Top Prospects Game a destination for NHL
By Patrick King for the Canadian Hockey League
The date is circled around every calendar in National Hockey League offices.
The BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game is the unofficial midway point in the season for NHL teams and their scouting staffs. Every year, all 30 NHL teams converge on the event’s host city, conduct their mid-term meetings and take in one of major junior hockey’s signature events.
It’s a smorgasbord of talent, and the scouting community consumes it with enthusiasm each year.
“This game is always a tremendous advantage for the NHL personnel to be able to go to one spot, get all the top players in the game and watch them play,” explains Dan Marr, Director of NHL Central Scouting. “What this game brings out is competition you don’t see in league games and also allows the players to play a little bit outside of the roles that they typically play in their league games.”
Now in its 19th year, the BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game continues to be a staging ground for the future stars of the NHL. Last year, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin and Seth Jones – three of the NHL’s top four picks – displayed their skill in front of a packed house full of fans and scouts alike in Halifax, N.S.
The headliners this year in Calgary, AB, are Sam Reinhart and Aaron Ekblad, who are each captains of their respective teams in this game. The duo are considered to be in competition for the first pick overall this summer and will be playing against each other for the first time in their careers after teaming up on Canada’s National Junior Team.
“Both of these players are going to be future stars in the National Hockey League,” Marr says.
What makes this competition so unique is that it brings together the top 40 prospects from around the Canadian Hockey League while still providing an intense, playoff-type atmosphere from the players eager to prove themselves in front of scouts.
The partnership between the CHL and the NHL only further influences how important this game is to the NHL scouts in attendance. After all, they’re the ones picking which CHL players participate in the event, based on which players they would most like to see in this competition.
“This game is not put together by the Canadian Hockey League or NHL Central Scouting,” Marr explains. “These are the players that the NHL teams voted to put in the game and now they’re going to get the opportunity to see them play.”
In many cases, this game is the first opportunity for NHL general managers to see these prospects firsthand after poring over the scouting reports from their scouting team. The game gives GMs the chance to see why their scouts may be raving over one prospect, while they may be less enthusiastic over another.
Since the teams are assembled with just one practice, and players playing from three different leagues come together quickly to form a team, Marr says scouts are cautious not to let this game dramatically influence their opinions in June.
“Certainly, a good performance bodes well,” he says. “(NHL scouts) are well aware what these players can bring to the table and they’re just looking to see the same game from (the prospects) or they do have an opportunity to show a little something different than the role on their (CHL club) team.”
When the season is in the books and the NHL draft nears, scouts will have compiled their observations throughout the season with special interest in this game. The NHL’s Central Scouting pores over a mountain of data in determining their preference, which will differ as teams determine their needs.
“When Central Scouting puts our list together,” Marr says, “the teams don’t want us to project by position or team need. They want us to just present a list of players ranked in order with the assets and attributes they bring to a team and their skill sets.”
The BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports beginning at 7:00 pm Mountain time, and is also available on the NHL Network in the United States and on Sportsnet 960 The FAN.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased through Ticketmaster or by calling 1-855-985-5000, or for Group Reservations please call 1-403-777-4646.
For more information about the event please visit www.bmotopprospects.ca.
