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Latest NHL draft buzz – Who is rising after world juniors?

Latest NHL draft buzz - Who is rising after world juniors?

We’re five months away from the 2023 NHL draft in Nashville, Tennessee — one of the most anticipated drafts for NHL teams in recent history.

“We’ve been told about how exciting the 2005s (their birth year) are for a while now,” one NHL general manager told ESPN. “It’s why a lot of clubs are looking to hold on to their first-round picks this year. Sounds like you can even get first-round talent in the second round, too, and those picks may be stronger than first-round picks [in 2024].”

The 2023 draft class is highlighted by 17-year-old Connor Bedard, who cemented his spot as the likely No. 1 pick with a dominant World Junior Championship performance in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for gold-medal-winning Canada. “I honestly don’t know what else he would need to do at this point to convince any doubters,” one scout told ESPN. “Every time he jumped over the boards [at WJC], he was on the verge of doing something spectacular.”

After averaging 3.29 points per game at the tournament, Bedard took one day off. Then, in his first game back with the WHL’s Regina Pats, he registered 13 shots on net, scoring four goals and two assists, contributing on all six of his team’s goals.

Beyond Bedard, there’s plenty of talent from the No. 2 pick through the second round, especially among forwards.

“I spoke at the GM meetings in November and I told them, ‘This draft class is going to live up to the hype,'” the NHL’s VP of central scouting, Dan Marr, told ESPN. “But there’s a quicker end point than usual. There are 50-60 really good prospects. After that it does start to level off.”

Marr predicted a trend: More 19-year-olds will be selected in later rounds than usual, a byproduct of the pandemic skewing with player development timelines.

“The analytics component will play a stronger role in the second half of the draft, with some players without name recognition, perhaps players who have been passed over before,” Marr said. “Part of that is due to COVID, a lot of kids in the East missed a full year of development. So the ’04s and ’03s need an extra year to catch up, and 19-year-olds will float into the mix earlier than in years past.”

As for what else to keep an eye on? Marr and a few NHL evaluators shared their perspectives with ESPN for this midterm draft primer:

It’s the Connor Bedard show

Marr called Bedard “one of the more natural scorers…

Click Here to Watch the Video from www.espn.com – NHL…