Look at this 2023 Draft projection they have the Habs picking Matthew Wood of my UConn Huskies #4!!!!
Full round 2023 NHL mock draft projections, with trades and compensatory picks based on weekly team projections and college and amateur player rankings.
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"Matthew Wood, C/W, UConn
The last time UConn had a high-profile draft-eligible player on their roster was Tage Thompson, who ended up going 26th overall to St. Louis in 2016. Just last season, Thompson had his NHL breakout with 38 goals and 68 points for the Buffalo Sabres, securing a long-term contract extension this summer. Matthew Wood may have a chance to go even higher in the draft than Thompson did and gives the Huskies another true blue-chipper.
Unlike Fantilli and Stramel, Wood is not a late 2004 birth date but rather a first-year eligible who was born in 2005. Wood should be a high school senior this year, but instead managed to finish early and has enrolled at UConn, set for his freshman campaign. Wood is a 6-foot-3, 190-pound forward who seems to always find himself in the right spots and has a goal-scorer’s instinct.
He led the entire BCHL in scoring last season with 85 points and a staggering 45 goals in 46 games. In the last 25 years, only one player had a better draft-minus-one season and that was Kent Johnson, who was drafted fifth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2021. Johnson scored at 1.94 points per game his last season in the BCHL, while Wood scored at a 1.85 clip. Wood also had the higher goal total in fewer games and is bigger and stronger. Notably, Johnson was a late birthdate, so was a bit older than Wood was in his draft-minus-one season.
Wood also made Team Canada as an underager at last year’s U18 World Championship, scoring two goals in the tournament. This summer, he played for Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, posting five points in five games as Canada won the tournament.
A native of Nanaimo, B.C., Wood is a long way from home playing at UConn and he actually turned down the opportunity to play in the WHL alongside Connor Bedard with the Regina Pats. The fact that Wood has decided to challenge himself by attending college a year early and not simply going to one of the blueblood programs that has dozens of NHL alumni is going to speak to NHL teams. This is a player with the confidence to bet on himself and the skill to give himself a chance to go very high in this draft."
NHL Draft analyst Chris Peters breaks down four 2023 draft-eligible players in the NCAA that could hear their names called early next summer.
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