Goyette used mental refresh to emerge as top prospect for 2022 NHL Draft

The 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held July 7-8 at Bell Centre in Montreal. The first round will be July 7 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and rounds 2-7 are July 8 (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS). NHL.com is counting down to the draft with in-depth profiles on top prospects, podcasts and other features.
Today, a look at center David Goyette of Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League. NHL.com's full draft coverage can be found here.

David Goyette
got a break from hockey when he needed it the most, and the mental refresh allowed him to showcase why he's a top prospect for the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
The 18-year-old center, in his first season with Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League, had 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in his first 21 games.
More than the on-ice issues, Goyette was struggling off the ice with his family living more than 350 miles away in Hawkesbury, Ontario
"Moving away from home was a big challenge for me," Goyette said. "I'm from a really close family. Obviously, there was a little homesickness there at the beginning of the year."
Sudbury had its season suspended Nov. 30 after 12 players tested positive for COVID-19. Goyette wasn't one of them, which gave him the chance to get home in the beginning of December and spend Christmas with his family.
"I used [the time at home] to my advantage," he said. "I went home, spent some quality time that was needed. When I got back to Sudbury it was kind of a fresh start again.
"When I came back, I just told myself it's go time now. There's a lot left on the line and I wanted to show everyone what kind of player I was. I found my confidence and got my game back."
Sudbury resumed playing Dec. 29 and Goyette had 57 points (29 goals, 28 assists) in his final 45 games, 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in a 14-game stretch following the break that included a four-goal game against Kingston on Jan. 14. He finished leading Sudbury with 73 points (33 goals, 40 assists) in 66 games.

Some of that success came from getting used to playing again after the OHL canceled the 2020-21 season because of concerns surrounding the coronavirus, and Goyette worked out at home but with limited ice time. It also came from being more comfortable living in Sudbury.
"I worked with Connor Primeau during the year, he's a sports psychologist based out of Ottawa," Goyette said. "Worked with him a little bit on hockey and mental stuff as well, we were doing kind of both. I found it really helped me mature and understand how the mental side of hockey is as important as well."
Sudbury coach Craig Duncanson could tell when Goyette returned that he was getting the player he expected to have in the lineup.
"When he found the right frame of mind, he played a little more intense and did all the little things he does really well," Duncanson said. "He was just more intense and more focused, and it paid dividends for him."
Scouts certainly noticed, and NHL Central Scouting moved Goyette (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) to No. 13 in its
final ranking of North American skaters
after he was No. 35 in the midterm release in January.
"I think that we saw the high-end talent very early, that was recognized immediately," Joey Tenute of Central Scouting said. "He's an exceptional skater, speed, a pull-away gear. I think he just started to get comfortable. He was thrust into a heavy role on a young team in Sudbury and he really took that role on extremely well. Top-line guy, power play, penalty kill and played heavy minutes against other team's top-pair defensemen], top shutdown lines, night in and night out and still put up numbers and performed."
Goyette's best asset is his speed. He said he tries to pattern his game after Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings and Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Washington Capitals.
"They're both guys that use their speed and create space for other players on the team and they're both players that make players around them better as well," he said. "I like to watch them and see what they're doing on the ice in the offensive zone to create space for others.
"Speed skating, I did that when I was a little bit younger, I think from [age**