With their fourth pick of the weekend, the Nashville Predators selected defender Marc Del Gaizo out of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Del Gaizo is a 1999 birthday who just finished his freshman campaign at UMass after two full seasons with Muskegon in the USHL. He was ranked 134th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, but impressed with 29 points in 41 games as the Minutemen fell to the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the 2019 NCAA Championship game.
Del Gaizo wasn’t selected in 2018 but led all freshmen defenders in scoring this season on a lethal UMass team. He played significant even-strength minutes for the Minutemen but took a back seat to Cale Makar on the man advantage. He’s a good skater with a forceful, long skating stride and showed good puck protection abilities throughout the season.
He plays defense with an active stick and good gap control, but his positioning could use some work. He’ll play big minutes this season now that Makar is in Colorado.
All statistics are courtesy of eliteprospects.com.