CEDAR PARK, Texas — Roope Hintz could have struggled in the AHL this season and it would have been understandable.
The 20-year-old is playing his first full professional season in North America. The prospect tournament in Traverse City were his first games on a smaller ice surface since 2013, and there was a real curiosity amongst the Stars management group on what type of player Hintz would actually be when he joined the Texas Stars.
Everyone was prepared to grade Hintz’ rookie season on a curve.
Instead he’s smashed expectations.
One Eastern Conference scout, who watched Hintz on the Texas Stars recent road trip said, “You wouldn’t believe he was a Euro in his first year over here, he understands the game too well.” Another scout, this time from a Western Conference team, who has watched Hintz “five or six times” said the Finn is his “favorite prospect in the Stars system not named Miro Heiskanen” and that Hintz “is going to turn some heads at the next level.”
Hintz has seven points in 16 games with Texas. In a 4-3 win against the San Antonio Rampage on Wednesday he had a quiet game, but still delivered a key goal late in the second period to tie the game at 3-3.
Hintz said it took a couple AHL games to get used to the size of the North American rink, and he’s still learning his role on the Texas Stars. It’s a faster game in a more confined space, and he said that’s an element he should be able to take advantage of with his speed.
“I can use my skating more,” Hintz said. “I can get on pucks faster, I can win races. It’s less standing and more skating, I think that’s good.”
It’s also a more physical game than Europe and Hintz, who is 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, said he’s been getting stronger as the season has progressed.
“I’m getting used to that,” Hintz said. “It’s been helping.”
While Hintz was a second-round pick and moves the needle as a prospect because of his offensive game, the Stars have been particularly impressed with the 20-year-old center’s dedication to getting better defensively.
“He’s really starting to understand the D-zone concepts and he’s very coachable in that aspect,” Texas Stars coach Derek Laxdal said. “He’s always asking the right questions, he’s very understanding of the mistakes he makes.”
After each game Hintz sits down with the coaching staff and watches video on defensive zone coverage.
“That helps me a lot,” Hintz said. “We talk about what is wrong and what’s good, it lets me know what I need to keep doing and what I need to stop doing.”
Two scouts at the Texas Stars game on Wednesday noticed those improvements.
“I saw him on opening weekend and in NHL preseason, but this is the first time in more than six weeks,” one scout said. “He’s much better in his own zone. He’s better on face-offs, that’s the type of thing you really like to see with a prospect.”
There are still elements of Hintz’ game that need to improve, but there is a confidence level that the Finn will continue to adapt to North America.
“We want to see him driving the puck more offensively, taking players wide, using his speed, using his body,” Laxdal said. “That comes with experience, it’s a tough league and he’s getting tougher with it.”
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