Film Room: How NHL Draft prospect Lynden Lakovic turns chaos into magic

Early March, in Moose Jaw’s game against Saskatoon, Lynden Lakovic circled in the neutral zone, supporting a puck-carrying teammate. Feeling the puck escaping him, that teammate launched a pass to Lakovic. It flew way ahead of his stick, forcing him to extend it to catch the pass. 

Seeing a defender coming, most players would have dumped the puck past the opponent and forechecked for it.

Lakovic thinks the game differently. Pressure doesn’t faze the creative 6-foot-4 winger. His uncommon reach and abilities give him solutions that are unavailable to most. 

In a smooth motion that looked almost routine, he pulled the puck toward his skate and under the opponent’s, evaded a pokecheck while dropping to one knee, then launched a missile to the top of the net.

He pulled off that shot at maximum ran