IceDogs D projected as mid-round NHL draft pick
Central Scouting rank lists Enright as going in fourth to sixth rounds
Niagara IceDogs defenceman Isaac Enright is projected to be a mid-round pick in the 2021 National Hockey League draft.
Enright, who turns 18 in February, is among 52 players with ties to the Ontario Hockey League listed on the NHL Central Scouting January “players to watch” rankings.
He received a C ranking, which indicates a fourth- to sixround selection in the annual draft, after scoring a goal and collecting eight assists for nine point in 53 games in his first season in the OHL. As a rookie on an IceDogs team on the ground floor of a rebuild, the 6-foot, 170-pound, right-hand shot gained experience in all situations, particularly on the top defensive pairing.
Niagara selected Enright, a native of Cobden, Ont., southeast of Pembroke in the Ottawa Valley, 17th overall in the first round of the 2019 OHL draft.
The players to watch list is the scouting bureau’s rankings of top draft prospects from the major development leagues throughout North America and Europe.
Four players — Daniil Chayka, D, Guelph Storm; Brandt
Clarke, D, Barrie Colts; Mason McTavish, F, Peterborough Petes; Francesco Pinelli, C, Kitchener Rangers — received A rankings as potential firstround picks.
Historically, the list is updated regularly throughout the season as scouts travel to watch prospects in live action. However, the OHL hasn’t played since the remaining 56 games of the regular season and, subsequently, the playoffs were cancelled due to COVID-19 last March.
Status of a new shortened season — and whether there will be a season at all — remains uncertain while Ontario remains under a state-of-emergency to reduce spread of the potentially deadly coronavirus.
The OHL had initially set Dec. 1 and, then, Feb. 4 as return dates.