Central Scouting on Friday revealed its midterm ranking presented by BioSteel of the top North American skaters and goalies, and the top International skaters and goalies. Bedard, a right-shot center from Regina of the Western Hockey League, is No. 1 among North American skaters.
"When a player like Connor comes around, it's clear where he's going to be on the list just by the performance that he's had this season," Gregory said on the latest edition of the "NHL Draft Class" podcast. "We've known about him for a number of years, and he continues to improve and develop into what's going to be a superstar player in the NHL, so it's always fun to talk about that player.
"It's great to just hear that we're all seeing the same thing. Obviously the whole world is seeing it."
Rankings: [North American skaters | North American goalies | International skaters | International goalies]
Bedard (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) was named the most valuable player of the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship after leading gold medal-winning Canada with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in seven games. The 17-year-old leads the WHL in assists (39) and points (70) in 29 games, and has a 28-game point streak (31 goals, 39 assists).
The 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft is scheduled to be held at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with the first round June 28 and Rounds 2-7 on June 29.
Gregory touched on a number of other topics coming out of the midterm rankings release, including why center William Smith of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program Under-18 team is No. 3 on the list of North American skaters, behind Bedard and University of Michigan center Adam Fantilli. In addition to Fantilli, he offered thoughts on the other two NCAA forwards projected as first-round picks: No. 8 Matthew Wood of the University of Connecticut and No. 21 Charlie Stramel of the University of Wisconsin.
He also gave his opinion on the three top right-handed centers on the North American list from the Canadian Hockey League, No. 5 Brayden Yager of Moose Jaw (WHL), No. 13 Nate Danielson of Brandon (WHL), and No. 17 Calum Ritchie of Oshawa in the Ontario Hockey League.
Co-hosts Adam Kimelman and Mike G. Morreale also shared their thoughts on Central Scouting's midterm ranking of International skaters.
The podcast is free, and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms, including iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. It also is available on
NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts
and the NHL app.
---
Listen: New episode of NHL Draft Class
