Connor Hobbs

History

2011-12: Connor Hobbs played bantam AA hockey with the Saskatoon Bandits and was selected by Prince Albert in the fourth round (67th overall) in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft.

2012-13: Hobbs played for the Saskatoon Blazers in the Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League and played for Team Saskatchewan in the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup. He scored 6 goals with 10 assists and 68 penalty minutes in 38 regular season games. The Blazers defeated Moose Jaw in the quarterfinals before falling to Prince Albert in the SMHL semifinals. Hobbs scored 1 goal with 3 assists and 14 penalty minutes in seven playoff games.

2013-14: Hobbs, obtained by Mediciine Hat as part of a multiplayer trade in January the previous season, appeared in 10 WHL games with the Tigers and spent his second season with the Saskatoon Blazers. He was an assistant captain for Canada Western in the 2014 U17 World Hockey Challenge. Hobbs had an assist in his first WHL game in September before returning to the Blazers and re-joined the Tigers in late February. He scored 1 goal with 2 assists and was +1 with 4 penalty minutes skating for the Tigers. Hobbs scored 11 goals with 12 assists and 84 penalty minutes in 33 games. In five games at the WHC he scored 2 goals with 2 assists and 6 penalty minutes.

2014-15: Hobbs played for the gold medal-winning Canada u18 team at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in August before returning to Medicine Hat for his first WHL season. He played 12 games with the Tigers before returning home to Saskatchewan, skating briefly for the Nipawin Hawks and representing Canada West in the 2014 World Junior A Challenge. He returned to the WHL in January after being obtained by Regina in a January trade. Hobbs scored 1 goal with 1 assist and was +1 with 15 penalty minutes in 12 games with the Tigers. Hobbs stepped into a key role for Regina after joining the Pats. He scored 1 goal with 15 assists and was +5 with 21 penalty minutes in 33 regular season games. In eight playoff games he scored 2 goals and was -2 with 7 penalty minutes. In five games for Canada at the Ivan Hlinka tournament he had 2 assists and was +6 with 2 penalty minutes. In four games with Nipawin he had no points and 4 penalty minutes. Hobbs had no points and 2 penalty minutes in four games for Canada West, which was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Hobbs was invited to the NHL Prospects Combine and was ranked 72nd amongst North American skaters in the Central Scouting final rankings. He was selected by Washington in the fifth round (143rd overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Talent Analysis

Hobbs is a bit of a project at the moment. He has decent size at 6’1 and 190 pounds, but plays with a mean streak. Hobbs likes the physical game and has been known to drop the gloves to defend a teammate when the situation calls for it. He also has a hard shot and a very raw offensive game, but will likely get a chance to develop both in 2015-16. His niche could be as the defense-first physical defender that most teams like to employ on their third pairing.

Future

As stated in the talent analysis section, Hobbs is quite raw and very much a project for the foreseeable future. He will get his first full-time crack at the WHL in 2015-16 with the Regina Pats where his role should grow. If he can develop his offensive game, finding more to it than a hard and heavy shot, he could find himself on an NHL roster as a defense-first defender that can chip in the occasional offense. Hobbs is as least three seasons away from making the jump to professional hockey, likely landing in the AHL for at least two seasons after that.