NHL draft: High-scoring winger Raphael Lavoie among prospects who intrigue the Flyers
The 6-foot-4, 198-pounder played all three forward positions this season and excelled in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Raphael Lavoie has been compared to big right winger Alex Tuch, who was drafted in the first round by Minnesota in 2014. That’s interesting because the Wild’s draft was then headed by men now with the Flyers.
Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher and his amateur-scouting expert, Brent Flahr, drafted Tuch 18th overall, and they will oversee the Flyers’ selections next Friday and Saturday in Vancouver.
Lavoie, a 6-foot-4, 198-pounder, played all three forward positions this season and excelled in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He is expected to be available when the Flyers, provided they don’t make a trade, select at No. 11.
The winner of the Mike Bossy Trophy as the QMJHL’s best pro prospect, Lavoie projects to be selected in the teens, but if the players the Flyers covet are gone by the time they pick, he wouldn’t be a bad fit.
In the NHL, he will probably be used at one of the wing spots.
As for the 6-4, 222-pound Tuch, Fletcher traded him in 2017 to Vegas as compensation for the Golden Knights’ agreeing to take Erik Haula in the expansion draft. (Minnesota received a third-round pick in the deal.) Tuch, now 23, produced 15 and 20 goals, respectively, in each of the Golden Knights’ first two seasons.
Flahr likes Lavoie’s potential.
“He has a big body and has to learn how to play away from the puck a little bit,” Flahr said. “But he has very good hands for a big man. He really shoots the puck, and he scores goals.”
Flahr said Lavoie has had some “consistency issues, but he was really good in the playoffs, when it matters most. He shouldn’t have to wait long” to be selected.
Lavoie, whose puck-possession skills get rave reviews, had 32 goals, 73 points, and a plus-36 rating in 62 regular-season games for Halifax last season, then improved his draft stock by collecting 20 goals and 32 points in 23 playoff games. He has above-average speed, a great release, and a hard, accurate shot. Scouts say his defense has improved but still needs work.
Among wingers in the draft, Lavoie is rated behind Kaapo Kakko (expected to be selected No. 2 overall), Matthew Boldy, and Cole Caufield. Lavoie and the talented Vasili Podkolzin could be the best wingers available when the Flyers make their first pick.
Assuming the top centers (Jack Hughes, Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras, Dylan Cozens, Kirby Dach, Peyton Krebs) are gone before the 11th pick, the Flyers might choose from among the highly regarded wingers or take a a top defenseman.
From talking to industry sources, Flahr said, he usually has a good idea by draft week where most first-round players will get selected.
“But this year is a little different,” he said, because of the parity of the prospects after Hughes, Kakko, and defenseman Bowen Byram. There isn’t a great deal of difference in players rated between Nos. 4 and 15 in the draft, scouts say.