Two Battalion Players on NHL List
Forwards Ethan Procyszyn and Anthony Romani of the North Bay Battalion are among a total of 53 Ontario Hockey League skaters and goaltenders in midseason rankings released Friday by the National Hockey League’s central scouting department.
Centre Procyszyn is No. 59 on a list of 224 North American-based skaters in advance of the 2024 NHL Draft to be held June 28-29 at Las Vegas, while right winger Romani is No. 81.
Procyszyn, who turns 18 on July 11, was the Battalion’s first-round pick, 20th overall, in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection from the North Central Predators U16s.
In 38 games this season, the six-foot-three, 189-pound Wasaga Beach, Ont., resident has scored nine goals and earned 10 assists for 19 points. In 100 career games, he has 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points.
Procyszyn has been named to Team Red for the Kubota CHL-NHL Top Prospects Game at Moncton on Jan. 24. The game features 40 draft-eligible Canadian Hockey League performers as chosen by NHL clubs.
Romani, who went undrafted last year when first eligible, turns 19 on July 12. The six-foot-one, 184-pound resident of Pickering, Ont., has broken out this year after being a third-round choice in the 2021 Priority Selection from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens minor midgets.
In 39 games, he has 34 goals and 30 assists for 64 points atop the OHL points parade after a scoring correction cost him an assist in a 4-2 home-ice victory Thursday night over the Mississauga Steelheads in which he scored three goals. Romani is tied for the league lead in goals with Carson Rehkopf of the Kitchener Rangers.
In 159 career games, Romani has 65 goals and 56 assists for 121 points.
In all, 33 OHL forwards and 15 defencemen were rated.
Rearguard Sam Dickinson of the London Knights is the top-rated OHL skater at No. 7, while Carter George of the Owen Sound Attack is No. 1 on a list of 32 North American-based goaltenders that includes five OHLers.
Also released were international lists, essentially Europeans, of 135 skaters and 15 goaltenders.
Players are first-time eligible for the NHL Draft in the year they turn 18, unless they are born Sept. 16 or later, in which case they must wait until the following year. Article credit to North Bay Battalion
