CHL players on 2015 NHL Central Scouting Futures List
Monday July 13, 2015
Even with the 2015-16 season more than two months away, NHL Central Scouting has identified a Futures List of 100 Top Prospects to watch for the upcoming season.
The 2016 NHL Draft is set for June 24-25 in Buffalo, NY, and is sure to host a collection of standout prospects from the Canadian Hockey League.
A total of 43 current CHL stars plus an additional four committed players are listed including 24 from the Ontario Hockey League, 14 from the Western Hockey League, and nine from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
“At first glance the strength of the 2016 draft class may be the overall depth and blend of prospects available,” said Dan Marr, NHL director of Central Scouting. “The top five will sort themselves out as being the cream of the crop, but similar to the 2015 draft there will be a solid nucleus of players with NHL potential through the top three rounds and at every position.”
The 2015 NHL Draft class featured 95 CHL players selected including 17 in the first round led by Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters who became the ninth straight CHL player to be chosen with the top pick.
“The list is based on the body of work that we saw from the players during 2014-15,” Marr said. “A number of these players will be changing teams for 2015-16 and that will be reflected in our preliminary players to watch list in September.”
While the preliminary players to watch list will provide the A, B and C ratings for players in each of the major junior hockey leagues, the Futures List offers a collection of skaters and goaltenders NHL scouts should consider targets of interest heading into the season.
NHL CSS Futures List – 24 OHL Players:
Players in italics are committed to OHL for 2015-16, *indicates 1997 birthdates
Jonathan Ang (Peterborough Petes) C
Travis Barron (Ottawa 67’s) LW
Nathan Bastian (Mississauga Steelheads) C*
William Bitten (Flint Firebirds) C
Logan Brown (Windsor Spitfires) C
Noah Carroll (Guelph Storm) D*
Jakob Chychrun (Sarnia Sting) D
Evan Cormier (Saginaw Spirit) G*
Sean Day (Mississauga Steelheads) D
Alex DeBrincat (Erie Otters) C*
Max Jones (London Knights) LW
Jordan Kyrou (Sarnia Sting) C
Michael McLeod (Mississauga Steelheads) C
Keaton Middleton (Saginaw Spirit) D
Christopher Paquette (Niagara IceDogs) C
Tyler Parsons (London Knights) G*
Taylor Raddysh (Erie Otters) RW
Brandon Saigeon (Hamilton Bulldogs) C
Mikhail Sergachev (Windsor Spitfires) D
Givani Smith (Guelph Storm) LW
Dmitry Sokolov (Sudbury Wolves) RW
Troy Timpano (Sudbury Wolves) G*
Matthew Tkachuk (London Knights) LW*
Dylan Wells (Peterborough Petes) G
NHL CSS Futures List – 14 WHL Players:
Jake Bean (Calgary Hitmen) D
Tyler Benson (Vancouver Giants) LW
Kale Clague (Brandon Wheat Kings) D
Jeff De Wit (Red Deer Rebels) C
Dillon Dube (Kelowna Rockets) C
Evan Sarthou (Tri-City Americans) G*
Carter Hart (Everett Silvertips) G
Brett Howden (Moose Jaw Warriors) C
Lucas Johansen (Kelowna Rockets) D*
Maxime Lajoie (Swift Current Broncos) D*
Joshua Mahura (Red Deer Rebels) D
Zachary Sawchenko (Moose Jaw Warriors) G*
Sam Steel (Regina Pats) C
Simon Stransky (Prince Albert Raiders) LW*
NHL CSS Futures List – 9 QMJHL Players:
Frederic Allard (Chicoutimi Sagueneens) D*
Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles) LW
Evan Fitzpatrick (Sherbrooke Phoenix) G
Julien Gauthier (Val-d’Or Foreurs) RW*
Luke Green (Saint John Sea Dogs) D
Pascal Laberge (Victoriaville Tigres) C
Liam Murphy (Moncton Wildcats) LW
Mathieu Sevigny (Drummondville Voltigeurs) C
Gabriel Sylvestre (Shawinigan Cataractes) D
Click here to see the full 2015-16 NHL CSS Futures North American List