The penultimate chapter of the 2021 NHL Draft Class series – and the first chapter in Tier III – will focus on Mason McTavish, the Switzerland-born Canadian center. You may be asking yourself: “Why is McTavish in Tier III? I think he’s pretty good. He should be in Tier II.” Just think of these tiered rankings like
Whose Line Is It Anyway?: this is the series where the tiers are made up and the order doesn’t matter.
As previously mentioned, the next prospect (Brandt Clarke) will be the last player profiled unless there are any reader-suggested players who are recommended for additional viewing. By all means, if there are players in the 10-15 range that you’d like to hear more about, hit me up on Twitter or in the comments and I’ll take a look. Likewise, if the Sabres get an additional pick in the 15-20 range of this years draft then I’ll most likely do a mini profile on some possible candidates. The Sabres look to be entering a very busy time in the next two weeks with the expansion draft and the entry draft so it’s possible that the news of the day will limit the amount of prospect reports. With all of that said, let’s dive into the film of Mr. McTavish.
Of any of the players profiled thus far, McTavish brings the most peskiness to the draft table. His defining attribute seems to be his willingness to drive the front of the net hard to create screens and havoc in front of the goaltender. Most of the highlight packages you’ll find feature McTavish bull rushing the net on an odd-man opportunity or during the cycle in order to set up shop in front of the goalie. He uses every bit of his 6’2” 207-pound frame to knock around defenders on the way to the net in the pursuit of an awaiting pass or a lose rebound. Often this supremely annoys the opposing defensemen who do not enjoy being jostled around by the pestiferous Canadian. The Swedes at the World Junior Championships seemed especially annoyed by his presence.
He displays a willingness to compete with opposing defensemen to establish a net-front presence on the powerplay that is a little bit reminiscent of Sam Reinhart – although maybe I’m just getting my signals crossed because McTavish wore #23 for Canada. The feisty attitude is distinctly not Sam Reinhart. Where Reinhart remains cool in front of the net, McTavish likes to rile up the defenders either to shake them off their game or to pump himself up. Either way, it seems to work for him.
It was refreshing after profiling eight prospects in this series to finally see some real hits in the compilations. Not a ton, granted, but this guy does dish out body checks, some of which could even be considered borderline dirty. He relishes finishing checks after the puck is gone and he tends to get his stick up pretty high when he is fighting in the offensive zone corner with the opposing defensemen. In keeping with his somewhat grating style of play, this seems to work in his favor more than not so he must be doing something right. It’s likely he’ll excel in the playoffs when the physical game is at its most valuable and goals are tough to come by assuming he does indeed carve out a role in the NHL.
This is probably Don Cherry’s favorite Ontario boy in the draft (even though McTavish was born in Switzerland).
One of the things that continues to blow me away on this series is the overall quality of skating that these players have. Even McTavish who doesn’t have elite footspeed still possesses really nice body control that allows him to shield the puck from opposing defenders while maintaining forward momentum. His wrist shot also looks accurate and hard. He likes to lower his stance and almost kneel while shooting which reminds me a bit of Jason Pominville’s stance back in the day. Again, Reinhart and Pominville this guy is not. He likes to mix it up.
If you look up the definition of “wildcard” in the dictionary, there will not be a picture of Mason McTavish although maybe there should be. He played in only 20 games this year between Swiss League (13 games) and the WJC (7 games) due to COVID-19 shutting down the Ontario Hockey League’s 2020-2021 season. It must be pretty rough for scouts to figure out a guy who played so few games this year. When he did play though, his stats looks good in both the Swiss League (9 goals and 2 assists in 13 games) and in the WJC (5 goals and 6 assists in 7 games). There’s a lot to like in the limited available film and it’s not hard to imagine that if there had been an OHL season this year that McTavish would be ranked higher than the 5-29 range that he finds himself in.
That’s right; Dobber hockey has him as the 29th best prospect in the draft this year, while Elite Prospects has him at #5. This is undoubtedly caused by the limited sample size of the player that the scouts were able to see this year. Someone is going to look very right and someone is going to look very wrong based on the discrepancy of those rankings.
Let’s see what the experts have to say:
Ben Kerr (lastwordonsports.com):
McTavish is a pure goal scorer. He has an outstanding wrist shot. It is very accurate and has very good power. His quick hands allow him to vary his release and fool goaltenders. McTavish also has a very good one-timer, getting himself open on the power play and firing it on the net. Willing to play a gritty game, McTavish gets to the front of the net, causing havoc with screens. He can also score goals in tight, using his backhand to get the puck up and over the goaltender quickly. McTavish has the hand-eye coordination to get deflections, short one-timers, and pounce on rebounds. He is a smart player, always finding open ice without the puck and setting himself up to take a pass and get a scoring chance.
Steve Kournianos (thedraftanalyst.com):
Violence and aggression are just two of several commonplaces in your typical McTavish shift. He’s a throwback who doesn’t seem concerned with what opponents think of him or what an opposing star player’s reputation is, all while showcasing his own impressive skills in the process. There’s simply no quit in his game.
He kills penalties, supports his defensemen below the faceoff dots, and backchecks with a purpose. These traits were incredibly consistent in McTavish’s shifts at the under-18 world championship, but he played the same in-your-face style against older competition in Switzerland. It goes without saying that Swiss League opposition probably threw a big party when he had to leave to join Team Canada.
Dad facts:
John Tessler (smahtscouting.com):
McTavish’s father, Dale had played in Switzerland throughout McTavish’s childhood. Dale played for three Swiss clubs including SC Rapperswil-Jona, ZSC Lions and EV Zug. Prior to Dale’s time in the NLA, he played junior hockey for the Pembroke Lumber Kings (which he now owns) and the Peterborough Petes. In addition, he played in 57 games in the AHL (over two seasons) with the Saint John Flames and in nine NHL games with the Calgary Flames. In 1997, Dale and his wife Christine decided to move to Europe. Initially, Dale signed in Finland and played for SaiPa and the Espoo Blues before heading down to Switzerland.
I had no place to throw this fact in before, but his brother was born in Helsinki, Finland, so this family has some very interesting history due to Mason’s dad’s playing career. Overall, McTavish looks like a fun, abrasive prospect with good size and excellent tenacity.
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