Breakout OHL season led Bolts to trade up to select Edmonds

As the picks continued to roll in during the third round of the 2022 NHL Draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning had their eye on one player that they had been watching for some time.
Lucas Edmonds, a 21-year-old winger from North Bay, Ontario, was still on the board, but the Bolts didn't have another pick until the fourth round (103rd overall). As the selections trickled in, the Lightning saw the opportunity to move into the third round and jumped at it.
Tampa Bay sent the 103rd and 169thoverall picks to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the 86th overall selection, which they used to select Edmonds.

After playing multiple years in Sweden, Edmonds received an invitation to play in the OHL this past season as an overage player. The Bolts had been keeping tabs on the 5-foot-11 forward even before he made his way back to North America, but if a team wanted the 185-pound, right-shot winger, they would have to draft him.
"Usually, a player of Lucas's age would've been a free agent," sent Tampa Bay's assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting Al Murray. "We were talking about signing him as a free agent during the season and then Central Scouting put out a notice that he was going to have to be drafted.
"So, we continued to follow him."
During that following, the Tampa Bay staff watched an impressive player continue to grow at both ends of the ice. In his one year skating in the OHL, Edmonds was a notable force in nearly every game he played in. Whether it was power play, penalty kill, scoring goals, or making passes, Edmonds was doing it all.
"He was the third highest scorer in the OHL," Murray said. "He was the leading scorer on that team. He's a combination scorer, but he's a very good playmaker.

"Very smart. Not the fastest guy, but skating won't be an issue for him.
"Really smart, skilled, offensive player, who will be able to come in and play, we think, in Syracuse, right off the bat."
Edmonds has the advantage that a lot of other OHL players don't have. He's played professional hockey. After playing against grown men during his time in Sweden, Edmonds came to North America and found himself competing against talent much closer to his own age.
"It's quite a big difference when you're playing against guys who are 27 years old, as opposed to guys who are maybe 16, 17, or 18," explained Edmonds. "In that sense, it was a little bit easier, but at the same time, the OHL is a really good league.
"It's full of skilled players. You may be playing against younger guys, but you're also playing against guys who are really talented and future NHL players, so it's still a great league in comparison."
Once Edmonds made his way to the OHL, he was dominant. He posted 113 points in just 68 games with 34 goals and 79 assists. His 79 helpers earned him the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the top-scoring right winger in the OHL. The 113 points he recorded were 19 more than the next-closest Frontenacs player.
You don't see a ton of 21-year-old skaters selected in the NHL Draft. For the Lightning, it didn't matter that Edmonds was an older player. What mattered was the way he developed and how he was performing. The talent was undeniable.
"Some guys just develop at different times," said Murray. "For us, it's when you get good is when we want to draft you.
"We don't look at your birthday. We look at how you're playing.
"We're not going to hold it against him because he worked hard and got good. We were excited to get Lucas."
The decision to make the jump from Sweden to the OHL wasn't necessarily an easy one for Edmonds. Would it be better for him to continue playing against older competition in Sweden or would he benefit more from going to a league like the OHL, where player development is near the top of the priority list?
"I think my last season in Sweden, when I was playing in the pro league, I didn't really get the development that I felt I should have," Edmonds said. "I felt like leaving was kind of a situation that people would view as taking a step back, but I felt like maybe if I take one step back, that will allow me to take two steps forward.
"I kind of used that year to promote myself and, luckily enough, I got good production and lots of help from my teammates and coaching staff. That's really what put me here today."
While Edmonds may have got more on the development side in North America, there were plenty of positives to take away from his time in Sweden.
"My years in Sweden were really beneficial," said Edmonds. "I put a lot of focus on the defensive side of the game. Playing over there really helped me learn to be responsible in my own zone.
"The coach had faith in me, putting me on the penalty kill and five-on-six situations at the end of the game when they pull their goalie and stuff like that. I have my strength in the offensive zone, but I can also be reliable in other situations."
After Tampa Bay's 2022 Development Camp officially got underway on Monday, Edmonds has been learning the ins and outs of the Lightning organization while putting names to faces. Once the regular season rolls around, look for him to start the year in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch.
"Next season, my goal would obviously be to start in the AHL, play there, and hopefully do well," said Edmonds. "You never know what can happen in the future.
"I feel that my experience from playing pro gives me an idea of what I can expect going into playing at the pro level again. I think having that year under my belt, along with years prior when I played some pro games too, will definitely be helpful going into next year."
The draft has come and gone. Now Edmonds can breathe a sigh of relief. Not only was he selected, but he was picked by a team that he genuinely wanted to play for. After talking with the Bolts over the past year, Edmonds got great vibes from the Tampa Bay management group.

Once both sides got together at the NHL Combine, Edmonds had a feeling he may be donning Lightning blue in the near future.
"It was just a really good vibe as soon as I walked into the room," Edmonds explained. "It felt like they were happy to see me. Everyone was just really positive.
"Some other interviews at the combine, you walk in and there's 10 guys in the room just staring at you and it can kind of feel like an interrogation of sorts. With Tampa, it didn't feel like that at all. They just made me feel really comfortable."
Then came the 86th overall pick. As Edmonds' heart rate continued to rise, his biggest dream became a reality.
"When I heard that Tampa had traded up to get a pick in the third round, my heart started to pump a little bit faster," Edmonds said. "Then they started to announce it and I heard Kingston Frontenacs and that was the moment where my heart just kind of dropped.
"I heard my name called and it was just a really cool experience. If I could have chosen as a free agent, Tampa was definitely my number one choice, so I'm really over the moon that I got picked by such a great team."
With the draft in the rearview mirror, the real work has begun. It won't be long before the season kicks off and the real fun begins with some game action for one of the newest Bolts. Until then, Edmonds is enjoying getting settled with his new organization.
"Everyone's been super great here," said Edmonds. "It's been really easy to make new connections and friends.
"I'm part of this great organization with these awesome facilities and everything. It's just really cool to be part of it.
"It's been a lot of fun so far and I'm looking forward to even more."