Tomas Lavoie: Steady defender chosen in Round 3

Lavoie was the 89th overall pick by Utah in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft on Saturday.

What you see is what you get with Lavoie. Checking in at a hulking 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Lavoie is your typical hard-nosed, stay-at-home rearguard. He's very physical and can log heavy minutes at both even strength and on the penalty kill. Offensively, there's not much here. Lavoie keeps things simple in terms of puck play, making a strong first pass but displaying little in terms of creativity. Should everything break correctly, Lavoie has the potential to develop into a third-pairing regular for Utah, the type of shutdown defender all contending clubs are looking for at the trade deadline every single year.