Eight OHLers Ranked in NHL Central Scouting's Final Top 32 North American Skaters

With the NHL Draft about two-and-a-half months away now, NHL Central Scouting has released their final rankings of the 2023-2024 season.

Looking inside their top 32 among North American skaters, there are eight OHL players on the list, including two in the top ten.

Here are those eight players and their ranking:

#5 - Zayne Parekh, D, Saginaw Spirit

#7 - Sam Dickinson, D, London Knights

#13 - Beckett Sennecke, RW, Oshawa Generals

#14 - Liam Greentree, RW, Windsor Spitfires

#17 - Marek Vanacker, LW, Brantford Bulldogs

#20 - Jett Luchanko, C, Guelph Storm

#24 - Sam O'Reilly, RW, London Knights

#25 - Cole Beaudoin, C, Barrie Colts

Zayne Parekh tops this list at fifth overall, followed closely by Sam Dickinson at seventh overall. These are two highly-projectable defencemen out of the OHL, but they are both very different. 

For Parekh, he has ceiling similar to those of Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox. His offensive tools are out of this world, and he has the potential to be a difference-making defenceman and cornerstone of an NHL blue line. There is much more risk with Parekh's game.

For Dickinson, it is easy to see him being a strong, reliable defender in an NHL top four right now. He's a mature defender with an active stick and he's a highly intelligent puck-mover. He will be able to eat minutes at the professional level and play in any game situation.

Looking further down the list, there are five consecutive forwards. Beckett Sennecke has the highest upside of all of them, and Jett Luchanko has been described by many as this year's "Easton Cowan" of the draft.

Cole Beaudoin rounds up the top 32 at 25th overall among North American skaters.

These final rankings by NHL Central Scouting totalled 224 North American skaters. Players named just outside the top 32 include Ben Danford (OSH), Henry Mews (OTT), Jacob Battaglia (KGN), and Lukas Fischer (SAR). 

These rankings carry a lot of players, many of which will not hear their names called at the NHL Draft as they just include North American born skaters. Nonetheless, this list is a fantastic base line for this year's draft class, and emulates the strong class emerging from the Ontario Hockey League.