Regarded as one of the leaders in the elegance of this year’s NHL Draft, Sudbury Wolves forward Kieron Walton will get a chance to show that perspective in New Brunswick next month.
Walton was one of 40 players from across the OHL, the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League to named on Tuesday as participants in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game, to be played at Avenir Centre in Moncton on Jan 24.
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Participants were selected by the NHL’s 32 clubs and will compete before hundreds of NHL scouts and thousands of fans in an effort to improve their draft stock ahead of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, scheduled for next June.
“It’s wonderful to hear my call and I’m very excited about it,” said the 6-foot-6, 210-pound Toronto product, who made a stopover with his family Wednesday.
“I know the player I am and I’m confident in my abilities, but I’ve never imagined it because you don’t have to get too excited about this kind of thing. When they called me, it took me by surprise, but I was excited.
Walton is off to a good start in his second OHL season with nine goals and 11 assists in 29 games entering the break. He had a goal and two assists in Sudbury’s 3 games against Southwestern Ontario and Michigan last weekend and has been sidelined. He scores twice in his last nine appearances, having maintained a points-per-game pace in that span with three goals and six assists.
Walton was assigned a C rating on NHL Central Scouting’s initial Players to Watch list for the 2024 draft, released at the end of October, making him a projected fourth- or fifth-round pick, but the bureau has since upgraded the North York Rangers minor hockey graduate to a B rating as a possible second- or third-round choice.
“I think my play has been good,” Walton said. “I had that good start, I was able to put the puck in the back of the net a good amount of times and teammates were obviously looking for me, but I think I think what has improved is my complete game. I’m still working on that, but just the 200-foot game, coming back in the D zone, forechecking harder.”
Walton and his fellow Top Prospects participants will be assigned to either Team Red or Team White in the new year, while captains and alternates for both clubs will also be announced in January.
“My size, my speed, my skill set,” said the Sudbury sophomore, when asked what he hopes to showcase in Moncton. “What I bring to the table, my offensive abilities and my new, complete 200-foot game which I have worked on.”
Wolves striker Nathan Villeneuve, who was also on the B-rated client list in October, was not included in the most sensible client game despite his good play lately. Villeneuve has 8 problems in a streak of five consecutive games and the Ottawa employee has 11 problems in his last 10 games.
He has seven and 14 assists in 30 games this season, with 38 penalty minutes.
Walton cited Villeneuve, along with Landon McCallum, as two of his favorite teammates in terms of on-ice chemistry. He was surprised to see Villeneuve off the list announced Tuesday.
“Villy is a great player and he actually deserved this opportunity,” Walton said. “I think this will fuel him even more and I’m also looking forward to seeing what the moment holds for him. ” “.
Defenseman Owen Protz, who earned a W rating in October as a player to watch, is a Wolves regular hoping to hear his call in his first year of draft eligibility. Protz has six problems in 31 games, with 21 minutes of penalty and a plus. -4 score.
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