Chicago Reapers 16U
Matthews offers a junior staff a development candidate whose movement and puck-control assessment warrants a closer look. A substantial youth assignment provides context, with the wider stopping outcomes leaving consistency central to the recruitment decision.
His existing opinion includes mobility and rebound handling. Their useful junior application would be maintaining coverage after contact rather than requiring repeated emergency responses as the puck remains contested.
Watch placement reflects a case worth evaluating but not a clear readiness advantage. A club should consider how the described tools could improve under its coaching before projecting a larger role.
The evaluation should distinguish the first save from what happens afterward. Identifying whether balance, visual contact or rebound direction most often disrupts a possession would give his development plan a sharper purpose.
His 2025–26 record with Chicago Reapers 16U lists 34 appearances, with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .888 save percentage.