The Edmonton Oilers selected forward Dylan Holloway with the 14th pick in the 2020 NHL Draft Tuesday.
At six-feet tall and 203 pounds, Holloway is a physical power forward with a nose for the net. The 19-year-old Calgary native stays in-province, where he excelled with the AJHL’s Okotoks Oilers.
Holloway registered 40 goals and 88 points in 53 AJHL games in 2018-19, leading the league in scoring as a 17-year-old before departing for the University of Wisconsin. In his freshman year last season, the forward — who’s capable of playing both centre and left wing — tallied eight goals and 17 points in 35 NCAA games, brushing off a slow start and getting hot down the stretch with the Badgers.
In his final prospect rankings, Sportsnet’s draft expert Sam Cosentino described Holloway as a “straight-line player who will drive the net as hard as he will forecheck.”
Dylan Holloway, surrounded by his family, finds out he'll be joining the @EdmontonOilers via text message.#NHLDraft | #NHLonSN pic.twitter.com/7v57nVwbdP
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 7, 2020
Director of NHL Central Scouting Dan Marr called Holloway, who was the first college player off the board Tuesday night, “the complete package.”
“What always stands (out) with him is that he’s got really good speed, really good hockey sense, but it’s just the character through which he plays the game and the presence that he has in that he’s a competitor and he likes to win battles, he likes to win situations,” Marr told Sportsnet’s Mike Shulman, before offering a pretty enticing NHL comparison:
“He plays a Jonathan Toews-type game, and he’s going to contribute offensively,” said Marr.
“He’s too smart a player — his hockey sense is so strong. He’s just too smart a player to be kept off the board.”
When asked by Sportsnet’s Gene Principe about Holloway’s game, Oilers general manager Ken Holland immediately pointed to his speed, size, and versatility. Holland also pointed out an interesting connection: Holloway’s coach in Wisconsin is Tony Granato, who was an assistant coach with the Red Wings during Holland’s tenure in Detroit.
“I talked to Tony in the last couple of days, and Tony spoke very, very highly of him as a young man his character, and the respect he gets in the locker room, and how hard he works,” Holland said. “So, I think we’re getting a player with a lot of character, a player that has a lot of speed. He’s got good size.”
Holland added that he’s looking forward to watching the young player — who, he noted, was one of the youngest skaters in college hockey’s regular rotation last season — continue to develop with the Badgers.
“This upcoming year is a really important year in his development,” he said.
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