NHL Central Scouting’s Preliminary Players to Watch List dropped Monday, with 11 New England natives making the cut.
The annual list is meant to provide an initial look into players who could be selected at the NHL Draft. This year’s draft will take place June 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Forwards and defensemen are categorized as skaters and placed separately from goaltenders. Both skaters and goaltenders are broken down by A, B, or C prospects. NHL Central Scouting always lists far too many players, so a player’s inclusion doesn’t come close to guaranteeing a player will be selected.
The only two New England natives to make the ‘A’ grade were U.S. NTDP U18 teammates, forward Matthew Boldy of Millis, Mass., and goaltender Spencer Knight of Darien, Conn. Both prospects are committed to Boston College for the 2019-20 season.
Boston College had two current players and six commits make the list while Boston University had eight recruits on the list. Next up among New England schools was Harvard with four and Brown with three. Providence, Merrimack and UConn each landed two recruits on the list.
New England Natives
A Skaters
- Matthew Boldy, LW, Millis, Mass./U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston College)
B Skaters
- Jayden Struble, D, Cumberland, R.I./St. Sebastian’s (Northeastern)
C Skaters
- Liam Connors, RW, Southborough, Mass./St. Sebastian’s (Boston University)
- Braden Doyle, D, Lynnfield, Mass./Lawrence Academy (Boston University)
- Luke Krys, D, Ridgefield, Conn./Salisbury (Brown)
- Cooper Moore, D, Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick
- Patrick Moynihan, RW, Millis, Mass./U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston College)
- Henry Thrun, D, Southborough, Mass./U.S. NTDP U18 (Harvard)
- Tyler Young, RW, Southborough, Mass./Lawrence Academy (Providence)
A Goaltenders
- Spencer Knight, G, Darien, Conn./U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston College)
C Goaltenders
- Derek Mullahy, G, Scituate, Mass./Dexter (Harvard)
FULL LIST: Subscribers can view the entire NHL Central Scouting Preliminary Players to Watch List here.
New England connections
These prospects aren't from the region, but are currently playing locally or committed to playing college hockey in New England.
A Skaters
- Alex Newhook, C, Victoria Grizzlies (Boston College)
- Alex Vlasic, D, U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston University)
- Trevor Zegras, C, U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston University)
B Skaters
- Robert Mastrosimone, LW, Chicago Steel (Boston University)
- Arlo Merritt, C, Kimball Union (Ohio State)
- Marshall Warren, D, U.S. NTDP U18 (Harvard)
C Skaters
- Cade Alami, D, Berkshire (Providence)
- Malik Alishlalov, D, Westminster (UConn)
- Lynden Breen, C, Central Illinois Flying Aces (Maine)
- Declan Carlile, D, Lincoln Stars (Merrimack)
- John Farinacci, C, Dexter (Harvard)
- Domenick Fensore, D, U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston University)
- Garrett Foster, RW, Newfields, N.H./Phillips Exeter
- Patrick Giles, RW, Boston College
- Drew Helleson, D, U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston College)
- Andre Lee, LW, Sioux Falls Stampede (UMass Lowell)
- Joshua Lopina, C, Lincoln Stars (UMass Amherst)
- Case McCarthy, D, U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston University)
- Brad Morrissey, C, Tri-City Storm (Maine)
- Nikita Nesterenko, C, Lawrenceville (Brown)
- Ethan Phillips, C, Selects Academy 18U
- Adam Samuelsson, D, Boston College
- Matthew Sutton, RW, Gilmour Academy (Brown)
- Zachary Uens, D, Wellington Dukes (Merrimack)
- Ilya Usov, LW, Salisbury (UConn)
- Cade Webber, D, Rivers (Boston University)
- Danny Weight, C, U.S. NTDP U18 (Boston College)
