McKeen's Hockey

Wow, was it ever great to have a somewhat normal scouting season again after the last two pandemic filled years. The Canadian Hockey League (OHL, QMJHL, WHL) played out a full season again and are in the midst of their Championship series’. The Swedish Junior leagues also returned to a full slate. The Under 18’s were exciting, with Sweden upsetting the gold medal favourites from the United States. Sure, we didn’t get a World Junior A Challenge and Canada didn’t participate in the Hlinka/Gretzky at the start of the year, but overall, the 2021/22 scouting season was significantly easier. The only real challenge is the ranking of Russian/Belarussian players due to the sanctions lobbied against those countries for their unjust military campaign on the Ukraine. They did not play at the U18’s. They will not be allowed to enter the CHL Import Draft next year. Acquiring VISA’s may be difficult for them in North America next year, should they sign pro deals. And that’s without mentioning the ever-complicated KHL/NHL relationship that always muddles draft prognostication. Bottom line, where these players go in the NHL draft this year is the true wild card. Rather than try to predict that, we have ranked said players based on their talent level and where we believe they should go. Having had conversations with scouts, the sense is that the numerous circumstances surrounding them will lead them to drop.