The 2020 NHL Draft is fast approaching. At this point, most of the prospects projected to go in the first round are known by a vast majority of hockey fans. But there are always sleepers lurking in the later rounds. Who are they this year?
2020 NHL Draft Has Potential Sleepers and Steals
The NHL Draft almost always has sleepers and steals. Looking back at the Tampa Bay Lightning specifically, you see non-first-round draft selections throughout their lineup. The likes of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat, among others, were all selected later than they should have been. In fact, Johnson and Gourde were both undrafted free agents.
It comes as no surprise that there are many different opinions in the draft community about potential sleepers in the 2020 Draft. Here are three potential sleepers that could make general managers kick themselves in the future.
Sleeper One: Tristen Robins
Tristen Robins is a somewhat undersized forward who had his breakout season with the Saskatoon Blades this year. He isn’t talked about much for several reasons. For one, last season he posted a lacklustre point total while playing on the Blades bottom-six. Robins was buried behind Kirby Dach, among others, down the middle. That led to him not being invited to play international games with Team Canada.
A lack of international games is taken with too much weight by the scouting community, but it’s still an important way of seeing how top prospects match up against each other. Add the lack of international games to the fact he is on the smaller side, and you have a guy that scouts quickly glaze over and pass on. It’s a shame, but those are arguably the two things that warranted him to be a forgotten prospect.
How Good Is Robins?
When scouting Robins, it would be remiss not to bring up his skating ability. He can burn defenders. His top speed is dangerous and defenders have to respect that. When they try to widen the gap to avoid getting burned with speed, Robins slows down and uses his edges to quickly cut inside to open a shooting lane. He also uses his deceleration to open up a passing lane, as he can get defenders to back off way too far. He has the ability to change directions with very little effort, he can stop on a dime, and he can generate a ton of power through his crossovers. Quite simply, he’s one of the most technically proficient skaters in this draft.
Robins is a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none player. He’s got a very good shot and strong playmaking attributes to go with it. He has high-end offensive awareness that allows him to use both his shooting and passing abilities to the best of his abilities. Robins also possesses excellent stickhandling ability, which can be utilized while skating at full speed. That awareness also allows him to anticipate the play and get in position to either set up a scoring chance or to score himself. His transitional game is solid as well, with his speed being the primary reason behind it. Finally, Robins’ awareness translates to the defensive zone well, which allows him to be in the right position more often than not. He isn’t a game-changer in the defensive zone like Patrice Bergeron, but he is, at the very least, extremely reliable. Robins has middle-six potential, but that could easily change to top-six if he takes yet another step next season.
Robins Highlights
As stated above, Robins has a strong shot. Here’s a compilation of that shooting ability.
https://twitter.com/pereira_report/status/1270971151314018308?s=20
Do you want puck skills? How about catching a pass on the outside edge of your skate, effortlessly getting it to your stick, and then flipping it over the defenseman trying to cover the pass? Robins has that.
https://twitter.com/pereira_report/status/1270966955571400704?s=20
Stickhandling, speed, awareness and the finish. This is the style that works at the NHL level, especially as the game continues to evolve.
https://twitter.com/pereira_report/status/1270966085286793218?s=20
His speed will be a problem, and this clip displays that further. Also, what a pass he made.
https://twitter.com/pereira_report/status/1270964442549948416?s=20
The final clip, this shows everything. His speed forced the defenseman to back up. Robins slowed down and toe dragged past the defenseman’s stick. He then displayed the patience and vision to find his teammate and put it on his tape despite the traffic.
https://twitter.com/pereira_report/status/1270962441925558272?s=20
Sleeper Two, Dmitri Ovchinnikov
Dmitri Ovchinnikov is an interesting prospect. He posted 24 goals and 31 assists for 55 points in 54 games in the MHL for Sibirskie Snaipery Novosibirsk. Yet, despite the point-per-game effort, he’s projected all over the draft. Some say he could go in the third round, while some have him going undrafted altogether. So, what’s the deal?
First off, Ovchinnikov is an excellent skater. He can be a bit unhinged at times with his skating, and it leads to him over skating and blowing an edge from time to time. Overall though, his skating is his strongest attribute. His skating also helps him be a big help in the transitional game. With the puck on his stick, Ovchinnikov can read the play well and set up teammates consistently in high-danger areas. He does need to improve on his passing accuracy and consistency, but he does push the pace offensively. Ovchinnikov doesn’t take a lot of shots, but when he does take shots, they more often than not come from medium to high danger areas. He also possesses great drive and work ethic. However, his overall awareness, especially without the puck in all three zones, is extremely raw and holds him back. If he can put it all together, he could be a real steal.
Sleeper Three, Rhett Rhinehart
Finally, the last sleeper on this list is someone who is relatively unknown. While Robins and Ovchinnikov are known commodities for draft analysts, Rhett Rhinehart has flown almost completely under the radar. Playing for three different teams in a three-year span is a difficult obstacle to overcome, and the constant movement from team to team certainly played a role in him not breaking out.
Bumpy Start To Junior Career
Of course, as was the case with his eventual teammate in Robins, he didn’t get an opportunity to play for Team Canada. That led to him not getting any recognition. It didn’t help that he went from the Prince George Cougars, who used him as a puck-moving fourth forward in a sense, to the Saskatoon Blades, who put him in a position to be reliable and responsible in the defensive zone first. Not establishing chemistry fully with a team has stopped him from ever being truly comfortable in juniors. Add to that fact an almost complete change in style due to the system from team to team, and you have a player who may not have his true identity as a player.
What Rhinehart Brings To The Table
The first thing he shows is his physicality. The right-handed defender is 6’4” and 205 pounds, and he knows how to throw that size around. It helps that his skating, though not great, is still very good, especially for his size. However, it’s clear he gets a bit unorganized and can come way out of position in an attempt to throw a hit, and tries to use his skating to get back. Unfortunately, his skating isn’t quite at that level yet, so he does need to reel in his aggressiveness a bit.
Rhinehart has a good mixture of offensive abilities. He loves shooting the puck, and though his shot totals did drop slightly when he came to the Blades, he still fired over 100 shots on net. He’s good at finding soft spots in defensive zone coverages and can set up teammates with some consistency. In the defensive zone, he took massive strides. The move to Saskatoon led him to learn a bit more organization and control in his physicality. His quick learning and adjustments helped him be a better defenseman, but overall his defensive game is still very much raw. His DY+1 could be a breakout season, so long as he doesn’t get traded again.
Sleepers In The Draft
As said, the draft always features plenty of late-round gems. This year, there are more than usual. The top half of the draft is so loaded that some of the guys ranked outside the first are so badly overlooked that there isn’t much on them. These three aforementioned players are just the tip of the iceberg. Rhinehart and Ovchinnikov are guys who could even go undrafted. There are so many potential gems in the second and third rounds, it’s kind of crazy.
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