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Top prospect Nathan MacKinnon is off to a hot start

mackinnongetty

James

Potential 2013 first pick Nathan MacKinnon is giving scouts every reason to hype him up after two impressive games to start his season.

He put up especially gaudy numbers against Prince Edward Island today. The young center collected two goals (including the game-winner) and two assists as Halifax pounded P.E.I. 8-1.

If blowouts don’t do much for you, MacKinnon also came up big in the Mooseheads’ season-opener, scoring an overtime game-winner to lead his team past Cape Breton.

He’s earning some all-around brownie points, too.

MacKinnon’s +6 rating can be explained away by weaker competition, but he’s also been dominant on draws. He won nine out of 15 today and went a stunning 21-7 in the faceoff circle on Friday.

(That’s just under 70 percent. Not bad.)

His five points aren’t good enough to lead the league in scoring just yet, though. Teammate Jonathan Drouin has two more points while Buffalo Sabres’ first-rounder Mikhail Grigorenko already has six points for the Quebec Ramparts.

MacKinnon scored 31 goals and 78 points in 58 games last season for Halifax. He seems primed for a much bigger campaign in 2012-13, although he’d have to make a huge jump to truly push the Sidney Crosby comparisons.

Crosby had a whopping 66 goals and 168 points in his second QMJHL season.