Lightning add depth at 2020 NHL Draft

The Tampa Bay Lightning entered the 2020 NHL Draft - held virtually this year rather than in Montreal as originally scheduled due to COVID restrictions - with eight selections over the two day affair starting with Tuesday's round one and continuing into Wednesday with rounds two through seven.
When the second day wrapped up, the Lightning had selected nine players, the extra pick the result of a couple draft day trades the team made over the course of the afternoon.
All combined, the Lightning haul included three centers (two of which were drafted in the Second Round) three wingers, a pair of right-shot defensemen and a goalie.

Tampa Bay was originally slotted to make its first selection of the 2020 Draft with the last pick (62nd overall) of the Second Round but dealt its Second Round pick in 2021 and one of its two Fourth Round picks in 2020 to the Montreal Canadiens to move up and take Jack Finley with the 57th overall selection.
Finley was the 38th-rated North American skater entering the draft according to NHL Central Scouting.
"We have certain cutoffs on our list where we feel that the quality of players starts to diminish, and he was one of the last couple of players in that group before the quality was going to drop off," said Lightning assistant general manager - director of amateur scouting Al Murray on the decision to trade up to take Finley. "We moved up on him similarly to when we moved up on Brayden Point [from pick No. 80 to No. 79 in 2014], moved one pick but we'd been trying to move up for a number of picks. The same thing with Finley. We wanted to get him. He was one of the last players on the list and wanted to make sure he didn't slip through."
Finley is a sizable 18-year-old center measuring 6-foot-5 and weighing 213 pounds. In his second full season with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League in 2019-20, he recorded 19 goals and 57 points, up from the nine goals and 19 points he put up in his first full season with the Chiefs a year earlier.
"When we were watching Spokane over the last couple of years, you could really see the maturity in his game," Murray said. "When you're such a big person, some guys are a bit uncoordinated. That's not a problem for him. He's a good athlete. He's got natural coordination. Even as an underage, he was playing power play and penalty kill for his team. This year, he stepped up to first power play and first penalty kill a lot of the time. Obviously, a big person, but we didn't draft him for his size. We drafted him because he's got skill and he's got competitiveness and he's got hockey sense in a big body."
Finley is the son of Jeff Finley, who played 708 games in the NHL over parts of 15 seasons with the New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.
"It was very cool watching Tampa Bay throughout the playoffs," the younger Finley said about being drafted by the Lightning. "It was pretty obvious they were the best team throughout the playoffs. They dominated. They have such an amazing roster. For me, I want to add some depth to that roster in the future. I think I can play up and down the lineup. I think that's one of the strong suits of my game. I think I'm going to help this team out down the road."
With its original second round selection (62nd overall), the Lightning took another center from the WHL, grabbing Gage Goncalves out of Everett.
The 19-year-old Goncalves checks in at 6-foot, 165 pounds and is a left shot who recorded 33 goals and 71 points in 60 games with the Silvertips in 2019-20.
"I'm a 200-foot, playmaking centerman with a high hockey IQ," Goncalves said when asked to describe his game. "A guy that I wanted to model my game after is Jaden Schwartz. I know he plays the wing, but he can still play that kind of grinding, physical role but also has the talent and the skill to make plays in the offensive zone."
Murray said Goncalves made as big a jump this season as any player in junior hockey.
"He's one of those guys that's a bit of a late bloomer, late developing physically," Murray said. "I don't believe he was ever drafted in the Western League and worked his way into the team. And it's kind of a story along the Anthony Cirelli line, guy who needed to get stronger and needed to continue to develop, and as the season went along, he went from third line to second line to first line and just continued to get better all season long. Put up really good numbers, caught the eye of Hockey Canada, so he's now on their radar for the World Junior team."
Tampa Bay opted for a Russian winger with the first of its two picks in the Third Round, taking Maxim Groshev 85th overall.
Groshev, 18, has skated in 10 games for Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik of the KHL this season, posting one assist. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound forward played in 36 games for the Neftekhimik last season, collecting a goal and six points.
He was the 25th ranked European player entering the draft according to NHL Central Scouting.
"Left shot, a right winger, big, power guy, skates really well, works really hard," Murray said, describing Groshev's game. "He was kind of a fourth line player for the Russian World Junior team, but with the U18 team a year ago, he was a second/third line type of player and was really good, started to score some points with the Russian World Junior team this summer and is playing in the KHL now. We hope that he can develop the scoring touch that we saw as a U18 player as he moves into U20 and into his KHL experience."
With the 93rd overall pick in the 2020 Draft (Third Round), the Lightning selected their first defenseman, taking Jack Thompson from Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League.
"I was just hoping for the best, and when I got selected, I was really excited and can't wait to join such a great organization," Thompson said upon getting drafted by the Lightning.
Thompson is an 18-year-old right shot who completed his second season with the Wolves, posting 13 goals and 32 points in 63 games. In his first full season with Sudbury in 2018-19, he had six goals and 16 points in 52 games.
"He's a good skater. He's a good puck mover. He has to learn better defensive play and has to compete a little harder defensively, but with the puck on his stick at the major junior level, he's got a big shot," Murray said of the 6-foot, 178-pound Thompson. "He runs the power play. He can make a good pass coming out of the zone, entering the zone. Within the offensive blue line, he sees options and can make good plays. So he's a high-skill, right-shot defenseman with good size and strength. He's got areas of his game that he needs to round out to become a complete package, but we're happy to have him."
Holding the opening selection of the Fourth Round (94th overall), the Lightning traded that pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the 116th (Fourth Round) and 147th (Fifth Round) selections.
The Lightning grabbed another right-shot defenseman when it was their turn again, taking Eamon Powell at No. 116 overall.
"It's always nice to get defense," Murray said. "We're kind of starting to overload on right-shot defensemen now actually. We've got a couple in college, (Nicklaus) Perbix and (Max) Crozier, and we just had (Alexander) Green turn pro."
Powell is from Marcellus, New York, about 20 minutes southwest of Syracuse where the Lightning's American Hockey League affiliate is located.
"I was around the War Memorial a ton as a kid," Powell said of the Syracuse Crunch's home arena. "Obviously playing in the Syracuse Nationals organization, we practiced at the War Memorial, played games there. Growing up, that was the big sports team in Syracuse, professional sports team, the Syracuse Crunch. I would go to a lot of games as a kid as well. So I'm very familiar with the War Memorial and very familiar with Syracuse. It's definitely shaped me into the player and person I am. When I got drafted by Tampa Bay, it was pretty unique having Syracuse being their farm team. It was definitely something pretty cool."
Powell, 18, notched six goals and 18 points in 43 games for the U.S. National U18 team in 2019-20 and is a member of the freshman class of Boston College's 2020-21 Men's Hockey team.
"We think there's a lot of upside in his game offensively," Murray said of the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Powell. "He's a very good skater. He's a very good puck mover. He can skate the puck out of trouble. He can pass the puck out of trouble. He can make plays inside the offensive blue line. Defensively, he's not a banger. He's not a big guy and he's not a strong guy yet. But what he has are real good feet, so he defends positionally and he defends with his feet. He's a good stick on puck guy. We look forward to watching him develop. We look forward to helping him with our development people get stronger, and as he matures physically, we think we're going to have a real solid puck moving defenseman and we'll find out just how much offense he has. We think he's got more offense than he was able to show in the U.S. program."
The Lightning went back to the forward position for their next two selections, taking winger Jaydon Dureau with the 147th overall pick (Fifth Round) obtained earlier from the Flyers and center Nick Capone at 157th overall (Sixth Round).
The 5-foot-11, 174-pound Dureau skated in 61 games for Portland of the WHL in 2019-20, recording 19 goals and 70 points to go along with a plus-41 rating, ranking second on the Winterhawks for assists (51) and points. The White City, Saskatchewan native posted career highs last season for goals, assists and points. Dureau, 19, has skated in 134 career WHL games, all with Portland over three seasons, posting 31 goals and 99 points.
He said he was on the golf course with a few of his buddies when he heard he'd been drafted by Tampa Bay.
"Extremely excited when I found out," he said. "It's an honor to be selected by such a great program. They believe in me as I do myself, so I'm really excited for what the future holds for myself and for the organization. This year is going to be a big year for me in junior."
Capone is committed to play at the University of Connecticut. The East Haven product put up seven goals, 19 points and 96 penalty minutes in 34 games with Tri-City of the United States Hockey League.
At 6-foot-2, 211 pounds, Capone is a power forward who models his game after the Washington Capitals' Tom Wilson.
"I love to use my body, but I can also score goals and make plays," he said.
With pick No. 186 of the 2020 Draft (Sixth Round), the Lightning selected a goalie, taking Amir Miftakhov from Bars-Kazan of Russia's VHL.
The Kazan, Russia native represented his home country at the 2020 World Jr. Championships, registering a 2.12 goals-against average and .919 save percentage while leading his team to the Silver Medal. In that tournament, he was partnered with Iaroslav Askarov -- who was selected in the First Round by Nashville with the 11th overall pick -- but had established himself as the No. 1 goalie by the conclusion.
"Highly competitive, very fast side to side, very good hockey sense and good rebound control," Murray said. "We're very happy with Amir and looking forward to watching his development."
Miftakhov was the fifth-ranked international goalie by NHL Central Scouting coming into the draft.
Finally, owning the last pick of the 2020 NHL Draft (217th overall), the Lightning took Declan McDonnell, an 18-year-old winger from just south of Buffalo in Lake View, New York.
McDonnell, a 5-foot-10, 171-pound right shot, posted 21 goals and 42 points in 63 games during his first season with Kitchener of the OHL in 2019-20.