Henry Mews
2024 NHL Draft Eligible
Position: RD, Shoots: R
H/W: 6’0”, 185lbs
Date of Birth: 2006-03-09
Stats 23/24 season: OHL 46GP - 8G - 34A -42PTS
Heading into the 2023/2024 season, Henry Mews was my number one ranked defenceman and in contention with Celebrini for my #1 ranked player. This was, and still is, an extremely hot take. While this is obviously no longer the case, I have been perplexed as to why Mews continues to fall on public boards despite showing improvement in many areas. Why is this? After having countless conversations with everyone from media scouts to NHL GMs, in addition to watching Mews in person and on video, I have finally found those answers. Scouts have been struggling to project what Mews will be at the NHL level. Typically, defensemen tend to fall into two categories. Category A are the smaller, mobile, skilled offensive blueliners with holes in their defensive game and a lack of physicality. Category B are the big, physical defenseman who are responsible for shutting down the opposition’s best and moving pucks well in transition. Mews doesn't fall into either of the direct categories, and it's leaving scouts with a sense of difficulty projecting his game to the next level.
This issue in scouting comes down to people trying to find direct comparables. It doesn't leave room for individuality and creativity within each athlete and allows players to be a unique archetype. Scouts will use this as a con when this happens and push this player to the side. At the same time, other new and intriguing prospects come in that they find to be more “projectable” and allow a player like Henry to fall within their rankings. I am no different and have been a victim of this in the past and, fortunately, am learning from these mistakes. I will not allow it to affect my judgment of a player. I can confidently say that Mews might have the highest upside out of any defencemen in the class. When breaking down every trait I look for in a young athlete, I struggle to find many flaws and things that Mews isn't capable of doing at an elite level. Henry has consistently been the best 2006-born defender in Ontario, along with Sam Dickinson, and I still think these two are far above the rest of the pack. They are very different players who will bring a different style of play to pro hockey, but both are elite in their own respects.
It is very important to remember the value of growth and development. Following these young athletes for multiple seasons before their draft year and not making a future-altering pick for your franchise based on a single-season sample size is one of the main reasons I can advocate so heavily for this player. Ontario scouts that have seen the 2006 class for 3-4 seasons know Mews's high ceiling. This isn't to say that Henry is this perfect prospect and is a guaranteed home run pick. If this were the case, he would be a lock to be selected in the top five this year, which is not the case. It will come down to whether a team is willing to take some risk on a high-upside talent and work with him and his development staff to ensure he can achieve what he is capable of.
Characteristics
Skating
Skating is a great place to start with Mews, as it's his best trait. His overall mobility and edgework need to be considered elite. Such a fluid stride allows him to evade attackers on the forecheck and move into soft spaces on the breakout, allowing for maximum possession when Henry is on the ice. His edge work makes him shifty, allowing for quick changes in speed and direction to find new lanes to move the puck to teammates. Mews has a tremendous first three strides and can pick up the pace but can put in work to increase his overall speed to round out his overall skating to be one of the better skaters at the NHL level, which will be a significant determining factor if he can be elite at the next level. This is achievable because his strong mechanics should allow for development as he gains more strength and matures.
Henry shows some great feet here with a quick transition to put him in a prime scoring opportunity in which he scores the OT winner.
This clip is straightforward but just shows his explosive first three strides as well as a look at his mechanics up the Ice as he hops up in the rush.
Great clip here as Henry picks up the puck, scans his options and sees that carrying is in his best interest. He then takes off with high-end speed to get the puck out of the D-zone and moves it to a teammate.
Grade: 62.5
Shot
Henry doesn't have the heaviest, most powerful shot, which is something you want on the backend. However, Henry knows his strengths and shows strong shooting awareness, utilizing fakes and building in deception to work deeper into the slot to take advantage of his quick release. This makes up for a lack of pure power. I also love that he has lethal accuracy and does a tremendous job of getting pucks through to the net. His overall power to shoot at high quality from a distance is rare and something he will need to work on.
Mews takes advantage of space to snipe this one accurately from a somewhat tricky angle.
Henry makes excellent use of an extraordinary give-and-go here to expose the pressuring forward and can score from in between the dots. I like his shot timing and shot selection.
Grade: 50
Skills
Henry oozes natural skills that have only improved with time, arguably his most impressive developmental area. Mews is a player you want with the puck and in control, whether that is a breakout, transition, or, most notably, in the offensive zone. Excellent deceptive puck-handling skills, elite vision, and passing ability make for a high-end puck-moving defenceman. Mews tool kit is massive and creates many options for himself in all situations.
Excellent deception here, as Henry sells the shot attempt and makes an unreal pass to an open teammate, who finishes it off.
Mews catches this puck and goes almost end to end as he uses good lateral mobility along with his puck control/protection skills to go through the whole team. Highlight reel if he was able to finish on this one.
Love this breakout here as he shakes off the forechecker, leaves the zone and makes a great pass for his teammates to gain the offensive zone.
Grade: 60
Smarts
Mews' processing ability and decision-making are so impressive for his age. 17-year-olds in the OHL rarely dictate the pace of play, and Mews can directly impact the entire game and the players around him with his confidence leading the offensive charge. Yes, this stems from taking advantage of his strengths, such as skating, but shows his combination of reaction time and poise to know when to make quick plays and when to hold on for a better route or passing lane that he can capitalize on. The main critiques of Mews’ game by scouts are his defensive awareness and engagement in his own zone. This will be a massive issue for Mews in regards to his transition to the Pro game, as offensive threats will take advantage of this weakness in his game. I'm still determining the root of the issue and if he requires more video work, but it will be something NHL teams will be very concerned about on draft day.
I like the quick reaction time here to make a pass to a teammate in a high-danger scoring chance which he finishes on.
Excellent deception here by Henry as opens up to make a cross-ice pass and draws in the defender, then he moves the puck in the opposite direction to give his teammate lots of time and space.
Poor read here by Mews, as his teammates are going off for a change, but he decides to move the puck up quickly which leads to a bad giveaway. I would much rather see him be more patient and regroup with his defensive partner on this play.
Henry just looks lost in this clip, being a non-factor and puck-watching while his man is wide open for a back door tap-in. Defensive awareness and engagement were a main issue talked about and this clip directly shows that.
Just a poor read of the situation here. Henry pinches while the attacker is coming at him with speed. This is just a bad decision that leads to an odd-man rush.
Grade: 60
Physicality/Compete
Physicality is often an area people criticize about Mews’ game, which is understandable because it might be his weakest area. This is not because he has poor physicality or competes, but because every other area is that much better. Henry is a relentless defender with a strong balance between using his stick and body when appropriate to shut down opposing offences. Due to his skating, his gap control is phenomenal, and he plays with an edge, making him much larger than his size. NHL teams will love this about Henry. The biggest issue within his game has to be his competitive level. Poor back-checking and giving up on plays is a very bad look for Henry. I am not sure if there is a lack of motivation, but this is a serious issue that coaches will not like and will have no issue benching him over lacklustre efforts that often result.
Mews follows the first man coming into the zone which is good but then when he leaves that man he is lost in no man's land and backs away from the puck carrier who has an easy lane directly to the net
Just a brutal effort here on the backcheck and giving up as soon as the opponent has a step on him.
Henry attempts to step up the back door on a cross-ice give-and-go, which fails, leading to an odd-man rush the other way. Instead of rushing back to help out, which he easily could have done, he decides to coast and shows very poor compete level.
Henry turns over the puck in a bad area and instead of making a quick turn to retrieve the puck he gives up and watches his teammates try to make up for his mistake.
Grade: 45
OFP: 56.625
A note on the 20-80 scale used above. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scale, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.