Dube, Johansen on Central Scouting Players to Watch List

Two members of the Kelowna Rockets were listed on NHL Central Scouting’s 2016 Players to Watch List, a preliminary ranking of players eligible for next year’s NHL Draft.

40 WHL players made the grade, including Kelowna forward Dillon Dube and defenceman Lucas Johansen, both in their second year with the Rockets.

Dube posted 17 goals and 27 points in 45 games as a rookie last season while Johansen played in 65 games in his rookie year, putting up eight points and a plus-20 rating.

NHL Central Scouting identifies players with a rating system that includes four categories.  The ‘A’ rating indicates a first round candidate, a ‘B’ rating indicates a second or third round candidate, and a ‘C’ rating indicates a fourth, fifth, or sixth round candidate. An ‘LV’ rating indicates Limited Viewing of injured players who have not had sufficient viewings to be categorized.

Both Dube and Johansen were listed as ‘B’ players.

Four WHL players were assigned an ‘A’ rating including Kale Clague of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Sam Steel of the Regina Pats, Maxime Lajoie of the Swift Current Broncos and Tyler Benson of the Vancouver Giants.

In addition, 10 WHL skaters were assigned ‘B’ ratings while 21 WHL skaters were given ‘C’ ratings. 

FULL LIST: 2016 NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING PRELIMINARY ‘PLAYERS TO WATCH’