How does he compare to Kole Sherwood?
Now there's a name I haven't heard in a very, very long time.
First of all, I can barely remember when garbage day is, let alone my viewings of a prospect from roughly 9 years ago, so keep that in mind.
Sherwood was only in London for one year, and I didn't really keep up with him as much once he was traded, which is to say that I didn't watch every single game he played and pay attention to each shift. At the time I was also working like 60 hours a week on night shift so I just didn't watch much in general.
Sherwood's skating was decent to good at the OHL level, but I think that his skating somewhat stagnated past that point and he was a little more awkward and weak on his skates the bigger he got. I seem to recall him being smaller when he played for the Knights, but that might just be misremembering things.
The big thing about Sherwood was that he was a speedy, hardworking, somewhat gritty player and energy guy who was great on the forecheck and the PK and had a good enough shot that he could score goals. I liked him and Cliff Pu a lot at the time, and I think that's because the Hunters seemingly just have a way of getting the most out of guys that come to them.
In Sherwood's case, after he was traded I remember him getting a lot more physical, meaner, and nastier. He started looking to make hits and would sometimes get lost on where he should be and was out of position. On the other hand, he was given a lot more responsibility in Flint and Kitchener, He played on the top line and looked pretty good doing it.
The thing is...I don't know if I'm just biased, or if I'm just looking back with hindsight, but even in his campaign with Kitchener in the playoffs I never saw someone who was anything more than a complimentary piece at best. He had a good, quick shot, but it was more like his shots just had homing beacons in them that found the net than that his shot was actually insanely good, if that makes any sense? He would routinely come off the rush down the halfboards like 30ft from the net and fire a soft(ish) wrister that would just beat the goalie clean, or he would get breakaways and deke out the goalie, or he would either pass the puck or receive the puck for some of the easiest tap in goals I've ever seen. Just so many plays where it seemed like the defense or goalie just wasn't good enough to save the puck or interfere with his shot at all. It was bizarre. He would routinely get goals in the OHL where he just got the puck in front of the net, wired it, and it would go in.
And like, there's something to be said for guys with a "nose for the net" like that, because I think it's one of the easiest translatable skills to the NHL, and having the IQ to anticipate plays and be in the right position is something that's easily overlooked. It's one of my favorite things about Michkov, for example, because he gets so many goals by measuring his space well and sneaking into scoring positions just enough that the defense doesn't cover him tight enough and he has a lethal wrist shot in close.
And I've seen Sherwood have those exact same types of plays I saw in Kitchener in the AHL and NHL...but now they don't go in. They're just easy saves for the goalie.
If anything it's like he regressed and became a different kind of player. Less of a skill guy and more of a grinder. Which is fine, he probably didn't have the skill to be a top 6 player anyways. I think he mostly just stagnated and didn't work on his offensive game enough, and while he still has all the stuff he did in Jr, hasn't really improved from that much. Dunno why. Maybe it was Covid and injury, who knows.
Full disclosure, I went on Youtube and looked through all of Sherwoods points with Kitchener to try and remind myself what he was like with them.
Anyways. You wanted to know how I compare McCue to him.
I think McCue is better in some aspects and worse in others. I think offensively McCue probably isn't as good as Sherwood. I *think* he has a better shot and is a better skater, but it's very close. His playmaking is definitely worse.
Defensively though, I do think he's much better than Sherwood was at the same point in time. McCue can often get penalized for his hits and for mixing it up after the whistle, but he rarely is out of position and when he does make a hit is quick to get back into position. His forecheck probably isn't as good as Sherwood's was, but he's pretty much never caught floating and is often the guy who covers for his d-men when they pinch. He's often just the guy who gets back to break up a man advantage on the rush.
He also doesn't look for the big open ice hit like I've seen Sherwood do. I think his defensive IQ is very high, as he rarely makes mistakes defensively and often corrects for his mistakes when he does. He isn't a selfish player or a player who pushes for an extra chance, he does all the little things correctly, recognizing when he should dump it in, getting back, clogging up the neutral zone, etc. His motor is really, really good. I just watched a 2OT game against Oshawa and I don't think he was gassed at all. He was still getting back, defending plays, and being a huge influence as the extra forward coming back to help the D. This is a somewhat unfair comparison, but it looked like Easton Cowan might die at any minute during some timeframes of that game, and at the end he pushed himself to stay out on the ice for another 30 seconds with the game tied. McCue, meanwhile, looked like the same he had always been. I think that speaks to his endurance, and I think that speaks a lot to the kind of player he is.
He may not amount to much in the NHL, but he will give you his all and do all the hard things no one else will, and he will put the team first.
