LANGLEY, British Columbia — Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft, will have a homecoming of sorts as he joins 39 other players looking to make a lasting impression at the 2023 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game at Langley Events Center on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN, RDS).
Born and raised in nearby North Vancouver, the right-shooting center with Regina of the Western Hockey League has 81 points (39 goals, 42 assists) during a 32-game point streak after going scoreless in Regina’s Sept. 23 season opener. He has also scored 17 goals during an eight-game hitting streak.
Bedard (5-foot-10, 185 pounds), No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings of North American skaters presented by BioSteel, had 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) and was named top forward and most valuable player for gold medal-winning Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2023. He said he doesn’t pay much attention to the NHL standings and which teams might have the highest odds to select him at the 2023 draft at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The first round will be on June 28th and rounds 2-7 on June 29th. The NHL Draft Lottery to determine the first 16 picks in the draft will be held in April.
“I don’t really see much at all because there’s so much more time until then,” Bedard said. “Honestly, I have to keep playing well and keep proving myself every game.”
Bedard will likely become the 16th player to skate in the CHL/NHL showcase game and then be selected No. 1 in the NHL draft. Dan Marr, vice president of NHL Central Scouting, said Bedard has shown flashes of brilliance associated with some current NHL stars.
“When you watch, you can see his similarities with his speed, offensive smarts, going up to Connor McDavid level but then only the sheer substance and overall composition of his game is reminiscent of Sidney Crosby” Marr said. “He’s up there with the players who are going to be all-stars and win a lot of hardware going forward.”
There are nine players in the top 20 of Central Scouting’s midterm rankings of North American skaters competing in the game: Center Brayden Yager (No. 5) of Moose Jaw (WHL), left wing Zach Benson (No. 7) of Winnipeg (WHL) ), left wing Colby Barlow (No. 10) of Owen Sound (OHL), defenseman Lukas Dragicevic (No. 12) of Tri-City (WHL), center Nate Danielson (No. 13) of Brandon (WHL), right wing Ethan Gauthier (No. 14) of Sherbrooke (QMJHL), center Calum Ritchie (No. 17) of Oshawa, defenseman Oliver Bonk (No. 18) of London (OHL) and righty Koehn Ziemmer (No. 20) of Prince George (WHL).
“To be part of a pretty special group of 2005 birth years is pretty neat,” Yager said. “I’m really looking forward to it. I think it sounded great to have two guys from my team that played on this last year (defenseman Denton Mateychuk; forward Jagger Firkus) and kind of talk about the whole experience.”
Forwards Samuel Honzek (#9) from Vancouver (WHL), Quentin Musty (#11) from Sudbury (OHL) and Andrew Cristall (#16) from Kelowna (WHL) were invited but cannot play due to injury.
Carson Bjarnason of Brandon (WHL) is No. 1 in Central Scouting’s midterm rankings of North American goaltenders and will play for Team Red. Scott Ratzlaff of Seattle (WHL) is #6 and will play for Team White.
The game will feature 18 players from the WHL, 15 from the OHL and seven from the QMJHL.
Coaching is Vancouver (WHL) coach Michael Dyck (Red), and retired NHL defenseman and Vancouver (WHL) player development coach Brent Seabrook (White). Honorary coaches will be Hockey Hall of Fame forwards Henrik Sedin (Red) and Daniel Sedin (White), who each played 17 seasons for the Vancouver Canucks, with former Canucks forwards Ron Delorme (Red) and Stan Smyl (White).
The players competing in the game were selected by the 32 NHL teams in cooperation with NHL Central Scouting.
2023 CHL/NHL TOP PROSPECTS GAME
(NHL Central Scouting half-time rankings of North American skaters/goalies in parentheses)
Team Red
GOAL: (1G) Carson Bjarnason, Brandon (WHL); (12G) Charlie Robertson, North Bay (OHL)
DEFENDER: (25) Beau Akey, Barrie (OHL); (29) Cameron Allen, Guelph (OHL); (34) Luca Cagnoni, Portland (WHL); (53) Matteo Mann, Chicoutimi (QMJHL); (24) Etienne Morin, Moncton (QMJHL); (63) Jordan Tourigny, Shawinigan (QMJHL)
FORWARD: (84) Denver Barkey, London (OHL); (1) Connor Bedard, Regina (WHL); (7) Zach Benson, Winnipeg (WHL); (27) Mathieu Cataford, Halifax (QMJHL); (26) Riley Heidt, Prince George (WHL); (96) Nick Lardis, Peterborough (OHL); (60) Connor Levis, Kamloops (WHL); (47) Nico Myatovic, Seattle (WHL); (54) Alex Pharand, Sudbury (OHL); (41) Coulson Pitre, Flint (OHL); (42) Gracyn Sawchyn, Seattle (WHL); (50) Carey Terrance, Erie (OHL)
Team White
GOAL: (6G) Scott Ratzlaff, Seattle (WHL); (17G) Jackson Unger, Moose Jaw (WHL)
DEFENDER: (18) Oliver Bonk, London (OHL); (33) Hunter Brzustewicz, Kitchener (OHL); (12) Lukas Dragicevic, Tri-City (WHL); (65) Dylan MacKinnon, Halifax (QMJHL); (36) Tanner Molendyk, Saskatoon (WHL); (30) Caden Price, Kelowna (WHL)
FORWARD: (10) Colby Barlow, Owen Sound (OHL); (13) Nate Danielson, Brandon (WHL); (14) Ethan Gauthier, Sherbrooke (QMJHL); (23) Kalen Lind, Red Deer (WHL); (38) Jaden Lipinski, Vancouver (WHL); (45) Ethan Miedema, Windsor (OHL); (46) Tyler Peddle, Drummondville (QMJHL); (49) Luca Pinelli, Ottawa (OHL); (31) Carson Rehkopf, Kitchener (OHL); (17) Calum Ritchie, Oshawa (OHL); (5) Brayden Yager, Moose Jaw (WHL); (20) Koehn Ziemmer, Prince George (WHL)
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