Pirate Galaxy » SNs final draft ranking will be released in the week l

Its unanimous. Ten out of 10 NHL scouts surveyed by TSN have Erie Otter centre Connor McDavid as the No. 1 prospect for the 2015 NHL Draft. Its not at all surprising McDavid tops TSNs mid-season ranking - he was No. 1 on TSNs pre-season list in September, too - but three of the same 10 scouts surveyed in the fall had Boston University centre Jack Eichel at No. 1. In the intervening five months, all three have switched over to McDavid. Its not that Eichel has played poorly - quite the contrary, hes been very good, said one NHL scout who made the switch. Its just that McDavid has taken it to another level - before his (broken hand) injury and after (at the World Junior Championship) too. Another added that the World Junior tournament was the defining difference for him. It was the biggest stage to date, a head to head matchup and McDavid was better than Eichel, the scout said. Theyre both franchise players - Eichel is going to have a tremendous career and he could still turn out to be as impactful as McDavid - but you have to hand it to the (McDavid) kid, he was under enormous pressure to deliver and he hasnt left anyone disappointed. Thats the ridiculous thing. McDavid has had to deal with unreasonably high expectations and hes still managed to exceed them. It would have been easy to come up short. He hasnt. Going into Thursdays game against the Peterborough Petes, McDavid had 23 goals and 66 points in only 25 games. Another scout, who had McDavid No. 1 in both the pre-season and mid-season polls, said hes been impressed and surprised with some less heralded parts of McDavids game. We all knew about the speed and skill and vision, the scout explained. But what really stood out for me at the World Juniors was how committed he was to playing without the puck, being on the right side of the game defensively, making a real effort to be a complete player. His ability to steal the puck, to retrieve it, win battles and put his team back in possession is the part of his game that surprised me. Eichel also earned rave reviews for his productivity as a true (18-year-old) freshman playing against older, more mature competition. He has 13 goals and 36 points in 22 games and is second best in total points and points per game for all of U.S. college hockey. Eichels combination of speed, skill, power and size is still really something, a scout said. Theres no doubt, hes going to be a premier No. 1 centre (in the NHL). There was no surprise at No. 3 on TSNs mid-season ranking. Boston College freshman Noah Hanifin was in that slot in September and remains there. Hanifin, by all accounts, showed some inconsistency early in the college season, but reaffirmed his high ranking with a solid outing at the world juniors. Only one of 10 scouts surveyed didnt have the mobile, puck-moving defenceman at No. 3, dropping him to No. 4. The consensus, though, is quite clear that next to McDavid and Eichel, hes the premier prospect available. We usually debate the top three picks in any draft for quite some time at our scouting meetings, one scout said. This year, it took about one minute to say, McDavid-Eichel-Hanifin and there was no debate. We moved on to whos No. 4 almost immediately. McDavids teammate in Erie, 6-foot-3 centre Dylan Strome (younger brother of New York Islander Ryan) is No. 4 on TSNs mid-season ranking, followed by 5-foot-11, 160-pound London Knight and OHL scoring leader (35 goals and 93 points in 45 games) Mitch Marner at No. 5. Big 6-foot-4, 215-pound power winger Lawson Crouse of the Kingston Frontenacs is at No. 6. The margins between those three players from No. 4 through No. 6 are incredibly tight and theres considerable debate amongst scouts over which order they should appear. Suffice to say a teams personal preference on issues such as size and skill will go a long way towards determining which order they get drafted. But these three are the clear consensus options beyond McDavid, Eichel and Hanifin. Strome is the big centre every NHL team looks for. His vision, playmaking ability and productivity (30 goals and 85 points in 45 games) are elite. But some scouts caution theres no dynamic quality to his game (no wow factor, as one scout put it) and that he doesnt possess the extra gear or pace that separates McDavid and Eichel from the rest of the field. Still, Strome is the top available pivot next to the Big Two. Marner has plenty of wow factor - a dynamic and creative offensive wizard who makes everyone on the ice better and has the ability to finish plays himself. But at 160 pounds and still under 6 feet, some wonder how well those skills will translate to the pro game. Some scouts cite former Knight Patrick Kane as a comparable, if only because theyre both undersized scoring wingers who played in London. Most scouts believe Marner has that special quality that will allow a 160-pounder to thrive and survive in the NHL game, but theres still concern from some over his size. Crouse, meanwhile, has the physical tools required to play an NHL power game right now. As he demonstrated at the World Junior Championship, he moves extremely well for a big man, protects the puck like a seasoned professional, is a first-rate penalty killer and offers a physical dimension that every NHL team wants and needs. And while hes scored 16 goals in 32 games (on pace for a 34-goal year if he had played every game) on an offensively challenged Frontenac team, the fact he has only 23 points has raises the issue of whether hes projected as a top-line NHL talent, or whether he just looks good playing alongside top point producers. The whole Strome-Marner-Crouse debate is fascinating, one scout said. I think theyre all going to be very good NHL players, but theres a different question mark on each of them. If were to interpret the voting results of the scouts surveyed by TSN, theres an elite tier of three at the top (McDavid, Eichel, Hanifin) followed by a secondary tier of three more (Strome, Marner and Crouse) high-end prospects. Then comes a third tier of six prospects, filling in the Nos. 7 through 12 slots. Czech winger Pavel Zacha of the Sarnia Sting - with a blend of speed, size, strength and skill - is No. 7, though hes currently injured and expected to be out until sometime next month. University of Michigan freshman and offensive defenceman Zach Werenski is No. 8, 6-foot-3 Finnish winger Mikko Rantanen (who scored four goals - half of Finlands total goals - at the WJC) is No. 9, Seattle Thunderbird offensive centre Matthew Barzal (who has played only 20 games this season because of a knee injury and has only recently started playing again) is tenth, mobile puck-moving Swedish defenceman Oliver Kylington is No. 11, followed by Russian defenceman Ivan Provorov of the Brandon Wheat Kings (who played well at both the WJC and CHL Prospects game) in 12th. If you look at (TSNs Top 12), there are four really good centres, four really good defencemen and four really good wingers, one scout noted. If youre picking in the Top 12 in this draft, you really have your choice by position of some really good prospects that offer a lot of different (style) looks. TSNs rankings are compiled by surveying 10 NHL scouts and taking the consensus of those numbers to put together a list that, quite often, reasonably reflects at which point in the draft players will be taken. TSNs final draft ranking will be released in the week leading up to the NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla., June 26-27. The Top 60 PLAYER TEAM POS HT WT GP G PTS 1. Connor McDavid Erie (OHL) C 61 187 25 23 66 2. Jack Eichel Boston U (NCAA) C 62 196 22 13 36 3. Noah Hanifin Boston C (NCAA) D 62 205 24 3 14 4. Dylan Strome Erie (OHL) C 63 187 45 30 85 5. Mitch Marner London (OHL) RW 511 164 45 35 93 6. Lawson Crouse Kingston (OHL) LW 63 212 32 16 23 7. Pavel Zacha Sarnia (OHL) C 63 210 26 11 23 8. Zach Werenski Michigan (NCAA) D 62 214 20 5 18 9. Mikko Rantanen TPS (Finland) RW 64 209 40 4 15 10. Mathew Barzal Seattle (WHL) C 60 177 20 7 18 11. Oliver Kylington AIK (Sweden1) D 60 174 16 4 7 12. Ivan Provorov Brandon (WHL) D 60 200 43 11 44 13. Kyle Connor Youngstown (USHL) C 61 182 31 14 39 14. Paul Bittner Portland (WHL) LW 64 202 45 21 39 15. Travis Konecny Ottawa (OHL) RW 510 171 43 20 42 16. Jakub Zboril Saint John (QMJHL) D 62 185 33 8 22 17. Brandon Carlo Tri-City (WHL) D 65 185 43 3 20 18. Colin White USA U-18 C 60 183 7 0 5 19. Nick Merkley Kelowna (WHL) C 510 187 48 16 69 20. Timo Meier Halifax (QMJHL) RW 60 209 40 28 60 21. Evgeny Svechnikov Cape Breton (QMJHL) RW 63 205 38 19 49 22. Jordan Greenway USA U-18 LW 65 223 9 2 8 23. Erik Cernak Kosice (SVK) D 63 203 34 5 8 24. Filip Chlapik Charltown (QMJHL) C 61 190 44 23 52 25. Jeremy Roy Sherbrooke (QMJHL) D 60 182 40 5 39 26. Brock Boeser Waterloo (USHL) RW 61 192 32 23 40 27. Thomas Chabot Saint John (QMJHL) D 62 179 45 8 27 28. Jake Debrusk Swift Current (WHL) LW 60 177 49 28 49 29. Jeremy Bracco USA U-18 RW 59 172 11 7 15 30. Nicolas Roy Chicoutimi (QMJHL) C 64 202 45 11 29 31. Jansen Harkins Prince George (WHL) C 61 180 49 17 58 32. Daniel Sprong Charltown (QMJHL) RW 60 185 48 22 54 33. Jacob Larsson Frolunda (SWE) D 62 181 9 0 3 34. Nicolas Meloche B-Comeau (QMJHL) D 62 200 44 10 34 35. Adam Musil Red Deer (WHL) C 63 208 42 11 28 36. Mackenzie Blackwood Barrie (OHL) G 64 215 32 2.86 .913 37. Matthew Spencer Peterborough (OHL) D 62 200 42 5 24 38. Roope Hintz Ilves (FIN) LW 62 183 29 4 14 39. Christian Fischer USA U-18 C 61 212 35 16 32 40. Nikita Korostelev Sarnia (OHL) RW 61 196 34 16 36 41. Filip Ahl HV71 Jr. (SWE JR) LW 64 214 23 12 30 42. Thomas Novak Waterloo (USHL) C 60 180 31 8 32 43. Joel Eriksson Ek Farjestad (SWE) C 62 183 21 2 3 44. Ryan Pilon Brandon (WHL) D 62 212 45 9 39 45. Jonas Siegenthaler ZSC (SUI) D 62 214 33 0 3 46. Daniel Vladar HC Kladno (CZE2) G 65 185 8 1.97 .933 47. Jakob F-Karlsson Omaha (USHL) C 61 192 35 10 39 48. Jens Looke Brynas (SWE) RW 60 187 34 2 6 49. Blake Speers S.S. Marie (OHL) RW 511 185 41 18 48 50. Samuel Montembeault B-Boisbriand (QMJHL) G 63 166 37 2.70 .891 51. Denis Guryanov Togliatti (RUS2) RW 62 183 22 15 25 52. Dennis Yan Shawinigan (QMJHL) LW 61 188 38 21 43 53. Alex Dergachyov S. Petersburg (RUS2) C 64 201 24 8 22 54. Noah Juulsen Everett (WHL) D 61 180 46 5 34 55. Guillaume Brisebois A-Bathurst (QMJHL) D 62 173 46 3 21 56. Ryan Gropp Seattle (WHL) LW 62 183 43 18 36 57. Matej Tomek Topeka (NAHL) G 63 181 24 1.59 .935 58. Anthony Beauvillier Shawinigan (QMJHL) C 510 181 47 33 72 59. Mitchell Stephens Saginaw (OHL) C 511 182 41 16 31 60. Graham Knott Niagara (OHL) LW 63 180 45 18 29 (Statistics as of Jan. 29, 2015) * For goaltender statistics, Goals-Against Average appears under the G column, Save Percentage under the PTS column. Lyle Alzado Youth Jersey .40 metres at the Drake Relays. Drouin, from Corunna, Ont., bested his own record of 2.38 metres set in Aug. Howie Long Womens Jersey . 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