Brayden Schuurman’s ride through the 2021-22 hockey season has featured more climbs, twists and dips than the PNE rollercoaster.
The Victoria Royals centre dropped 18 spots from his mid-term ranking and will enter the 2022 NHL draft as the 76th-rated North American skater. It follows a season in which Schuurman, who was 58th in the previous NHL Central Scouting rankings, saw the Royals miss the Western Hockey League playoffs but then get selected to the Canadian team for the 2022 IIHF world Under-18 championship tournament in Germany.
The drop in ranking status, although not overly precipitous, is largely due to the fact Schuurman had much of his success earlier in the season, being named a WHL player of the week in October, before cooling off considerably in the latter portion of the season. He had 21 goals through the first 34 games and only eight more after that in finishing with 29 goals over 68 games.
But Schuurman will likely not be too perturbed because he has already defied one draft position in which he was taken. He turned out to be a true find for the Royals after being selected in the fourth round, 69th overall, in the 2019 WHL prospects draft.
The native of Abbotsford scored twice for Canada at the U-18 world tournament in Germany. Although Canada lost in the quarter-finals, that experience should be of great benefit for Schuurman, who was joined by Royals defenceman Kalem Parker on the Canadian U-18 team, which included projected 2023 NHL draft heavyweights Connor Bedard of the WHL Regina Pats and Nanaimo-product Matthew Wood of the BCHL Victoria Grizzlies.
“Going to Germany with those kinds of players is going to be huge for [Schuurman’s and Parker’s] confidence and will show they too are legitimate top players,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price, upon their selections.
“They will come back from the world tournament with an elevated level of pace, because the pace is just so high up there, and everyone moves the puck so quickly and well. Every element of their game will improve for next season in Victoria.”
Schuurman should give the Royals their second consecutive player taken in the NHL draft, following defenceman Gannon Laroque’s selection in the fourth round last year by the San Jose Sharks.
The five-foot-nine Schuurman is among 53 WHL players cited for the 2022 NHL draft, along with Tri-City Americans winger Parker Bell of Campbell River, ranked the 112th North American skater. The Islander Bell, who had 18 goals and 49 points on the season, is six-foot-four and has the kind of size pro teams covet.
The two top-rated WHL prospects are from the Winnipeg Ice, with Matthew Savoie and Conor Geekie ranked as the fourth and fifth North American skaters.
Twenty of the 22 WHL teams have a player ranked for the draft, led by the Swift Current Broncos with seven players. Things are not going to get any easier for the Royals the next few seasons in the B.C. Division with the Prince George Cougars having five players listed and the Kamloops Blazers four. The Seattle Thunderbirds also have four players. Four WHL teams have three players on the list and nine WHL teams have two players. The Royals are among three WHL teams to have one player ranked.
The top-ranked North American skater is centre Shane Wright of the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League, followed by forwards Logan Cooley and Cutter Gauthier of the centralized U.S. Under-18 team at numbers two and three.
Tyler Brennan of the WHL’s Cougars is rated the top North American goaltending prospect for the NHL draft.
Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky is ranked the top European player.
The NHL draft will be conducted July 7-8 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
