Everett Silvertips fans, as well as hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest in general, should become acquainted with the name Landon DuPont.
The Everett Silvertips won the Western Hockey League prospects draft lottery last Wednesday and will pick No. 1 overall in May’s WHL Draft, thanks to the first-round pick they acquired in the trade that sent Olen Zellweger to Kamloops last season.
The consensus top prospect is DuPont, a defenseman from Calgary, Alberta. He is considered a generational prospect.
“This is a player that can perform at a high level but also make everyone else around him better. When that starts to happen, you start to build a real window (of contention),” said Joel Henderson, the director of scouting for Puck Preps and a WHL scout for FC Hockey.
“He does so many things well. … He’s mobile, he’s fluid, he’s smart.”
DuPont hasn’t decided yet if he’ll play in the WHL or go the NCAA route. Regardless, Zoran Rajcic, the Silvertips’ chief operating officer, told Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald that the Silvertips will take DuPont No. 1 overall, calling it “a no-brainer.”
“I don’t know any player who is a top player in any draft that wouldn’t look at every option. I would be surprised if DuPont and his family didn’t do their due diligence,” Henderson said. “I can’t speak to anything in particular, but if I’m betting money, he gets exceptional status, and he’s in Everett’s lineup next year.”
“Exceptional status” is a designation given out by Hockey Canada that allows players to play in the Canadian Hockey League before they turn 16. Only seven players total have received it, including Kraken prospect Shane Wright.
If given exceptional status, DuPont would be the second WHL player to receive it, with the first being Connor Bedard.
“I think it would be a disservice (to his development) if he doesn’t get exceptional status,” Henderson said.
Here are some quick facts on how dominant DuPont has been this past season
- His 62 points (19 goals and 43 assists) were third among all players and first for defensemen in CSSHL U18. Worth noting, DuPont is still just 14 years old, playing in a U18 league.
- It’s the most points all time for a defenseman his age in CSSHL U18, and it’s not particularly close – Wild prospect Carson Lambos is second with six points in 2017-18.
- His 2.07 points per game trails just Bedard and Matthew Savoie among players of that age in CSSHL U18.
DuPont is the No. 1 ranked player in North America, according to PuckPreps. For the WHL draft in particular, the No. 1 pick is the grand prize.
“With no disrespect to any of the players in this draft … the dropoff from Landon to No. 2 is significant and the dropoff from No. 2 is significant as well,” Henderson said.
Publicly, DuPont is drawing comparisons to Cale Makar due to his offensive skill set. For Henderson, there’s shades of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram in DuPont’s game.
“By all metrics he’s ahead of where Bowen Byram was at this point pretty substantially,” Henderson said. “But he’s that type of player who can quarterback an offense, he can move the puck consistently, he’s really smart with his decision making, he’s got powerful, smooth, skating strides. … He’s a really unselfish player. If anything I’d want him to be a little more unselfish.”
DuPont and Everett are an excellent marriage, according to Henderson.
“There aren’t too many landing spots in the WHL that suit Landon’s playing style better than the way Everett plays,” Henderson said. “Everett’s going to really enjoy him.”
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