Matthew Wood of Nanaimo is considered a project by many scouts yet they can’t deny his potentially massive upside and have listed the former Victoria Grizzlies forward as the No. 4-rated North American skater in Central Scouting’s final ranking released Tuesday for this year’s NHL draft.
Wood moved up from his mid-term No. 8 position and is now ranked behind only top-rated prodigy Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League, second-ranked Adam Fantilli of the University of Michigan Wolverines and third-ranked William Smith, one of four players from the U.S. Under-18 program ranked in the top 10.
Wood is currently with sa国际传媒 at the 2023 IIHF U-18 world championship which begins Thursday in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland. The six-foot-three Harbour City product 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 One and does the same growth in Year Two, you’re looking at a very special player.”
One of the biggest climbers in the final Central Scouting rankings was Owen Beckner of Victoria. The six-foot-two centre, 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 shot up from 128th at mid-term to 86th in the final ranking. Beckner is headed to NCAA Div. 1 Colorado College and will be starring in the classroom as well and goes in as a straight-A Grade 12 student in calculus, anatomy and physiology.
Victoria Grizzlies blue-liner Hoyt Stanley, headed to NCAA Div. 1 Cornell, fell from 77th in the mid-term rankings to 85th in the final ranking.
Forward Ty Halaburda of Victoria also slid, from 61st to 89th, despite currently being with Wood on the Canadian team at the world U-18 championship in Switzerland. Halaburda is out of the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association and the Langford-based Pacific Coast Hockey Academy, where he was captain of the Sea Devils U-15 team when taken in the second round, 32nd overall, by the Vancouver Giants in the 2020 WHL prospects draft. The fleet-footed five-foot-11 centre had 21 goals and 37 points in 66 games this season with the Giants.
Victoria Royals WHL blue-liner Kalem Parker was a climber from 113 to 93 among North American skaters. Previously-unranked Royals defenceman Justin Kipkie gate-crashed the final rankings at No. 107.
“It is well-deserved recognition for both and reflective of their hard work,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.
“They really developed over the course of the season. Both know there’s a lot of hard work still to be done.”
Price pointed to two other players on the Royals’ emerging blue line: “It’s not just the players who are ranked, which is subjective, who get drafted. We believe Nate Misskey and Austin Zemlak will have a chance to get drafted this year, too.”
Centre Leo Carlsson of Orebro in the Swedish Hockey League maintained his standing as the top-ranked European skater. The top-rated North American goaltender is Carson Bjarnson of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL and top-ranked European goalie is Alexander Hellnemo of Sweden. No goaltenders under six-feet made the list of the 32 North American and 12 European goaltenders who are ranked.
The 2023 NHL draft is June 28-29 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
