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NHL 2016 Draft Radar: Riley Tufte

By Sam Blazer

Jun 6, 2016, 11:31 EDTUpdated:

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When evaluating an American player whose numbers are almost all high school games, you are going to have a tough time trying to pinpoint where he will end up. Most scouts are looking at the CHL, NCAA or heck even the USHL. The amount of people taking a look at high school games is very small. So how big of an impact do you have to make to end up as a projected first round pick? Apparently three points per game will do the trick.

NHL CS Ranking

17th among all North American skaters.

The Stats

As I mentioned above, scoring at a three point per game pace will get a lot of attention in the State of Hockey. He had some time in the USHL, that time was mostly unimpressive but was split into two parts since he decided to return to his high school team after a bad run in the USHL. He returned after the high school season was over and found more success then. He will be joining Minnesota Duluth next year, a good team that will surely make some noise in the NCAA. A lot of unknowns surrounding this player and yet his size and scoring touch have many scouts salivating.

The Eye Test

Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News had an opportunity to catch Tufte this season and had this to say about the player:

“Tufte (somewhat) controversially went back for one more year with his Blaine high school team this year, but it turned out to be a master stroke. Starting the year in Fargo, he struggled. But the 6-foot-5 University of Minnesota-Duluth commit went off at Blaine for three points a game and now back in the USHL, he looks like a brand new player – the best raw prospect one scout had seen from the state of Minnesota in decades.”

NHL Central Scouting’s David Gregory was asked what kind of player Tufte would be in the pro’s and this is what he had to say:

“There’s going to be that sweet spot somewhere in between that skilled and power forward for him in my mind. Maybe it’s a Rick Nash-type of player where he has unreal hands for a big guy but can eventually understand he’s using his size because it can give him such an advantage.”

Some good company to be in, eh?

Does he fit in with the Red Wings?

As a bigger forward with scoring touch, the Red Wings know all about that type of player. They already have Anthony Mantha in the fold and could possibly add another player of that ilk. Mantha has had his name thrown around often in trade rumors, could Tufte be a possible replacement? It would make a lot of sense. Tufte is going to be a player that will need time to develop and will need a couple of years with Minnesota Duluth before you see him in a Red Wings affiliated uniform. Drafting in the middle of the first round, they know a little bit about this path already. They won’t push too hard and it should make for a solid development path. If they pick Tufte here, it will be a little off the board but not entirely unexpected.