Lucius is a dynamic offensive player who has shown his high-level skill and production for the stacked US development program. He has a lethal shot, with his go-to snapshot coming off his blade with serious pop and not much of a windup. He shows a tendency to fire from outside the dot lanes and looks very confident with his aim and picking corners. While Lucius has a shoot-first mentality, he is an improving playmaker and uses the threat of his shot to open up passing lanes. His puckhandling and patience with the puck helps him survey the zone and wait for passing lanes to develop, making him a threat to create chances off the cycle. He reads the play well and is highly creative, making it difficult to read what he’s going to do with the puck when it’s on his stick. His shot is dangerous, but he’s also excellent at finding tight passing seams and hitting teammates in open ice, really helping his team use the full sheet of ice. Lucius owns some great edges, allowing him to change directions on a dime. He can change his attack angles and keep up with opponents with relative ease with how mobile he is. His quick feet, good crossovers also allow him to get up to speed quickly and create time and space for himself. He is an excellent puckhandler, regularly beating defenders one-on-one and manipulating space for his linemates in the offensive zone by handling the puck through traffic and physical contact. He can be a little too passive coming back towards his own end, rarely impacting transition as anything more than a trailing forward. Once in the defensive zone, he shows a decent understanding of positioning to support his defensemen, but he’s often leaning towards offense and has a tendency to leave the zone early. He has the strength to separate his man from the puck in physical battles, but could do a better job anticipating plays down low. Lucius’ area of concern is lack of power in his stride. While he’s quick enough to keep up with his linemates and is comfortable making plays at speed, Lucius hasn’t taken a noticeable step forward with his first-step explosiveness or leg extension. This may be due to a lower body injury that saw him miss a large portion of the season.

– FCHockey’s 2021 NHL Draft Guide