Kraken draft Lukas Dragicevic 57th overall

The Seattle Kraken selected Lukas Dragicevic with the 57th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Lukas Dragicevic

Position: Defense
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 194 lbs
Shoots: Right
Age: 18
Club: Tri-City (WHL)
Nationality: 🇨🇦
NHL Central Scouting final ranking: 18th among North American skaters

2022-23 stats

Offense is the name of the game for Dragicevic. He was the lone WHL blue-liner to lead his team in scoring, and he did so by an impressive 11-point margin.

Those results were enough for Dragicevic to be named a first-team All-Star in the WHL's U.S. Division.

His 75 points were the most by a draft-eligible WHL defenseman since Ian White tallied 79 in 2001-02. Only four draft-eligible blue-liners have scored over a point per game in a full WHL season over the past decade: Bowen Byram, Ivan Provorov, Ty Smith, and Juuso Valimaki. Each was drafted inside the first 17 selections of their respective drafts. Dragicevic's scoring this year exceeded all of them.

So why is a 6-foot-2 right-hand shot defenseman with that level of production only ranked as high as the fringes of the first round? A lackluster defensive game and below-average skating have some scouts concerned about Dragicevic's translatability and potential effectiveness at higher levels.

Still, his production speaks for itself, as does his pedigree. Dragicevic was the first defenseman off the board in the 2020 WHL Draft when Tri-City selected him fourth overall. He was also the only 2005-born blue-liner on Canada's roster at the 2022 U18s, a tournament he again played at in 2023.

Dragicevic will return to the WHL's Tri-City Americans next season.

What they're saying

"Dragicevic is very dangerous with the puck on his stick," wrote The Athletic's Corey Pronman. "He can run a power play like a pro. He shows the high-end IQ to let plays develop, hold pucks under pressure, and jump into attacks at the right time to go with a strong point shot."

"The big concern is a valid one in that Dragicevic is below average defensively and lacks awareness at times in his own zone," FloHockey's Chris Peters wrote. "The offensive toolkit is immense and alluring."

"He's comfortable carrying the puck and eager to make plays, with the finer skills needed to execute through seams and stickhandle his way out of trouble," wrote The Athletic's Scott Wheeler. "His skating and lackadaisical decision-making reminds me of a lesser version of Evan Bouchard at the same age."

Click here to view Dragicevic's highlights.