Getting to Know: Lapierre and Viro

The first phase of the NHL Draft Lottery is set to take place Friday night on what would have been the first night of the draft, had the COVID-19 pandemic not happened.

While the majority of the attention on the 2020 NHL Entry Draft will be focused on the first round, especially the top picks, there are plenty of players taken later who will make an impact in the league.

The Detroit Red Wings will have three second-round picks -- their own, the Edmonton Oilers' pick (acquired in the trade that sent Andreas Athanasiou to Edmonton) and the Washington Capitals' pick (acquired in the trade that sent Nick Jensen to Washington).

For the next several weeks, DetroitRedWings.com will take a look at some of the players, one North American and one international each week, who are likely to be available.

If Hendrix Lapierre had been healthy this past season, the likelihood is that he would be a lottery pick.

While he still is a strong candidate to go in the first round, if there are any doubts about his health, Lapierre could drop.

In its final rankings released April 8, NHL Central Scouting had Lapierre ranked 13th among North American skaters.

The 5-foot-11.5, 179-pound Chicoutimi Saguenéens center played in just 19 games, recording two goals and 15 assists.

In his final Craig's List of prospects released March 30, Craig Button, TSN's director of scouting, had Lapierre 10th overall. Craig's List combines North American and international players.

"I have no doubt in my mind that he can be a really good player," Button said on The Red & White Authority podcast last month. "Hendrix had some concussion issues and he hasn't really played since Nov. 21. If you're satisfied with the medical report on him and I have no reason to believe teams won't be based on what I know that he's gone through and what I've learned, I think Hendrix Lapierre is an outstanding player. He reminds me of Patrice Bergeron. He controls the game. I was talking earlier about Byfield and the age group, I can tell you this, at the Hlinka Gretzky Tournament, which is a significant tournament, it's age group-specific, Hendrix Lapierre, Cole Perfetti and Yaroslav Askarov were the best three players there. There was nobody else that was in their category. Hendrix, to me, you have to do your work on him from a medical standpoint when you look at it. A healthy Hendrix Lapierre, and I believe he will be fully healthy, no doubt in my mind he's gonna be a top-line player in the NHL."

Button's colleague at TSN, Bob McKenzie, released his final rankings today and listed Lapierre 15th.

The Red Line Report, in its 2020 draft guide, has Lapierre 23rd, stating, "We love everything about his game, but his breakout showing at last August's Hlinka tournament was overshadowed by injury woes all season. With a clean bill of health, he'd be in our top 10. Only appeared in 19 games because of concussions, which have since been re-diagnosed as a neck problem. Outstanding playmaker with great vision and passing ability, especially when running the PP from the half-wall. Spreads out the ice as a high-end distributor. Makes pinpoint passes. Has extremely soft, fast hands and shows terrific puck control at top flight, regularly dangling through double or triple coverage. Cradles even the toughest passes and can shoot on the fly, getting great torque and wrist snap on his release. Great changes of direction - can stop on a dime and instantly cut in another direction. Exerts relentless puck pressure. Plays with intensity and not afraid to battle for pucks."

The Athletic's Scott Wheeler also had Lapierre 23rd on his list, saying. "Before injuries brought the future of his career into question, Lapierre was a top-15 talent in this draft, maybe even top 10. He's a puck-dominant carrier who can transport the puck up the ice (or across it) with a sharp pass through a seam or his feet and hands. He's the kind of player every team wants running their power play. And when he doesn't have the puck, he'll chase it down to get it back and keep offensive zone sequences aside. The team that takes him will have to do their homework on his health, though, and there will still be a chance he never gets back to being himself. He lost a crucial year in every young player's development. The good news is that the season's cancellation leveled the playing field a little. Hopefully, it gives him enough time to get himself right without having the pressure that comes with getting back on the ice."

Lapierre suffered a concussion in February 2019, which forced him to miss a month.

This past season Lapierre was originally diagnosed with two more concussions, Oct. 23 and Nov. 21, but a specialist believed the two incidents this past season were cervical spine issues rather than additional concussions.

As for Lapierre himself, he spoke with CHL's Junior Hockey Magazine in mid-May and said he was feeling pretty good.

"I have been cleared 100 percent," Lapierre said. "I will have to go back to Montreal soon just to make sure everything is okay, but basically what we think is that in February I got hit, and from that hit my neck suffered from it, so every time I got checked I was always feeling a little something, and it was just too much to handle. I had headaches in the morning and it was kind of weird symptoms, so we waited to see if they would disappear, and it kind of felt weird, and then in February I went to see a specialist with my agent and that is where right away they saw the MRI where something was wrong and it was actually pretty easy to treat. It's kind of complicated but at the end everything was good and I had really good specialists."

NHL Central scouting ranked Finland's Eemil Viro 16th among international skaters.

The 5-foot-11.5, 165-pound defenseman had three assists in 29 games for TPS in Liiga, Finland's top league, and one goal and five assists in 15 games for TPS U20 "A" in U20 SM-sarja, the junior league.

TSN's Button had Viro 31st while TSN's McKenzie ranked him 58th overall.

The Athletic's Scott Wheeler placed Viro 93rd in his list of prospects.

The Red Line Report ranked Viro 100th in its 2020 draft guide, saying, "He's an excellent four-way skater with a smooth, fluid stride and terrific lateral agility. Handles the puck well and aggressively forces the play at the offensive end, but his decision making and overall hockey sense are mediocre, limiting his upside. Can skate the puck out of danger and initiate strong rushes. Makes nice spin moves down low to gain separation from forechecking pressure, and then has the vision to hit wingers on the breakout. Makes smart stretch passes on quick transition plays to start breakaways and dangerous rushes, but also has a tendency to force passes into the wrong spots. Can be smart and instinctive, or a mistake waiting to happen. For such a good skater, does not control gaps well against the rush - gets caught watching the puck and gets walked down by slick puckhandlers. We like the overall tools."

In February, Dobber Hockey had Viro 28th among European prospects.

In its 2020 Fantasy Prospects Report, Dobber Hockey said, "Viro is a smart puck-moving defenseman. He is a very good skater and has good passing abilities, and he uses those abilities effectively in offensive breakouts. He doesn't do anything special in the offensive zone but he's a reliable puck-mover who can participate in the cycle game. His defensive zone game still needs some work and he needs to get stronger to compete against men but he has the ability to be a reliable 200-foot player. He already spent the second half of the 2019-2020 season at the Liiga level, and he's expected to play a bigger role there in 2020-2021."