Plymouth — Like many around the globe, Red Wings draft pick Carter Mazur put on 30 pounds during the pandemic.
Unlike many, though, Mazur’s weight gain was intentional — and it’s made all the difference.
Mazur’s transformation saw him explode into nearly a point-per-game player with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm in 2020-21. After getting passed on in his draft year of 2020, the centerman from Jackson was taken by the hometown Red Wings, 70th-overall, in Round 3 of Saturday’s NHL Draft.
It was one of the feel-good stories of Detroit’s draft, but the celebration didn’t last long. Mazur had a game the next day at USA Hockey Arena’s World Junior Summer Showcase, an eight-day event from July 24-31.
“Still waking up, knowing I’m drafted by this great organization that I’ve grown up in, in a way it’s just unbelievable,” Mazur said. “(But) the work is just beginning in a way.”
More: Meet the Red Wings 2021 draft picks
Mazur is one of a handful of Wings prospects at USA Hockey Arena this week who have found ways to make the disruption work for them. A year ago, the idea that he would become a draft candidate with middle-six upside looked far from reality.
While a physical change got Mazur drafted, a mental change spurred on by the timing of the COVID-19 got him to the first step. After registering just 11 points in 45 games during the 2019-20 season, he scored in his last two games of the season on March 7 and 8.
“It started at the end of the year before that, I felt like that was when I was kind of hitting my stride, getting used to the league and everything,” Mazur said.
To say that the 6-foot Mazur went on a diet to reach 180 pounds might be a bit of a stretch. “I just go for calories, whatever it is,” he said. But the over-aged prospect did come back in 2020-21 a different player. Mazur totaled 20 goals and 24 assists in 47 games, got time on the power play and was on the ice when his team needed a goal.
“Coming into this year, I felt really confident in my game,” Mazur said. “It does feel a little different because you feel more comfortable going against kids that are 190 pounds, 200 pounds. You still feel like you have the weight behind you. So that’s just (an) add-on, especially how I play, physical and everything like that.
“It adds a lot.”
The story is much different for Cross Hanas.
Drafted 55th-overall by Detroit in October’s 2020 Draft, Hanas was known as a phenomenal offensive creator with one glaring flaw — and to be fair, he comes by it honestly.
“Growing up, I never really cared about defensive stuff,” Hanas said.
He knew, eventually, that would have to change. He did not know that the pandemic would force the issue.
Canada’s strict COVID policies made it difficult for the country’s major-junior hockey leagues to get going. Hanas eventually got six games in with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, the club he was drafted from, in May.
Before that, though, the 19-year-old Hanas was forced across the border to get playing time in the USHL. His point production dipped considerably over 27 games, as the prolific scorer netted just three goals. The reason, he said, was apparent almost immediately.
“It was way more defensive-oriented teams,” Hanas said. “Right away, it was like, ‘Oh man, this is different.'”
That was a far cry from the goal-happy WHL and hindered the style of game he’d become accustomed to. But as far as fulfilling his NHL dreams, it was the exact shift in perspective that he needed.
Anybody who watched Jeff Blashill’s Red Wings in 2021 — and the unceremonious end to Evgeny Svechnikov’s tenure in Detroit — could tell you that was never going to fly at the next level. He was told that bluntly by the Red Wings development staff, and seems to have taken it to heart.
“In Portland, I’ve never even been a penalty killer, and it’s going to be my fourth season, so I’m hoping to get there this season,” he said. “It does feel pretty good” to come up with stops instead of making the highlight-reel play.
“Sometimes it’s like, well this is — I can get used to this a little bit.”
Getting used to anything has been an often fickle venture for the NHL’s last two draft classes. That’s especially true for Hanas’ fellow 2020 second-rounder, Theodor Niederbach.
Niederbach, another Frolunda product who went 51st-overall to Detroit in 2020, split time — almost evenly — between three levels of hockey in Sweden during his draft-plus-one year.
The quick-footed, 172-pound forward was a menace with Frolunda’s J20 team, putting up 13 goals and 22 assists in just 19 games. COVID complications led to that league being cancelled for the season in November.
He played a few games for the Swedish Hockey League club before heading off to the World Junior Championships in Edmonton at the end of the calendar year, was then loaned out to a different club in the HockeyAllsvenskan (Modo) for 15 games. Later, he was brought back to the SHL when a season-ending elbow injury to fellow Wings prospect Lucas Raymond opened up a roster spot at forward.
Learning by watching helped. Niederbach said that the experience in the SHL helped him realize “how serious the guys are when you are a pro.”
“They (don’t) take any game or training for granted,” he added.
A dose of perspective has been nice. What’s even nicer is finding out early what will and won’t work at the next level, getting a head start on the next development task
“(Scoring) at the pro level is tough. You have to get different chances and really take care of them,” Niederbach said. “In the under-20, you get a chance every game, and you know you maybe will score at least one.”
In setting out to become NHL players, Mazur, Hanas and Niederbach have all become acutely aware of the adaptability that’s required. None of them had a 2020-21 season like they’d planned.
But considering the way that this off-ice perspective has molded each one into more mature, well-rounded hockey players, it’s a bit ironic that the biggest on-ice lesson learned by Niederbach sums up the trio’s separate journeys nicely.
“If you get a really great chance,” Niederbach said, “you really have to take it.”
Nolan Bianchi is a freelance writer.