By the OilKnight 09/30/19

Welcome to our weekly update on CHL prospects. Here are the leading scorers among all 3 leagues for the 2020 draft eligibles & 16 yr old CHL rookies.

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OHL

Quinton Byfield continued his offensive explosion in Week 2 registering another goal and 5 assists in 2 games. Not only is the leading scorer among all draft eligbles, he leads the entire OHL in Points with 12. Antonio Stranges also made headlines this week with a video clip of his 10-2 skating style going viral (below). He also proved he is much more than just a unique skater, scoring 4 goals & an assist in 2 games and now sits tied for 3rd behind Jamie Drysdale & Byfield in points for 2020 OHL draft eligibles. Oliver Suni, might be the biggest surprise of the week having scored 6 points in 2 games. The 1st rd Import pick for Oshawa had a strong tournament at the Hlinka-Gretzky in the summer & is eligible for this year’s NHL draft. 

Also climbing the leaderboard was Evan Vierling of Flint who registered 5 points in 2 games, and Jack Thompson of Sudbury who is flying under the radar, but is a highly skilled d-man who should put up big offensive numbers this season. Thompson already has 3 goals & 6 points in 5 games this season. 

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As far 16 year olds go, Francesco Pinelli has taken over the goal scoring lead with 4 goals in 4 games for Kitchener. The super rookie has taken full advantage playing with a couple of OHL veterans on the Top line for the Rangers. Ethan Burroughs of Owen Sound is the new points leader with 5 points in 4 games.

We’re still waiting on Brandt Clarke to score his first OHL goal but you can tell it’s coming soon. Meanwhile, 15 year old phenom Shane Wright who isn’t even draft eligible till 2022, scored his 1st OHL goal over the weekend.

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QMJHL

After a slow start for Alexis Lafreniere to start the season, the consensus #1 overall pick in this upcoming draft ripped off 5 goals & 7 points in 2 games over the weekend. His performance was so good last night that our QMJHL scout Yannick St. Pierre said “he had one of the most dominant performances I’ve ever seen in my life. He could have easily had 7-8 points last night. ” That offensive output still puts Lafreniere behind Byfield in the overall points race, but for anyone who thought Byfield was going to run away with it may want to think twice. Lafreniere is still the favourite to finish the season with more points and be the #1 overall pick.

Dawson Mercer continues his goal a game pace with 4 goals in 4 games now. The late 2001 birthday eligible shows flashes of 1st round potential. Everyone is still waiting for Hendrix Lapierre and Theo Rochette to get hot and prove why they are sure fire 1st rounders.

Vasily Ponomarev has made a slow transition to the North America game but has still managed to net 2 goals in 4 games and should get much better as the season progresses and he gets more comfortable.

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Zachary L’Heureux now leads all 16 yr olds with 6 points in 4 games. The 3rd overall pick in the 2019 QMJHL is a very heady player with real nice skill. Riley Kidney had a good week registering 4 points in 2 games over the weekend. 

WHL

Justin Sourdif of Vancouver continues to lead all 2020 WHL draft eligibles in scoring with 8 points in 5 games. The speedy Connor Zary however had a very good week and is now up to 7 points in 5 games.

Simon Knak, the Swiss import, appears to be adjusting well to the North American game and is now 3rd in WHL scoring for 2020 draft eligibles with 5 points in 3 games. Ozzy Wiesblatt hasn’t scored a goal yet but does have 5 assists so far. Highly touted Jake Neighbours & Connor McClennon also had good weeks and are now on the leaderboard.

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As far as the 2021 draft eligibles go, Ryder Korczak is already starting to run away with the points lead after registering another 5 points in the last 2 games. Again, he is a late 2002 birthday just missing the cut-off to be drafted this year so he is quite older than most in this group. But even so, he has more points than Justin Sourdif who is the top point getter for 2020 draft eligibles, so what he’s doing right now is still very impressive.

Carson Lambos, the 2nd overall pick in 2018, is also starting to heat up. He had an impressive 2 goal performance over the weekend including an end to end highlight reel goal where he his skating & playmaking ability were on full display (see below).

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We will be providing you updates every week so be sure to check back every Monday for updated stats and highlights!