While there wasn’t a lot of change overall in the latest NHL Central Scouting Players to Watch List released Monday, there was some movement among players from, playing in, or recruited to play in, New England.
NHL Central Scouting is a service of the league to help promote prospects as well as give a general idea of the prospect pool to NHL organizations. ‘A’ players are projected to be picked in the first round while a ‘B’ rating is for players who could be selected in the second or third round. Finally, ‘C’ skaters and goaltenders are those thought to be candidates for the final rounds of the draft.
The 2020 NHL Draft, to be held in Montreal, isn’t expected to be a great one for American prospects. Only four American-born players are rated as ‘A’ players, and none of them are from New England.
Left wing Brett Berard (East Greenwich, R.I.) moved up to a ‘B’ skater after being listed as a ‘C’ player in the first release of the watch list in October. Berard, committed to Providence College, has eight goals and five assists in 18 games with USA Hockey’s NTDP U-18. Berard joins Chicago Steel right wing and Northeastern recruit Sam Colangelo (Stoneham, Mass.) as the only two locals listed as ‘B’ prospects.
