When we asked the Saginaw Spirit coach what he knew of Owen Beck before general manager Dave Drinkill made his acquisition from the Peterborough Petes following the 2024 world junior championship, those were the first words out of his mouth, and they caught our attention.
Much more so than what Lazary said next.
Because three minutes into our short phone conversation Friday morning, when he started listing off Beck’s faceoff prowess, his defensive acumen and penalty killing ability before referring to him as arguably the best 200-foot player in the Ontario Hockey League, he was echoing what virtually everyone has said about the six-foot centre since well before the Montreal Canadiens selected him 33rd overall in 2022.
But that first thing? That was different.
It struck at the root of what almost everyone seems to overlook about Beck in projecting what he’ll become as a fully-baked player in the National Hockey League down the line — that his offensive ability can make him more than just a third-line centre.
“I do think he can burst through that ceiling,” said Lazary.
Watching Beck excel in his system — from early days in January to the second one in June, when Beck scored two goals and put on an MVP performance against the London Knights to help deliver Saginaw its first Memorial Cup — provided all the evidence he needed to make that assertion.
The player backed it up with 18 goals and 51 points in 32 regular-season games before scoring four goals and 14 points in 17 playoff contests with Saginaw, and what he showed in addition to that was something that would only reinforce Lazary’s belief.
