Film Room: How Tynan Lawrence's pace could carry him to a top-six NHL centre role

An outstanding draft-minus-one season tends to inflate projections, bolster a prospect's renown, and send expectations into the stratosphere. This was Tynan Lawrence’s story entering the 2025-2026 campaign. 

Lawrence had a dream lead-up year with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks. He produced at nearly a point-per-game pace as a 16-year-old, elevating greatly in the postseason. The centre not only led his club to a Clark Cup title, but was also named the MVP of the postseason. 

The hype for Lawrence entering the 2025-2026 season was obviously palpable. An August birthday, only a month removed from being in the 2027 NHL Draft, he was also a prospect returning to a familiar environment in Muskegon, with another off-season of development to bolster his game. He was essentially primed to carry on his heroic playoff efforts into a dominant draft year — something the hockey world frankly expected. 

But as legendary Martial Artist Bruce Lee once said, 

“I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you're not in this world to live up to mine.”

Lawrence wouldn’t have that dominant year. 

His season would start with a freak lower-body injury in training camp, sidelining him until late October. Upon his return to action, he started to roll, scoring 10 times in just 13 games with the Lumberjacks.

Then, in a surprising move, he interrupted that momentum, leaving the USHL to join Boston University and start his NCAA career a semester early. 

Initially, Lawrence looked out of his depth. He struggled to play connected hockey and only managed seven points in 18 games, ending the year on a slight heater by racking up five points in his last five games. Lawrence saw his shooting percentage tank from 18.5 percent with Muskegon to just under 6 percent with Boston University, feeling the full weight of regression. 

As the runway of his season grew shorter and shorter, it felt like he was running out of time. He carried over his late-season success to the U18 World Junior Championships, but that marked the end of a disjointed year, during which he ultimately played 41 games across different leagues and international events. 

The thing about Lawrence is that his tool flashes, natural advantage-creating mobility, work rate, and well-rounded two-way game were always factors in our viewings. Pace is the basis of his game – an unrelenting attacker that is going to come at you in waves, usually through the slot, 

Inside play and shooting inefficiency

A constant across Lawrence’s game was his ability to attack the middle of the ice. A blistering mover, especially in the crossover, he pushed the pace of every line he centred. With clear separating speed and dexterous edges, he was a nightmare for defenders trying to gauge space and disrupt his efforts. 

Lawrence naturally created space by operating at such a high pace. Taking the outside route, he leveraged teammates driving the centre lane, cutting inside for violent shooting efforts in the slot. Inside attacking is obviously key for any player to translate offence to higher levels. It starts with problem-solving pressure. Lawrence excelled at direction changes off the wall and spin-off manoeuvres -- he was a crafty board-to-middle mover, attacking against the grain to juke around physicality,

Lawrence sacrificed consistently at the net-front, as well. Absorbing physicality, he took pucks to the paint at every opportunity. From wrap-arounds to chaos-creating crashes, he found scoring success in tight, unafraid of the most embattled part of the ice. 

While all of this bodes well for his translatability, Lawrence was rather inefficient as a shooter all season. Per our partners at InStat Hockey, he managed 87 shots in the mid slot, with 38 on net — only 43 percent of his shots made it through layers. He often forced these shots, tunnelling, and missing pass options created by his movement. Predictably, he was an easy player to disrupt, lacking a manipulation game that kept defenders guessing. 

Even with clear execution issues, you have a player who constantly tries to play in high-danger areas, unafraid to attack through any type of pressure. Adjustments will be necessary, primarily in decision-making. The good news is that there are recent examples of players overcoming similar execution issues in the slot. Carolina Hurricanes' Jackson Blake had very similar finishing issues that extended into his rookie NHL season.  Lawrence has essentially completed half the puzzle, and, as Blake has shown, solving the second half may yield big results. 

Off-puck supporter and pace off the reception 

Pace is often mistaken for skating skill and overall mobility. While it’s part of the equation, pace is really the measure of the speed at which a player operates — an area he has excelled in in every environment this year. 

For Lawrence, his fast-paced game is made possible by the way he blends his hands at speed. Already a flashy handler who easily creates advantages in large-ice scenarios, he’s an expert at taking pass receptions without losing a step, pushing defenders back on their heels. He's dexterous, kicking pucks, skate-to-stick, and usually has a second gear out of the pickup. His timing into supporting positions separated him as a north-south attacker across this draft class.

This opened up real space in the outside lane all season – he had some success driving inside, but a lot of missed opportunities along the way. Mostly, Lawrence opted for low-percentage shooting plays – he failed to truly capitalize on this advantage of turning defenders, often rebuked as he tried to power inside with a leading knee.

Nevertheless, it's easy to see the inception of a real, translatable pathway to creating offence in the NHL, especially if he continues to develop his strength to body bigger players out of their lanes. He’ll be undersized in the NHL, but having an extra step on most opponents will be enough of an advantage. 

Contact skill and defensive upside 

One of the best puck retrievers in the draft, Lawrence’s overall motor skyrocketed in his time with Boston University. The details are immense. Using his skating to make up space, along with proactive contact, inside-lane position wins, tactical stick-checking, and overall protection habits, he was a constant possession extender. He grinded out pucks, took punishment, and his work rate could only be described as impactful. 

This extended into his defending. Lawrence wreaked havoc as a down-low, supporting player, bodying, stealing, and ultimately killing opponent possessions on the outside. He rarely gives up, outbattling forwards by wearing them down with his pressure, overall quickness and contact details. 

Even on the back track, he provided immense back pressure, angling off threats, covering for his defence, and pick-pocketing poorly protected pucks. He was heroic in moments across viewings, outworking, outspeeding, and stalling to create a disruptive, physical game on the penalty kill. 

How playmaking growth will be key to offensive upside

Lawrence's weakest offensive tool is his playmaking. At his best, Lawrence flashes translatable passing skills; slip feeds, backhand layering, and connections from below the goal line, born of his retrieval and transition game, are dotted throughout his tape.

At his worst, his vision looks poor; he’s inaccurate and lacks scanning habits, leading to an underdeveloped mental map of the ice.

Often, he’s only focused on what’s in front of him, leading to clear missed opportunities to find a teammate in a better spot. Without proactive scanning, he simply defaults to hope passes, mostly through the crease and slot. Lawrence is also reset heavily on the outside, cutting back to buy time and trying to find a supporting option. 

This led to some puzzling decisions, such as home-run attempts to the inside and turnovers that most coaches wouldn't accept from their high-leverage forwards. He tries to play fast and succeeds by outpacing opponents, but often at the cost of deception and information gathering. Being a more connected linemate will go a long way to leveraging all the advantages his skating and overall pace bring, and should be the goal going forward. 

But don't bet against him

Despite there being clear areas of improvement, Lawrence represents one of the higher-certainty bets to make the NHL. His two-way profile greatly expands his projection and overall floor as a prospect. Two-way centres are always a hot commodity in the NHL, and that is unlikely to change going forward. 

He also possesses tangible offensive upside, greater than what he showed this season. Constant high-danger puck movement, separating speed, and his shooting will only be more potent and less predictable if he diversifies and becomes a real playmaking threat. Playmaking issues could subside in a different professional environment and new systems. 

On top of that, he already problem-solves under pressure well enough to get to those areas, possessing a bag of tricks to work off the outside. 

Combine that with a developed forechecking and retrieval game, and it’s clear he will have the opportunity to play crucial minutes in the professional game, even if he’s an inefficient attacker at the onset of his career. 

While Lawrence fell short of initial expectations, and it was a tougher year in general, he’s built to play NHL hockey, with enough upside to impact the game in multiple ways down the road, potentially as a top-six centre.