The 2004-born class of American prospects has long been regarded as a top-flight group of players who could potentially challenge the success of the 2001-born class. They put their skill on display all season long during 2019-20, consistently rolling over their Canadian opponents with relative ease.
Detroit Honeybaked led the way in terms of team success, capturing wins at a rate similar to last year’s Don Mills Flyers. With that said, Detroit Compuware, the Oakland Jr. Grizzlies, and South Kent Selects Academy were also dominant in their own rights.
With the uncertainty caused this Spring by the COVID-19 Pandemic, virtually everything has had to be postponed or cancelled, which included the U.S. U17 National Development Evaluation Camp. As such, the NTDP jumped straight ahead and announced their U17 roster for the 2020-21 season.
The 2020-21 U.S. National Under-17 Team is here!
DETAILS >> https://t.co/Fln1eYJUSN#NTDP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/u9wxY3vwK7
— USA Hockey’s NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) March 25, 2020
This is a team laced with talent all throughout the lineup, with some extremely skilled prospects left off the squad. As a result, the picture has become much more clear ahead of the April 4th’s OHL Draft, as we now know which players will suit up for the National Development Team and which ones remain more available to play in the OHL next season.
However, all American-born players eligible for the 2020 OHL Draft will remain in this ranking, as they are still qualified to be selected in the draft.
Final Top-50 Americans
With that said, here are the top-50 American-born prospects eligible for the 2020 OHL Draft. Overall, this year’s class is loaded with talent and potential from top to bottom. Although many of the players in this ranking have now been named to the U.S. U17 team, several high-end prospects were left off of that roster, leaving plenty of options for OHL teams to make lower-risk, high-reward selections.
Please note: This is an OHL Draft Ranking and is in no way a prediction of when players will be selected. It is not a mock draft.
| Rank | Player | Position | Team |
| 1 | Rutger McGroarty* | C | Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 15U |
| 2 | Seamus Casey* | D | Florida Alliance 16U |
| 3 | Frank Nazar* | C | Honeybaked 15U |
| 4 | Lane Hutson* | D | North Jersey Avalanche 16U |
| 5 | Hunter Brzustewicz* | D | Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 15U |
| 6 | Tyler Duke* | D | Compuware 16U |
| 7 | Isaac Howard* | C | Shattuck St. Mary’s 16U |
| 8 | Devin Kaplan* | C | North Jersey Avalanche 16U |
| 9 | Cutter Gauthier | LW | Compuware 16U |
| 10 | Logan Cooley* | C | Pittsburgh Penguins Elite |
| 11 | Max Namestnikov* | LW | Honeybaked 15U |
| 12 | Gavin Brindley | LW | Florida Alliance 16U |
| 13 | Zach Filak* | C | Compuware 16U |
| 14 | Gavin Hayes | RW | Compuware 15U |
| 15 | Vinny Borgesi* | D | South Kent Academy |
| 16 | Owen Baker | RW | Honeybaked 15U |
| 17 | Tyler Catalano | C | St. Louis Blues |
| 18 | Justin Varner | RW | Honeybaked 15U |
| 19 | Chase Pietila | D | Honeybaked 15U |
| 20 | Spencer Sova | D | Honeybaked 15U |
| 21 | Dylan Gordon | D | Honeybaked 15U |
| 22 | Ryan Abraham | C | Compuware 15U |
| 23 | Jack Larrigan | C | Shattuck St. Mary’s U15 |
| 24 | Tucker Shedd | D | Compuware 15U |
| 25 | Zion Green | RW | Compuware 15U |
| 26 | Matthew DiMarsico | LW | Pittsburgh Penguins Elite |
| 27 | Christian Kocsis | LW | Honeybaked 15U |
| 28 | Jake Manfre | LW | Long Island Gulls 16U |
| 29 | Patrick Geary | D | Buffalo Jr. Sabres 15U |
| 30 | Evan Konyen | RW | Pittsburgh Penguins Elite |
| 31 | Seamus Powell | D | Rochester Selects 15U |
| 32 | Tommy Budnick | D | Honeybaked 15U |
| 33 | Nathan Lewis | RW | Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 15U |
| 34 | Dominic Elliot | D | Fox Motors U15 |
| 35 | Jonah Aegeerter | C | Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 15U |
| 36 | Carson Walters | LW | Chicago Mission 15U |
| 37 | Quinn Finley | RW | Green Bay Gamblers |
| 38 | Nathan McBrayer | D | Ohio Blue Jackets U15 |
| 39 | Cole Bianchin | LW | Pittsburgh Penguins Elite |
| 40 | Michael Mesic | LW | Compuware 15U |
| 41 | Chris Able | D | Chicago Mission 15U |
| 42 | Colton Mauser | D | Pittsburgh Penguins Elite |
| 43 | Landon Fleming | D | Oakland Jr. Grizzlies 15U |
| 44 | Patrick Czarnecki | D | Honeybaked 15U |
| 45 | Evan Moore | C | Nashville Jr. Predators U15 |
| 46 | Cole Knuble | RW | Fox Motors U15 |
| 47 | Micah Berger | LW | Florida Alliance 16U |
| 48 | Michael DeAngelo | LW | Chicago Mission 15U |
| 49 | Sammy Kamienski | RW | Chicago Mission 15U |
| 50 | Charlie Masek | C | Miluakee Jr. Admirals U15 |
* Denotes player is currently committed to an NCAA program.
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