The Vancouver Canucks had to wait longer than most, but their second pick of the 2016 NHL Draft is finally in.
With the 64th pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, the Vancouver Canucks selected forward William Lockwood.
Two of my main third-round targets went off the board rather quickly: defenseman Andrew Peeke went to the Columbus Blue Jackets at 34, and the Chicago Blackhawks picked up winger Artur Kayumov 50th overall. With that, only one of the three players from my draft-target post was available at 64: Joey Anderson.
In addition to that, some potential first-round players were still there, including forward Will Bitten and Vitali Abramov. Instead, GM Jim Benning went quite a bit off the board when he called William Lockwood’s name.
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Lockwood is a 5-foot-10, 172-pound forward from the US NTDP. In 59 games in the 2015-16 season, he had 13 goals and 33 points. No outstanding numbers, and I honestly couldn’t tell you much more about him.
His highest ranking came from McKeen’s Hockey at 71, the lowest was Future Considerations at 197. Lockwood was ranked 108th by NHL Central Scouting, and it seems like Vancouver could have had a better pick than that. Then again, Jim Benning is said to be a good scout and good drafter.
In fact, Lockwood is not even in attendance at the draft, so he can’t have expected to be a high pick. It seems like not many expected him to go very high. That said, TSN’s Bob McKenzie ranked him 74th, similar to McKeen’s ranking, so it might not be that far off the board.
Here is what SBN College Hockey said about Lockwood, a University of Michigan commit:
"Lockwood plays with a lot of energy and effort. He’s a very consistent player that always gives 100%. He creates opportunities for himself by taking away time and space from the opposition and forcing mistakesSpeed is Lockwood’s best asset. He’s got light feet which gives him a very quick first step and above average straight-line speed. He doesn’t always use that speed to his greatest advantage, but it could be a pro-level tool if he learns how to use it better.Lockwood wasn’t a huge scorer for the NTDP this year, but when he got opportunities, he showed a nice ability to finish off plays. He’ll have to show he can do that more consistently, but matched with the right linemate that can set him up, he could be a much bigger scorer.Lockwood is much more likely to make a play with his feet than he is with his hands. That makes him a fairly one-dimensional offensive player, and is a bit concerning in regards to how he’ll do when he reaches a level where everyone can skate well.Lockwood isn’t a very big player, but even for a player his size, he doesn’t play a very heavy game. He needs to get better at utilizing his speed to get himself in position to out-angle and out-leverage opponents to win pucks in order to be a more effective two-way player."
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Future Considerations project him to be a “bottom-six character winger” in their 2016 draft guide.
A pick like this makes me wonder why the Canucks didn’t trade down a few spots to pick up another pick and still get the player they want. Of course, there might have been other teams who liked Lockwood — you never know. Or, maybe Benning just couldn’t get a deal done.
Let’s see where this one goes. In Benning we trust.