Tynan Lawrence

[dhsux]

This could be a really underrated pick and I hope it is. Trying to transition 1/2 through the season and being one of the youngest players in the draft alone could be why the points weren't there. BU also struggled to score and I'm sure he was focusing on the D side of his game staring out. Next year will he will have a full season and be much more prepared.

In addition to your points above, wasn’t he injured as well? Ankle? Or am I thinking of a different prospect from the draft?

Yes, he got injured in training camp and missed the beginning of the season.

Reasons to be excited:

He was very good as a 16 yr old for Muskegon in 2024-25. Was probably their best player as they went on to win the Clark Cup. Opposing players simply couldn’t handle his speed and pace most of the time.

He missed the first part of the season and then put up 17 pts in 13 games. That’s high production for the USHL (a league that’s pretty defensively oriented and known to be a little stingy on secondary assists). He struggled at first in college but it can be argued that it makes sense for him to struggle a bit moving to college hockey mid-season.

He’s very fast, shifty, skilled, works his butt off and is good defensively for a teenager. He’s also very young - was barely eligible for this year’s draft. There’s a lot to like with him and reason to think he’s likely to really take a big step at BU this season.

Reasons to maybe tamper the expectations a bit:

He largely dominated the USHL but it was because of his speed. He’s also very didn’t often outthink opponents. He outskated and outworked them.

He then struggled quite a bit in the transition to college hockey. To me, it was largely because he had issues adjusting to bigger and faster players. The speed advantage was less overall there. He seemed to not see many passing lanes and skated himself into nothing.

He was then solid at the U18s but not amazing. Largely disappeared against the tougher opponents and again, his hockey sense looked lacking. The speed and skills were obvious but the playmaking was lacking.

Overall thoughts:

He’s a good C prospect. He has a lot going for him. But I do question his hockey sense some. I left many of his viewings questioning his hockey sense. That said, he started the year off injured, made a very tough transition mid-season and is very young. The question I have is, are those explanations or excuses? He was one of the harder prospects for me to judge this season as he has just about every other skill you’d want in a player. Going into the season, I had him pretty much in line with McKenna after what I saw from him the season before in the USHL playoffs. But I started to question his game more and more as the season went along.

That said, if the hockey sense issues turn out to be overblown and he can really develop his playmaking game, then he has a real chance to pop. But I do caution people that the hockey sense critiques aren’t just made up. He showed some real concerns in that area. It’s possible they can be explained away by him having lots of transitions but it’d also plenty possible the critique is legit.

How much can Hockey Sense be improved?
My sense is that can be developed quite a bit with experience, particularly at higher levels of competition. Obviously that is enhanced by a good level of innate intelligence and coachability. Does he possess those traits hopefully?

It can be improved. Some think you either have it or you don’t but I don’t fully believe that. There are absolutely things you can work on in regards to pattern recognition, timing, play development, lanes, skill blending etc. A lot of that is coaching. Not all coaching is equal. Not all good coaches are good at coaching all aspects of the game, especially in terms of skill development and blending that with decision making.

That said, some people are simply a lot better at processing things at high speeds, seeing those patterns and open passing lanes better and faster than most others etc. Those are the guys where their hockey sense really stands out usually.

I don’t know a ton about Lawrence but he certainly seems naturally intelligent. Certainly smart enough to advance his academics to be able to enroll and begin classes at BC in what should’ve been halfway through his Sr year of HS (and actually, most kids with an August b-day would probably be held back a year and a kid his age would oftentimes still be a Jr in HS. At least here in the States anyway. I think the kids in Canada tend to have a later age cutoff). And he seems coachable too. So yeah, I expect him to make some good strides.

I’m cautiously optimistic with him. It’s absolutely possible the Blues hit a home run with this kid. But there’s also reason for caution as he dropped for a reason and unlike other times I’ve seen kids drop, I see the reason why he dropped a bit as being pretty valid. But that’s what makes scouting hard. You have to evaluate 100s of kids based on whatever data you can get. Sometimes the data tells you a clear story and other times it’s inconsistent, murky and there’s less of it when a kid gets injured and misses games. A year from now, he might be viewed differently.

IMO, if he stayed where he was instead of going NCAA mid-season, we would have had NO CHANCE at him on the 11th pick. Huge win for us as I had him as the 2nd best center in the entire draft, so no complaints here.

Speaking of his move, who in his group of peers thought that was a good idea. It's hard enough for a kid to transition to the NCAA at the beginning of the season, even with the weeks of practice, coaching sessions, team meetings and the workout regiment, but mid-season without ANY of that??? It probably took a month just to learn the system, let alone knowing it as if it were second nature. You have NO IDEA of your fellow players skill-set, setup routine (where they like the puck) let alone making those actions automatic (not having to actively think, just know).

For those of us who've played NCAA hockey, learning all of that with the speed involved is a huge hurdle, and it showed in Tynan's game when he first arrived.

Again, Good For Us...

Some really good commentary Pete thanks for that.

I have some strong faith in the blues scouting department and their analytical team in regard to their draft selections.

I was thrilled they grabbed him and for them to take Lawrence first up is all I need to know for right now any way.

[2forDiving]

I read an article where they interviewed Tynan's coach at BU and he mentioned that it was a tough transition to come in over winter break and trying to get up and running with the team and classes etc... He also discussed how Tynan's game is advanced for his age in the way he was able to make plays of the boards to teammates and himself, and his ability to move the puck into space so his teammates could pick it up with speed. I have also seen some highlights where he has made some great passes leading to goals showing his vision. I'm sure there is plenty of video showing plays where he didn't make the correct read or play, but hopefully he improves on this with more experience. It seems like McKenna experienced some of the same issues with adjusting to NCAA hockey, but he played more games and was able show that he could be dominant at that level. If Tynan comes out this year and plays well and produces he may fast track to the NHL. With him being so young I would think he would play this year and next year at BU so he could fully develop physically before making the jump to the NHL.

I actually saw an interview with Jeff Marek and Pierre Maguire where they talked about McKenna, Verhoeff and Lawrence all making the jump to the NCAA in their draft year and it probably hurting 2 of the 3 in terms of where they were selected. Mentioned that McKenna coming out of the World Jrs had some question marks, but that his 2nd half at Penn St secured his top overall status. They said it was like a Catch 22 for the other two.They both agreed that if Verhoeff stays in Jrs and Lawrence in the USHL, they likely get drafted higher, but by going the college route they are probably going to be better prepared for the NHL than they would have been had they not made the move. They wonder if their drops in the draft change how some guys approach going to college in their draft years from hereon.

[Hockey Pete]

I read an article where they interviewed Tynan's coach at BU and he mentioned that it was a tough transition to come in over winter break and trying to get up and running with the team and classes etc... He also discussed how Tynan's game is advanced for his age in the way he was able to make plays of the boards to teammates and himself, and his ability to move the puck into space so his teammates could pick it up with speed. I have also seen some highlights where he has made some great passes leading to goals showing his vision. I'm sure there is plenty of video showing plays where he didn't make the correct read or play, but hopefully he improves on this with more experience. It seems like McKenna experienced some of the same issues with adjusting to NCAA hockey, but he played more games and was able show that he could be dominant at that level. If Tynan comes out this year and plays well and produces he may fast track to the NHL. With him being so young I would think he would play this year and next year at BU so he could fully develop physically before making the jump to the NHL.

I actually saw an interview with Jeff Marek and Pierre Maguire where they talked about McKenna, Verhoeff and Lawrence all making the jump to the NCAA in their draft year and it probably hurting 2 of the 3 in terms of where they were selected. Mentioned that McKenna coming out of the World Jrs had some question marks, but that his 2nd half at Penn St secured his top overall status. They said it was like a Catch 22 for the other two.They both agreed that if Verhoeff stays in Jrs and Lawrence in the USHL, they likely get drafted higher, but by going the college route they are probably going to be better prepared for the NHL than they would have been had they not made the move. They wonder if their drops in the draft change how some guys approach going to college in their draft years from hereon.

+1, with the comment on McKenna. Not to date myself, but we had a saying in the NCAA called the "light switch moment". When a talented high school'er playing in the NCAA has that moment where everything comes together and they perform to their talent level. IMO McKenna's happened after Jr's at Penn St. It's part learning, part workout (growing that kid body) and part confidence, some more than others but always a combination of the three.

I'm confident Tynan's will come this season at BU...

[Nublues69]

Rency
Tylaw

[JoshInFenton]

Hockey sense to me is up to the individual. does the game eventually slow down for them visually or does it stay the same, seems to be hit and miss. It's why i like guys with slightly inferior tools but the smarts to outwit the faster player at times, and why i wasn't as high on Lawrence.

However, if he improves dramatically this season over last, then i probably have less concerns when the NHL jump happens (outside of will the coaches give him time to sort it out here).