Shane Wright took the lead among North American skaters after the NHL Central Scout Bureau released its final standings for the 2022 league nomination project on Thursday.
Wright, center of Kingston Frontenac, is ranked eighth in the Ontario Hockey League with 94 points (32 goals, 62 assists) in 63 regular-season games.
He has two goals and eight assists in six OHL playoff games. Frontenac begins his semifinals in the Eastern Conference against the battalion on Friday in North Bay, Ont.
Wright of Burlington, Ont., Will be the first Frontenacs player to be ranked first overall if he is selected for the NHL Draft Draft, which will take place on July 7-8 at the Bell Center in Montreal.
He was also ranked first among North Americans in the inter-season rankings.
The last OHL player to be selected first overall was Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid in 2015.
“Shane Wright is the full package as an NHL prospect,” said Dan Marr, director of the NHL Central Scout.
“He is a strong skater who has deceptive speed and speed to defeat defenders, avoid checks or drive fast,” he said. “He has an elite sense of hockey with his vision, anticipation and composure to perform quickly in games and has proven that he can carry the load and lead the way when needed in game situations.”
Left wing Juraj Slafkovski of TPS in Finland is ranked as the best international skater.
Born in Košice, Slovakia, he climbed from No. 2 in the mid-season standings after the second half, including MVP medals at the Winter Olympics, where he led the tournament in goals and points (seven goals in seven games), while helped Slovakia win bronze.
Slavkovski could become only the second Slovak-born player to be selected in the top five of the NHL Draft, along with Marian Gaborik (№ 3 in 2000 from Minnesota).
Logan Cooley and Cutter Gauthier of the US Under-18 team are the second and third ranked skaters in North America, respectively.
Two Western Hockey League Winnipeg Ice Centers, Matthew Savoy of St. Albert, Alta. and Conor Geekie of Strathclair, Man., complete the top five.
Graduates of the five best international skaters are: defender Simon Nemets (Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia), defender David Iricek (Klatovy, Czech Republic) and center Marco Casper (Innsbruck, Austria).
Winnipeg-born Tyler Brennan, who plays for Prince George in the Western Hockey League, is the best goalkeeper in North America, and Topias Leinonen (Jyvaskyla, Finland) from the JYP youth team tops the list of international goalkeepers.
The final ranking includes the top 224 skaters and 32 goalkeepers in North America and the top 140 skaters and 10 goalkeepers internationally.
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