Photo Credit: Our very own Jess Wild
Noah Cates says, “I think just getting bigger, faster, and a little quicker,” when asked what he needed to improve this offseason at exit interviews. He put in the work this Summer and it’s quite evident in his play. For his efforts, Cates looked like a mini Sean Couturier on the ice as he finished ninth in the league for Rookie of the Year (Calder Trophy). In addition, he earned seven votes for the Selke Trophy, while finishing 15th in this category. Low and behold Cates had a stellar first season with the orange and black.
“He’s a coach’s dream.” – Head Coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Ian Laperrière said following the Flyers first pre-season tilt
“He does everything right,” Laperrière continued. “He doesn’t cheat. He plays the right way and coachable. How can you not like a guy like that? I don’t know Torts much but I know every coach likes players like that. His brother is playing great too. Jackson, I wouldn’t but him out of the race either. He came in camp in tip-top shape and came in camp to make the team. I’m sure they trained together. They’re tight. They’re always together and it’s fun to watch. Noah is a pleasure to just see what he does, the little things that you don’t see, a super goal by beating a guy one-on-one or score a great goal. He does the little things that coaches like.”
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Getting bigger, stronger, faster are common goals for young prospects to make it at the next level. For Cates, he had one heck of a showing in a small sample size to think he could at the very least compete for a top six spot with the Flyers out of Training Camp. Cates is just so tough to move off the puck, and if he does lose the puck his puck retrieval is unlike most players. He retrieves the puck rather quickly, thus extending the play on the other side of the ice. This is another underrated part to his game.
“It was obviously big going into the summer, and next training camp, knowing what to expect and what the pace is like, and different things like that was I think kind of the question mark,” Cates said at exit interviews when asked if gaining this NHL experience was helpful. “What I was focused on was the pace of the game. Definitely didn’t think I was out of place, but I think I could improve this summer and get to playing a little faster. Be able to generate a little more.”
He has skated well and was confident, and poised with the big club. It was almost reminiscent of Sean Couturier, just without the offensive niche just yet, that’s it just yet as Cates finished the 2022-23 season with 13g, 25a in 82 games played.
In addition, Cates ranked sixth among NHL rookies in points (38) and tenth in goals (13) for the 2022-23 season. He really started to figure things out on the offensive side, even so much so John Tortorella had this to say about Cates following the game against the Edmonton Oilers in February:
“He doesn’t surprise me anymore. He continues to get better.” – John Tortorella
Cates creates turnovers in the neutral zone by suffocating his opponents, and sealing their gaps. This is a highly underrated area of his game. Throughout his collegiate career he was very good at forcing turnovers in the neutral zone, thus creating an odd man rust the other way. He has taken nothing for granted, and is relishing the moment.
The young 24-year-old in Cates logged an average of 17:46 of ice time, finished with 13 goals and 25 assists in 82 games played at the NHL level, to include three power play goals, registered 86 hits, forced 60 takeaways, and blocked 65 shots in his first full season with the Flyers. Not a bad start to his NHL career by any means, “I think that’s a big part of my game,” Cates said in response if the team needs to get harder to play against. “It’s little things. It’s stopping on pucks, having a good stick. Being physical. Not blowing guys up. Just kind of little things that you don’t like when players do to you, you’ve got to do to them. I think that’s a huge part of my game. Just the kind of things that I need to bring to the table on stopping those pucks and little stick details.”
One of the main reasons he is an NHL caliber player, and should be considered as such is his skating. He skates very well, and that also gives him a physical edge to his game. Cates impressed in his first season with the Flyers, and this should give him momentum to continue to make the right impressions to the coaching staff. If he continues at this pace, he could very well wind up being a Sean Couturier 2.0.
