Projecting the Red Wing’s Final Six Picks in the 2021 NHL Draft
With the 2021 NHL draft a month away, Detroit Red Wings fans are beginning to pay close attention to the prospects projected in the first round. Steve Yzerman will have a couple of opportunities to add some top-end talent with the 6th and 22nd overall picks, but who will Yzerman select later in the draft – specifically, with the last six picks?
(Received From Vegas) 3rd Round Pick – Brent Johnson, RH Defenseman
There is a very good chance Brent Johnson is well off the board by the time Detroit’s second 3rd round draft pick is on the clock. Projections shift anywhere between a late 2nd to a late 3rd/early 4th. If he’s still available at this pick, the Red Wings should snatch him up.
Johnson plays a similar game to Detroit’s Dennis Cholowski – except with perhaps a bit more potential. After an uneventful few years of junior hockey in Texas, Johnson forced his way up most draft boards with a fantastic USHL season with the Sioux Falls Stampede. In 47 games, he nabbed 11 goals and 21 assists, finding a consistent role as the team’s power play quarterback. Johnson’s best qualities are part of his offensive toolkit: he’s a solid passer, has great skating/speed and a dangerous wrist shot. His defense still needs a bit of improvement, but he’s not afraid to get physical or become a nuisance with constant poke checks/pressure. Johnson had a fantastic year in the USHL, but some GMs might view it as a flash-in-the-pan because of previously underwhelming years.
Johnson has a ton of upside and could provide the organization with that power play quarterback position that they desperately need.
4th Round Pick – Tristan Lennox, Goaltender
Drafting a goaltender has been one of the more controversial discussions surrounding Detroit’s first round options. Something a bit more palatable? Taking a stab at a goaltie with one of the organization’s later draft picks. And Lennox might be the sneaky-good option.
Lennox is all over the place in terms of draft placements – some project him as a late 2nd or early 3rd round pick, others place him outside of the top 100. It’s impossible to guarantee that he’d be there for Detroit at the end of the 3rd, but if that’s the case, Lennox could very well end up being a Red Wing.
As a player with Saginaw in the OHL this season, Lennox saw no in-game ice time because of the OHL cancellation. However, he did show promise last season with the team. Standing at 6-foot-4, Lennox is an imposing figure in the crease, and he’s surprisingly athletic for his size. He has decent hockey sense and does a solid job at taking away easy chances, but he’s struggled to play consistently. His ugly save percentage of .876 and 3.63 goals against average are sure to make many general manager’s pause, as well as the lack of any 2021 game tape. But he’s shown flashes of NHL-level play. When he’s on top of his game, he’s essentially a brick wall. Lennox would provide a well-needed boost to Detroit’s weak goaltending pipeline.
(Received From Tampa) 4th Round Pick – Carson Latimer, Right-Winger
Carson Latimer rounded out a stacked Edmonton Oil Kings team that consisted of top-end prospects like Sebastian Cossa and Dylan Guenther.
Latimer’s five goals and 11 assists in 22 games got him crowned as the King’s rookie of the year. In the limited sample size, he quickly gave a boost to the team’s lower lines and become an important depth piece for Edmonton.
Latimer’s strength is his skating; much of his success on offense was due to the clean zone entries and bursts of acceleration past defenders while heading straight to the net. He’s not especially strong elsewhere, but for a player outside of nearly every top 100 list of prospects, he’s surprisingly well-rounded. Detroit could use a bit more depth on the speed side of things in the pipeline, and a winger succeeding on probably the best roster in the WHL is a good place to start (Also, if Guenther falls to Detroit at 6th, Yzerman might as well keep that Oil King’s connection running with another talented winger from the organization).
5th Round Pick – Nick DeGrazia, Left-Winger
DeGrazia is a very, very tough player to analyze. He has just four non-junior league games under his belt, all in the OHL in 2020 with the Sudbury Wolves. DeGrazia snagged a goal and an assist in the limited action and was essentially locked up a starting role with the team heading into this year. After the OHL’s season was cancelled, he made the move back down to the juniors to finish out the year. DeGrazia scored seven goals and eight assists in 10 games playing in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
DeGrazia is one of those prospects with damaged draft stock after the Covid-19 cancellations hit. He missed an important opportunity to showcase how his skills could translate to a higher level, and because of that, scouts are stuck with almost entirely junior tape. At least the limited tape looks solid. DeGrazia has decent skill and solid speed, with none of the other talents really sticking out yet. Again, he could fill the pipeline as another speedy winger, with the potential to develop quickly in a better position.
(Received From Ottawa) 5th Round Pick – Connor Lockhart, Center
Lockhart could easily go a bit earlier than the fifth. But he’s another OHL player that was punished for the cancellation; after a solid season with the Eerie Otters at 17 years old (9 goals and 18 assists in 57 games), many projected a breakout 2021 season to propel him into the upper-echelon of OHL players available in the draft. But that chance never came, so Lockhart is trapped with 2020’s tape.
The good thing for Lockhart is that his 2020 tape is pretty good, and past is even better. He put up video game numbers in juniors (The highlight being a 2017-18 season in which he put up 76 points in 30 games) with his speed and offensive instincts, controlling pace-of-play as he went. Although his rookie OHL season wasn’t particularly spectacular, Lockhart has the pedigree of a hockey player that can get pucks in the net – with another chance in the pros, it’s possible he’ll do just that. At only 5-foot-9 and 161 pounds, Lockhart constantly has to rely on a high offensive hockey IQ and speedy skating to be effective – both of which could be countered in better leagues. Lockhart needs heavy development and is a heck of a risk, but the risk/reward ratio is just too good with this low of a pick. If Lockhart is still available in the later rounds of the draft, Yzerman should snag the talented yet inexperienced center and begin another prospect development project.
6th Round Pick – Brett Brochu, Goaltender
Yes, another goaltender. Yes, another one from the OHL. If you’re a Red Wings fan that is anti-goaltender in the draft this year, you’re in for a sad few draft days. The pipeline needs more talent in the crease, and if Yzerman doesn’t pick up a goaltender early, he’ll almost certainly take swings late.
2021 is Brochu’s second eligible year as a NHL draft prospect. After becoming the winningest rookie goalie in OHL history and putting up fantastic numbers with the London Knights in 2020, it was a bit of a surprise that he didn’t hear his name called during last year’s draft. Brochu didn’t get much of a chance to illustrate his abilities in 2021 after the OHL season was cancelled; he played a single game with the Scranton Penguins in the AHL. It doesn’t really help his draft stock that the game was a bit rough, as he let in five goals and had a save percentage of .861.
After teams passed on him on 2020, there’s a good chance that it’ll happen again this year with the lack of new data. However, late round picks are for taking swings, not aiming for safety. Brochu has already showed that he can play more-than competent hockey in non-junior leagues; Yzerman could end up snatching him up late as a last-ditch effort to improve the goaltending pool of prospects in Detroit.
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