E-Mac's 2011 NHL Entry Draft Top 120: Scott Mayfield #36

By Eldon MacDonald

36. Scott Mayfield - “Mr. Pioneer” - D - USA

Vitals: 6’4”, 200 lb.; Shoots right; Born: 14-Oct-92 - St. Louis, MO
Team: Youngstown, USHL
2010-11 Stats: 52-7-9-16-159-(-18)

Ranking:
16 - Cory Pronman's Top 100
24 - The Hockey News per TSN
27 - Kirk Luedeke's Top 50
27 - Guy Flaming - The Pipeline Show Top 30
28 - The Scouting Report's Top 100 Skaters
29 - NHL Central Scouting's Final Rankings (24th North American skater)
29 - Christopher Ralph's Top 210
32 - ISS per TSN
34 - hfboards Readers’ Poll
36 - E-Mac's 2011 NHL Entry Draft Top 120
37 - Future Considerations Final Rankings
46 - Bob MacKenzie's June Poll of Scouts
Draft result:
34 - New York Islanders

OK, here’s the deal with Scott Mayfield, you get a real big guy at 6’4’’ and 200 lb. and that’s before he fills out for NHL play. You also get a really good skater for a big guy. Scott has a nice shot (wrister and slapper) and has the ability to skate the puck out of the zone in addition to dishing off. He is good one-on-one and is known for his shot blocking ability. Here is what NHL Central Scouting’s Gary Eggleston told NHL.com about Scott, "He plays the body well and is physical but not in an overly rambunctious way. He can close off the forechecker up high and is controlled, poised and calm in his play. He plays like a seasoned veteran. Scott has a smooth, strong and effortless stride, his passes are crisp and he sees the ice very well. He has a very good wrist shot and controls the play from the point on the power play."

This big guy has had some nice recent successes too. In 2009-10, Scott led his team’s defensemen in goals (10), second in points (22) and in plus-minus (-4). This year, his performance at the 2010 NHL Research, Development, and Orientation camp along with his defense partner, man-child Mike McKee, was one of the highlights of the camp. He then followed that up by leading Team USA to a gold medal at the World Junior-A Challenge in November, being named to the tournament all-star team plus winning MVP honours in the process. That performance led to him bring rated first round by ISS for five straight months beginning in November not to mention first round in Bob MacKenzie’s poll of NHL scouts in January. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to maintain that success story back in the USHL at Youngstown. Why??? Well, he was on a really bad team and was overused, often being left on the ice for more than half the game. Left is the operative word because he was often alone out there in terms of having the talent to get the job done, he was also probably alone off the ice too as he did not appear to be getting the coaching and mentoring necessary for his continued development. In any case, Scott’s progression stalled, his performance took a beating and he ended the year with a worse record than last years in terms of points and plus-minus.

What does the future hold for Scott. Well, next year he is going to a really good program at Denver under coach, George Gwozdecky (twice NCAA coach of the year). Hopefully, Scott will receive the guidance he was missing this year and continue his upward progression to a future job on an NHL blueline. Where does that leave Scott for the draft? As you can see from the rankings above, some still have him in the latter half of the first round and a team that really likes him may dial out his performance in the USHL this year. However, my guess is that there have been other defensemen with good projection (think, Oscar Klefbom, Connor Murphy, Joe Morrow, Jonas Brodin) who also have had good season-ending performances that are more likely to be chosen in front of him. The answers on his draft status will be revealed on June 24th (first round) or June 25th (other rounds) at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.