Stoney Creek OHL star picked for CHL-NHL Top Prospects Game
Published December 12, 2022 at 1:43 pm
While Luca Pinelli was not a first-rounder coming out of the youth hockey ranks, the wing from Stoney Creek will be in a showcase event for the next National Hockey League draft.
Pinelli, who plays for the Ottawa 67’s, was one of 40 players selected Monday for the 2023 Kubota CHL-NHL Top Prospects Game showcases the top-40 CHL players eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft from across the Ontario, Québec and Western leagues (OHL, QMJHL, WHL). The annual game, which has featured 15 NHL No. 1 overall choices, takes place on Jan. 25.
The 40 players were identified via a survey conducted with the 32 NHL teams. Pinella, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound left wing, is off to a strong start with Ottawa, where he is the co-leading scorer for a team which is first overall in the OHL with an .804 point percentage. The 17-year-old Pinelli has 13 goals and 33 points across 28 games, putting him in range of beating his OHL rookie-season totals before league’s holiday break begins next week.
After playing with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens under-16 team, Pinelli’s playing rights in the OHL were acquired by Ottawa with its second-round selection (No. 28 overall) in the 2021 priority selection draft. As a rookie, he tallied 14 goals and 36 points across 59 games last season.
Fifteen players from the OHL are headed to the Top Prospects game, along with 19 from the WHL and six from the QMJHL. Lineups will be announced at a later date.
Pinelli, who has said his role models in the NHL are standout wings such as the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner, is not the only big-league prospect in his immediate family. His 19-year-old brother Francesco Pinelli is a Los Angeles Kings second-round selection and is also the leading scorer for the Kitchener Rangers, ranking sixth in the OHL with 18 goals.
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The brothers’ only direct competition in the OHL was on Oct. 7 in the nation’s capital. Luca Pinelli contributed two assists to a 5-3 Ottawa win that night, while his older brother scored two goals.
The 67’s, who are in the same division with the Hamilton Bulldogs, have three contributors from Hamilton. Ottawa’s second-leading defenceman scorer, Anthony Costantini, hails from Hamilton. Fellow D-man Matthew Mayich hails from Stoney Creek. Ottawa has two more regular-season visits to Hamilton in the new year, on Jan. 28 and March 12.
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