Author Archives: Rhett Anderson

In last summer’s 2023 NHL Entry Draft a WHL-trained prospect, former Regina Pats captain Connor Bedard, went first overall for the first time since the Edmonton Oilers selected former Red Deer Rebels center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the top pick in 2011. Although it’s still far too early to say for sure, we may not haveContinue reading “FUTURE PHENOMS : Gavin McKenna (2026)”

“Hockey is Canada’s game”. While this is a statement made almost exclusively by those from the actual country itself, it’s also extremely hard to argue against. Just think of the some of the greatest players in the history of the sport: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Maurice Richard,Continue reading “CANADA vs. USA : The New Battle for Hockey Supremacy”

As a born-and-bred Western Canadian hockey fan, the WHL has always been near and dear to my heart. I have spent practically the entire 35-year span of my life residing in a small southern Alberta town that sits less than sixty kilometres outside the city of Lethbridge, home of the Hurricanes, and have been attendingContinue reading “A NEW CHIEF IN TOWN : Berkly Catton”

When Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes stepped to the podium inside the team’s home Bell Centre arena to announce the player he would be selecting with the first overall pick of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, the overwhelming majority of those watching believed it would be Canadian pivot Shane Wright whose name he called. InContinue reading “TOP OF THE CLASS : Connor Bedard (2023)”

Welcome to the second half of my list ranking the current top 40 players in the NHL. In the first half we covered the top 20 overall, so now it’s time for numbers twenty-one through forty. These rankings have been based on the last two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) in an attempt to weed outContinue reading “THE TOP 40 PLAYERS IN THE NHL (2023 Edition) (#21 – 40)”

One of the most hotly debated and controversial subjects that a hockey writer can ever tackle is a personalized ranking of the current best players in the National Hockey League, and yet after publishing my first ever Top 40 list last year I knew it was going to become an annual affair here at TheContinue reading “THE TOP 40 PLAYERS IN THE NHL (2023 Edition) (#1 – 20)”

With the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament now officially completed and the upcoming 2023-24 regular season of major junior hockey less than two months away from kick-off, this seems like the perfect time to publish my initial rankings of the top thirty-two players available for selection in next summer’s 2024 NHL Entry Draft. If you haveContinue reading “2024 NHL ENTRY DRAFT – Part 1 Rankings”

Welcome to my Final Rankings of the top thirty-two prospects eligible for selection in the upcoming 2023 NHL Entry Draft. This officially marks the conclusion of my second full season as an armchair scout/amateur analyst for The Draft Report, and I now face the daunting task of having to sum up the countless hours ofContinue reading “2023 NHL ENTRY DRAFT – Final Rankings (Top 32)”

If you’ve been following the annual NHL Entry Draft for long enough then you might remember the 2010 edition being billed as “Taylor vs. Tyler”, a closely contested battle between fellow OHL stars Taylor Hall (Windsor Spitfires) and Tyler Seguin (Plymouth Whalers) to become the number one overall selection that year. It was such aContinue reading “EISERMAN VS. CELEBRINI : The Fight to Go First Overall in 2024”