Tom Petty sang about the waiting being the hardest part.
Matthew Wood of Nanaimo won’t have to do that for much longer as his pro hockey fate will be known Wednesday when he will be selected in the first round of the 2023 NHL draft at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
It isn’t so much the pressure or expectation that affects him. He is a composed young man and good at compartmentalizing all the media attention he is receiving as the fourth-ranked North American skater by Central Scouting and the 11th overall player ranked by Bob McKenzie of TSN.
“I don’t really look at the articles or media stuff,” said the former Victoria Grizzlies forward, before leaving for Nashville with his family.
“It’s harder to wait than anything else.”
He could be headed to play in the NHL anywhere from sa国际传媒 to the U.S. sun belt. But that won’t be next season as the six-foot-three Harbour City product is considered in the longer range of the developmental scale. He was the youngest player in NCAA Div. 1 this past season and recorded 11 goals and 34 points in 35 games as a freshman in leading the University of sa国际传媒icut Huskies after winning the sa国际传媒 Hockey League scoring championship the previous season with the Grizzlies.
“For a guy of his size to have his trajectory go this way, there’s going to be a little bit of a fever come draft day on who gets him,” Central Scouting director David Gregory said in a statement.
“I think the smart play with Wood would be to keep him in college at least another year and have him continue to develop. If he goes from point A to point B in Year 1 and does the same growth in Year 2, you’re looking at a very special player.”
Once his NHL team is decided, Wood indeed will get right back at the task more immediately at hand.
“It’s going to be a fun week in Nashville, with a lot of people to thank for it, but right after that I am going to be more focused on my first shift next season at sa国际传媒icut after having a good freshman season to build off of.”
He is thoroughly enjoying the campus experience: “Our school won the NCAA basketball championship and had [two] players selected in the NBA draft and it’s a great atmosphere on campus, where our hockey team has begun playing in an unbelievable new arena.”
It isn’t lost on anybody, meanwhile, that Wood falls directly in the range of the home-province Vancouver Canucks, who select Wednesday at 11th overall. Wood was among the players the Canucks interviewed this month during the NHL combine in Buffalo.
“That would be cool because I grew up watching the Canucks,” said Wood.
But this lottery, like all lotteries, is out of his hands. The only thing that is certain is that the Chicago Blackhawks will take prodigy Connor Bedard first overall Wednesday.
Wood leads a strong class of Island players into the 2023 NHL draft. Six-foot-two centre Owen Beckner of Victoria, out of the Racquet Club Kings, had 19 goals and 56 points in 59 regular-season and playoff BCHL games for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and is the 86th-ranked North American skater by Central Scouting. Beckner, a straight-A Grade 12 student in calculus, anatomy and physiology, will continue his development on the ice and in the classroom beginning next season in the NCAA Div. 1 at Colorado College.
Victoria Grizzlies defenceman Hoyt Stanley, headed to NCAA Div. 1 Cornell, is ranked as the 85th North American skater by Central Scouting and Victoria forward Ty Halaburda of the WHL Vancouver Giants, out of the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association and the Langford-based Pacific Coast Hockey Academy, is ranked 89th.
Victoria Royals WHL defencemen Kalem Parker and Justin Kipkie are rated 93rd and 107th, respectively, among North American skaters.
And look for some dark horses.
“We are also getting a lot of calls about [unranked Royals] Nate Misskey, Reggie Newman, Brayden Schuurman and Austin Zemlak,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price, from Nashville.
