Did Lightning find first-round value in fourth round of NHL draft?

The Lightning didn’t have a pick in the first two rounds of the NHL draft, but they think they might have found first-round value in fourth-rounder Dylan Duke, a left wing in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program they traded up to get.

“It was an opportunity for us to get a player that we felt should’ve been drafted probably a few rounds before where we were able to get him,” Lightning general manger Julien BriseBois said. “... It didn’t actually cost us anything in terms of assets, and we get a player that we feel pretty lucky that we were able to have him slide to that draft position.”

The Lightning sent Montreal a fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft for the chance to select Duke, ranked as the 29th North American skater in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings.

BriseBois described the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder as a competitive wing with a knack for going to the net. Appropriately, Duke compared his game to the Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli and Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher.

“A big part of my game is scoring goals in front of the net,” said Duke, who is committed to Michigan. “I think I go to the net hard, and I battle in front of the net for rebounds and tips.”

Duke, who found the back of the net 58 times over his past two seasons, scored again when the Lightning took him with the 30th pick of the fourth round, 126th overall.

He was getting dressed for practice at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Mich., when a trainer who had been watching the draft in the training room and saw Duke’s name pop on the screen rushed into the locker room screaming that he had been drafted by the Lightning.

“If someone asked me, ‘Where would you want to go in the draft?’ before the draft started,” Duke said, “if there was one spot I wanted to go to, it was Tampa Bay.

“I’m super appreciative that they trusted me and they wanted to move up to pick me.”

Lightning assistant general manager/director of amateur scouting Al Murray might have paid Duke the ultimate compliment.

“He is all about what we call a Bolt,” Murray said. “He’s high energy, really smart, competitive, always net-front, always banging around, has good skill level, good skating.”

Losing Yanni

BriseBois said the Lightning knew going into the expansion draft that they would lose a good player, but that didn’t make the departure of third-line center Yanni Gourde for the Seattle Kraken any easier to accept.

“Yanni is one of the model success stories of our development program and such a heart and soul guy,” BriseBois said. “No one competes harder than Yanni. Pound for pound, one of the strongest guys we have, so obviously it hurts.

“It also hurts losing Barclay Goodrow (in a trade with the Rangers). We’re going to lose other players probably within the next week here, either via trade or them signing as free agents somewhere else. That’s just the reality of our business.”

Brise Bois said Tampa Bay tried to work out trade scenarios with Seattle that might have given them more control over the player the Kraken took but the two sides weren’t able to come to an agreement.

“So ultimately at the end of the day, they decided to just pick a player,” he said, “and they got a really good one.”

Rounds 5-7

The Lightning took center Cameron MacDonald of the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL with the final pick of the fifth round. He described himself as a player who can score but plays a 200-foot game.

MacDonald said the Lightning have been his favorite team for as long as he’s been watching hockey.

“They’ve developed some of the best prospects in the game,” he said. “So if I can get to that level, I know they have a great staff there to train me.”

After selecting defensemen Alex Gagne and Daniil Pylenkov with the last pick of the sixth round and fourth pick of the seventh, they grabbed left wing Robert Flinton with the 19th pick of the seventh before closing the draft by taking big right wing Niko Huuhtanen with the 224th and final pick.

The 6-foot-2, 204-pound Huuhtanen reminds Murray of a player who has hoisted the Stanley Cup after the past three NHL seasons.

“He’s not Patrick Maroon,” Murray said, “but he’s a Finnish 17-year-old version of Pat Maroon.”

Times sports multimedia producer Rachel West contributed to this story.

• • •

The Tampa Bay Times will commemorate the Lightning’s second consecutive Stanley Cup title with a new hardcover coffee table book, Striking Twice. Pre-order now.

Sign up for Lightning Strikes, a weekly newsletter from Bolts beat writer Eduardo A. Encina that brings you closer to the ice.

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.