The Central Recruiting Center of the National Hockey League (NHL) released its list of candidates for the next draft on Wednesday and two Quebecers are doing well.
• Also read: For this reason, Leo Carlsson is not playing
• Also read: The invincible avalanche on the road
• Also read: CH in the race for Celebrini and Eiserman?
The strikers Maxim Massé and Sacha Boisvert are considered candidates for the first round of the 2024 amateur auction. Like 26 other players, they received an “A” rating.
Massé currently works for the Saguenéens of Chicoutimi. The 17-year-old right winger has 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 12 games so far in 2023-2024. The Rimouski native was named the top first-year player in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) last year.
Boisvert followed his plan
For his part, Boisvert wears the colors of the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL. In as many games this season, he scored six goals and three assists for nine points.
Boisvert is a native of Trois-Rivières and was drafted twice in the QMJHL. In 2022, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens selected him 12th in the first round, even though he had clearly stated his intention to continue his development on the south side of the border. In the end he never showed up.
At the last draft, the Shawinigan Cataractes tried it by selecting him again, this time in the fifth round, hoping to use the geographic proximity to his hometown as a selling point. But once again, Trois-Rivières kept his word and is playing in the USHL this season with the intention of transferring to the University of North Dakota, with whom he has a verbal agreement.
Eiserman and Celebrini at the top
Unsurprisingly, Cole Eiserman and Macklin Celebrini also received an “A” rating. The American and the Canadian are considered the two best candidates in the next draft. Currently, experts can’t agree on who will be the first to hear their name called at the end of June, but it appears Celebrini has a head start.
The Canadian forward had, to say the least, a productive start to his career with the Boston University Terriers, the team for which Canadian prospects Lane Hutson and Luke Tuch play. In his first four NCAA games, the Vancouver native recorded five goals and one assist for six points.
For his part, Eiserman is joining the American U18 National Development Program, with which he is also off to a promising start to the season. In just 11 games, the American winger has scored no less than 18 goals and contributed five assists, totaling 23 points.
He could well break the program record of 72 goals in a single season set by Cole Caufield during the 2018-2019 season.
Remember that the dates of the next draft, as well as the place where it will be presented, have not yet been announced. The NHL is currently exploring the possibility of changing the format of its draft to follow what the NFL does, which is an event that brings together only the top prospects while teams remain in the offices of their respective cities.
-With the QMI agency