It is often said that it takes five years to truly grade a draft and properly assess if a prospect has reached his potential or not. Each year I like to re-rank the drafts in an exercise that forces a re-evaluation of player development along the way from each draft year I have produced a draft guide. 2014 was the inaugural draft guide for DraftBuzz Hockey, so I am building out a refreshed top 100 from that draft class. Each year the list gets harder to grade, and this one has been the hardest as more and more prospects land with split pro time in the NHL/AHL on top of others playing in Europe and some still with junior experience only. NHL production is still King, with the assessment being a hybrid of production vs. upside, and identifying how much of that upside has been realized. At this point, selection begins to have less importance though greater weight may be given to a higher pick in a close call. Consider these ranks fluid, and likely in ranges. For instance, Nylander and Ehlers is a toss up for me. In a perfect world, this list is published prior to the start of the season so hot 2017-2018 starts (small sample) will not have a huge effect on the list.
Here is the top 50:
Rank – Player – Position – Team – Selected
- Leon Draisaitl, C, EDM, 3
- David Pastrnak, RW, BOS, 25
- William Nylander, C/RW, TOR, 8
- Nikolaj Ehlers, LW, WPG, 9
- Aaron Ekblad, D, FLA, 1
- Dylan Larkin, C, DET, 15
- Sam Reinhart, C, BUF, 2
- Viktor Arvidsson, RW, NSH, 112
- Robby Fabbri, C, STL, 21
- Brayden Point, C, TBL, 79
- Sam Bennett, C, CGY, 4
- Nick Schmaltz, C, CHI, 20
- Christian Dvorak, C, ARI, 58
- Kevin Fiala, LW, NSH, 11
- Nick Ritchie, LW, ANA, 10
- Brendan Perlini, LW, ARI, 12
- Jakub Vrana, L/RW, WSH, 13
- Jake Virtanen, RW, VAN, 6
- Julius Honka, D, DAL, 14
- Michael Dal Colle, LW, NYI, 5
- Anthony DeAngelo, D, NYR, 19
- Josh Ho-Sang, RW, NYI, 28
- Jared McCann, C, FLA, 24
- Kevin Labanc, RW, SJS, 171
- Ivan Barbashev, C, STL, 33
- Brandon Montour, D, ANA, 55
- Ondrej Kase, C, ANA, 205
- Nikolay Goldobin, LW, VAN, 27
- Sonny Milano, LW, CBJ, 16
- Adrian Kempe, LW, LAK, 29
- Travis Sanheim, D, PHI, 17
- Kasperi Kapanen, RW, TOR, 22
- Alex Tuch, RW, VGK, 18
- Vladislav Kamenev, C, NSH, 42
- John Quenneville, C, NJD, 30
- Danton Heinen, LW, BOS, 116
- Nikita Scherbak, RW, MTL, 26
- Gustav Forsling, D, CHI, 126
- Igor Shestyorkin, G, NYR, 118
- Anders Bjork, LW, BOS, 146
- Nikita Tryamkin, D, VAN, 66
- Haydn Fleury, D, CAR, 7
- Devon Toews, D, NYI, 108
- Oskar Lindblom, LW, PHI, 138
- Ilya Sorokin, G, NYI, 78
- Kyle Wood, D, ARI, 84
- Lucas Wallmark, C, CAR, 97
- Michael Amadio, C, LAK, 90
- Samuel Blais, C, STL, 176
- Thatcher Demko, G, VAN, 36
51-100 to follow…
