Iain MacIntyre: Canucks call on Will Lockwood, who 'just had a way about him'
Iain MacIntyre
Published on: July 5, 2016 | Last Updated: July 5, 2016 7:00 PM PDT
...
At a development camp where nearly everyone seems to fly, Will Lockwood’s skating stands out. He turned 18 a week before the draft but looks you in the eye when he speaks. The Canucks see something in him.
...
“I like his speed and I think he’s got a bigger offensive upside than he has shown,” Canuck hockey operations president Trevor Linden said of Lockwood. “But I like that he has a hardness about him, too. He can skate and he likes to hit. He comes across as a really nice, polite kid, but he plays aggressive. In our interview, he just had a way about him that I liked. He’s the kind of kid who’s going to find a way to play.”
...
“I think I can speak for a lot of players in that the draft is a pretty stressful experience,” Lockwood said of his decision not to travel to Buffalo. “I tried to take it easy; it wouldn’t really have mattered where I went (in the draft order). So I was at home. I kind of did a thing at my house with friends and family. I had nine or 10 of my best friends there, my mom and dad and my old coaches. There were probably 20 people there, and another 20 or 30 came later to celebrate.
“We were watching the draft on the NHL Network. They went to a commercial. I got a text from my adviser saying ‘congrats.’ But the TV was on a commercial so I was like, ‘Who did I go to?’ When I saw it was the Vancouver Canucks, it was a huge relief. To go to Vancouver is incredible. It’s really nice there. I like it.”
Asked what the call from Linden was like, Lockwood said: “It was totally surreal. It was kind of a moment I’d been dreaming about my whole life, then to get that call …
“Not being at the draft didn’t matter to me. Either way, the moment was going to be big. So to get that call from him and be welcomed to the Vancouver Canucks was just an incredible experience.”
Lockwood has an adviser, not an agent, because he’s playing college hockey in the fall at Michigan. He said the Canucks let him choose between university or major junior hockey, so he’s following his mom and dad to Ann Arbor.
“Yeah, it surprised me a little bit,” he said of going 64th. “But I just kind of think of it like Vancouver really wanted me, and to go earlier where maybe it wasn’t expected was a great thing. They jumped up and grabbed me early. To feel wanted is nice.
“I just love the game of hockey. So going out there and playing with a lot of passion, competing every shift, is my type of game. But I also bring some skill and I’m able to make plays. I think skating is my best attribute.”
...