USHL

Ahead of the 2022 NHL Draft, the USHL will highlight each of its Member Clubs top NHL Draft prospects.

The Tri-City Storm are coming off a historic season and will look to continue it with another successful NHL Draft after having 16 players selected over the last three Drafts and at least one player selected in each of the last eight Drafts. Cameron O'Neill enters the NHL Draft as the Storm's highest-ranked skater after the Odenton, Md. native was rated 77th among North American Skaters in the Final Rankings from NHL Central Scouting. O'Neill appeared in a quartet of regular season games with the Storm, picking up a pair of points (1-1-2) and also added a pair of Clark Cup Playoff appearances to his young resume. The University of Massachusetts native joined the Storm after a season with Mount St. Charles Academy that saw him pot a total of 145 points (66-79-145) in 71 combined games, including 133 points (57-76-133) in 62 games at the 18U level. Cameron is the younger brother of current Providence College forward Jason O'Neill, a former member of both the Sioux Falls Stampede and Chicago Steel. The fellow forward helped the Steel to a Clark Cup Championship in the 2016-17 season.

"Cam is a pure goal scorer who plays a solid 200-foot game," said Tri-City Storm President of Hockey Operations and Head Coach Anthony Noreen. "His tenacity to hunt pucks puts him in a position to use his best asset, which is his shot." 

The 2021 NHL Draft saw five Storm players selected as Matthew Knies (Toronto Maple Leafs - 57th Overall), Carter Mazur (Detroit Red Wings - 70th Overall) and Guillaume Richard (Columbus Blue Jackets - 101st Overall) were selected in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Rounds, respectively before Nate Benoit (Minnesota Wild - 182nd Overall) and Chase Clark (Washington Capitals - 183rd Overall) were selected with back-to-back picks in the 6th Round. The five selections gave Tri-City 16 in the last three Drafts, which trails only the Chicago Steel and USA Hockey National Team Development Program in that span.

Fellow Storm forward Daimon Gardner was ranked 97th in the Final Rankings. Former Storm skaters Aiden Dubinsky (defenseman), Davis Burnside (forward) and Mark Estapa (forward) were ranked 176th, 199th and 205th among North American Skaters, respectively. Current Storm defensemen Vincent Borgesi and Shaun McEwen were previously ranked by NHL Central Scouting this season, as was former forward Hunter Strand.

The USHL has had 50-or-more players Drafted in each of the last four NHL Drafts, dating back to a league-best 57 players at the 2018 Draft. The League has seen 933 of its players selected in total, with at least one player taken in each Draft but one dating back to 1981.

Matt Basgall (Defenseman) - 2021-22
Vinny Borgesi (Defenseman) - 2020-22
Davis Burnside (Forward) - 2019-21
Kieran Cebrian (Forward) - 2020-22
Milan Cermak * (Forward) - 2019-20
Victor Czerneckianair (Forward) - 2019-22
Nick Donato * (Defenseman) - 2019-21
Dane Dowiak (Forward) - 2021-22
John Druskinis (Defenseman) - 2021-22
Aiden Dubinsky (Defenseman) - 2021-22
Ethan Elias (Defenseman) - 2020-21
Mark Estapa * (Forward) - 2018-21
August Falloon (Forward) - 2020-22
Christian Fitzgerald (Forward) - 2021-22
Graham Gamache (Forward) - 2021-22
Daimon Gardner (Forward) - 2021-22
Mario Gasparini (Defenseman) - 2021-22
Arvegas Hovsepyan (Forward) - 2021-22
Klayton Knapp (Goaltender) - 2020-21
Kyler Kovich * (Forward) - 2020-21
Haden Kruse (Forward) - 2021-22
Shaun McEwen (Defenseman) - 2021-22
Drew Montgomery (Forward) - 2020-22
Cole O'Hara (Forward) - 2020-22
Cameron O'Neill (Forward) - 2021-22
Ruben Rafkin * (Defenseman) - 2018-19
Grant Riley * (Goaltender) - 2020-21
Lleyton Roed (Forward) - 2020-22
Ben Schoen * (Forward) - 2020-22
Max Smolinski (Defenseman) - 2019-21
Michael Sochan (Goaltender) - 2021-22
Hunter Strand * (Forward) - 2020-21
Nicky Wallace (Defenseman) - 2019-20
Jeremy Wilmer (Forward) - 2021-22
Sebastian Wraneschitz (Goaltender) - 2021-22