Carter Mazur – 2021 NHL Draft Prospect Profile

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Carter Mazur

2020-21 Team: Tri-City Storm (#91)
Date of Birth: March 28, 2002
Place of Birth: Detroit, MI
Ht: 6-foot Wt: 168 pounds
Shoots: R
Position: LW
NHL Draft Eligibility: 2021 second-year eligible

Rankings

Carter Mazur is a second-year eligible NHL prospect, who just finished his second full season with the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League (USHL). In 47 games played, he scored 20 goals and 22 assists for 44 points and had a plus-8 rating as he led his team to the 2020-21 playoffs.

As a 19-year-old, Mazur has had more time to mature entering this draft, and he proved that when he was named captain of the Storm before the 2020-21 season. He was the Storm’s third-overall pick in the 2018 USHL Phase 1 Draft, and improved each year in the parts of three seasons he played with them.

Mazur has loads of offensive talent and potent scoring ability, but it will be hard for his skillset to translate to the NHL, at least immediately. He is considered undersized, weighing just 168 pounds, and will likely need to build muscle and get closer to 200 pounds in order to compete in all areas of the ice as a scoring winger.

Other THW Draft Profiles:

Carter Mazur – NHL Draft Projection

The highest Mazur has been ranked is No. 67 among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, and was ranked No. 121 and No. 127 by a pair of other outlets. With the lack of a body of work for many of this year’s draft-eligible prospects due to the pandemic, it’s possible he goes somewhere in the middle of those rankings, possibly as high as the third round, or as low as the fifth round.

Related: THW’s 2021 NHL Draft Guide

Mazur would be a good fit on a number of teams, and given his size and skillset, would thrive on a team that plays a fast-paced, offensively-minded style. Some teams that come to mind that could use a player like this are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Pittsburgh Penguins. Mazur would make a good addition to any of these teams’ prospect pipelines.

Quotables

“Carter is a guy who embodies everything that we try to represent here in Tri-City. He wears the ‘C’ for us for a reason, he is someone who we are going to look forward to watching play hockey for a really long time.” – Storm President of Hockey Operations and Head Coach, Anthony Noreen

“He displays good defensive awareness and shows smart efficient decisions in all zones. Mazur is able to use his speed very efficiently, accelerating through the neutral zone to gain great speed to force defenders to back up, quickly getting to loose pucks before opponents.” – FCHockey

Strengths

  • Shooting
  • Two-way scoring threat
  • Leadership qualities

Under Construction (Improvements to Make)

Mazur needs to focus on building strength/muscle and add new ways of scoring to his game to be an effective NHL player. He already has a good shot, but he’ll need to practice finding new areas of the ice to score from against tougher competition, and could also work on forechecking and applying pressure to opponents in their defensive zone when he doesn’t have the puck.

NHL Potential

When it comes to his NHL potential, Mazur could realistically project to be a middle-six winger who can play a versatile scoring and shutdown role on whichever team decides to draft him. If he is able to get stronger, he’ll be able to contribute in more ways than just offensively, which would make him a good asset to have in both even strength and special teams situations.

Risk-Reward Analysis

Risk – 2/5, Reward – 3/5

Fantasy Hockey Potential

Offense – 6/10, Defense – 5/10

Carter Mazur Statistics

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