One of my favorite days of the year is when the NHL Central Scouting Preliminary Players to Watch List is released.
It’s not because the list is the most accurate, telling tale of who will be drafted the following June. The list always invokes a lot of opinions and discussion among hockey professionals.
I used to get worked up over some of the players on the list who clearly did not belong and bemoan the fact that this player or that player didn’t make it. While it’s still fun to discuss who was snubbed and who clearly was overrated, it’s just not that important in the grand scheme of things.
From scouting myself, it is significantly easier to determine the top players. It’s one thing to get on Central Scouting for missing an ‘A’ or ‘B’ player, but when you get down to ‘C’ players, it’s not easy to differentiate between them.
With that being said, there were three players with ties to the New England region who are far more deserving of being on the NHL Central Scouting Preliminary Players to Watch List than a number of players mentioned.
