LANGLEY, British Columbia — Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 decide within the 2023 Higher Deck NHL Draft, may have a homecoming of types when he joins 39 different gamers seeking to make an enduring impression on the 2023 CHL/NHL Prime Prospects Recreation at Langley Occasions Centre on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN, RDS).
Born and raised in close by North Vancouver, the right-shot heart with Regina of the Western Hockey League has 81 factors (39 targets, 42 assists) throughout a 32-game level streak after going with out a level in Regina’s season opener Sept. 23. He additionally has scored 17 targets throughout an eight-game objective streak.
Bedard (5-foot-10, 185 kilos), No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rating of North American skaters introduced by BioSteel, had 23 factors (9 targets, 14 assists) and was named high ahead and Most worthy participant for gold medal-winning Canada on the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. He mentioned he would not pay a lot consideration to the NHL standings and which groups might have the best odds in deciding on him on the 2023 draft at Bridgestone Area in Nashville.
The primary spherical might be June 28 and Rounds 2-7 on June 29. The NHL Draft Lottery to find out the primary 16 picks within the draft might be held in April.
“I do not actually look a lot in any respect as a result of there’s a lot extra time till then,” Bedard mentioned. “Truthfully, I’ve received to maintain taking part in effectively and maintain proving myself each recreation.”
Bedard doubtless would be the sixteenth participant to skate within the CHL/NHL showcase recreation after which be chosen No. 1 within the NHL draft. Dan Marr, vice chairman of NHL Central Scouting, mentioned Bedard has proven flashes of brilliance related to a number of present NHL stars.
“If you look, you’ll be able to see his similarities together with his quickness, offensive smarts, that go as much as the Connor McDavid stage however then simply the pure substance and total make-up of his recreation is harking back to Sidney Crosby,” Marr mentioned. “He is proper up there with these gamers which are going to be all stars and win numerous {hardware} transferring ahead.”
There are 9 gamers among the many high 20 in Central Scouting’s midterm rating of North American skaters competing within the recreation: Heart Brayden Yager (No. 5) of Moose Jaw (WHL), left wing Zach Benson (No. 7) of Winnipeg (WHL), left wing Colby Barlow (No. 10) of Owen Sound (OHL), defenseman Lukas Dragicevic (No. 12) of Tri-Metropolis (WHL), heart Nate Danielson (No. 13) of Brandon (WHL), proper wing Ethan Gauthier (No. 14) of Sherbrooke (QMJHL), heart Calum Ritchie (No. 17) of Oshawa, defenseman Oliver Bonk (No. 18) of London (OHL), and proper wing Koehn Ziemmer (No. 20) of Prince George (WHL).
“To be part of a reasonably particular group of 2005 beginning years is fairly neat,” Yager mentioned. “I am actually wanting ahead to it. I believe having two guys from my group who performed on this final yr (defenseman Denton Mateychuk; ahead Jagger Firkus) and sort of telling me about the entire expertise, it sounded nice.”
Forwards Samuel Honzek (No. 9) of Vancouver (WHL), Quentin Musty (No. 11) of Sudbury (OHL) and Andrew Cristall (No. 16) of Kelowna (WHL) had been every invited however are unable to play because of harm.
Carson Bjarnason of Brandon (WHL) is No. 1 in Central Scouting’s midterm rating of North American goalies and can play for Group Pink. Scott Ratzlaff of Seattle (WHL) is No. 6 and can play for Group White.
The sport will embrace 18 gamers from the WHL, 15 from the OHL, and 7 from the QMJHL.
Teaching are Michael Dyck (Pink), coach of Vancouver (WHL), and retired NHL defenseman and Vancouver (WHL) participant growth coach Brent Seabrook (White). The honorary coaches might be Hockey Corridor of Fame forwards Henrik Sedin (Pink) and Daniel Sedin (White), who every performed 17 seasons for the Vancouver Canucks, with former Canucks forwards Ron Delorme (Pink) and Stan Smyl (White).
The gamers competing within the recreation had been chosen by the 32 NHL groups along side NHL Central Scouting.
2023 CHL/NHL TOP PROSPECTS GAME
(NHL Central Scouting midterm rating of North American skaters/goalies in parenthesis)
Group Pink
GOALIES: (1G) Carson Bjarnason, Brandon (WHL); (12G) Charlie Robertson, North Bay (OHL)
DEFENSEMEN: (25) Beau Akey, Barrie (OHL); (29) Cameron Allen, Guelph (OHL); (34) Luca Cagnoni, Portland (WHL); (53) Matteo Mann, Chicoutimi (QMJHL); (24) Etienne Morin, Moncton (QMJHL); (63) Jordan Tourigny, Shawinigan (QMJHL)
FORWARDS: (84) Denver Barkey, London (OHL); (1) Connor Bedard, Regina (WHL); (7) Zach Benson, Winnipeg (WHL); (27) Mathieu Cataford, Halifax (QMJHL); (26) Riley Heidt, Prince George (WHL); (96) Nick Lardis, Peterborough (OHL); (60) Connor Levis, Kamloops (WHL); (47) Nico Myatovic, Seattle (WHL); (54) Alex Pharand, Sudbury (OHL); (41) Coulson Pitre, Flint (OHL); (42) Gracyn Sawchyn, Seattle (WHL); (50) Carey Terrance, Erie (OHL)
Group White
GOALIES: (6G) Scott Ratzlaff, Seattle (WHL); (17G) Jackson Unger, Moose Jaw (WHL)
DEFENSEMEN: (18) Oliver Bonk, London (OHL); (33) Hunter Brzustewicz, Kitchener (OHL); (12) Lukas Dragicevic, Tri-Metropolis (WHL); (65) Dylan MacKinnon, Halifax (QMJHL); (36) Tanner Molendyk, Saskatoon (WHL); (30) Caden Value, Kelowna (WHL)
FORWARDS: (10) Colby Barlow, Owen Sound (OHL); (13) Nate Danielson, Brandon (WHL); (14) Ethan Gauthier, Sherbrooke (QMJHL); (23) Kalen Lind, Pink Deer (WHL); (38) Jaden Lipinski, Vancouver (WHL); (45) Ethan Miedema, Windsor (OHL); (46) Tyler Peddle, Drummondville (QMJHL); (49) Luca Pinelli, Ottawa (OHL); (31) Carson Rehkopf, Kitchener (OHL); (17) Calum Ritchie, Oshawa (OHL); (5) Brayden Yager, Moose Jaw (WHL); (20) Koehn Ziemmer, Prince George (WHL)
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