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2021 NHL Draft: Blackhawks select with Jalen Luypen the No. 216 pick

With their final selection of the 2021 NHL Draft, the Blackhawks selected another overager: left winger Jalen Luypen.

Luypen, 19, is a diminutive winger at only 5-foot-10 and 155 pounds, but he did make the most of his second draft-eligible year this past season. He had 29 points (16 G, 13 A) in 23 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the WHL, finishing third in team scoring and fifth in league scoring. It’s for this reason he was named the Edmonton Oil Kings Most Improved Player for the 2020-21 season and ended up ranked 133rd among North American Skaters by NHL Central Scouting.

Back in April, Jake Neighbours of Dobber Prospects said that Luypen had “taken a huge step forward offensively so far,” during the 2020-21 season, with Luypen having 17 points through 13 games at that point in the season.

Oil Kings President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kirt Hill discussed Luypen’s improvement:

When he got here and with the type of season it was he had an opportunity to play in a role he hasn’t had the last couple of years, being in the top-six and on the power play, playing big minutes. His confidence was high, and he ran with the opportunity right from the first game. A few things in his game that I thought really improved were his skating, he got more power in his stride, with a lot more quickness and shiftiness making him more elusive; the second thing I really noticed in his game was his shot went to the next level with that extra power to it, along with a quick release so he is able to beat goalies clean.

Talking Points