Halifax forward Zachary L’Heureux is one of three Mooseheads to earn a spot on the NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary players to watch list released on Tuesday.
The list is a compilation of top prospects from development leagues in North America and Europe that are eligible for the 2021 NHL draft. It will be updated throughout the season as scouts evaluate the players.
The five-foot-11, 196-pound L’Heureux, who has collected 10 points in eight games for Halifax this season, earned an A rating on the watch list. The 31 players on the preliminary list with A ratings are considered potential first-round picks.
Mooseheads defenceman Cameron Whynot of Kentville received a B rating, which means a potential second- or third-round draft choice. Whynot has two assists in five games with Halifax this season.
Swiss forward Attilio Biasca – the Mooseheads’ top pick in last June’s CHL import draft who has yet to play a game for Halifax – was given a C rating as a potential fourth-, fifth- or sixth-round NHL draft selection.
Thirty-one QMJHL players made it on the watch list with only L’Heureux and forwards Zachary Bolduc of the Rimouski Oceanic and Xavier Bourgault of the Shawinigan Cataractes earning an A rating.
Three other Nova Scotians join Whynot on the list. Like Whynot, Charlottetown Islanders defenceman Oscar Plandowski of Halifax earned a B rating. Plandowski has three assists in seven games with Charlottetown this season.
Forwards Riley Kidney of Halifax and Cameron MacDonald of Hammonds Plains were each given C ratings. Kidney has managed two goals and seven points in eight games with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan this season while MacDonald has one point in five games with the Saint John Sea Dogs.
