By the OilKnight 12/02/19

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 is a having a terrific season for Sudbury but Marco Rossi just won’t slow down in Ottawa. Rossi, is now only 1 point behind Byfield and has played 7 less games. However, it is important to note that Rossi is 11 months older than Byfield and plays on a much more talented team. Byfield is still considered the top OHL forward but Rossi is certainly closing the gap quickly.

Jacob Perreault of Sarnia, has steadily climbed the leaderboard and is now 5th on this list. He was snubbed by Team Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky, but the son of former NHL’er Yanic Perreault can score. He had 30 goals as a 16 yr old last year & is on pace to beat that this year.

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2021 Draft eligibles

A lot of 16 yr olds seemingly have struggled since returning from the recent U17 tournament, but not Mason McTavish. McTavish, is already up to 15 goals in 22 games.

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QMJHL

Vasily Ponomarev is officially on a roll now. After starting his QMJHL career off slow, he now has goals in 3 straight games and is up to 29 points in 27 games. He leads all rookies with 13 goals and 10 of those are at even strength. He is strong skater with terrific puck skills, soft hands and protects the puck extremely well. Ponomarev will be representing Team Russia at the World Junior A Challenge (U18’s) in Dawson Creek starting on December 5th.

With all the hype around Jeremie Poirier in Saint John, William Villeneuve has flown under the radar a bit. But, Villeneuve (who was the 2nd overall pick in the 2018 QMJHL draft behind Hendrix Lapierre) might have a more complete skill-set. He is a excellent skater with great agility, moves the puck extremely well, has a big shot, and does a very good job defensively. I wouldn’t say he’s as smooth or dynamic as Poirier, but he appears more consistent in all 3 zones and is definitely the better defender of the two. He’s 6’1″ and a right shot defender. Should be highly coveted come draft day.

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2021 Draft eligibles

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WHL

Connor McClennon and Ridly Greig are two of the hottest players in the WHL lately. Both got off to relatively slow starts this season but both are now hovering around a point per game.

Ronan Seeley scored his first two goals of the season last week finally for Everett.

Pavel Novak is still suspended 8 games for checking from behind.

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2021 Draft eligibles

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