If you had to build the perfect defenseman for today's National Hockey League, what qualities would you look for?
Size, sure. That's important, but not nearly as much as it used to be. You could say size these days is a bonus for a defenseman who's going to log most of your minutes on the blue line.
More important in today's NHL are speed and adept puck-moving skills. Sort of a combination of, say, Rasmus Dahlin, John Klingberg and, for good measure, toss in some old-school Nicklas Lidstrom smarts, and efficiency of movement and positioning.
Which brings us to St. Mark's defenseman Ian Moore.
Moore, a junior who turned 18 on Jan. 4, has followed or watched those aforementioned NHL defenseman for years now.
He said coaches have likened him to Klingberg because he's "sort of like a bigger guy that skates real well and has got some offensive instincts too."
But the influences don't stop there.
"I’ve definitely watched Nick Lidstrom. I’ve watched his YouTube clips too, the way he defends, skating forward and angling, attacking the puck," said Moore, who hails from Concord, Mass. "So, yeah, he’s a guy that obviously I think a lot of defensemen watch. He’s just so good at the position.
"Right now, I try and watch Rasmus Dahlin on the Sabres. My dad’s from Buffalo, (s0) we watch the Sabres a lot and Dahlin, he’s so good. I’ve been watching him for the past couple of years since he got into the NHL."
Influences, upbringing and genetics have all come together to form a big (6-3, 175), fast, puck-moving defenseman.
Jeff Cox, who's seen Moore play a number of times, writes in his scouting report on the top prep school players for the 2020 NHL Draft:
"Moore is a good-sized defenseman with mobility. He skates well and has the footwork to sidestep forecheckers and walk the blue line in order to get shots through to the net. He has a very good shot and is able to be a dynamic player on the power play.
"Although he’s certainly more offensive-minded, he can defend adequately well with his size, stick and feet. It’s a part of his game that is a work in progress."
Moore, who has six goals and 17 assists for 23 points in 16 games, would likely agree with that assessment.
"I think I am definitely a two-way defenseman," he said. "I think I’ve developed more offensively in the past couple of years, and I think that’s due to my skating -- it’s really improved in the past couple of years. I’ve grown a little bit. I try to use my skating and my hockey sense to be a little bit more creative in the offensive zone. I think (I'm) a two-way defenseman, someone who can push the pace a little bit, make some clean breakout passes and join the rush."
St. Mark's coach Carl Corazzini likes Moore's potential.
"He is an offensively gifted, puck-moving defenseman with an extremely high ceiling," said the former Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks right wing. "I think that encapsulates who Ian is for us, who he’ll be for Harvard and hopefully who he’ll be when he turns pro."
Corazzini has known Moore since the defenseman was 10 or 11 years old, helping train him while a trainer for Total Athletic Performance. Since then and in their time with St. Mark's, Corazzini has seen some welcome changes come to Moore's game.
"Over the course of his two and half years here at St. Mark’s, it’s been a process to get him to this point where he felt comfortable being the guy," Corazzini said. "I’ve never seen someone that has his skating ability at 6-3 -- he skates like he’s 5-9 -- but he can hammer a puck and he’s extremely smart, offensively gifted. His defensive intensity and his play away from the puck has to improve for him to be a consistent National Hockey League player. I think that ceiling is definitely there and it’s definitely intriguing with his ability to skate."
That familiarity with Corazzini and the bonus that his older brother Nolan, who's committed to Middlebury, was also playing for St. Mark's, made it a no-brainer when it came time to pick a prep school.
"Tthe opportunity to play for such a great coach that I had already known and to play with my brother was just something I couldn’t pass up on," Moore said.
As a player who was a year younger, Moore played alongside some pretty impressive teammates while with the Minutemen Flames in stars Henry Thrun (Southborough, Mass.), Patrick Moynihan (Millis, Mass.), Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Liam Connors (Southborough, Mass.). All are now at top colleges, prep schools or, in Farrell's case, leading the USHL in scoring. As a result, he deferred a lot and, naturally, was reluctant to take chances.
Becoming more confident in that decision-making has been the key for Moore's development, said Corazzini.
"What I’ve been really impressed with, he’s 6-3, 175 pounds, but he puts in a ton of work," said the former Boston University star. "He does all the right things, the eating, the stretching, taking care of yourself, trying to be the most consistent player he can.
"At some point, he’s going to hit that point where he fills out, and that will be big for him. The risk taking was really hard for him. He was risk-averse in his first year for sure: I don’t want to be the guy that makes the mistake, that kind of guy. And when implored by myself and some other people too, 'Hey, this is something that is going to help you get to the next level,' he’s taken that and he’s embraced that risk taking a little bit.
"He played four games last week: he played three for us and he played one for the national program. And you can just see like, he had a great game for the national program, then it got late and it was like, Oh no, OK, it’s a tie game, 4-4, I don’t want to be the kid that makes the mistake that costs us the game. So, still that portion is something that he’s working through."
Corazzini said he likens Moore's game to that of Thrun, a former St. Mark's defenseman who was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the fourth round in 2019. The similarities are striking: Thrun is 6-2, 190 and also played for the U.S. national development team and went to Harvard, where Moore is committed to for 2021-22.
"They’re a little bit different of a player," Moore said. "Henry is so consistent, and that is a hard skill in and of itself. And that is what will keep guys in the National Hockey League for 10 years, that ability to make the right pass all the time, and your gap control is unbelievable, and that’s what I think Henry has. I think Ian’s offensive ceiling is a little bit above Henry’s, if he can consistently play at that high ceiling."
Off the ice, things look good as well.
"You’re not going to find a better kid or a better family," said Corazzini, who's from Framingham, Mass. "He’s a kid here at school that tells horrible dad jokes, that is his kind of sense of humor. Everyone likes him, he’s extremely gifted in the classroom. He’s just the best kid. It’s really hard to say anything disparaging about Ian, he’s so well-liked, he’s a student leader here."
Moore isn't sure what he's doing next year: he could return to St. Mark's for his senior year, he could try the USHL or BCHL. Staying at St. Mark's (13-2-1 this season) isn't out of the question, as Moore said he knows some defensemen who have stayed at prep for another season to develop their games and then gone directly to Harvard.
Whether he stays or whether he goes, he's got certain goals in mind to take his game to the next level.
"I think definitely just develop as a player," he said. "I played with a lot of those guys growing up that are going to Harvard that are already there. They really love it there, they say it’s a really good group of guys, they have a lot of fun. They also feel like they’re really improving. Everywhere I go, I just try and get the best out of the situation and try to improve the most. That too at Harvard, just try to be the best possible player I can be and hopefully get ready to play professionally."
Either way, the NHL remains the chief goal on the horizon.
"Ever since you’re a kid, I think most hockey players' dream is just to play in the NHL, so it's something you’ve been working towards my whole life," he said. "It’s sometimes hard to look each day and know that that long, lofty goal is sort of hanging over your head, sometimes it’s hard day-in, day-out to do it. But you’ve just got to bear down and focus on that."
Paul Grant is an editor and a writer for HockeyJournal.com and Seamans Media. He previously oversaw hockey content at ESPN.com and Sporting News. You can connect with him at pgrant@hockeyjournal.com.
