Way back in August of last year
I put out my rankings for this coming draft. It's always interesting how half
way through a season people like to rip apart a ranking list but have no idea how
much more difficult it is to rank players before they even start the
new season going into their draft year. I was quite pleased the past 3 seasons with my early pre-season rankings (10 months in advance) out and once again am happy that I was able to still anticipate
most the top selections far enough in advance.
Here was my official ranking to
start the season back in August 10/13;
1.Sam Reinhart
2.Aaron Ekblad
3.William Nylander
4.Roland McKeown
5.Jake Virtanen
6.Blake Clarke
7.Nick Ritchie
8.Leon Draisatl
9.Michael Dal Colle
10.Jakub Vrana
11.Ivan Barbashev
12.Jared McCann
13.Anton Karlsson
14.Joshua Ho-Sang
15.Sam Bennett
Honourable mentions:
Oskar Lindblom
Haydn Fleury
Nick Schmaltz
Well, the season of hockey has been completed.
Tournaments are done, playoffs are finished. Combine is past us and now players
are being interviewed by NHL teams this week. The draft is just over a week
away and now we are ready to see whose name is called out by which team a week
from this coming Friday. I have 4 players being moved out of the top 15 with one of them being put in honourable mention while having 1 from my honourable mention last August being moved into the Top 15.
NOTE: Some may question Sam Bennett in the ranking and that is fair, but last August you would be hard pressed to find any rankings with him in the top 15. I have moved him from #15 to #6. Blake Clarke was my biggest disappointment and scouts were shocked his season provided a move backwards rather then forward. This year's Nick Ebert? Time will tell. The biggest change for me was putting Nikolaj Ehlers at #4 when he was not on my last August radar. Truth is, he was a player, I just plainly missed and didn't follow or hear of him much before this season coming into Halifax. Many of his points were provided without Jonathan Drouin so his point totals are not misrepresented IMO. William Nylander dropping had more to due to the lack of point production he was able to show this year but in fairness to Nylander he still has great skill but was tossed around several club teams in Sweden.
The lists I put out are based on "Best Player
Available" on NHL Draft day. That is the criteria for my selection in the Draft Rankings
FINAL RANKINGS for REVS 2014 - Top 15 NHL Prospect Rankings:
1. Sam Reinhart
2.Aaron Ekblad
3. Leon Draisaitl
4.Nikolaj Ehlers
5.Michael Dal Colle
6. Sam Bennett
7. Jake Virtanen
8. Nick Ritchie
9. Brendan Perlini
10.Haydn Fleury
11.Kasperi Kapanen
12.Ivan Barbashev
13. William Nylander
14. Rolan McKeown
15. Jared McCann
Honourable Mention:
Joshua Ho-Sang
Kevin Fiala
Alex Tuch
Questions, comments? Disagree, agree? Let me know, always willing to dissect the players bit by bit. After all, isn't that what makes this so fun?
I will be posting a NHL MOCK Draft next Thursday the night before the Draft. I still think the Oilers will be selecting one of Aaron Ekblad or Leon Draisaitl this NHL Entry Draft and it is very likely they will be playing the 2014/15 season full time with the Oilers past the 9 game mark.