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Two Troops on Central Scouting Mid-Term Rankings (UPDATED)

Lyle's selection could make it back to back seasons a North Bay player gets drafted.
Lyle
North Bay's Brady Lyle changes direction and heads up during a game at Memorial Gardens. Photo by Tom Martineau.

Defencemen Brady Lyle and Adam Thilander of the North Bay Battalion have been ranked 53rd and 59th respectively among North American-based skaters by the National Hockey League’s central scouting department for the 2017 NHL Entry Draft which will take place in June 23rd and 24th in Chicago.  

Lyle, a six-foot-one, 196-pound native of North Bay who turns 18 on June 6, has three goals and 13 assists for 16 points in 40 games this season but is sidelined indefinitely with a cut to his right thigh suffered last Thursday night in a 2-1 loss to the visiting Mississauga Steelheads.

Lyle, who had one goal and nine assists for 10 points in 44 games as a rookie last season, was the Battalion’s first-round pick, 18th overall in the 2015 OHL Priority Selection from Shattuck-St. Mary’s.  

He was the top-scoring defenceman as his under-16 team won the United States national championship.

Lyle says he’s not focussing on the ranking and just trying to get healthy and back onto the ice again. 

He believes since year one he’s become more confident and realized that he can make plays. Lyle think the scouts have picked up on that.  

“I think I’m a good skating defenceman, I’m able to get the puck out of the zone quickly and I can skate with it and I play with a fair amount of confidence when I do have the puck and I know they are starting to see that I am capable of defending too in my own end and holding my own against some of the better players out there," Lyle told the media Wednesday afternoon.  

The selection of Lyle would make it back-to-back seasons that a North Bay trained player was taken in the NHL Entry Draft.  Last summer in Buffalo, the Dallas Stars took North Bay native Colton Point in the fifth round.  

See that story HERE

Thilander, a six-foot, 187-pound native of Skovde, Sweden, was the Troops’ first-round choice, 36th overall, in the 2016 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft from the Skelleftea AIK under-20 team. He has three goals and 16 assists for 19 points in 38 games.

Battalion head coach Stan Butler says if you include the European players the Central Scouting projection would plunk both Thilander and Lyle as third round selections, but it's not that easy.  

"It’s only central scouting’s rankings and teams look at things differently and there’s still a lot of hockey to play and it’s up to those guys to show people they need to move up not move down," said Butler.   

 


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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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