Five North Bay Battalion players on newest NHL ‘Players to Watch’ list

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Ryder Cali, the OHL’s reigning ‘Rookie of the Week’ tops the watch list with a ‘B’ grade-meaning he’s rated to go in the 2nd or third round

Published Oct 20, 2025  •  Last updated 59 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

North Bay Battalion forward Ryder Cali is, for now, topping the teams’ list of NHL ‘Players to Watch’ Oct 20,2025 Photo by SUPPLIEDArticle content

Ryder Cali leads five members of the North Bay Battalion who have been named in the ‘Players to Watch’ list announced Monday by the National Hockey League’s central scouting department.

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Left-winger Cali is joined by right-winger Parker Vaughan, centres Ryder Carey and Evgeny Dubrovtsev and left winger Arseny Pronin on the list prepared in advance of the 2026 NHL Draft, which is to be held at a date to be determined.

Cali received a B rating, projecting him as a second- or third-round candidate, while Vaughan drew a C as a potential fourth- or fifth-rounder. Carey, Dubrovtsev and Pronin were rated W as sixth or seventh-rounders in the seven-round draft, although those projections do not include Europeans

The Troops are among 78 Ontario Hockey League skaters listed in addition to 14 goaltenders, part of a group of 233 from across the Canadian Hockey League, which includes the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League. The skaters number 54 OHL forwards and 24 defencemen.

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Cali was a first-round pick, 18th overall, by the Soo Greyhounds in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection from the Markham Majors U16s. Acquired in a trade Sept. 13, 2024, he has a team-leading seven goals and two assists for nine points in 11 games this season. The Penetanguishene, Ont., resident turned 17 on Sept. 6.

Vaughan, a 2024 first-rounder, fifth overall, acquired from the Barrie Colts in a trade last Jan. 5, has three assists in 11 games. The St. Thomas, Ont., resident, who was chosen by Barrie from the Elgin Middlesex Canucks U16s, turned 17 on March 6.

Carey, who has been sidelined by injury, has scored two goals and earned one assist for three points in four games. The Battalion took the resident of Millgrove, Ont., in the first round, 16th overall, in 2024 from the Oakville Rangers U16s. He turned 17 on Aug. 2.

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Dubrovtsev, a first-round selection in the CHL Import Draft in July, has two goals and three assists for five points in 11 games. A resident of St. Petersburg who turned 17 on March 18, he played last season for SKA Yunior Krasnogorsk in Russia’s Junior Hockey League, or MHL.

Pronin, a native of Minsk, Belarus, who turned 18 on May 16, was a second-rounder in the same Import Draft. He has four goals and one assist for five points in 11 games after playing last season in Russia with the MHL’s Loko-76 Yaroslavl.

Players are first-time eligible for the NHL Draft in the year they turn 18, unless they were born Sept. 16 or later, in which case they must wait until the following year.

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