To the surprise of absolutely no-one, Alexis Lafreniere is the top-rated prospect for the 2020 N-H-L Draft according to the final N-H-L Central Scouting rankings released Wednesday morning.

The Rimouski left winger helped Canada re-claim the World Junior Hockey Championship in January and his 112 points in 52 games before the season was suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic was second-most in the entire C-H-L.

The top W-H-L ranked North American skater is Raiders’ defenceman Kaiden Guhle in eighth spot, one ahead of Prince Albert product and Brandon blue-liner Braden Schneider. Kamloops centre Connor Zary is ranked 15th…highest amongst Saskatoon and area prospects.

Five members of the Saskatoon Blades made their way onto the final ranking list, led by leading scorer Tristen Robins (pictured). The 18-year-old centre jumped up 48 spots from the mid-season list to 86th. Koen MacInnes moved up nine places amongst North American goaltenders from mid-season to 22nd. Defenceman Rhett Rhinehart is 151st, fellow blue-liner Aidan De La Gorgendiere cracked the rankings at 197th, as did left winger Kyle Crnkovic at 208th.

Besides Guhle, Schneider and Zary…six other W-H-L players were among the top 31 North American skaters, including Raiders’ right winger Ozzy Wiesblatt in 19th spot.

Two other Prince Albert players made the grade…defenceman Landon Kosior in 98th spot and forward Ilya Usau at 108th.

As for other Saskatoon and area players being ranked, Warman native and Kamloops forward Josh Pillar slots in at 120th.

The N-H-L Draft was set for late June in Montreal, but has been postponed along with the 2019-20 season.