Ollie Josephson of Victoria knows how to put pressure in its place and scouts out of mind.
“I just take it one day at a time and not think about [scouts] too much,” said the six-foot centre.
Josephson is among the 18 Western Hockey League players named for the TSN-broadcast 2024 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, N.B. on Jan. 24.
The Canadian Hockey League announced on Tuesday the 40 players selected by the 32 NHL teams from the WHL, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Junior Hockey League who will perform before more than 100 NHL scouts taking notes ahead of the 2024 draft.
Among the 40 CHL players who participated in the 2023 CHL/NHL Top Prospects game at the Langley Events Centre, 37 went on to be selected in the 2023 NHL draft, led by first overall pick and Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard, then of the Regina Pats of the WHL.
If all this is daunting ahead of the 2024 NHL draft, Josephson isn’t showing it. “I am just taking it as a cool and fun game where you get to play with or against top players from all three leagues,” said Josephson, a forward with the Red Deer Rebels, who is back on the Island for the WHL Christmas break.
“I’ve played with most of these guys at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup,” he said, referring to the elite Under-18 international tournament in which Josephson and Canada won gold this year in Slovakia. “It’s great. You really elevate your game with players like these.”
The CHL/NHL Top Prospects game will feature eight WHL players projected by Central Scouting for the first round of the 2024 NHL draft. They are Tij Iginla of the Kelowna Rockets, Berkly Catton of the Spokane Chiefs, Andrew Basha and Cayden Lindstrom of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Tanner Howe of the Pats, Adam Jecho of the Edmonton Oil Kings, Ryder Ritchie of the Prince Albert Raiders and Carter Yakemchuk of the Calgary Hitmen.
Josephson is ranked for the second- to third-rounds of next year’s NHL draft.
Fourteen of the 22 WHL teams will be represented in the Top Prospects game. The Victoria Royals are among the eight WHL teams without a player in the 2024 game, although Royals forward Cole Reschny is a lock to play in the 2025 game.
Josephson is a product of the Spectrum Secondary hockey academy, South Island Royals and the Langford-based Pacific Coast Hockey Academy Sea Devils program and has three goals and 19 points in 32 games this season for the Rebels. He was also a star in lacrosse with the Juan de Fuca Whalers.
It’s in the genes as Josephson grew up in a hockey family with dad Mike Josephson, an Oak Bay firefighter, having also played in the WHL and been NHL drafted. The elder Josephson performed with the Kamloops Blazers and Lethbridge Hurricanes and was selected in the eighth round of the 1994 draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. Mike Josephson won the WHL championship with the Hurricanes in 1996-97 and went to the CHL Memorial Cup championship game, and is remembered locally as a flash-quick pro forward with the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL.
Ollie Josephson is spending the WHL Christmas break back in Victoria with family and friends: “It’s time to take a rest and hit the reset button ahead of the second half of the season. There’s a lot of hockey to be played.”
With a lot of scouts watching.
