Lynden Lakovic may not have been a name many had going to the Capitals in mock drafts, largely because the big forward had been rising through the rankings lately – so the fact that they were able to get him at 27th is why plenty of people are using the word “steal” to describe the pick.
So who exactly is Lynden Lakovic?
An overall view of Lakovic is he’s a large winger (6’4″, 201 lbs) with a smooth stride, good speed, high hockey IQ, and an offensive double threat. He always has his head up, scanning the ice, looking for the best option then is able to execute it – whether it’s making a cross-ice dime pass or a back pass to someone you’d think he couldn’t have seen, finding the late-coming scoring threat, or ripping a shot himself to the top corner. Basically if it’s happening in the offensive zone, he is going to be a part of it; he was involved in over 51% of his teams points, which is crazy considering he missed over 20 games due to injury.
If there is one major flaw with Lynden it’s something basically every scouting report will mention. For being so big, he’s barely, if ever, physical. Now, this isn’t the end of the world. He thinks the game so quick and so well, he would rather steal the puck or make a move to intercept a pass than just go for the hit. That’s the right play and that’s how Lynden plays: smarter. But sometimes the smarter play is to use that size, pin someone on the boards, and let your teammates get the puck.
This is something he will need to learn. He will need to know when to go for the hit and when to make the smarter play. The kid is wicked smart, so with the right coaching there’s no doubt that he can learn when to be more physical.
While he does move very well for a big man and has great edges, he could improve his skating, namely his acceleration if he found more power in his steps. He is already leagues better than Aliaksei Protas was when he was drafted and Protas turned his skating from a weakness to strength. Get Lakovic working with Wendy Marco and he’ll be improving his stride in no time.
There are two things I like to pay attention to when looking at a prospect outside of the usual play style, production, build, etc.: their age, and their point total compared to the rest of their team.
Younger players have even longer runways to develop, and unfortunately Lynden is not young (relatively speaking) as his December birthday puts him on the older side of draftees – but that isn’t the end of the world.
What I really like is how he produced compared to the rest of his team. He led his team by 10 points, which is good but may not seem that great – however, it’s important to note that he played 21 fewer games than the next player. If he played a full 68 games he would have been on pace for 84 points, which would have put him 36 points ahead of the next-highest scorer on his team. That’s exactly the kind of production you want to see from your players.
It’s also important to note that Lynden played on the Moose Jaw Warriors, the worst team in the WHL with only wins in 15 wins in 68 games. The only other good player on the team, Brayden Yager, was traded mid season after 21 games, leaving Lynden to try to carry a horrible team by himself. Lynden also suffered an injury in the season and the reports suggest he wasn’t as good once he returned, which could account for some of why he even fell to 27th in the first place.
The hope next season is Lakovic is also traded like Yager, which should happen at some point. The Warriors are expected to be bad again so a trade to a contender makes sense. Once he gets on a better team where he will get some help, he should rocket up the points board. He also only needs one more year in the WHL before he can go to the AHL or maybe the NCAA, which is a benefit the Caps didn’t have with last year’s first-rounder, Terik Parascak.
As for potential, Lynden has a very high ceiling. He could be a very good top-six complementary winger in the NHL, maybe top line if everything hits right. He’s said he likes to model his game after guys like Tage Thompson and Matthew Knies, and while Knies plays with a lot of edge that Lakovic (so far) hasn’t displayed, Thompson could be a good comparable in terms of playing style and would be a great outcome.
Another good comparison is probably Anthony Mantha: a big body that might not be physical but is uber smart and is a dual threat offensively. Obviously Mantha had mixed results during his time in DC, but we saw how he put it together under the right coaching staff. Same with someone like Protas, a big, incredibly smart hockey player who was raw but has turned himself into a hell of a top-six player. If he can be anywhere near those players then Caps should be happy.
The Caps already have a plethora of great winger prospects coming up, so adding Lakovic doesn’t make too much sense from a pure organizational depth perspective – but Ross Mahoney and the Caps have always gone with the strategy of taking the best player available, which Lynden appears to have been.