Flin Flon's Justin Lies made the cut on the final NHL Central Scouting prospect list of the season, indicating he may be picked in this year's NHL Draft.
In the final NHL Central Scouting ranking of the year, Lies was ranked 210th among draft-eligible North American skaters. In 50 regular season games with the WHL's Vancouver Giants, Lies scored eight goals and ended the season with 16 points. In six games this playoffs - in which the Giants, an eighth-seeded team, knocked off the top seeded Everett Silvertips - Lies added a pair of assists.
Back in January, Lies was ranked as a "C" prospect by Central Scouting, which the group said "indicates a 4th-5th-6th round candidate" in the league's annual seven-round draft.
Lies had an up-and-down season, ranging from the playoff high of taking down the 'Tips and scoring a goal and being interviewed during a game broadcast nationally on TSN to missing a month of action with an injury and going a month without picking up a single point.
If selected in this summer's NHL draft, Lies would become the first Flin Flonner picked by an NHL club in more than 25 years. The last player from Flin Flon selected was Matt Davidson, who went to the Buffalo Sabres in the fourth round back in 1995.
Growing up, Lies played with Flin Flon Minor Hockey programs, as well as the Norman Wolves U15 AAA team. He and his younger brother Joey, also from Flin Flon and a prospect of the WHL's Swift Current Broncos, hold most of the Wolves' scoring records - both also captained the Wolves. Lies moved from Flin Flon at age 14 to play at Winnipeg's Rink Hockey Academy and played for Manitoba at the 2018 Canada Winter Games.
Lies was joined on the list by a pair of SJHL talents that Bomber fans will be familiar with. Matthew Perkins leads that group - the Humboldt Broncos rookie is ranked 106th among North American skaters, while his teammate, SJHL leading scorer, rookie of the year and forward of the year Connor McGrath, is ranked 146th.
Perkins put up 59 points in 57 games with the Broncos this regular season and earned an NCAA offer with Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth, while McGrath scored 35 goals and 84 points with Humboldt in 56 games, picking up an NCAA offer from Ferris State. Both players were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs this year by the Bombers - both players were held to a goal and an assist each in the five-game series.
The SJHL did not have a third player on the final ranking, a change from Central Scouting's last player list. Notre Dame's Kevin Anderson, a Princeton commit, was not listed on the North American skaters ranking, despite being ranked 119th back in January.
