2019-20 CHL Season in Review: Top Prospects
With the 2019-20 campaign concluded, the Canadian Hockey League is reviewing many of the season’s best performers including top first time draft-eligible prospects:
Rossi ranks at the top
Marco Rossi of the Ottawa 67’s enters the 2020 NHL Draft as the most productive North American skater.
Amassing 120 points counting 39 goals and 81 assists through 56 appearances, the second-year OHL skater is also lauded for his strong play in his own end as a dominant two-way presence. After finishing second among rookie scorers a year ago, Rossi built on that success in nearly doubling last season’s 65-point finish. On just four occasions this season Rossi was held off the scoresheet while he also wraps up 2019-20 with 34 multi-point performances including a season-high six-point showing that counted a hat-trick plus three assists coming in an 11-6 road win against the Kingston Frontenacs in late November. The 18-year-old Austrian native enters the 2020 NHL Draft as the sixth-ranked North American skater per NHL Central Scouting.
Around the CHL, other top draft eligibles include reigning CHL Player of the Year Alexis Lafreniere of the Rimouski Oceanic who finished eight points back of Rossi despite playing in four fewer contests, helping him rank first among North Americans ahead of the 2020 NHL Draft. From the WHL, the top ranked skater is Seth Jarvis of the Portland Winterhawks who after finishing second in league scoring with an impressive 98-point campaign ranks 11th among North American skaters per NHL Central Scouting.
Dynamic duo in Saint John
There was no shortage of productivity from the blue line this season in Saint John.
Beginning with William Villeneuve, the second-year blue-liner had a breakout campaign in registering 58 points, good for a 39-point uptick from a year ago to finish first in scoring among defencemen league-wide. Collecting nine goals and 49 assists through 64 appearances, Villeneuve finished just shy of a point-per-game campaign, one that counted 13 multi-point showings included a pair of season-high four-point efforts, with both coming against the division rival Halifax Mooseheads. The 99th-ranked North American skater per NHL Central Scouting, Villeneuve was joined by fellow draft eligible Jeremie Poirier, who sits 13th among North Americans and finished second in scoring among QMJHL rearguards after putting together a formidable 53-point campaign and earning a spot at the 2020 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game where he opened the scoring for Team Red.
Across the circuit, other top performing defencemen included Jamie Drysdale of the Erie Otters, the third-ranked North American skater who closed out 2019-20 with a 47-point finish through 49 games, while top honours in the WHL belong to Braden Schneider of the Brandon Wheat Kings, the ninth-ranked North American who shined with 42 points counting seven goals and 35 assists through 60 appearances.