The Red Wings are believed to have made a bit of a reach in picking 6,’ 181-pound left wing Dylan James with the 40th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. It’s a little early to say whether the young winger with Carter Mazur’s scrappy competitiveness will pan out as a second-round pick, but Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted a profile of James this afternoon:
United States Hockey Rookie of Year. Picked in the second round by the Detroit Red Wings. Named as a late addition to the Canadian National Junior Team.
Red Line Report Chief Scout Kyle Woodlief said James was the “fastest riser on our list in the season’s second half.”
This Calgary native James will take plenty of momentum into North Dakota next season.
This is what Red Line Report’s assessment of Dylan James’ season: “Came on like gangbusters down the stretch. One of the keys to the Sioux’s shocking run to the championship…Second half offensive production was off the chart.”
Red Line Report is into its third decade of evaluating players and the independent scouting review sees James as a “big-game” performer, similar in style to Ondrej Palat. It’s interesting to note that Yzerman was Tampa Bay’s GM when the team drafted Palat.
Continued; he’s plucky, he’s got a good skill set, but he’s raw as raw can be, so we’ll see what the University of North Dakota can do for his development.
