Basic Player Overview
2019/20 Team: Charlottetown Islanders (QMJHL)
Position: Defense
Height: 5’10”, Weight: 179 lbs
Handedness: Left
Introduction
Cormier was drafted 4th overall in the 2018 QMJHL draft. His first season with Charlottetown was high in scoring, finishing with 15 goals as a 16-year old. This season his goal production went down to only 6 and his total points stayed the same at 36, but this time in only 44 games due to an ankle injury that took him out of play for 6 weeks. Lukas is a smart, yet undersized defencemen. His calmness and intelligence with the puck, as well as his reliability and offensive instincts are what makes his game so enticing for teams come Draft Day.
DY Environment
Cormier played on Charlottetown’s top pairing, averaging nearly 26 minutes of ice-time per game, which is the highest among DY defenseman in the QMJHL. He played most of the season with Noah Laaouan (who put up 30 points in 59 games). He also shared some ice-time with William Trudeau and Brendon Clavelle.
Hockey IQ
There is almost nothing to complain about regarding his IQ on the ice. To put it simply, Cormier is calm and smart with the puck. He is great at making quick decisions when the opposition is coming at him quickly. When he’s in situations where multiple opponents are putting pressure on him at the same time, he’s often able to get out of it by making the right play, allowing his team to retain possession. Cormier’s game is smooth. He has the ability to slow down play and take his time with the puck, but he can also rapidly change pace creating deceptiveness. This helps create open space and passing lanes.
Intensity
The New Brunswick native puts in a strong effort when called upon. His effort in the corners is often not enough due to his size, but he definitely tries his hardest. When defending rushes he won’t be very aggressive as he prefers to wait to attack then recover the puck.
Skills and Passing
This is the part of his game where he stands out. Cormier is able to receive and give the puck with ease, always looking comfortable. He is also able to use his vision and great agility to make controlled zone entries, a skill that is very useful for a modern-day defencemen in the NHL. Cormier would qualify as a Power Play specialist. He is very accurate with his passes in the offensive zone, which allows him to quarterback a power play. He can deceive his opponents to make them think he’s taking a shot or making a pass one way, but he will go the other to create dangerous scoring chances. Most of his production has come from making quick accurate passes to his teammates after slowing down play in the offensive zone.
Shot Quality and Utilization
His shot is fine, but nothing special. He shot the puck a lot more this year than he did in his previous season, but ended up scoring less. He went from shooting the puck 2.17 times per-game with a 10.95 SH% in 2018/19, to 3.95 times per-game with a 3.45 SH% during this past season. It’s worth noting, he only scored one goal from the point this season, as well as one goal from behind the net on his own rush. The other four were scored from deep in the offensive zone.
Physical Abilities
Cormier’s skating is just average. He can make his way just fine at the major junior level, but his current top speed is not enough to do this consistently in the NHL. In his own zone, he can sometimes get burned by faster players. His skating is definitely something that needs work on, as his game is so reliant on puck moving. If he can do that, he will be able to play top-4 minutes in the NHL. If not, his role might only consist of third pair minutes while helping on the power play. Cormier is not a big guy, measuring a bit under 5’10”. In terms of weight, he can probably still take a couple extra pounds, already being around 180 lbs. He is not the type of defencemen that uses the body a lot, as he prefers to rely on positioning and IQ to stop his opposition. A strong two-way or defensive minded defenseman would be a great complimentary player on a pair with him, as he can’t really use his physicality to speed up fatigue on opponents. Also, he will often take the risk of advancing towards the net as if he were an extra forward. His lack of size makes it easy for larger opponents to push him around, especially in the corners and behind the net. Again, working on his skating will help him become more evasive for these instances.
Overall Defensive Game
Even if his game is mainly based on offence and puck moving, he is a well capable player defensively. He isn’t a brick wall, shutdown D-man by any means, but he has decent positioning and stick work to prevent pass completions. He’s good in his own zone, cutting angles for passes, but he does have trouble defending 1v1 rushes at times. He won’t use the body a lot for big impacts, but he will try to push around attackers to make them lose balance.
Statistics
Advanced Stats
- P1/e60 − Total primary points per estimated 60 minutes of time on ice.
- EV GF%Rel − The player’s EV GF% minus the percentage of even-strength goals scored by the player’s team while the player was not on the ice.
- EV GF − The number of even-strength goals scored by the player’s team while the player was on the ice.
- EV GA − The number of even-strength goals scored by the other team while the ice.
Draft Rankings
Future Considerations – 20th
McKeen’s Hockey – 58th
NHL Central Scouting (NA) – 32nd
EliteProspects – 68th
Bob McKenzie – 49th
Expected round of selection
2nd round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
NHL Comparable and Projection
With the right development, if he works on his skating and his shot, he could potentially be a Torey Krug-like final product. If not, we are maybe looking at a player similar of Brad Hunt.
No.4 or 5 Defenseman PP Specialist
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