More Spirit Please: Islanders select goalie Tristan Lennox in third round of 2021 Draft

The 2021 NHL Entry Draft is dragging on longer than a month of detention. But the Islanders emerged from a second nap to take another prospect rated higher by scouting bureaus than where he was selected.

In the third round, at No. 93 overall, they took goalie Tristan Lennox from the Saginaw Spirit, onetime junior hockey home of current Islanders prospects Blade Jenkins and Bode Wilde. Lennox is big at 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, and is described as having the potential to be an NHL-level goalie.

Via a profile at The Hockey Writers:

While he undoubtedly possesses the raw skills needed to become an everyday NHL starter, his positioning and technical ability have been called into question, as he relies heavily on his size and athleticism rather than his technique to read shots. With the top part of the net being a noted weak spot for the Mississauga native, Lennox still has the luxury of reaching high shots while still in his crouch, but it is worth noting that his positioning and reaction time can stand to be improved.

Lennox is also an aggressive puckhandler, the kind of thing that might give longtime Islanders fans nightmares of Rick DiPietro or Jaro Halak causing headaches behind the net.

The 18-year-old went 20-8-3 for Saginaw in 2019-20 but was cut from last season’s Canada’s World Junior team. Like their first round selection of Finnish center Aatu Räty, the rankings had Lennox at a much higher number than 93rd overall, with NHL Central Scouting having him as the third best goalie prospect among North Americans.

How much does that mean? I have no idea. So let’s listen to these guys:

Chances are we won’t see Lennox for a couple of years but he seems like a young, talented goalie with a potentially bright future. Generally speaking, you can’t really have enough of those.