By Warren Kozireski —
NHL Central Scouting released the preliminary list of players to watch for the 2022 draft to be held July 7-8—hopefully in person in Montreal—and four New York natives plus two more committed to New York Division I college programs are among the names.
All six are listed as “C” which means projected to be a fifth, sixth or seventh round draft choice.
Chicago Steel right wing Michael Emerson of Yorktown Heights stands 6’0” and 171 lb. The University of Massachusetts commit had one goal and one assist over his first 12 games in the USHL this season—his first full season with club.
Marcellus’ Seamus Powell is a 5’11.5” left-shot defenseman with the U.S. National Team Development Program. Heading to Boston College to join his brother next fall, he had three assists in the first 13 games. His brother, Eamon, was a fourth-round selection by Tampa Bay in 2020.
Patrick Geary of Hamburg is also a left-shot defenseman playing this season in the USHL with Waterloo. 6’.25” and 176 lb. he had one goal and two assists playing in only half (six) of the early games played the last two season with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres program. He has not made a college commitment as of this writing.
East Greenbush native and Cornell commit Michael Murtagh will play this winter at The Gunnery prep school in Connecticut. He has begun the campaign with the Buffalo Regals where he has six points and 12 points in 14 games. The 6’0” 170 lb. right wing is committed to UConn.
Clarkson University has two commitments listed in center Daimon Gardner and Ryan Gillespie—both skating with Omaha in the USHL. Gardner stands 6’4” and 200 lb. The left shot had two goals in seven games. Gillespie is a right shot at 6’0 and 186 lb. He had two goals over his first nine games.
