2020 NHL Entry Draft: Profiles. Tim Stutzle

I am struggling to think of a similar draft class in which there was a clear-cut first overall choice, a middle tier of still elite and then a supporting cast of still-talented -but not quite as good- players that nobody could quite be sure would go when or where. It’s kind of like last year’s draft with the obvious one-two selection of Hughes and Kakko (or vice versa) but then after that it was a total crap-shoot. That’s how the rest of the picks in this draft will go after the first three selections. It will all depend on how good teams’ scouting assessments have been and what exactly their needs are. I guess perhaps the 2013 draft with Nathan MacKinnon going first overall to the Avalanche might come close. Who went second in that year? A 17-year old Finnish-Russian by the name of Alexander Barkov. Now the Captain of the Florida Panthers, Barkov was taken with the second overall selection by the Panthers because he put up 48 points in 53 games in the Finnish Liiga as a 17-year old against grown men in an elite European league.

Now granted the DEL is not the Liiga, but the difference in league pedigree has not deterred the significant buzz surrounding this young German. He finished the year with 34 points in 41 games – 47th overall in league scoring (shout out to former Gull Austin Ortega for finishing 21st with 40 points in 52 games) so not quite Barkov numbers, and some drop off from his point per game pace from earlier in the season has led him to fall somewhat in draft rankings. That being said, last year’s draft saw a much-lower ranked Moritz Seider get selected 6th overall by Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings – a pick which largely confused many at the time but has since seemed to work out. In his draft year, Seider had 6 points in 29 games as a defenseman for the same club Stutzle currently plays for. He had 22 points in 49 games for the Griffins in the AHL this year as a 19 year old – 10th in rookie scoring from the blue-line. Historically Detroit knows what they are doing when it comes to drafting out of Europe; perhaps Germany is the new Russia.

A fellow writer generously shared a trove of clips of Stutzle in action from this past season and, although it may have been the number on his back that gave me this predisposition, he reminded me a lot of Teemu Selanne with perhaps a smidgen more bite. He can shift in and out of soft areas without being noticed, always in the right spot to finish a play and is not afraid to use his speed to create on his own.

There were some plays where he reminded me of Pavel Datsyuk with head-fakes and effortless edge-work on a one-on-one partial break and still others where he used his relatively small frame (as opposed to grown men) to gain positioning and turn a puck over on the back-check. However the modern equivalent comparable that most scouts are throwing out there is Mitch Marner, which stylistically is fair but in terms of potential ceiling – hard to judge.

Strengths:

Stutzles biggest strength is his skating, he uses it to either get himself out of a bind, ease pressure from oncoming fore-checkers or create space for himself on the transition. Combine that with a creative eye for spotting developing plays and a soft pair of hands and you can see why 27 of his 34 points were assists.

Playmaking and passing:

On this play Stutzle has great presence of mind to recognize the developing traffic in front and draws opposing defenders to him before dishing to his defensemen, allowing him time and space to get a quick shot off that the goaltender could not track.

Puck Skills:

The most exciting part of Stutzles game is his creativity with the puck. Every single assortment of Game clips I watched contained at least one play where he either made an inside-out move on a defender or a spino-rama to shake a check. Sometimes he did both in the same sequence!

In the clip below he attempts a pass to himself off the skate – again having the courage to try this; against men and at his age – speaks volumes to the kind of offensive potential he has.

Weaknesses

There are a few areas of weakness in his game that I could see, all of which can be easily rectified with coaching and development.

One is his shot. It’s not the most powerful. The best example of which is this play.

He needed to get that shot top corner in a hurry on that play but failed to do so and most snipers would have buried that chance nine times out of ten.

Another is a tendency to try stick handle his way out of everything – which for him is working in the DEL but likely won’t stick in the Pros. On the below play I was both massively impressed with his having the die Hoden (German for balls – see we are all learning) to attempt this but also the breakout that resulted.

As creative and fun as that was – I can see most NHL coaches advising him more on the side of caution when in situations like that (and I kept count of all the times I saw him make this exact same play, the total was four – the kid loves to rush the puck himself)

Finally; it is probably a bit unfair to zero in on this given he is a 17-year old playing against men, but he sometimes lost his man on a play – directly leading to a goal. Such as the below.

In conclusion you can see why there is a vocal minority who believe Stutzle has what it takes to be Germany’s highest selected prospect. Whether or not he goes second or third after Lafreniere is the question and that will all depend on the final draft order. With the recent murmurings that the Draft will revert back to a five team lottery – that leaves Detroit with much higher odds at selecting first. Should they somehow miss out and get the second selection – I would put money on Yzerman grabbing Stutzle second over-all. As for the Ducks – it is hard to say. Stutzle does not fit the right-hand shot criteria nor does he bill as a pure sniper which are two of their most desperate needs. But if he is available where they select – which possibly has a higher chance of being fifth overall if the recent murmurings come to fruition- then he could potentially be a steal.