Shane Wright ranked first among North American skaters as the NHL’s Central Bureau of Scouting released his final rankings for the league’s 2022 entry draft on Thursday.
Wright, a center for the Kingston Frontenacs, ranked eighth in the Ontario Hockey League with 94 points (32 goals, 62 assists) in 63 regular season games.
He has two goals and eight assists in six OHL playoff games. The Frontenacs begin their Eastern Conference semifinal against Battalion on Friday in North Bay, Ontario.
Wright, of Burlington, Ont., would be the first Frontenacs player picked first overall if he were selected with the opening pick in the NHL Entry Draft, which will take place July 7-8 at the Montreal Bell Centre.
He also ranked first among North Americans in the mid-season standings.
CLOCK | Wright ready to make the jump to the NHL:
CBC Sports’ Rob Pizzo caught up with the consensus number one ranked prospect in the 2022 NHL Draft, Shane Wright, before the matchup between his Kingston Frontenacs and the Mississauga Steelheads on November 13 at 3 p.m. on CBC. 3:23
The last OHL player to be selected first overall was Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid in 2015.
“Shane Wright is the complete package as an NHL prospect,” Dan Marr, NHL director of central scouting, said in a statement.
“He’s a strong skater who possesses deceptive speed and quickness to beat defenders, evade controls or lead a run,” he said. “He has elite hockey sense with the vision, anticipation and composure in him to quickly execute plays and has shown that he can carry the load and lead the way when needed in game situations.”
Best International Slovak Olympic Star Skater
Leftist Juraj Slafkovsky from TPS in Finland is ranked as the best international figure skater.
The native of Kosice, Slovakia climbed from No. 2 during the mid-season rankings following a second half that included MVP honors at the Winter Olympics, where he led the tournament in goals and points (seven goals in seven games) while helping Slovakia to bronze. .
Slafkovsky can become only the second Slovakian-born player selected in the top five of the NHL draft, along with Marian Gaborik (No. 3 in 2000 by Minnesota).
Logan Cooley and Cutter Gauthier of the U-18 US team are the second and third-place US skaters, respectively.
Two centers for the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League, Matthew Savoie of St. Albert, Alta. and Conor Geekie of Strathclair, Man., round out the top five.
Rounding out the top five international skaters are: defender Simon Nemec (Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia), defender David Jiricek (Klatovy, Czechia) and center Marco Kasper (Innsbruck, Austria).
Winnipeg native Tyler Brennan, who plays for Prince George in the Western Hockey League, is the highest-ranked North American goaltender and Topias Leinonen (Jyvaskyla, Finland), from JYP’s junior team, tops the list of international goaltenders.
The final rankings include the top 224 skaters and 32 goalies in North America and the top 140 skaters and 10 goalies internationally.
Reference-www.cbc.ca