Lightning add offensive skill at 2022 NHL Draft
Tampa Bay's draft haul included four forwards, a defenseman and a goaltender
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Going into Round 1 on Thursday night, the Bolts held the 31st overall pick and used it to select left winger Isaac Howard from USA Hockey's National Team Development Program. Heading into the night, Tampa Bay didn't think they would even get the chance to select Howard once they got on the clock.
"We got a player that we thought was great value in the first round in Isaac," said Lightning assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting Al Murray. "We thought he was going to go much higher.
"There was a certain group of players that we thought we'd be really happy if we could get this player or that player out of that group.
"Isaac wasn't in that group. We thought he'd be gone before that."
Howard skated with the NTDP's Under-18 Team last season and led the team with 82 points (33G, 49A) in 60 games. His 49 assists were the second-most on the team and his 33 goals ranked third.
Following the USHL season, Howard played with Team USA at the 2022 IIHF Under-18 Men's World Championship and led all U.S. skaters with 11 points (6G, 5A) in six contests en route to a silver medal.
"He fits what we're looking for," said Murray. "He's a skilled offensive player with good speed, drives into the offensive zone, and goes to the net. He doesn't play on the perimeter at all. Both a playmaker and a goal scorer."
A 5-foot-10, 181-pound, Wisconsin native, Howard is committed to play college hockey at University of Minnesota-Duluth next season.
Going into the second day of the draft, the Bolts held six picks - 103, 160, 169, 192, 223, and 224.
When they saw a player they wanted getting closer and closer, Tampa Bay decided to move up and grab Lucas Edmonds from the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs. The Lightning selected Edmonds with the 86th overall pick after making a deal with the Los Angeles Kings that saw Tampa Bay give up the 103rd and 189th overall picks.
Both of the picks that the Lightning traded were acquired from other clubs via trade over the past year.
Edmonds is an interesting prospect. Now 21 years old, he received an invitation to play in the OHL as an overage player after playing the previous five years in Sweden.
"He hadn't gotten drafted in his normal years," said Murray. "Usually, a player of Lucas's age would have been a free agent. 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. We continued to follow him."
After accepting the invitation to play in the OHL, Edmonds proceeded to lead the Frontenacs with 113 points (34G, 79A) in just 68 games. His 79 assists led the OHL and earned him the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the top-scoring right winger. In his first OHL game, Edmonds recorded a four-point night with two goals and two assists.
"He was the leading scorer on that team and he's a combination scorer, but he's a very good playmaker," said Murray. "Very smart. Not the fastest guy, but the 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."
The Bolts always kept an eye on Edmonds, even going back to last season. It was his play this season that elevated himself into the conversation of being an NHL draft pick.
For Tampa Bay, they don't care that Edmonds is 21. What's important to the Lightning is that he has developed into a great player.
"Some guys just develop at different times," Murray said. "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."
That move up into the third round was the only trade of the day for Tampa Bay. The Bolts held onto the rest of their picks and selected goaltender Nick Malik in the fifth round with the 160th overall pick.
Nick is the son of longtime NHL defenseman Marek Malik, who played his final NHL season with the Lightning in 2008-09, skating in 42 games and picking up five assists, and left the league with 691 career regular season games under his belt.
As for Nick, he is 20 years old and played in the Finnish Liiga with KooKoo last season. The 6-foot-2, 174-pound netminder appeared in 34 games and ranked fourth in the league with a .922 save percentage. He recorded four shutouts and had a 1.97 goals against average.
Murray and the Bolts see "really good potential" in Malik, who appeared in the IIHF World Junior Championship with Czechia in two consecutive years. In his second year at World Juniors in 2021, he played in four games and recorded a 2.90 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
The Lightning were back on the board 32 picks later and selected right winger Connor Kurth from Dubuque of the USHL with the 192nd overall pick.
A 5-foot-11, 207-pound, Minnesota native, Kurth recorded the fifth-most points in the USHL last season with 81 and his 35 goals were tied for the fifth-most in the league.
Kurth is 18 years old and scored a hat trick in his first career USHL game, as did the Bolts' first-round pick, Howard. In fact, the two were teammates in the Minnesota Bantam Elite League during the 2018-19 season.
Both forwards appeared in 14 games and Howard led the team with 31 points (17G, 14A) while Kurth ranked second with 29 points (13G, 16A) of his own.
"Another bit of a late developer, but he's a goal scorer," said Murray. "We've had some success in the USHL with getting some later players that continue to mature and develop and go on to school. We think he can be one of those guys.
"He's a big, not a tall kid, but he's thick with a strong build and he shoots the puck and can score goals. Offensive players are tough to find."
Last summer, Kurth was named the USHL Scholar-Athlete of the Year and finished high school with a 4.12 GPA. He is committed to play at University of Minnesota next season.
Tampa Bay wrapped up their night with two, back-to-back, seventh-round picks.
At 223 overall, the Bolts selected Dyllan Gill, a right-handed defenseman from Riverview, New Brunswick.
Gill spent the past two seasons skating with the QMJHL's Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Last season, he played in 66 games and scored six goals to go along with 15 assists for 21 points. Gill also played three playoff games and picked up one assist.
He has played in 105 contests with Rouyn-Noranda over the last two seasons.
Following the selection of Gill, the Bolts selected Latvian forward Klavs Veinbergs with the 224th overall pick.
Veinbergs is a big left winger at 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds. He played 47 games with Riga of the Russian junior league this season, recording 16 goals and 24 points.
He then went on to play in the top Latvian pro league and skate in five regular season games with Zemgale before picking up seven points in nine playoff games en route to a league championship. He also represented Latvia in the IIHF Men's World Championship, skating in three games.
The Lightning leave the draft with six new players, four forwards, a goalie, and a defenseman. With some talented offensive players available this year, Murray and the Tampa Bay staff felt it was a good time to secure some skill up front.
"We thought this was a great opportunity this year to add some skilled offensive players with Isaac, Lucas, and again with Kurth," Murray said. "We've added some good offensive skill to our prospect pool."
Lightning prospects will be on full display when they hit the ice on Monday for 2022 Development Camp. A formal schedule and roster will be made available at a later date.
