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The Forecheck: Matthew Wood ranked No. 9 on The Athletic's 2023 NHL Draft prospect list

The Huskies' best-ever recruit is already being mentioned as one of the top picks in next year's NHL Draft.

August 09, 2022

Welcome to the revamped UConn Hockey Hub newsletter, which catches you up on all the stories, trends, and anything else you might have missed, along with some quick takes and leftover notes from the weekend.

Matthew Wood ranked No. 9 on The Athletic’s 2023 NHL Draft prospect list

Let the Matthew Wood hype train officially commence.

A few weeks ago, the freshman officially signed his letter of intent to UConn and now that the 2022 NHL Draft in the rearview mirror, he’s beginning to garner attention as one of the top prospect for next year’s draft.

On Monday, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler released his preseason list of the top 32 prospects eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft. Wood came in at No. 9 behind the potentially generational Connor Bedard and Matvei Michkov as well as Adam Fantilli, Zach Benson, Dalibor Dvorsky, Leo Carlsson, Brayden Yager and Eduard Sale. Wood is one of only two college players in the top 10 along with Fantilli, who’s committed to Michigan.

First, Wheeler puts Wood’s domination of the BCHL as a 16-year old into perspective:

One of my early favourites, Wood led the BCHL in goals (45 in 46 games) and points (85) last year for a 1.85 points-per-game clip that stands as the most productive 16-year-old season in the league in decades, besting Alex Newhook (1.47), Kyle Turris (1.26), Tyson Jost (0.98), and Kent Johnson (0.81) — while being four months younger than Johnson was at the time.

Then, he dives into the scouting report:

Wood is a rangy, goal-scoring forward who has silky hands for his size (considering the long stick he uses, he’s got great control on the toe of his blade out wide and the heel in tight to his feet), a marksman’s shot inside the offensive zone (both through a natural shooting motion and his one-timer), and a sixth sense for arriving around the net/slot at the right time. He’s got quick hands one-on-one, he drops pucks back into his shooting stance quickly and effortlessly, and he’s got a beautiful curl-and-drag motion. There’s work to do to get a little quicker from a standstill, but he’s better suited as a playmaker than a power forward type anyways. Especially with the way he slows down the game, adjusts and maneuvers his frame and shades pucks. He’s able to play the game his way.

There’s a couple nuggets from the write-up that stand out. First, Wheeler believes Wood is better as a playmaker than as a power forward, which goes again what we initially heard last summer when he committed. There’s also a mention of his foot speed, which is one of the few concerns about Wood’s game.

In the first edition of Wheeler’s rankings in February, he listed Wood as a “top-five contender” and also implied that Bedard and Michov are locked into No. 1 and No. 2 while Fantelli is the favorite for No. 3. Wood hasn’t done anything since then to hurt his stock, so he could certainly improve his stock with a strong freshman season at UConn.

Aside from Wood, defensemen Kevin Fitzgerald (‘04) and Brady Smith (‘05) are the two other future Huskies who are receiving early interest from teams for the 2023 draft, per a source. Of course, plenty can change between now and next summer.

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