NHL Draft Profiles 2017: Owen Tippett (RW, Mississauga Steelheads OHL)

Throughout June, the FFH staff will be giving you in-depth profiles and thoughts on potential Coyotes draft targets in the first round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft on June 23rd.

For 21 seasons, Shane Doan has used his size, strength, shot, and hockey smarts to become one of the best power forwards in recent memory.

This summer, the Coyotes might have the chance to draft a similarly special player in Owen Tippett.

Owen Tippett – Flash Stats

OHL – 108 Games - 59 Goals - 36 Assists - 95 Points - 46 PIM

U18 World Junior Championship – 7 Games - 1 Goal - 2 Assists - 12 PIM

Tippett (no relation to Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett), enters the NHL draft as a widely regarded top prospect, coming off of a stellar year with the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League.

In 60 games, Tippett scored 44 goals and 75 points before tacking on another 10 goals in 20 playoff games. Only Owen Sound’s scoring duo of Jonah Gadjovich and Nick Suzuki scored more regular season goals than Tippett among the soon-to-be-drafted skaters in the OHL in 2016-17.

Tippett utilized his 6’ 2”, 200-pound frame and elite-caliber shot last year to establish himself as one of the best scorers in this year’s class. But, is the right winger a good fit for the Coyotes?

Goals are never a bad thing in the NHL, and Tippett’s biggest strength is putting the puck in the back of the net. In addition to his size, the 18-year-old is a quality skater and has shown an ability to put himself in dangerous scoring positions.

That latter element is the one that might best qualify him as draft-worthy for the Coyotes. Their current “right wing scoring” youngster, Anthony Duclair, struggled in his sophomore season. After an auspicious 20-goal rookie campaign, Duclair saw his shooting percentage plummet last year, partly due to an inability to get shots away from high-quality areas on the ice.

With a future that includes Max Domi and Dylan Strome, the Coyotes will desperately need scorers who provide options to their pass-facilitating teammates and Tippett fits this bill to a tee.

The real dilemma with using the No. 7 overall pick on the Ontario native is that Arizona is already fairly deep at the wing position. Last year, four of the Coyotes’ top 10 scorers (in points) were wingers under the age of 25 (Domi, Tobias Rieder, Jordan Martinook, Brendan Perlini). In addition, the franchise has prospects like Christian Fischer and Clayton Keller waiting in the wings to get a real crack at the NHL.

The team has bigger holes at center and defense, of which there will be several quality players available when the Coyotes first go on the clock. Tippett has been a popular pick for the Las Vegas, sorry, Vegas Golden Knights, in recent mock drafts, one pick ahead of the Coyotes as well.

Owen Tippett would certainly find a place within the organization if drafted by the Yotes, but it seems like a lot of factors would have to break right for him to be pulling on a Sedona red sweater in Chicago on June 23rd.

However, if Tippett does find himself headed to the desert, he could, just maybe, be the next great power forward of the Arizona Coyotes.