In-depth breakdown: Julian Lutz (2022 draft profile)

In the 2022 draft, our analyst at TSLH Espoirs, Simon St-Laurent, ranked Julian Lutz 16th among the best prospects in this draft class. Few renowned prospects play for Germany in the WJC, but Lutz is one. He was also the author of his team’s first goal against Canada. Here is the profile that Simon drew up before the 2022 draft.

Relatively a big surprise in my ranking, Julian Lutz is a prospect for whom I have had a special affection since the very beginning of the season. The contexts to properly assess him this season were rather limited. A 6’02 winger from Germany, he started his season at the Hlinka tournament where he took part in 4 games. After playing 2 exhibition games in the DEL, Lutz suffered a back injury and missed nearly 3/4 of the season. He will have finally played 14 games in this league before going to lend a hand to his country during the U-18 tournament. In total, it’s 24 games in which he will have taken part this season (if we include the 2 exhibition games). The problem is that in 8 of these (during international competitions), Germany was greatly outmatched and his use in the DEL was sporadic (benefiting from only 3 minutes of ice time in several of these ).

The best way to describe the style of player would be to say he’s a hybrid between a power winger and a playmaker.

Lutz is indeed an excellent passer and this is mainly his greatest quality. His vision is of a very high standard and he sees passing lanes where there aren’t always any, whether it’s using the boards to reach a teammate while in his own territory or in the neutral zone, but mainly by his way of spotting the ‘soft spots’ on the ice, which are the free spaces where there is still no one, by making a finesse pass to a place where one of his teammates will meet in the imminence. The delicacy of his passing in difficult situations is something that came up constantly in my notes, for example, when he maneuvers in heavy traffic and the path is blocked for him, he will meticulously slide the puck between the ‘Tripod‘ of a defender so that it is accessible to a teammate who skates behind the defenders. It’s that kind of finesse play that makes him such a great playmaker. In this kind of play, the majority of prospects would attempt a shot that would be blocked or deflected out of harm. Lutz also loves making cross-ice passes at the mouth of the net when he finds himself practically alone near the goalkeeper on the right side, which demonstrates his great generosity with the puck. He’s a player who works well on his backhand while he can buy himself time with his wide skating base (more on that later) and taking care to look over his shoulder to spot the good pass options. Finally, and this is perhaps where Lutz excels the most as a puck distributor, the EHC Munchen winger shines when it comes to making plays from behind the net (or even coming out of the corner of the rink). He is very resourceful at this location of the rink, having seen him make some of the most creative plays I have seen a prospect make at this location. He is dangerous because he manages to reach a teammate in the slot with a high success rate, even on his backhand or even if his field of vision and body position do not suggest that he can reach a teammate.

One of the reasons that contributes to making the German such a good passer is that his handling of the puck allows him to dangle players and create openings on the ice. One of his play selections he likes to make is to brake at the blue line after gaining the O-zone in possession of the puck, bait a player or two on him, dangle them and then hand off to a teammate who will benefit from the center of the ice. Lutz has the hands to deal with unpredictable elements and keep possession of the puck in heavy traffic. He can easily deke players in a one-on-one situation and loves to use his puck handling and patience to manipulate defenders into moving their stick to open up a new passing lane. His handling of the puck also helps him to give himself a better chance of scoring when I saw him skillfully bring the puck from his backhand to his forehand before beating a goalkeeper, and this, when he had practically no room to maneuver.

Another enticing quality of his game is that he is a SUPERB skater. His mechanic is very good; he has a wide base of support and he leans forward by inclining his trunk. He also plays with a very low center of gravity, which helps him maintain better balance in his battles for the puck, as he is still quite green physically (more on that later). Lutz has excellent speed but he is not a straight-line skater, he loves to change his angles of attack and see what happens; he can easily exploit an opening that is created and he has the agility to readjust his trajectory and return to the initial side. He also manages to gain speed inside his crosses. The German is excellent at using his wide skate base to push off his opponents’ sticks to buy himself time while he’s along the boards.

It is above all his passing qualities that are predominant in his game, but he also has a very good shot. His wrist shot is gaining height quickly and is very difficult for goalkeepers to contain. He also hides a lot of power behind his wrist shot and his throw on receptions. He demonstrates some similar qualities inside his shooting selections as he does for his passing skills: he seems to see plays ahead and if an opening comes his way, there will be no hesitation on his part and he will attack the free zone to unleash a very good shot from the wrists. He also has in his arsenal a sneaky one-timer on the strong side (fired on one-timer on the left side despite being a southpaw himself) that is never easy for goaltenders to read and also offers an element of significant surprise.

He also plays with a great work ethic. He works very well with his stick to neutralize the carrier of the puck and he does not give up until he regains control of the puck. He is always moving on the ice and always applying pressure. Lutz is anything but a reactive player on the ice, he has a very good ‘engine’ and is often the first to jump into action. Even on the face-offs, he gets out of the blocks very quickly and grabs the puck as soon as it touched the ice. He likes to play physical too, whether it’s battling in front of the net or even applying checks as he comes at full speed.

Which brings me to tell you about one of the aspects that could be the most important in his development. Lutz still has a lot of catching up to do in terms of his physical development. He is currently listed at 185 lbs on a 6’02 frame, which gives him a very low body mass index. In the DEL, he was often physically abused and the vast majority, if not almost all, of his mistakes on the ice occurred due to the delay in physical strength that he demonstrated against his rivals. The fact that he shows a lot of power in his lower body leaves me optimistic about this. He is just a player who will need more time to develop and reach his full potential. He easily has a 20 to 25 lbs up to gain.

It’s really no small task to make it into a men’s league after being out for so long due to a back injury (which probably kept him from training in the gym as well). I’ve been saying this for a few years now, but the caliber of DEL is greatly underestimated. In addition, of all the professional leagues in Europe, it is the one that offers, by far, the most physical game. Despite this, Lutz has demonstrated an inclination to advocate physical play and finishing his checks and getting his nose dirty. He also displayed his strength of character when he did not allow himself to be intimidated by anyone, each time he was pushed around, he took a little head of steam and he returned to hit the same player. He has a very combative attitude on the ice.

It will be seen in a few years if it was a wise choice to put him so high. In the DEL, I saw him make a few little nervous mistakes as he returned to the game very late in the season when his team slowly but surely prepare for the playoffs and in the U-18 tournament he did a few mistakes as he looked to do a bit too much on the ice, being by far the best player on his team and the tournament taking place in his native Germany. Maybe in the end I should have given more importance to this kind of detail. But the level of talent is very enchanting and I believe that he is a player in whom we are far from having seen all the potential. Lutz was #12 on my list in November and December! In the end, I will have watched every shift he has spent on the ice in his season.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of comparisons but several elements of his game remind me of a player I can’t say enough good things about him: Ondrej Palat. His persistent work on the puck carrier, his east-west zone entries, the level of talent and the propensity to finish his checks despite being first and foremost a skill and finesse player. If he manages to add some weight, I believe he could become that kind of player.