Erie Otters’ fans should anticipate patience for the 2023 NHL draft.
Although the Ontario Hockey League team has three players expected to be chosen, none are projected during Wednesday’s first round at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
The draft’s remaining six rounds are scheduled there Thursday. That’s when Erie’s Carey Terrance, Ondrej Molnar and Alexis Daviault could be taken by one of the NHL’s 32 franchises.
Terrance, whom the Otters chose in the first round of the OHL’s 2021 draft, should be first off the board for that trio. The NHL Scouting Bureau’s final report listed the center as its No. 38 prospect among North American skaters.
Terrance, 18, totaled 40 goals and 31 assists over Erie’s last two seasons. Adam Kierszenblat recently commented on the Akwasasne, New York, native’s potential during a post for thehockeywriters.com.
“Carey is going to make a team very happy,” he said in the post. “The Erie Otters center has many of the qualities that organizations look for in a prospect. The first is his speed and overall skating. While some players struggle to display their full speed with the puck on their stick, that’s not the case here. He can hit top speed with or without possession of the puck.”
Molnar, a native of Slovakia, is 129th among North American skaters. The winger is in that list because he appeared in 34 games for the 2022-23 Otters.
Before that, Molnar, 18, played for KH Nitra, a team in his home country’s elite league.
“He has an NHL-size frame (6 feet, 176 pounds) that he can build upon,” Blain Potvin of thehockeywriters.com said in a post. “Despite only scoring five points in 22 games with HK Nitra, that size helped him to compete against men.”
Molnar had four goals and 15 assists during his abbreviated OHL tenure.
Daviault, 18, was a reserve for the Otters last season. The defenseman from Orleans, Ontario, had two goals and 13 assists.
The bureau listed Daviault as the 160th North American skater.
Meanwhile Otters defenseman Spencer Sova, 19, is listed as the 182nd prospect. The left-hander from Windsor, Ontario, had 16 goals and 23 assists last season, leading Otters defensemen with 39 points. He is heading into his second NHL draft as an eligible prospect.
Another NHL star called Connor?
No draftee, sans some unforeseen decision by the Chicago Blackhawks, will have a shorter wait time to hear their name called than Connor Bedard.
The center from North Vancouver, British Columbia, who turns 18 on July 17, has been the NHL’s most hyped No. 1 overall prospect since 2015. The Edmonton Oilers led off that year’s draft with former Otter Connor McDavid.
More: These former Erie Otters are on the market as NHL free agents. Where will they end up?
Bedard played three seasons for the Regina (Saskatchewan) Pats of the Western Hockey League. During that span, he also helped Canada win the IIHF World U18 Championships in 2021 and World Junior Championships in 2022.
Lifting the Stanley Cup is the only significant feat that McDavid, 26, hasn’t accomplished over his eight-year NHL career. He’s already a two-time league MVP, a three-time scoring champion and a six-time, all-star game selection.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Some Erie Otters could be chosen during the 2023 NHL draft
