Top prospect McDavid named captain of Erie Otters

Wednesday, 09.24.2014 / 10:48 AM

By NHL.com Staff -  / 2015 NHL Draft blog

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2015 NHL Draft blog
Top prospect McDavid named captain of Erie Otters

Connor McDavid, expected to be one of the top two players picked at the 2015 NHL Draft, on Wednesday was named captain of his team, the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.

"It's a tremendous honor to be named captain of this team," McDavid told the Otters website. "You look at some of the guys before me, and those guys, it's something that is pretty special to me."

Last season McDavid, 17, was fourth in the OHL with 99 points in 56 regular-season games. He also had one goal and four points in seven games for Canada at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship; he was the sixth 16-year-old to play for Canada in the tournament, following Sidney Crosby, Eric Lindros, Jason Spezza, Jay Bouwmeester and Wayne Gretzky.

The 6-foot, 195-pound forward received an A grade by NHL Central Scouting in its Players to Watch list released Tuesday.

McDavid is entering his third OHL season. He was granted exceptional player status in March 2012 and at age 15 was picked by Erie with the first pick of the 2012 OHL draft. He was OHL rookie of the year in 2012-13, and in three OHL seasons he has 53 goals and 165 points in 119 games.

"Connor was the leader on the team, who guys looked up to," Erie coach Kris Knoblauch told the team website. "He's certainly very competitive and a guy who wants to win and do the right thing. Obviously he'll have success personally but he also wants the team to succeed greatly."

Erie also named three alternate captains, among them fellow top 2015 draft prospect Dylan Strome.