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(WHL/Supplied photo)
Top Prospect

Lacombe’s Daxon Rudolph given ‘A’ rating in NHL Central Scouting’s Preliminary Players to Watch list

Oct 20, 2025 | 1:28 PM

Lacombe’s Daxon Rudolph has been named as one of 27 players who were given an ‘A’ rating in NHL Central Scouting’s Preliminary Players to Watch list.

This means the Prince Albert Raiders defenceman is one of the top prospects heading into the 2026 NHL Draft next year.

The 17-year-old has had a strong start to the 2025-26 Western Hockey League campaign with two goals and six assists in nine games.

This comes after an excellent rookie season last year in Prince Albert where he posted seven goals and 24 assists for 41 points in 64 games.

Rudolph was drafted by the Raiders first overall in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.

Meanwhile, Red Deer Rebels players forward Beckett Hamilton was given a ‘C’ rating and goaltender Peyton Shore a ‘W’ rating.

Hamilton has two goals and five assists through 10 games so far this year. In his rookie season last year, he had 14 goals and 11 assists through 67 games.

Shore has appeared in just three games so far this year where he’s posted a 3.78 goals against average and a .864 save percentage.

NHL Central Scouting identifies players with a rating system that includes five categories.

The ‘A’ category indicates players projected to be first-round candidates and ‘B’ rating is for players projected to be second- or third-round candidates.

The ‘C’ rating indicates players projected to be fourth- or fifth-round candidates and the ‘W’ rating is for those projected to be sixth- or seventh-round candidates.