whl bantam draft rankings 2023 whl bantam draft rankings 2023

Still, though he is a dominant junior player and could chase down a 50-goal season this year, its also fair to ask if his advanced growth gives him less runway for improvement (he really does look like a man already). Roman Kantserov, RW (Magnitogorsk) There were also five more goalies who were among the final cuts for this list and I fully expect each will be on my final draft board. He thrives in the small-area game, using light passes and rapid movements to play in and out of coverage. His playmaking skills either at full speed or after settling in the offensive zone are impressive and make him a very mobile and skilled threat whenever he has the puck. The top 50 drafted NHL prospects ranking, 2023 edition:1. After conversations with scouts or folks at the national program about Stramel last year, I always felt I wasnt quite where they were in terms of their belief in the player and his upside. His transition play and wicked shot make him the most important player on his team on many nights. He was theNo. Expectations were unfairly high for Connor Bedard coming into his draft year, with the generational talent label floating around in many draft conversations. He hasnt looked out of place against men and has scored points at an excellent rate so far for a draft eligible player. Publishing date 2023-01-18 User Anonymous Views 922 Favorited 0 Share Embed 2023 Whl Bantam Draft This past season, he played for the Chicago Cougars of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) and scored 11 points (two goals, nine assists) 10 games. 4 and has had a tremendous age-adjusted season between his play with Orebro in the SHL and at the world juniors (where he was one of Swedens top forwards despite playing sick), even considering his December 2004 birthday and a year after playing to virtually two points per game at the J20 level (he looked good in an important role as a top-nine centre for Sweden at U18 worlds before an injury kept him out of their medal round run to a gold medal, too). with the Wolverines). This year, though he has struggled defensively in his limited minutes in the KHL, he has looked dominant at both ends in his returns to the MHL and comfortable in the second-tier VHL. He has every physical tool you could hope for, and uses each of them well, with the speed, strength, and reach to be a really great top-four defender in the NHL. Finally, Barlow has been one of the best goal scorers in junior hockey so far this year, scoring 36 goals in just 42 Ontario Hockey League (OHL), a 56-goal pace over the rest of the season. This draft class marks a decade of me doing this work, and I still believe this 2023 group is rivalled only by 2015 among the talent pools Ive scouted to date. There has been a lot of hockey since my last rankings and tons of prospects are on the move as a result. Hes still got room to get stronger, too, so its not as though hes a finished product. Manipulation. Im a big fan of his and hes still my top ranked defenseman in this draft, it has just become harder to rank him above certain forward prospects who have really begun to establish themselves. Its powerful when it needs to be and light and adjustable when it needs to be. This year, he has already broken past both of those marks and sits top 10 in the WHL in scoring (though he has regressed a little after a hot start). He has been utterly dominant at the J20 level, played big minutes when things mattered most as an underager at the world juniors (including in three overtimes) and looked himself in spot usage in the SHL. NHL. Mix in a multi-dimensional shooting arsenal and I see top-six upside. There are many whove settled on Perreault as more of a mid-to-late-round first because of the combination of his skinny frame and the linemates he plays with. About 2023 Draft Nhl Prospects . Try a week on us. The way he walks through coverage and hangs onto pucks is special. Im not talking about him compared to other prospects in this draft. He regularly makes difficult plays as a passer, demonstrating high-end spatial awareness and often finding second or even third options (constantly pre-scanning and shoulder-checking). I think the bigger question is whether hes going to be more of a middle-six or a top-six one? Sign up for premium. Carson Bjarnason, G (Brandon) Roman Kantserov, LW/C, Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk (MHL_, 53. But thats what the Austrian has done in Switzerlands top flight this season, where he plays over 20 minutes in a game more often than he plays under it. Hes a crafty handler who hangs onto pucks to spin away from pressure, attacks in and out of crowds, makes plays into space for himself, and can comfortably make plays through layers to others. Hes a first-round talent. Hes got some of the quickest hands in the draft. He has been impressive thus far, scoring six points in 14 games with Sochi, with four of those points being goals. Scouts are drawn to him because of his size-skill combo and while he can look a little uncoordinated out there at times, that draw is real and theres some definite tools there. His skating is average in my eyes and so is his defending, but his offensive skill and smarts package could get him a look even higher on draft day as theres not a single NHL team who wouldnt love an offensive defender as dynamic as Dragicevic. Im prepared to stick my neck out on Perreault at this point. Manage Settings There have been Lane Hutson (2022 Draft), Olen Zellweger (2021 Draft), Logan Stankoven (2020 Draft), and Cole Caufield (2019 Draft), to name a few. Leonard is a prospect thateveryonelikes. Hes a marvel, with legit 50-goal upside at the next level. Beckett Hendrickson, C (NTDP) He has a great shot, but more often than not he scores goals because he slipped his defender and managed to find the space and time necessary to score a goal. Perron, who didnt go the popular prep school route in Western Canada, was a terror in Manitobas minor hockey ranks who stepped right into the titanic Steel last season and immediately flashed his skill with the puck, producing 48 points in 63 games to earn USHL All-Rookie Second Team honours. Benson is currently outscoring two of his teammates in Matthew Savoie and Conor Geekie who were both drafted in the top-11 of the 2022 Draft. This is a multi-part series which we will be releasing over the next couple weeks to give you the readers some insight on whom we feel is the cream of the crop for 2023. Bedards statistical profile speaks for itself: 28 points in 15 games as a 15-year-old in the WHL, two points per game at U18 worlds as a double underager, 51 goals and 100 points on a dreadful team at 16, six goals in four games at U18 Worlds as an underager this time (in what wasnt even his best hockey), 13 goals and 31 points in 14 world juniors games (after forcing his way onto the first of those three teams by torching the selection camp), and now, as a 17-year-old who wont turn 18 until July (we can almost forget that! Chloe Primerano was the Giants final selection in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft. Priority Draft including defenceman Blake Fiddler, picked first-overall by the Edmonton Oil Kings. Few centers in junior hockey enter their draft year as well-rounded as Nate Danielson. 1 or No. He has regularly blown me away in viewings these last couple of years (at Hockey Canadas showcase two summers ago, in games where he looked like a man among boys in the USHL, and now again at various points throughout his historic freshman year at Michigan, where he was the best player in college hockey from the jump andseems to have found another level of late). Carson Rekhopf, C/LW, Kitchener Rangers (OHL), 60. Hes great at changing speeds in transition to separate himself from defenders before either making a move around them or passing to an open teammate. 2020 All rights reserved to Puck Preps. He was an alternate captain and second-leading scorer at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and isan alternate captain and leading scorer with Moose Jaw. The 2021 WHL Prospects Draft is scheduled for Thursday, December 9, 2021. His skating is balanced. His June birthday makes him one of the younger players on this list and he has already accomplished a lot, including leading a Slovak Hlinka Gretzky Cup team that featured Juraj Slafkovsky and Filip Mesar in scoring as an underager, producing well above a point per game in Swedens J20 level last year, and now producing in his draft year in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan (while clicking at two points per game in stints back down at J20). Hes the go-to center for the Cougars in the faceoff circle. Ravndahl was selected by Portland in the fourth round, 83 rd overall in the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft. The way he wheels across the top of the circles and then play-makes from the high slot is special. Related: Early Look at the 2024 NHL Draft. Hes got everything else you look for in a dynamic play creator, too. After the draft is completed, all the remaining bantams become eligible to be listed by teams, and many will be added as spots become available on Clubs PPLs, or as a players talents improve or are more noticeable at a later date or at a higher level of hockey. With a hot start in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) as a 17-year-old Leo Carlsson has shot up draft boards and quickly made the top tier of the draft a four-player group. Id like to see him go past effective and really take over more, but he makes his fair share of plays, hes a sub-.500 teams leading scorer, and it does feel like he has middle-six centre written all over him. Smith is an incredibly shifty playmaker who can create high danger plays at will by threading passes through traffic, stickhandling around pressure, or taking a shot of his own. The 2023 draft is led by three maybe four A-plus (or close) prospects at the very top, a superb collection of high-end talents at forward behind them that will run deep into the first round and produce additional stars, and better depth on defence and in net than I anticipated when the year started. Luke Hughes3-50 (plus full evaluations, 55 honourable mentions, player tiers, and more at @TheAthletic): https://t.co/JpsFEKs7Ax, Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) February 13, 2023. But youll also see him make the heady escape play out of his own zone under pressure at five-on-five, or slide into a passing line to intercept a pass, or disrupt an opposing carrier with a tight gap and active stick. Cameron Allen, RD, Guelph Storm (OHL), 62. After scoring 30 goals as a rookie in the OHL last season, Colby Barlow has been on my radar as a pro-sized winger with a legit NHL-caliber shot. There was a time when folks thought Musty was the best American-born 2005 prospect and while thats no longer the case theres still a lot to get excited about. Michkovs brilliance comes primarily from his ability to read and process the play at an extremely advanced level, make his decisions quickly, and execute on them with incredible proficiency, whether thats ripping a patterned shot (his one-timer, his standstill wrister, his curl-and-drag, etc. Scott has written for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, The Toronto Sun, the National Post, SB Nation and several other outlets in the past. Dylan McLaughlin (F) AHL. Hes quick side-to-side on little jumps and drags. If he can keep up that pace then he could very well lock himself in as the second best prospect in the draft. Hes got quick hick hands (hes prolific on breakaways/in the shootout), a cleverness to his game as a passer (whether through seams or often blind), slick skill in traffic sliding pucks under sticks and rotating through coverage or past checks, and a knack for finessing pucks into spots for himself or his linemates to skate onto. As always, Ive broken down the full ranking into tiers to give you a better sense for the fluidity within groupings and the drop-offs between them. Connor McDavid (F) He has been dominating the Swedish J20 league this year and is scoring at a higher pace right now than both Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Noah Ostlund did last year (who were drafted 15th and 16th respectively in the 2022 NHL Draft). Despite his diminutive size, hes also a smart player off of the puck and Ive been struck by how often hes in the right position above the puck to hold play inside the offensive zone (I absolutely get why he was named an alternate captain). We believe in fully disclosing the methods to which we collect and use your personal information. Though hes not big, he plays hard and engages in battles in the defensive zone with some sneaky strength. Hes also got some of the quicker hands and better touch on this list. The way that Fantilli plays wouldnt really fly in the SHL where you need to be dependable at all times, and Carlssons maturity, reliability, and his clear understanding of what makes him great are the reasons he has succeeded in a top pro league as a teenager. Brindleys a plus-level skater who gets through his extensions quickly (including from a standstill), excels on his edges, rounds corners sharply, and darts around the ice, hunting pucks and pushing through holes. The 18-year-old has accumulated 54 points (25 goals, 29 assists) in 60 games so far this season. Smith is flanked by the two best wingers in the program while Moore has found incredible success without that level of supporting talent.