BUFFALO - After a whirlwind eight-hour day of interviewing with prospective employers, undergoing a balance test, and answering reporters' questions, Andrew Cristall is asked if he'd like to watch a few clips from his highlight reel.

"Oh yeah, for sure, absolutely," a grinning Cristall replies from his seat inside a Marriott hotel restaurant. It's June 1 and the NHL's annual scouting combine is well underway for Cristall and roughly 100 of his 2023 draft classmates.

Cristall's eager because he's an extrovert obsessed with the sport of hockey. Dissecting clips of his finest moments is right in his wheelhouse. Also, it's a short break from a week's worth of discussions about his flaws as a player.

The first clip begins with Cristall, an 18-year-old left-winger for the WHL's Kelowna Rockets, skating through the neutral zone with possession of the puck. Between him and the goalie is one defender, who he promptly turnstiles:

"His stick is close to the puck," Cristall says of the backpedaling defenseman, "and I know he's going to look to poke it soon. So, I push the puck out to my left side, then slap his stick a little bit to prevent him from getting it. I know from there he's going to cross over, which means I've got an opportunity to put the puck through his triangle, go in on a breakaway, and score."

That slap of the defender's stick, which is indiscernible on video, is a subtle yet brilliant move. It puts the defender on his heels and allows Cristall to waltz into the middle lane of the ice. The puck's in the back of the net seconds later.

The sequence showcases Cristall's trademark intelligence and creativity.

Rockets teammate Caden Price says Cristall's skill level and manipulation techniques are "absurd." Connor Bedard, the presumptive No. 1 pick and one of Cristall's closest friends, calls his former minor hockey teammate "probably the smartest hockey player I've gotten to play with." Cristall puts it succinctly: "I make reads some other guys can't."

The sequence is also the kind of highlight that could split a room of hockey people. Critics might scoff at it, insisting Cristall is simply feasting on inferior competition and that he'll never replicate such a flashy sequence in the pros. Supporters might argue that Cristall can translate his skill set to the NHL, outsmart pros, and repair his biggest weaknesses.

Unlike the majority of potential first-round picks, there's a lack of consensus with Cristall, both behind closed doors among scouts and in the public discourse. Arguably 2023's most divisive prospect, he's ranked 13th, 24th, 25th, 35th, and 68th by some of the most popular NHL draft analysts. Is Cristall worthy of a top-15 pick? Or is he a Day 2 selection?

Let's stick with the strengths for a moment.

Cristall's puck skills are exceptional. His craftiness in tight quarters, a byproduct of running through countless small-area drills as a young player in Vancouver, makes him difficult to contain. Armed with both a hard, accurate shot and seam-finding passing chops, he's a dual threat in the offensive zone.

"If the pass is there, I'm 100% going to make that pass to create a goal. Whatever the best option, that's the option I'm going to choose," says Cristall, who finished sixth in the WHL with 95 points (39 goals, 56 assists) despite missing 14 games in the middle of the season due to a quad injury.

Cristall grew up adoring legendary Canucks forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Nowadays, he models his game after Mitch Marner, the magician-like winger for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Cristall's attracted to Marner's evasiveness and patience with the puck - how he's capable of controlling the pace of the game.

Then there are Cristall's many "Michigan" attempts, which are less Marner and more Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks. The behind-the-net, lacrosse-style scoring play combines Cristall's hands, creativity, and swagger.

"I've never seen a player try the 'Michigan' more often than him. Realistically, it drives our ownership mental," Rockets head coach Kris Mallette says with a laugh. "But it's the new way. You look at Zegras, you look at other young guys, it's just what they do. Some of the stuff he does in practice - calling his shot, then going in on the goalie and making it look easy - is impressive. He works hard, challenges himself to be better, and is a fun guy to be around."

OK, onto the weaknesses: Cristall is small (5-foot-9.5, 175 pounds), and his skating is considered average for a major-junior player. He'll put up points and get you out of your seat with some puck wizardry, sure, but small forwards who don't skate well and aren't known for their compete level rarely blossom into longtime NHLers. At least that's how the thinking goes in some circles.

"For smaller players without high-end skating ability, you'll have a really hard time finding a spot in the top six of a forward group," says Chris Peters, who covers the prospect world for FloHockey. "The most common thing I hear about Cristall from people working for teams is that if you draft him, you're getting a one-way player, a guy who fits into very few options in your lineup."

Peters adds that Cristall could theoretically evolve into a more complete player by focusing on his defense. However, nobody's currently projecting him to be a shutdown forward, and bigger, more athletic players usually fill that role. "That's the other thing teams will consider with Cristall: Where does he go from here? What's his trajectory? How long will he take to develop?"

Still, Peters is at least a half-believer, as evidenced by Cristall landing 24th on FloHockey's final ranking of all 2023 prospects. It's impossible to ignore the gaudy offensive tools and the points he accumulated on a relatively weak Kelowna squad. "Real boom-bust potential with drafting a player like Cristall this high, but the hockey sense wins the day here for me," Peters wrote.

"Do I want to miss on this?" Mallette, the Rockets coach, says of the potential downside of passing on Cristall in next Wednesday's first round. "You don't want to be that team that two, three years down the road is missing out on a very, very special player. So that's what's intriguing but also what's scary, right? Because you never know with young hockey players. It's the unknown."

To Cristall's credit, he's doing what he can to make it less of an unknown.

On top of bulking up through strength training, Cristall's worked with skating coach Barb Aidelbaum multiple times a week since his season ended in late April. Cristall notes that he needs to be more on his toes than his heels when he's skating. With better mechanics and a stronger lower body, his stride should start generating extra power. He's doing this work in concert with physiotherapy, with the off-ice treatment aiming to bring greater fluidity to his movements and, in turn, lengthen his stride on the ice.

Those close to Cristall praise him for being an optimistic, competitive person.

"If you have a plan, you can come to a solution," he says of his mindset.

Cristall was told he wouldn't be effective once he was old enough for body-checking hockey because of his size - yet he was and exploded offensively. He was told he wouldn't play junior hockey because of his size and skating - yet he did and exploded offensively. Now, he's being told he might not play in the NHL.

"It's something I use to motivate myself," Cristall says from his Marriott seat, long day over. "I want to prove people wrong and prove myself right."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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The Hockey Hall of Fame caused quite a stir with its induction announcement on Wednesday, grouping a collection of long-retired hopefuls with bona fide first-year lock Henrik Lundqvist to make up the class of 2023.

Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, and Tom Barrasso rounded out the former NHLers to make this year's cut, and the Hall righted last year's wrong of omitting Canadian women's legend Caroline Ouellette. Both Vernon and Barrasso admitted they were stunned to receive hockey's highest honor this year.

The Hall of Fame had limited first-ballot stars to choose from this year, but 2024 offers a quality selection of debutants. Below, we dive into who has a chance of making the cut in their first try and also highlight the cases of those who've again been forced to wait another year.

Before we get into it, it's worth noting only four male players and two female players can be inducted per year. The selection committee consists of 18 members, and candidates to appear on 75% or higher of final ballots are elected. Ballots aren't made public.

Players who've been inactive from professional or international hockey for three full seasons, though still might not be technically retired, are eligible to be inducted.

Notable first-timers

Pavel Datsyuk

On paper, Datsyuk has the most surefire resume available next year. He played 14 years with the Detroit Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup twice, along with four Lady Byngs and three Selkes. He was named to the 100 Greatest NHL Players list and also has gold medals from the Olympics and the world championship, giving him "Triple Gold" status. Datsyuk featured an unmatchable blend of skill and two-way dominance throughout his entire career and produced some of the most memorable highlights in league history. He was nicknamed "The Magic Man" for a reason.

His on-ice credentials are second-to-none among 2024's first-year eligibles, but the Hall may be hesitant to enshrine a Russian international given the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Patrick Marleau

Marleau will garner a ton of attention through next year's voting process as the league's all-time leader in games played. Longevity is often important for Hall of Fame players, and the Saskatchewan native leads the pack while also ranking 23rd on the all-time goals list. Every player ahead of him in that regard has already been enshrined - save for Alex Ovechkin, who'll certainly headline his class three years after his career ends.

The Stanley Cup eluded Marleau throughout his 23-year career, even though he qualified for the postseason in 20 of those campaigns. Marleau doesn't have individual hardware but captured two gold medals with Canada at the Olympics and was a model of consistency, with 15 campaigns of 20-plus goals.

Shea Weber

Weber is under contract on the Arizona Coyotes' books until 2026, but debilitating injuries forced him to end his playing days after the Montreal Canadiens' run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. Weber was one of the most physically dominant blue-liners of his generation and had underrated offensive prowess accentuated by a terrifyingly powerful slapshot.

From 2008-09 to 2015-16, Weber's age-23-to-30 seasons, he ranked third among all blue-liners in points (373) and first in goals (141) while averaging over 25 minutes per game. Over that same span, he was a four-time All-Star, three-time Norris Trophy finalist, and two-time Olympic champion. He was a tournament All-Star at the 2010 games in Vancouver and also has world junior, World Cup, and world championship gold medals on his international resume. Weber's hard-nosed style made his peak short, but he was unquestionably one of the best in the world at his position for a significant chunk of his career.

Pekka Rinne

Barrasso and Vernon getting in could open the door for a collection of modern netminders that boast far superior statistics. Rinne may not have previously been considered to be a first-ballot candidate, but he possesses more wins than Barrasso and is only 16 shy of Vernon in the same category while ranking 16th all time in save percentage among netminders to play at least 200 games. Rinne won a Vezina Trophy at 35 years old in 2018, was a finalist on three other occasions, and despite never winning a Stanley Cup, managed a respectable .914 clip in 89 postseason appearances.

Differentiating between eras has always been a difficult task for the Hall of Fame, especially for goaltenders, but the debate is set to take a whole new direction after two surprise inductions in 2023.

Ryan Miller

Miller owns a similar case to Rinne, producing a single Vezina Trophy while trailing his 2024 first-year counterpart in career save percentage but leading in victories. He posted seven consecutive 30-plus-win seasons with the Buffalo Sabres from 2005-06 to 2011-12 and hit the 40-win plateau twice over that span. Miller doesn't have much playoff success to his credit but won tournament MVP at the 2010 Olympics after carrying the United States to a silver medal. He likely won't be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but expect his case to be debated for years to come.

Ilya Kovalchuk

Kovalchuk was one of the most dynamic players the NHL had to offer in his prime, but his Hall of Fame case is bound to be hotly contested. He doesn't have a Stanley Cup, 1,000 games played, or 1,000 points but is 69th all time in goals (37th on a per-game basis) while owning two All-Star selections and a Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. He captured nine consecutive 30-goal seasons from 2003-04 to 2009-10 and eclipsed the illustrious 50-goal mark in two campaigns.

He also won an Olympic gold, two world championships, and three Gagarin Cups in the KHL. Representing Russia for all his international accolades will likely hurt his candidacy, as will his controversial early retirement after signing a 15-year contract with the New Jersey Devils. Kovalchuk's talent was Hall of Fame worthy, but it would be surprising if the rest of his reputation was overlooked to make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Longtime leftovers

Alexander Mogilny

For what feels like the zillionth year running, Mogilny was the Hockey Hall of Fame's biggest snub. Despite retiring in 2006 as a Triple Gold Club member with a career 1.04 points per game and an inspirational trail-blazing story as the first player to defect from the Soviet Union, Mogilny was inexplicably passed over again. No transparency from the selection committee is a major issue in general, but Mogilny's case is by far the most deserving of clarification from those in charge.

Keith Tkachuk

While Vernon's and Barrasso's inductions may make it easier for fringe goalies to get the call down the road, Turgeon's selection could do the same for skaters with impressive point totals hampered by small trophy cases. Turgeon was the highest-scoring player not in the Hall of Fame before he was chosen, and Tkachuk will be the most prolific goal-scorer - active players notwithstanding - outside the Hall should Marleau get inducted. If being 34th all time in goals isn't enough to squeak in, Tkachuk has a world championship gold, Olympic silver, and two All-Star selections to pad his resume.

Rod Brind'Amour

Brind'Amour has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for more than a decade now but hasn't been deemed worthy yet. He captained the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup in 2006, won a pair of Selkes, and snagged a gold medal with Canada at the world championship. Perhaps the Hall is waiting for Brind'Amour's coaching career to end before seriously considering his candidacy, as he's already won a Jack Adams Award and is in charge of a perennial championship contender.

Curtis Joseph

Joseph must be wondering what he has to do to earn a call from the Hall of Fame after Wednesday's news. While Vernon and Barrasso can hold championships over Cujo's head, he can claim more Hall-worthy statistics. Joseph is seventh all time in games played by a goalie and seventh in wins, and now that Lundqvist has been chosen, Cujo stands to be the only netminder inside the top 10 in victories who hasn't been enshrined, assuming Marc-Andre Fleury gets the call one day.

Joseph played in an era stacked with legendary goaltenders like Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, and Ed Belfour but was still a Vezina finalist three times and a top-five choice twice more. His best shot to win top goalie came in 1993 when he posted 57 goals saved above average, the fifth-highest mark ever in a single season, for a mediocre St. Louis Blues squad.

Jennifer Botterill

Botterill has been eligible for the Hall since 2014 but was skipped over again this year for reasons unknown. She's a five-time world champion and three-time Olympic champion while also holding the NCAA record with 340 points in 113 games through four seasons at Harvard. With two spots for women inductees each year, it's hard to justify Botterill's omission.

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Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser and general manager Patrik Allvin appear ready to put trade drama in the past.

Boeser has been linked with a move for multiple seasons and was widely considered a top trade candidate at the 2023 deadline after requesting a move amid a difficult year. He ultimately rescinded the request, and Allvin believes Boeser's revitalized form after the club hired Rick Tocchet as head coach will carry into next season.

"There was definitely a significant improvement in Brock's game and how he played," Allvin said Wednesday. "He definitely made it clear to myself and the coaching staff that he was excited about the vision and the path of this team and wanted to make sure that … he wanted to be part of it."

"I'm excited to see Brock coming back in September ready to go," he added.

Boeser admitted in March that seeing his name in trade discussions negatively affected his on-ice performance and said it was a "relief" he wasn't dealt.

The 26-year-old is under contract for two more seasons at a $6.65-million cap hit. Boeser managed 55 points in 74 contests in 2022-23 but had the worst goal-scoring season of his career on a per-game basis (0.24).

The Canucks drafted Boeser 23rd overall in 2015. He's produced 311 points in 398 games with the club and was the Calder Trophy runner-up in 2018 after a 29-goal campaign.

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Matt and Blake discuss the reported interest in third-line centre options (O'Reilly, McLeod, Rodrigues & others) for the Vancouver Canucks as well as trade targets on defence (Girard, Parayko, Pesce, Hanifin). They also discuss the Lions first-place showdown in Winnipeg Thursday, Canada at the Gold Cup and the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2023. Darren Dreger (Ray & Dregs Hockey Podcast) stops by and reports the Canucks are looking for a big winger on top of the top-4 defenceman and third-line centre. Dregs discuss the trade targets on defence, specifically Pesce and Hanifin, as well as the possibility of a J.T. Miller trade and what's to become of Ethan Bear now that he's injured and due to miss time. Plus, we go To The People for their hot takes, tell me I'm wrong submissions and comments on our topics over the last week.

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Henrik Lundqvist, Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, and Caroline Ouellette were announced as the Hockey Hall of Fame five-player 2023 class Wednesday.

The HOF is also inducting Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix as builders.

This was Lundqvist's first year of eligibility. One of the greatest goalies of his generation, only Marc-Andre Fleury has started and won more games than "King Henrik" during the salary-cap era. His 459 career victories are the sixth-most in NHL history. Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy in 2012 when he posted a personal-best .930 save percentage and was a finalist four other times throughout his 15-year career, which he spent entirely with the New York Rangers.

Lundqvist never won a Stanley Cup, but he took the Rangers to the final with a memorable postseason run in 2014. However, he won an Olympic gold medal as the starting goalie with Sweden in 2006, an Olympic silver medal in 2014, and a World Championship gold medal in 2017.

Turgeon's wait ends after being passed over 12 times by the HOF committee. His 1,327 points are the 34th most in NHL history - and were previously the most among eligible players not currently in the Hall.

The knock on Turgeon was that he never won anything outside of a Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1993, but the counting stats were enough to push him through. He played in 1,294 games across 19 NHL seasons between the Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, and Colorado Avalanche. Turgeon hit the 80-point mark eight times, including a career-high 132 in 1992-93.

All of Calgary can celebrate for Vernon - a native of the Alberta city who played 13 of his 19 NHL seasons with the Flames, leading them to the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Vernon won another ring as the starting goalie for the Detroit Red Wings in 1997, taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy that year with a 16-4 record and a .927 save percentage during that run. Vernon also enjoyed brief stints with the San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers. His 385 career victories are the 16th most ever.

Barrasso makes it three goalies in the class. The 1983 fifth overall pick by the Sabres took the hockey world by storm in his rookie year when he won the Calder and Vezina Trophies as an 18-year-old. The Boston native was a Vezina finalist four more times in his 19-year career.

Despite his success in Buffalo, the peak of Barrasso's playing days came during his next stop with the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was in net for back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. Barrasso also briefly played with the Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Blues to finish his career. His 369 career wins are tied for the 20th most ever.

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