Preds Complete Successful Draft by Adding Six Players to Prospect Pool

The big stage and bright lights were absent again this year, but for
the six players who were selected by the Predators
in the 2021 NHL Draft, dreams still came true.
After Nashville added a pair of prospects -
forwards Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L'Heureux
- in Round 1 of the Draft on Friday night, the Preds spent Saturday making four more picks over the final six rounds to complete the weekend with three additional forwards and three new defensemen in the system.
A virtual setting that saw Nashville's European scouts remain overseas instead of inside the Draft room at Bridgestone Arena, and considering the challenges brought on by the pandemic that made scouting players over the past year tougher than ever, the Preds were more than satisfied with their haul by the time the final pick had been made.

"We're very pleased with the way it went," Predators Assistant General Manager and Director of Scouting Jeff Kealty said. "As I always say every year, you put a ton of time and preparation into it, first evaluating the players, but then building your list and trying to implement a strategy to go into the Draft and accomplish what you want, and we really felt that we were able to do that. Our guys were prepared, and I was very proud of our staff the way they went through a difficult situation all year and finished it off with a strong draft, so we're very pleased."
That satisfaction began on Friday night as Nashville was able to add two players in Svechkov and L'Heureux - the first with pick No. 19, the second at No. 27 - both of whom the Preds had rated higher than their respective positions where they were taken.
"We're extremely high on both [players]," Kealty said. 'They're both guys that we talked about at our first pick at 19, and they're both guys that we had discussed and would have been comfortable with [picking in that spot]. So, to get two guys that were there and that highly rated for us was great. Svechkov is a terrific, two-way centerman, he plays a 200-foot game, he can produce offense, he can play with top players and is counted on in all situations. Then, L'Heureux, it's been kind of well talked about already as to just the unique package that he has in terms of the combination of skill and grit and nastiness and the win-at-all-costs mentality. We really feel that these are our two players that are going to be a big part of our future."
Of course, the Predators will also hope to one day receive contributions from outside the first round, and they feel the crop they added on Day 2 will give them that chance.
After trading away two second-round picks on Friday to move up and snag L'Heureux, the first name called by Nashville on Saturday was Swedish defenseman Anton Olsson with the 72nd overall selection. The Preds also made a deal on Saturday morning by sending two picks to Carolina to move up to the slot to draft the 18-year-old who skated in his first full SHL season in 2020-21. Olsson appeared in 39 games, the second-most among league U-19 blueliners, while adding four assists and a plus-2 rating.
Olsson, who describes himself as a two-way defenseman and a good skater with a good shot, says he likes to model his game after Toronto's Jake Muzzin.
"It is the best moment I've ever [had]," Olsson said. "It has been a dream [to be drafted] … And I get a better feeling [when] they trade two picks to pick me. It feels good for me, and maybe they think I will be a good player."
Nashville's next pick came at No. 115 in the fourth round when they added defenseman Ryan Ufko from the USHL's Chicago Steel. The 18-year-old native of Smithtown, New York, is currently attending USA Hockey's World Junior Summer Showcase before entering his freshman season at UMass Amherst in the fall. The 5-foot-10, 181-pound right-shot blueliner won the USHL's Clark Cup with Chicago in the 2020-21 campaign after posting 39 points (10g-29a) in 53 games, a 30-point improvement from his first season in the league (2g-7a).
"He's an undersized, agile-skating, smart, puck-moving two-way defenseman," Predators North American Amateur Scout Dave Westby said. "He has a really high hockey IQ. He can go back and get pucks and make a smart first pass; he can also run the power play and get shots through. In his defending, he's really hard to play against, and we're happy to have him."
Just nine picks later, Nashville chose 6-foot-4 defenseman Jack Matier from the OHL's Ottawa 67's at No. 124 overall.
"I would say it's just really a dream come true," Matier said of being drafted. "It's something I've worked towards my whole life. I've been training and skating for a moment like this, so it's a dream come true. Nashville is such a good organization and city, so I'm really excited."
Matier, who didn't play regularly this season with the OHL shut down due to the pandemic, did skate for Canada at the U-18 World Junior Championship. That showing, coupled with his rookie season with the Ottawa 67's in 2019-20 was enough for the Preds to call his name, and Matier knows what Nashville will be looking for from him.
"I would describe myself as a two-way defenseman, and I take pride in defending," Matier said. "I like to shut down the other team's top line, and a defenseman that I watch and try to model my game after is Alex Pietrangelo in Vegas. I'd say he's a little more offensive than me, but I like the way he controls the play from the back end and he's just a really good player to watch for me."
Nashville's final pick of the Draft arrived in Round 6 at No. 179 overall, and they used it to select 19-year-old Swiss forward Simon Knak.
Passed over in last year's Draft, the 6-foot-1 winger spent the 2020-21 campaign between the WHL's Portland Winterhawks and the Swiss National League's HC Davos, appearing in a combined 49 games. He made his National League debut skating for Davos, where he posted eight points (3g-5a) in 25 appearances; then spent the remainder of the season with Portland and tallied 29 points (16g-13a), five shy of matching his career high of 34 (9g-25a) set in 2019-20 in 25 fewer games played.
"It was a big disappointment last year that I wasn't getting drafted, the season wasn't that great, but I knew that I needed to make a step forward and needed to push myself even harder off the ice and on the ice," Knak said. "Now, I made [my goal of being drafted], and now my next goal is to make the NHL as soon as possible to play in Nashville and [one day] winning the Stanley Cup with them."
While skating with HC Davos to start the 2020-21 season, Knak got to learn from an NHL veteran - Toronto's Joe Thornton - who was also playing for Davos before the NHL season began. Combine that tutelage with a Swiss idol of Knak's - Predators Captain, and fellow Switzerland native, Roman Josi - and Knak's NHL aspirations have received a boost as of late.
"He's a superstar in Nashville, and he's an even bigger superstar in Switzerland," Knak said of Josi. "Everybody knows him here in Switzerland…and when you talk about Roman Josi, everybody is saying what a nice guy he is and how he improved his game, first starting by playing in Switzerland, then moving over to North America. He was one of the first guys who really made the big step and really showed all the NHL teams that Swiss guys can really compete in the NHL. He's the guy who every young player is looking up to, and for myself, it's a big honor to be in the same [organization] with him."
Without a pick in Round 7, Nashville's Draft came to a close after the selection of Knak, but that was more than enough to leave Predators scouts and management content with their efforts. Plus, with hopes from the NHL to return to an in-person format for the Draft next summer, the future looks good no matter the angle.
"It's really exciting to get all these guys that we really talked a lot about," Kealty said. "If you had told our group that these were the guys that we were going to end up with at the end of the day on Saturday, I think everyone would've been very happy."