It’s that time of the year for The Win Column’s NHL Draft Rankings and Draft Profiles! The 2024 NHL Draft will be held on June 28 and 29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Up next is Henry Mews. Mews is currently being ranked as a late first-round pick and could be a good fit for the Flames with their second pick in the round if they take a forward at ninth overall. As a highly skilled offensive defenceman, he could be on plenty of teams’ radars to close out the first round.
Who is Henry Mews?
| PLAYER | POSITION | HANDEDNESS | HEIGHT | WEIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Mews | D | R | 6’0″ | 181 lbs |
Mews hails from Ottawa, Ontario, and has played all of his junior hockey in southern Ontario. He has decent size for a defender, standing at 6’0″ with plenty of room to add to his 181-pound frame. As a right-shot defender, Mews is sure to garner attention based on that fact alone.
Mews’ on-ice production
| YEAR | DRAFT RELATIVE | LEAGUE | TEAM | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 | D-2 | GTHL U16 AAA | Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16 AAA | 52 | 14 | 64 | 78 |
| 2022–23 | D-1 | OHL | Ottawa 67’s | 55 | 12 | 19 | 31 |
| 2023–24 | D+0 | OHL | Ottawa 67’s | 65 | 15 | 46 | 61 |
During his D-2 season in 2021–22, Mews skated for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens in the GTHL, posting 78 points in 52 games. His 78 points were tied for tops in the league among defencemen, along with fellow 2024 NHL draft prospect Andrew Cristoforo.
Following the season, Mews was drafted seventh overall by his hometown Ottawa 67’s in the OHL Priority Draft. In his first year in the OHL, Mews made an impact right away. He’d finish the year with 12 goals and 31 points in 55 games, good for fourth among rookie defencemen in the OHL and second among rookies on his team. He also put up four points in 11 playoff games.
This season Mews’ offence took another step forward, totalling 61 points in 65 games to lead his team in scoring from the blue line. He added five points in 10 playoff games. His 61 points in the regular season ranked third among draft-eligible defenceman in the OHL behind only Sam Dickinson and Zayne Parek—both of whom are projected top 10 selections.
Mews is also currently skating for Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and has put up three points in five games which ranks second among Canadian blueliners.
Mews’ strengths
Skating
The best part of Mews’ game is his skating. He’s such a smooth skater from the back end and is able to move around all three zones with ease. Any time a defenceman can move the way Mews does, it’s going to attract a lot of attention. He has a fluid stride that allows him to weave his way in and out of traffic with the puck. It also helps him evade defenders on the forecheck or when walking the line.
Mews is strong on his edges, which can make him hard to contain at times, as he’s able to change direction on a dime, shaking defenders in the process. In transition, he’s incredibly efficient and effective because of how good he is at accelerating and getting up ice. From there, he’s able to navigate the neutral zone with ease and zig and zag to gain the zone.
Offensive IQ
Mews is an incredibly smart offensive player, likely because he used to be a forward before moving to defence a couple of years ago. He’s able to think the game offensively at a level that most 18-year-old defenders can’t. He’s a crafty and creative player offensively and is able to distribute the puck to his teammates at an impressive rate, regularly finding offensive opportunities that other defenders wouldn’t notice.
Unsurprisingly, he’s a real threat as a powerplay quarterback. He’s able to walk the line and find teammates all over the ice or look for an open shooting lane. He’s also great at activating and joining the rush to aid in his team’s offensive attack. This can also get him into trouble sometimes, though. More on that in a bit.
Overall, Mews is the type of modern defender who can impact the game in various ways offensively. It all comes back to his mind and the way he uses his offensive instincts to attack defenders.
Mews’ areas of improvement
Defensive game
Without a doubt, the biggest knock on Mews’ game and the reason he’s not a guaranteed first-round pick is his defensive game. As a converted forward, he’s still figuring out how to nail the defensive side of playing on the back end. He can get caught in bad positions quite often, which can lead to chances coming back the other way. In the OHL, it’s not as noticeable, but that won’t fly in the NHL.
He can also be pretty sloppy with the puck, trying to do too much or being too casual with possession which leads to turnovers. He’s also prone to poor reads, trying to force passes through dangerous areas or skating head-on into crowds instead of making the safe play with the puck. This has made scouts question how his game will translate to the pro ranks if he’s not able to clean up some of his mistakes.
Compete level
Another knock on Mews is his overall consistency and compete level from game to game. Some nights, he’s incredibly dialled in; other nights, his game would best be described as chaotic and all over the place. He’s been known to give up on the backcheck or simply coast on defence, which gives off a rather negative view of his game.
There are often times when a turnover leads to an odd-man rush coming back the other way, and instead of getting on his horse to help out on defence, Mews simply coasts back and looks uninterested in helping out. Poor efforts like that are going to get him into a lot of trouble when he reaches the pro ranks.
Mews’ comparables
One name that jumps out as a comparable for Mews is Tyson Barrie. Both players have strong offensive and transitional abilities but are average defenders at best. Also, just like Mews, Barrie isn’t the biggest or strongest defender, and physicality isn’t really a part of his game.
I think Mews projects similar to a player like Barrie. At his peak, Barrie was a top-end offensive contributor and power play quarterback, but he was more of a second-pairing guy due to his deficiencies in his own zone. If Mews can develop into a second-pairing offensive defenceman, I think that would be a big win for whoever drafts him.
Fit with the Flames
Mews is not likely to be a great fit with the Flames when you consider their current needs. There’s no question they need to add some more blue-chip defencemen to their prospect pool, but Mews’ style of play is very similar to a few other names already in the system. The Flames already have a couple of offence first defenders in Jeremie Poirier and Hunter Brzustewicz, so I’m not sure if they’ll be looking to add yet another to the system.
If Mews slips to the second round, I think he could certainly be a target. With their late first-rounder, I would assume the organization will want to target either a forward or a defenceman with a more well-rounded game.
Risk: 3/5
Reward: 3/5
Projection: Second-pairing offensive defenceman
Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2024 NHL Draft prospects:
Macklin Celebrini | Ivan Demidov | Artyom Levshunov | Sam Dickinson | Cayden Lindstrom | Berkly Catton | Cole Eiserman | Zeev Buium | Konsta Helenius | Zayne Parekh | Carter Yakemchuk | Anton Silayev | Tij Iginla | Adam Jiricek | Michael Brandsegg-Nygard | Liam Greentree | Igor Chernyshov | Trevor Connelly | Aron Kiviharju | Michael Hage | Ryder Ritchie | Sacha Boisvert | Nikita Artamonov | Maxim Masse | Cole Hutson | Beckett Sennecke | Dominik Badinka | Emil Hemming | Henry Mews | Terik Parascak | Alfons Freij | Charlie Elick | EJ Emery | John Mustard | Luka Misa | Tanner Howe | Lucas Pettersson | Matvei Gridin | Dean Letourneau | Leo Sahlin Wallenius
