2021 NHL Entry Draft: The Kids Are Out There Part 4

2021 NHL Entry Draft. This is part four of a multi-part series exploring the Ducks four most recent NHL entry drafts to give an overall view of how far away certain prospects are and when we might expect to see them with the Gulls/Ducks.

Part 1 featuring the 2018 draft is here.

Part 2 featuring the 2019 draft is here.

Part 3 featuring the 2020 draft is here.

This entry looks at the 2021 draft, or the “Owen Power and Matty Beniers sweepstakes”. This was the first entry draft to feature the Seattle Kraken and without even realizing they were following tradition – they jumped right in and pushed the Ducks down a spot in the draft order. Anaheim would select third overall after having the second best odds to grab the first overall pick but fell to third – because of-course they did. Much like 2020, this was also a “pandemic” draft of sorts – given a lot of the kids eligible had missed an entire year if not more of draft-year playing time. The Ducks went in knowing that they once again needed scoring forwards, a slight top up on defense and perhaps a late selection in goal given they did not pick up a goaltender the year before.

2021 – NHL Entry Draft

After much speculation that the Ducks would go for a smaller play-making forward like William Eklund or a bigger scoring winger like Dylan Guenther the Ducks went full man-child with their selection of McTavish. He was ranked second overall for North American skaters but the Kraken opted for the hard-working play driving but sixth ranked center Beniers with their selection.

McTavish had spent his pre-draft pandemic year playing in Switzerland where he contributed 11 points in 13 games playing on a club in their second tier league. Born in Zurich while his father was playing in the top Swiss league – McTavish is 6’1″ and 207lbs of pure power forward and did not look out of place playing among men. With the OHL unable to start he was one of a few lucky players able to leverage a family or club connection to obtain permission to play on loan in Europe and made the most of it, parlaying his strong play to a spot as the Captain of the Canadian World Junior team where he put up 11 points in 7 games before it was postponed until August due to a COVID19 outbreak.

This last year has been a whirlwind for the young center as he made the Ducks out of training camp – saw nine games of NHL action and then a further three with the Gulls on a conditioning loan before being returned to the OHL. He put up seven points in five games with the Peterborough Petes before being traded to the Hamilton Bulldogs mid-season – a move that CHL teams usually make when they recognize a player won’t be with them much longer. He currently has 24 points in 16 playoff games for the Bulldogs as they battle it out in the OHL Championship.

The general consensus at the time of his selection was that the Ducks were smartly building a team with a two-headed monster down the middle. With Zegras providing mind-bending skill and play-making ability on one side of the coin and McTavish bringing a physical, power-forward and mean edge to the other side. It’s a one-two punch that brought them similar if brief success with Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler a few years back. It is all but inevitable that McTavish will be a permanent fixture on the Ducks next season but unless he goes down with injury and requires another conditioning stint – he is not eligible to play for the Gulls until 2023. He could technically join them as a black-ace at the end of next season but only once his OHL team had also been eliminated from their playoffs.

Update: McTavish now has 26 points in 18 playoff games and five goals in the OHL Championship series against Windsor. They play a pivotal game seven tomorrow for the right to play for the Memorial Cup.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2022-2023

The Ducks did not have their usual additional late first round pick in the 2021 draft – (owing to Bob Murray essentially standing pat at the trade deadline that year) but they did have the second place selection in the subsequent rounds there-after. This put them at very good odds to pick up any players that had slipped through. Zellweger was one of those under-the-radar players that fell – primarily due to his size and very young age. He has made a lot of teams look incredibly foolish for passing him over through the first 33 selections and has gone on to win the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the WHLs top defender this past season.

He lead all defenders in scoring with 78 points in 55 games and briefly saw time on the sidelines as he recovered from a nasty hit from behind sustained toward the end of the season. His division winning Everett Silvertips were upset in the first round of the WHL playoffs – leaving Zellweger to make an early AHL debut in the Gulls first post-season game against the Reign. He was some-what thrown in the deep-end but did manage to finish the game with a point – assisting on a late goal by Alex Limoges by using his strong skating to gain the zone and create space in the Reign zone.

Zellweger is still insanely young – being one of the youngest players available in the 2021 draft and so – despite his obvious talent; he will likely need another year in the WHL before making the jump to pro. It’s a tough one – he is clearly too good for Juniors but likely still too young for the NHL. He won’t be eligible to be assigned to the Gulls until 2024-2025 but likely makes the Ducks in 2023-2024.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2023-2024

Originally slated to attend the University of Notre Dame he changed his mind after the draft and opted instead to play in the OHL for the Guelph Storm, the team that held his rights. Reports at the time of his change of heart indicated that a specialist skating coach and the opportunity to play more games were the main reasons for his decision as his slip down into the third round despite being the leading scorer for the USNTDP was largely attributed to his skating.

He started his season at Guelph strong – hitting 20 goals before pausing to attend the World Juniors in late December. Several of his tallies were highlight reel worthy with one going particularly viral due to Pastujovs post-goal celebration featuring a “dab”.

Finishing the year with 76 points in 65 games in his first year in the OHL, leading his team in scoring but only good for 23rd in the league – his production fell hard in the second half of the year and this was noted by analysts keeping tabs on his development.

Because he was drafted out of the USNTDP but did not end up going to College – he can technically join the Ducks and Gulls whenever he so pleases. He will eligible to join the Gulls in 2022-2023 but that depends if the Ducks feel he needs further work with skating specialist coach Barb Underhill.

Given the fall-off in production and downward trend toward the end of the season it feels like he may need another year in Junior.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2023-2024

After the Ducks selected Pastujov – perhaps unexpectedly at the top of the third round; they clearly still had a name on their list that they felt would not last until the fourth and so they traded their 2022 third round pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a third round pick they had acquired from Chicago in a trade for Andrew Shaw. As per Martin Madden:

“Thinking of what we could get next year in the third round we thought we cant do better than we will do by selecting Tyson” -Martin Madden

Hinds is a tall, mobile and lanky left shooting defender that impressed both myself and Crash The Pond analyst Felix Sicard at the Rookie Showcase in September last year.

His draft year numbers were average but the Ducks clearly saw potential in him after he was traded mid-season from the Cataractes to the Oceanic and he exploded with an extra 15 points in 23 games under a system that greater encouraged his mobility. This season he had 16 points in another 23 games before being dealt once again – this time to the Sherbrooke Phoenix; where he finished the year with 19 points in 38 games for a total of 35 points in 61 games. Reading between the lines – the trade was a pre-emptive strike by the Oceanic to “acquire futures” for a soon-to-be-departed player.

Despite his numbers taking a relative dip this past season – his play at the rookie tournament still stands out to me as the kind of potential he has as a good defensive but mobile defender with both size and reach as well as some offensive upside. This upcoming season will be his last in the Q, look for him to join the Gulls as a Black Ace at its conclusion either on an entry level deal or as a PTO.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2023-2024

Selected as a twenty year old after a breakout freshman year with UMASS Amherst – Lopina recently signed his entry level deal with the Ducks and joined the Gulls for their end of season campaign.

Billed as a defensive forward and a face-off specialist – he had no trouble at all adjusting to the AHL and by seasons end was seeing big minutes as the top line center after BO Groulx was lost to injury. He followed that up with a goal in the short post-season best of three series against the Reign.

Lopina grew on me more and more with each game and by the end he was actively jumping into soft areas for a chance or recognizing an opportunity to drive the net or the center lane to create space for his line-mates on the rush. As I stated in his post-season grade – moving up the roster and straight into the top-line center role in the first five games of your pro-career is a very good start and it has been a good long while since the Ducks had a pure defensive center in the same mold as Sammy Pahlsson. It will be exciting to see what he does next season with the Gulls in his first full year with the team.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

Already Arrived

At the time of his selection Tschiegerls bio read to me like that of Antoine Morand. All hustle, no quit, loves to force turnovers and drive play through his speed and hard-work. I was an instant fan.

Then I saw him play at the Rookie Showcase and fell in love all over again. He was at times – the Ducks most consistent playmaker for stretches during the tournament and in their final games when they sat a lot of their more experienced players; he stepped up and proved a difference maker on offense.

This last season in the WHL was an up and down one for the Alberta native. Playing on a Calgary team that finished second to last in their division and seventh to last in the league he finished second on the team in scoring after much of their older players were dealt during the year.

Given he will be in his final under-age year next season it is likely he will be moved to a contender so it will be interesting to see how that translates to his production – here is hoping he is able to more consistently put up the kind of numbers he was doing earlier in the Hitmens season and particularly in November. He will join the Gulls as a Black Ace at the conclusion of next season and be with them full time in 2023-2024.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2023-2024

Selected using the fifth round pick acquired in the deal that sent Erik Gudbranson to Ottawa last offseason, Alexander was passed over in the draft the year before but put up some stellar numbers (2.23 GAA and 0.917 SV% – 6-3-0) in the shortened 2020-2021 season to earn his selection by the Ducks.

He is a very tall goaltender – standing at 6’6″ and the Ducks are likely hoping he develops along the same trajectory as fellow very tall netminder Anthony Stolarz.

He spent some time nursing an injury this past season and returned in time for the stretch drive including starting in all five playoff games but his Winnipeg Ice were unfortunately dispatched by the eventual WHL championship winning Edmonton Oil Kings. He finished the year with a 25-11-5 record and a 2.40 GAA with 0.911 SV% – slightly down on his 2020-2021 numbers but along the same lines when accounting for sample size.

It is unlikely he returns to the WHL next season so we will most likely see him try out for the Gulls but ultimately be assigned to the Oilers in his first year as a professional.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2022-2023

With their final selection in the sixth round the Ducks selected Kyle Kukkonen, a smaller forward who tore up the Minnesota High School league with 74 points in 23 games. He is committed to Michigan Tech but spent this past season with the Madison Capitals in the USHL where he put up a respectable 53 points in 58 games – finishing second on the team in scoring and 29th in the league.

He heads to Michigan Tech next season where he will join his older brother Trevor on a team backstopped by star goaltender Blake Pietela (no not that one). The Huskies were bounced in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year when their leading scorer and hobey baker finalist Brian Halonen was given a boarding major and game misconduct just three minutes into the game. Halonen has since signed with the Devils leaving an opening for Kukkonen to possibly become a big part of the Huskies offense next season.

It will likely take him three years at College before deciding to turn pro but it will be interesting to see how he develops. Some describe his game as almost selfish in that he will almost always take the shot even if there is an option to pass but that appears to be changing for the better and his higher assist to goal ratio last season may be proof of that. Regardless the Ducks need shooters so having an over-tendency to take the shot can’t be that much of a bad thing.

Estimated Date of Arrival:

2025-2026

Conclusion

After a top-heavy but ho-hum remainder of selections for the 2020 draft – this 2021 draft class is already looking like it will be much much stronger in comparison. In terms of potential eventual NHLers it may even rival the Ducks famed 2011 draft. McTavish was noted as a high-risk pick at the time given his draft-year stats were taken from a small sample size and a swiss league but he is already proving to be well worth the selection and a sure-lock to make the Ducks roster next season as a 19 year old. Zellweger and Pastujov were regarded as sure-fire selections that balanced out the risk in taking McTavish and they have shown at points during the last season that they could turn into not just everyday NHLers but star ones at that. Hinds and Tschigerl showed a lot of promise at the rookie showcase last year and Lopina has already hit the ground running at the AHL level while showing a strong a face-off guy he is. Bringing up the rear – Alexander has the size to be a successful goaltender and Kukkonen’s junior numbers give hope that he could really turn into something.