Dean Letourneau’s size and skills make it worth it in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft

In a game built on tools, senses and physical advantages, you can’t blame executives, coaches and fans who marvel at players with attributes different from the norm. There is an obsession with size in hockey because, at the end of the day, it matters.

That’s why NHL organizations take notice when 6-foot-7 center prospects produce like Dean Letourneau did with St. Andrew’s College.

Over the course of 70 Triple-A and Prep Hockey Conference games, the Ontario product scored 75 goals and added 77 assists, more than two points per game. Setting school scoring records is one thing; how he did it was another matter entirely.

Typically, tall players have to overcome a mountain of physical obstacles at this age. Growth spurts at inopportune times often ruin stride mechanics, limit upper body movement, and create thin frames that require a ton of work.

Much of the development work is focused on regaining movement and freer use. In turn, the hope is that you can get taller players to a point where they can take advantage of size differences, while still combining enough skills to get an NHL projection.

What makes Létourneau atypical is the absence of the limitations mentioned above. A coordinated, equipped and intelligent attacker, he is a unicorn who has crushed his competition this season in almost every way possible.

It doesn’t take a huge leap of logic to understand why many have serious reservations about Letourneau’s production and offensive upside. With only two games outside of the preseason hockey circuit, there isn’t really a sample of what Letourneau is like as a hockey player against better competition.

Without that, you have to rely on what generally makes players successful, especially if they come from leagues where they are clearly the class of the pack.