Local ‘D’ skating forward
Mirageas ‘blew up’ after fortuitous trade
The USHL isn’t always kind to Massachusetts hockey players who make the move from New England secondary schools to the highly challenging junior league that sends so many players on to NCAA Division 1 play.
Many a kid has headed to the Midwest with high hopes, only to return after a few weeks or months of frustration and disappointment.
Talented defenseman Ben Mirageas of Newburyport made the jump from the Avon (Conn.) Old Farms School last season to the Bloomington Thunder. It didn’t go well: In 45 games, Mirageas totaled only one goal and nine assists.
Had that been the full story of his 2016-17 season, it’s questionable how high interest in him would have been in this weekend’s NHL entry draft in Chicago.
But in late February, just before the USHL trade deadline, the Thunder dealt Mirageas to the Chicago Steel, and everything changed for the 6-foot-1, 175-pounder.
In 14 regular-season games, he collected 1-8-9 totals. And in 14 playoff games, he contributed 10 assists and a plus-7 rating, as the Steel marched to the Clark Cup, the USHL championship. It was the Steel’s first title in their 17year existence.
“I just blew up as a player when I got traded to Chicago,” Mirageas told mahockey.org recently. “I just started to play my game. And that’s pretty much what I needed the whole year.”
On the final NHL Central Scouting Bureau list of North American skaters, Mirageas ranks No. 63, suggesting he could be a thirdor fourth-round pick. He’s commonly regarded by the pros as a bit of a project, a kid with tons of talent, but who has to more consistent in his approach and decision-making.
“If I were thinking about guys I would project for the Bruins, Mirageas would fit that,” Red Line Report scout Kirk Luedeke said. “He is an NHL skater, he already has got NHL feet.
“He’s one of the best skating D’s in the whole draft. He’s just a natural skater. He works both of his edges, inside and outside, realty well. He has speed, quickness, acceleration, fluid footwork, all the boxes you check for skating, that kid has it.”
Scouts want to see more consistency in Mirageas’ overall play as he has the skill set to control a game, but needs better focus to do it regularly.
“Some nights you’ll see him skating really aggressively through the neutral zone,” Luedeke said. “He’s carrying pucks and making plays. He can handle the puck at speed.
“But sometimes he’s just passive: He’ll just make that first pass and hang back. Sometimes I don’t see a guy who really imposes his will consistently, as he has the ability to do.”
Mirageas, whose brother and former Bloomington teammate, Zach, is an incoming freshman at the Air Force Academy, will begin play this fall at Hockey East power Providence College.
The NHL team that drafts him — the Bruins, maybe? — will likely regard him as a bit of a project and be watching over the next few years to see how he develops as a top-notch allround defenseman.
“He’s a good player,” Luedeke said. “I don’t want to take anything away from him. He’s got some size and he’s going to fill out and get stronger. And he’s going to a program that tends to produce a lot of pro players. So he’s got the potential to grow into that. The feet and the size are probably going to give him the chance to play in the NHL.”