{"id":129821,"date":"2022-06-16T14:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T18:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=129821"},"modified":"2022-06-16T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T17:50:37","slug":"tampa-bay-lightning-draft-fits-ohl-defensemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2022\/06\/16\/tampa-bay-lightning-draft-fits-ohl-defensemen\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Lightning Draft Fits: OHL Defensemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2022 NHL Draft is fast approaching. The Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> are playing in the Finals\u2026 again. They elected to keep their first-round draft selection for the first time in what seems like forever. But that hasn\u2019t held them back before, with late-round picks like Nikita Kucherov<\/a> and Brayden Point<\/a>. With the draft fast approaching, who is a Tampa Bay Lightning draft fit?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Lightning Draft Fits: OHL Defensemen<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Lightning, since 2010 when Al Murray became their director of amateur scouting and Julien BriseBois became assistant general manager, have drafted 29 defensemen. Out of those 29, eight of them came from the OHL. That\u2019s the most defensemen taken in one league by the Lightning, with the next closest at six. The average height and weight of those OHL draftees are 6\u20191.5\u201d and 199 pounds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other averages include roughly 112 games played pre-draft, 12 goals, 43 assists and 55 points. The most games played out of the bunch is 181, set by Anthony DeAngelo<\/a>, while the least is 62 from Geoff Schemitsch. Next, the most goals belong to DeAngelo as well, with 30, and the least is three from Jake Dotchin<\/a>. As for assists, DeAngelo has the most by far with 122, while Dotchin had the least with 16. Finally, for points, DeAngelo had the most at 152, while Dotchin had the least at 19. With those parameters set in place, which 2022 NHL draft-eligible defensemen are Lightning fits? (Also looked at to find fits is league per game stats and world juniors performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Lightning Draft: Fit #1: Pavel Mintyukov, Saginaw Spirit<\/b><\/h3>\n

The only positive fit amongst OHL eligibles is Mintyukov. He may not be the most realistic option, as he has been ranked as high as seventh (Elite Prospects), but he has also been ranked as low as 26th (Smaht Scouting). While that puts him out of the Lightning reach, there\u2019s always a chance a player falls, and the Lightning will only be about six picks away from the lower end of his range.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If drafted by the Lightning, Mintyukov would set new highs in OHL goals per game and points per game. He would also finish above average in OHL goals, assists, points and assists per game. The things holding him back from being a positive fit is the fact he is below average in height (6\u20191\u201d), weight (192), OHL games played, and World Juniors games played assists and points. He finished with a draft fit score of exactly zero.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Wishing the best of luck to Pavel Mintyukov and Matyas Sapovaliv as they attend the #NHLCombine<\/a> this week! pic.twitter.com\/t7bkU5Xb4w<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Saginaw Spirit (@SpiritHockey) May 31, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n