TSN’s mid-season rankings for the 2022 draft have come out and though Shane Wright remains at the top, it’s a tenuous position. Bob McKenzie, who compiles the list based on a poll of active scouts, writes that the Kingston Frontenacs captain has been underwhelming in the few of many this season after missing all of 2020-21 because of the OHL’s COVID-19 shutdown.
Wright had been a unanimous selection from those scouts in the pre-season ranking but was now listed first by only nine of ten with Russian forward Ivan Miroshnichenko getting the other top vote. In 25 games for Kingston this season, the 18-year-old center has 12 goals and 31 points after scoring 39 goals and 66 points as an exceptional status player in 2019-20.
- Dylan Holloway, the 14th overall pick in 2020 and a member of the Edmonton Oilers, has yet to play in a professional game since signing out of the University of Wisconsin. That will soon change as Holloway has reached a point in his injury recovery that he will soon report to the Bakersfield Condors for game action. A brilliant sophomore campaign with Wisconsin led to an entry-level contract last April for Holloway, one that will see the first year burned whether he plays in the NHL or not this season. Multiple wrist surgeries (and a stint in the COVID protocol) have kept him out so far, but Hollway is now medically cleared for action.
- Scott Wheeler of The Athletic continued his prospect pool rankings with the Vegas Golden Knights at No 22, but noted that this is the first team in what he would call the third tier, closer to the middle third of the league than the bottom. With no Peyton Krebs to take the top spot after he was sent to Buffalo in the Jack Eichel deal, Brendan Brisson of the University of Michigan sits first for the Golden Knights. Brisson is one of several Wolverines that will be suiting up for Team USA at the upcoming Olympics, an impressive accomplishment for a player that nearly slipped out of the first round two years ago. In 2020, Brisson was selected 29th overall by the Golden Knights and has followed that draft with two very strong college seasons.
prediction: Flyers get the #2 pick, take Wright, and then he flops and someone claims their scouts all wanted [insert name of D prospect who went a few spots after him] instead.
*chuckles in Simon Nemec*
Gavin please the wound is still fresh.
If he shows he’s ready to play pro, Holloway for Swayman seems like something that could work for both teams.
Holloway with Hall and Smith would let Pastarnak go back to the top line and move Coyle to 3C. EDM’s need in goal is obvious and they already a few OK centers.
Swayman deserves not to have his talents wasted.
Swayman will be back. Rask won’t play forever
Rask didn’t go thru all that rehab to play a few months…though, he’s gotta play more like Start 1 than Start 2.
And evidently they gave Ullmark a NMC.
Whatever window the top line gives them to still compete for a Cup requires filling their holes now instead of keeping 3 goalies. If Ullmark won’t waive (you can threaten to make him the team’s shooter tutor while Rask and Swayman play all the games and he might) then trade Swayman.
The odds of later building a Cup team around Swayman are lower than filling the holes now while they still have Marchand and Bergeron.
Wright is a good all around center but not an elite scorer. There are 4 players on his own team that have more points. I predict he will not be #1 when the draft happens. Not sure who will be #1 but Nemec is the one player that continues to move up the list.