Ben Danford, RD/Oshawa
Ben Danford doesn’t carry the same size as Stian Solberg or Will Skahan, but he could hold more value than both, with his profile at Elite Prospects ranking him between 31st and 65th. So this is a player who could hear his name called late in the first round. And if he falls to Kent Hughes in the late second round, Danford will be hard to pass on.
While his size isn’t at the NHL level yet, it’s also not incredibly far off, at 6’0, 176 lbs. There’s also a good chance that he would only need to gain another 15 pounds of muscle, so it won’t take incredibly long for him to reach that threshold even if it isn’t happening this summer.
Danford has enjoyed a moderate increase in productivity since he debuted for the Oshawa Generals, putting up 21 points and four goals in 63 games last season before he increased that number to 33 this year, including 32 helpers.
That number also shows how well Danford contributes to making things happen when in the offensive zone, and we can expect even more creativity as he heads into Year 3 of his junior hockey career. Danford was also an alternate captain for Oshawa, so there are also implied leadership qualities here.
(Statistics provided by Elite Prospects)