With the 2018 NHL Draft coming up, we look at the five best center prospects available in the selection process.
The last few NHL Draft cycles have been filled with an abundance of talent at the center position. Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Nico Hischier are just some in a long list of young talents that will surely have an impact on the league soon.
It’s an important position to build around if the proper players are currently there. A lot of clubs like to select young centers to build for the long time ahead. They’re very valuable and very hard to find in most cases.
Well, it’s going to be even harder to pick out a franchise center in this year’s draft. Unlike the last few drafts, this year’s event is projected to hold no centers in the top 10 selections. With the array of talent on the wings and defense, there simply was no more room left.
Obviously, this is rather unusual. It’s almost always guaranteed that a center or two at least gets selected in the opening 10 picks. Now, this doesn’t go on to say that the center pool in the 2018 class isn’t talented, because there’s some potential there.
Centers are coming in a dime-a-dozen package within this year’s draft class. There’s some great players to be chosen in the first round along with some hidden gems in the later rounds of the cycle.
It will take a great scouting team and solid decision making to decipher the best from the best in terms of center prospects this year. They may not be projected to be a franchise talent at the moment, but like every prospect in the draft, most will never know until they hit the ice.
That’s why we’ll cover the five best center prospects in this upcoming draft. Not only does the center position hold a massive amount of importance, but some serious talent has spawned from there over the years. It could or couldn’t be the same from this year’s class, but it’s always worth a shot to try and cover it.
5. Ryan McLeod
McLeod looks to be a prospect that teams could move down to try and pick up. At the moment, it looks as if the young forward is projected to be a late first round pick, but he could really move up the table.
McLeod is very noticeable on the ice. He’s tall at six-foot-two with some great speed and absolutely brilliant stick-handling. It’s also not very hard to pick out a player wearing No. 91 for the Mississauga Steelheads.
This boy cannot be overlooked. McLeod’s play right down the middle is something that resembles McDavid in a way. The 18-year-old is absolutely fearless because he knows defenders will back off as a result of his stick-handling.
McLeod can pass the puck very well especially towards the high-slot area. He’ll send in passes to seemingly congested areas because of his awareness and knack for goal. The power-play is another strength for McLeod as he can either feature on the two wing spots or play as a temporary quarterback.
The Ontario-born center uses speed to get out of scenarios on the boards. It’s probably the area that hurts McLeod regarding his physicality, which is very important for most centers. In the NHL, McLeod will need to utilize his size to win puck battles especially since a lot of play now revolves around the glass.
However, McLeod’s stats and leadership skills are pushing him to be a can’t-miss prospect in this draft. While wearing the “A” on his sweater this past season, McLeod amassed an incredible 26 goals and 44 assists while staying on the same point production pace in the playoffs as well.