Once Passed Over, Tanner Laczynski Excited to Land With Flyers

VOORHEES, N.J. — Tanner Laczynski was doing what he loves best when he’s not playing hockey himself. He was teaching kids the game.

It was the afternoon of the second day of the NHL draft in Buffalo, New York, when Laczynski arrived home in Shorewood, Illinois, from the rink.

The 19-year-old went to his room briefly when he heard some commotion going on as his family was watching the draft on television.

“They were all screaming,” Laczynski recalled. “I went downstairs and just got a big group hug so that was pretty special. That’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

That day, the Flyers drafted the 6-foot-1, 190-pound center in the sixth round at No. 169 overall of this year's draft.

Laczynski was a tad surprised given he had very little contact with the Flyers. Then again, many of the players taken after the third round of the draft haven’t had that much contact with any specific NHL club.

“I had talked to [Flyers scouting director] Chris Pryor on the phone once or twice,” he said. “That was about it for the draft. I didn’t really know what team I was going to, or what round, or if I was going at all.”

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He was draft eligible last year and was passed over.

“I just felt more confident this year in the draft,” he said. “I felt like I was going to get picked up. When that came around, I was pretty fortunate. Glad to be here.”

Laczynski is an overage prospect. He was a point-a-game player with both Lincoln and Chicago last season in the USHL with 64 points (24 goals) in 52 games.

“My first year in the USHL, I got cut actually,” he said. “I went out and made the Ivan Hlinka team and was really pushing myself over the summer. I knew I needed to be better in some parts of my game.

“I came back and started camp and I was bottom-three, bottom-six forward and started working my way up. At the end of the year, I was a top six.”

Between 2012 and the next 16 months, he also gained about 20 pounds.

“This last year, I felt like I have really made a big stride in my game,” Laczynski said. “I think my offseason really helped me in my development.”

NHL Central Scouting had him ranked 99th among North American prospects going into the draft.

Laczynski is enrolled at Ohio State this fall as a business major. The Flyers have no issue with players who choose the collegiate route over junior.

“I thought it was a no-brainer from the start to go to college,” Laczynski said. “Me and my family felt education was most important. To get that education to assure a backup plan after hockey.”

Not many teenagers know right away what college they want to attend. Laczynski did. He first visited OSU when he was 14 — long before most kids even have college on their minds.

“I fell in love with the campus and everything about it,” he said. “Coaching staff, facilities, the rink. That was the first [NCAA] visit I went on. I committed a week or two after.”

Last week’s Flyers development camp afforded Laczynski a chance to get familiar with the organization. Now he’ll have the tricky task of trying to assimilate what the club wants from him with what the Buckeyes want at the collegiate level.

For instance, the training regimes won’t be the same.

“I haven’t talked to them,” Laczynski said. “I will absorb every information I can and take the training regime from [the Flyers] and give it to my Ohio State guy and hopefully we can come up with something that allows me to participate in both.”

With camp over, he headed back to Illinois to resume his job working with kids.

“I love coaching little kids,” Laczynski said. “It helps me stay on the ice, even see things from a different perspective.”

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