As a hockey fan, scout, upper management personnel, coach, or teammate when you hear anything along the lines of, “Take anyone in the draft – if you put one puck in the corner, I’m going to get out with the puck, I am going to win the battle.” you take a chance on that player all day, every day if you are the Nashville Predators.
That’s what 27th-overall pick in this past entry draft Zachary L’Heureux told Predators scout J-P Glaude in his pre-draft interview with the team, and why the Predators paid two second-round picks to the Carolina Hurricanes in order to move back into the first round after selecting Fedor Svechkov at pick No.19 to select the “Brad Marchandesque” forward from the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL.
“Take anyone in the draft – if you put one puck in the corner, I’m going to get out with the puck, I am going to win the battle.” – Zachary L’Heureux
Check box number two off in reasons to be excited about the young winger who possesses all-time Predators fan-favorite Jordin Tootoo levels of heart, and competitiveness, and Brad Marchand type skill.
Exciting and gritty young prospect for Nashville Predators
When combining those types of skill sets and drawing comparisons of names of that magnitude, you have no reason but to be excited about the future of this young man, and why the Predators wasted no time in signing L’Heureux to his entry-level contract a mere five days after selecting him at the draft to get him acclimated to the organization with the hopes of his contributions coming sooner rather than later.
L’Heureux posted some strong numbers with the Mooseheads this past pandemic-shortened campaign finishing second on the team in points (39), goals (19), and penalty minutes (47) in 39 games played.
All signs point to living up to exactly what the scouting reports say, a guy with the rare combination of skill and grit whose only knock as a young player is discipline, which can be taught through experience and guidance. I personally choose to look at that facet as “playing with an edge”.
As Nashville Predators Development Camp continues with many exciting prospects to watch, and we find out more about this young man from Mercier, QC, Canada there are certainly many reasons to be optimistic about what the brass above sees in him to warrant such high praise this early in his path to the NHL.
🎥 Zachary L'Heureux: “I’m a guy that can play a hard, gritty game but also has skill." pic.twitter.com/huzwivwSqp
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) August 17, 2021
A reasonable estimate of L’Heureux would suggest he returns to Halifax this coming season and eyes a roster spot with the Predators for 2022-23, or even 2023-24, but by all accounts given his body type (listed at 5’11, 196 lbs) which seems to be NHL-ready today, and his competitiveness which he clearly holds an edge on most of his peers in at this point in his development, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him making an impact in gold sooner than those estimates.
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When looking at the makeup of any young NHL player, the intangibles of toughness, competitiveness, will to win, being a great teammate, and being able to chip in offensively all seem to be there today.
What remains to be seen is the organizational philosophy of how quickly they wish to insert him into the lineup when looking at the future of both the team and the player.
Knowing what we do about the Predators and their patience level with prospects even as highly regarded as L’Heureux (see Philip Tomasino and even Eeli Tolvanen’s respective paths for reference) it is also not hard to see them waiting even a little longer to bring L’Heureux along to ensure his best possible chance of success.
One thing is for certain, with the transition of specifically the forward group of the team to skew heavily in favor of youth, names like Cody Glass (yes, he’s still a prospect), Tomasino, Svechkov, Luke Evangelista, Egor Afanasyev, and the many others who got their first taste of regular time last year along, with L’Heureux, are sure to be given every opportunity to succeed through the Predators “retool”.\
Perhaps the most important thing now is after writing this piece, I will never have to spell check L’Heureux’s last name again. Looks likely it will come in handy for many future pieces (knocks vigorously on wood) and heck, I may even go the extra mile and grab a jersey with the young man’s name on it if his development continues on its current path.
Best of luck Zachary. Smashville is rooting for you.