Gavin McKenna headlines top NHL Draft prospects on Central Scouting list

Penn State freshman Gavin McKenna is one of 27 players to get an A rating from NHL Central Scouting in the preliminary players to watch list for next year’s draft.

The list, released Monday, gives an A rating to players considered first-round candidates.

McKenna, who moved to the NCAA from the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers this season after a rule change by the U.S. college sports governing body, has one goal and five assists in six games for Penn State to start the season.

The Whitehorse native is playing against older competition than in the CHL, where he led the Tigers to the Memorial Cup final last season and was named the top player in the country.

Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino had McKenna ranked No. 1 in his October rankings for the draft.

All players in Cosentino’s top five also got A ratings — Frolunda winger Ivar Stenberg, North Dakota defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, Windsor Spitfires winger Ethan Belchetz and Niagara IceDogs centre Ryan Roobroeck.

Other notable players to get A grades include WHL scoring leader JP Hurlbert of the Kamloops Blazers, QMJHL defence scoring leader Xavier Villeneuve of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armanda and WHL defence scoring leader Ryan Lin of the Vancouver Giants.

The OHL leads the way with eight A prospects.

Here’s a list of all players to receive an A grade:

LW Ethan Belchetz (Windsor Spitfires, OHL)
D Carson Carels (Prince George Cougars, WHL)
C Alessandro Di Iorio (Sarnia Sting, OHL)
D Malte Gustafsson (HV71 Jr., Sweden)
LW Oscar Hemming (Espoo, Finland)
RW Elton Hermansson (Modo, Sweden)
LW JP Hurlbert (Kamloops Blazers, WHL)
RW Nikita Klepov (Saginaw Spirit, OHL)
C Tynan Lawrence (Muskegon Lumberjacks, USHL)
D Ryan Lin (Vancouver Giants, WHL)
C Caleb Malhotra (Brantford Bulldogs, OHL)
LW Gavin McKenna (Penn State, NCAA)
LW Marcus Nordmark (Djurgarden, Sweden)
LW Adam Novotny (Peterborough Petes, OHL)
D Juho Piiparinen (Tappara, Finland)
RW Mathis Preston (Spokane Chiefs, WHL)
D Chase Reid (Soo Greyhounds, OHL)
C Brooks Rogowski (Oshawa Generals, OHL)
LW Ryan Roobroeck (Niagara IceDogs, OHL)
D Daxon Rudolph (Prince Albert Raiders, WHL)
D Luke Schairer (U.S. national development team, USHL)
C Egor Shilov (Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL)
D Alberts Smits (Jukurit, Finland)
LW Ivar Stenberg (Frolunda, Sweden)
C Oliver Suvanto (Tappara, Finland)
D Keaton Verhoeff (North Dakota, NCAA)
D Xavier Villeneuve (Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL)

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