Neutral Zone, the world’s largest and leading amateur hockey scouting platform, was founded to evaluate and rank the next generation of hockey talent. We created a 1-5 star rating system that has been used in other sports and brought it to amateur hockey.
Initially, the criteria for a 5-star prospect was a Top 10 NHL Draft talent and was given primarily to 18-year-olds in their draft year. Then, on December 27th, 2015, Jack Hughes came to one of the world’s most historic amateur hockey tournaments, The Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic in Toronto, ON, and put on a show. Hughes was a 14-year-old playing with 15-year-olds and was dominant from start to finish. So much so that Marlin Muylaert, NZ’s Director of Canadian scouting, was adamant that there should be a separate rating for exceptional players like Hughes.
“He wasn’t only the best player on his team; he was the best player in the tournament as an underager,” said Muylaert. Hughes was the only prospect at Neutral Zone who had earned a 5-star as a 14-year-old at that point.
The list of 5-stars at Neutral Zone is short; in fact, at this past year’s World Junior Championship, with a litany of first-round NHL Draft picks on display, there was only one 5-star player, Macklin Celebrini, who had been given a 5-star status as a fifteen-year-old at Shattuck St. Mary’s.
“He honestly could have gotten the fifth star after USA Hockey U14 Nationals in Dallas, TX,” said Brian Murphy, NZ’s Director of US Scouting. “I watched half of his first game, and his IQ and anticipation were like nothing I had seen. As I watched more, the totality of his game made him the most advanced Bantam I had ever seen. However, we wanted to be patient and see how he’d do against older competition.”
Murphy didn’t take long to pull the trigger on the fifth star as he was given the bump a few months after starring in the Minnesota Elite League for Shattuck St. Mary’s prep team as a fifteen-year-old.
Two years later, Celebrini is the consensus #1 pick in the NHL Draft and the last prospect who has been awarded a 5-star. Until this past week with Landon Dupont, only the third player in NZ history to earn a 5-star as a fourteen year old joining two first overall NHL picks in Connor Bedard and Jack Hughes.
Connor Bedard was a player we saw play as a 12-year-old but did not post his report as he was too young. “His grade was an A+ against players two and three years his senior,” said Muylaert. “He was the first exceptional player in WHL history and earned a 5-star in March 2020 as our top WHL Draft prospect. That may have been the easiest one we’ve given.”
Dupont is an elite skating offensive defenseman out of Edge School who really came on the scene last year playing up at Major Bantam as a thirteen-year-old. James McGuigan, NZ’s Director of Western Canada, had him as the highest-rated prospect at the Western Crown Invitational. NZ put him as the #1 ranked prospect for the Canadian selections of the 200×85 CCM 68 Camp. The camp is held in Chicago, IL with the top rising Bantams in North America, the top 68 from the US, and the top 68 from Canada. NZ joined forces with them last year to assist in the selection process.
“Landon was the best player in the tournament and it wasn’t close,” said Brendan Collins, NZ’s Director of Scouting. “That began the conversation for a five-star designation but we wanted to wait, like with Celebrini, to see how he’d fare against older, stronger competition.”
Collins said throughout the camp that week, he drew comparisons from scouts and agents to Cale Makar, the first defenseman to earn a five-star at Neutral Zone.
Collins remembers back to when Cale earned the fifth star as a seventeen year old. “Cale had dominated the AJHL that season right from the start at the AJHL Showcase in Camrose. I hesitated to give him a fifth star because the level he was playing at wasn’t WHL or USHL caliber at the time, and it was hard to know how his game would translate.”
Fast forward a few months later, and Collins is in Cornwall, ON, at the CJHL Top Prospects game, seeing Makar against the top junior players in Canada, and he dominated the game. “I remember driving back to the hotel excited to upgrade his profile to a five-star directly after that game. Now, eight years later, we are giving another Alberta defenseman a fifth star and he’s being compared to our first ever.”
Makar went fourth overall in that NHL Draft class that year despite being the only 5-star prospect on the board. Many in the NHL brass were concerned if he could play that offensive style of hockey at the NHL level and with his size. Some criticism that DuPont receives as well. That is why Collins turned to Ian Moran, the NZ Director of NHL Scouting, who had a long NHL career as a defenseman before deciding on Dupont.
“I had seen his performance at CCM 68’s, which was impressive, but it was when I saw him play against the Shattuck Prep team that I really thought he was a special player,” said Moran. “He is an elite skater; explosive, edge control, balance, and smooth stride, and he handles the puck with the poise and confidence of an NHLer. He took over the game, playing almost 30 minutes and getting 12 shots on net against the #1 ranked U18 team in the United States.” He is currently leading Edge School U18s with 40 points in 20 games as a fourteen year old.
At a meeting to determine Dupont’s fifth star this past week, Collins asked Moran, “Could he play in the WHL next year?” Ian quickly responded, “He could play in the WHL right now.”
DuPont is the first five-star prospect since Celebrini in 2021 to earn a five-star ranking and the second player in his WHL Draft year, joining first-overall pick Connor Bedard—some great company for a terrific prospect.
The midterm WHL Draft Rankings will be posted on Rinknet and our website on February 1st.
Photo Credit: 200×85 and Edited by Margaret Hickling
