is just a great all around pro prospect with top flight skills and mental game; it is obvious Gagner "gets it," and some team is going to be very happy in a month or so with his selection.

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(photo courtesy of Feldman)