NHL Central Scouting released their final draft rankings for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft today. This list always creates a lot of controversy, and this year is no different.
The thing that you need to remember is that this is only one list. The great thing about being interested in junior hockey and the NHL Draft, is that so many great publications put out lists and none of them are similar. This would be the same if you looked at an NHL team's list. So while I might disagree with some things they've done...I don't discredit their opinion.
The one major beef that I do have with the Central Scouting rankings is timing. I've never understood why they release their rankings before the Under 18's and the completion of the CHL playoffs. If anything, I think that's where a lot of their negative criticism comes from. Players shine in the playoffs (like Jeff Skinner) or at the Under 18's (like Kyle Clifford) and rise considerably in the rankings prior to the draft. Then when people go back and look at the CSS rankings, they seem outdated. Why not release them later, like the beginning of May when everything has wrapped up? That would still give NHL teams at least a month and a half to analyze the list and zero in on specific players.
Anyway, I digress. Here's how the OHL players breakdown. I've included their movement in comparison with where they were on the list (in terms of the OHL) last time. If no number is given, they stayed the same.
Skaters (full list found here)
1. Gabriel Landeskog - NA Ranking: 2
2. Dougie Hamilton - NA Ranking: 4
3. Ryan Strome - NA Ranking: 8 (+4)
4. Ryan Murphy - NA Ranking: 9
5. Vladislav Namestnikov - NA Ranking: 11
6. Mark Scheifele - NA Ranking: 16 (+3)
7. Boone Jenner - NA Ranking: 18 (-1)
8. Brandon Saad - NA Ranking: 19 (-5)
9. Nicklas Jensen - NA Ranking: 21 (-1)
10. Shane Prince - NA Ranking: 26 (+2)
11. Matt Puempel - NA Ranking: 28 (-1)
12. Alex Khokhlachev - NA Ranking: 29 (+4)
13. Rickard Rakell - NA Ranking: 30 (-2)
14. Stefan Noesen - NA Ranking: 35 (+3)
15. Brett Ritchie - NA Ranking: 36 (+4)
16. Daniel Catenacci - NA Ranking: 37 (-2)
17. Vincent Trocheck - NA Ranking: 41 (-4)
18. Lucas Lessio - NA Ranking: 46 (-3)
19. Stuart Percy - NA Ranking: 53 (-1)
20. Ryan Sproul - NA Ranking: 54 (+17)
21. Joseph Cramarossa - NA Ranking: 63 (+1)
22. Austen Brassard - NA Ranking: 64 (+7)
23. Nick Cousins - NA Ranking: 71 (+2)
24. Alan Quine - NA Ranking: 72 (-4)
25. Tobias Rieder - NA Ranking: 73 (-2)
26. Anthony Camara - NA Ranking: 78 (+2)
27. Garrett Meurs - NA Ranking: 79
28. Michael Curtis - NA Ranking: 82 (+3)
29. Andrew Fritsch - NA Ranking: 84 (+1)
30. Andrey Pedan - NA Ranking: 85 (-6)
31. Keevin Cutting - NA Ranking: 87 (+5)
32. Justin Sefton - NA Ranking: 89 (+15)
33. Scott Harrington - NA Ranking: 98 (-12)
34. Barclay Goodrow - NA Ranking: 116 (+8)
35. Craig Duininck - NA Ranking: 118 (-2)
36. Tyler Graovac - NA Ranking: 120 (+11)
37. Dylan DeMelo - NA Ranking: 121 (+10)
38. Luke Hietkamp - NA Ranking: 135 (+9)
39. David Broll - NA Ranking: 139 (-13)
40. Colin Suellentrop - NA Ranking: 140 (-6)
41. Ben Thomson - NA Ranking: 146 (-9)
42. Colin Miller - NA Ranking: 148 (+3)
43. Frank Corrado - NA Ranking: 155 (+4)
44. Seth Griffith - NA Ranking: 158 (-5)
45. Zach Bell - NA Ranking: 179 (-10)
46. Carter Sandlak - NA Ranking: 192 (-6)
47. Dario Trutmann - NA Ranking: 194 (-9)
48. Steven Trojanovic - NA Ranking: 202 (-7)
49. Cody McNaughton - NA Ranking: 208 (-5)
Goalies (full list found here)
1. Jordan Binnington - NA Ranking: 3 (+1)
2. Mike Morrison - NA Ranking: 6 (+2)
3. Matt Mahalak - NA Ranking: 8 (+4)
4. Matej Machovsky - NA Ranking: 11 (-3)
5. Tadeas Galansky - NA Ranking: 15 (-2)
6. Garret Sparks - NA Ranking: 17 (+4)
7. Michael Houser - NA Ranking: 19 (+1)
8. Tyson Teichmann - NA Ranking: 26 (+1)
9. Frank Palazzese - NA Ranking: 29 (-4)
- So let's take a look at the biggest movers and shakers. Those who made the bigger jumps include Ryan Sproul, Austen Brassard, Barclay Goodrow, Justin Sefton, Tyler Graovac, Dylan DeMelo, Luke Hietkamp, and Matt Mahalak. Those who fell the hardest include Brandon Saad, Scott Harrington, David Broll, Ben Thomson, Zach Bell, Dario Trutmann, and Frank Palazzese. I was surprised to see Austen Brassard jump in the rankings, considering his second half wasn't all that different from the first. He remains an enigma who has a lot to prove at the Under 18's. Also surprised to see Dario Trutmann among the fallers, considering that according to most Plymouth fans, he's been excellent since coming back from the WJC's.
- Just in case you were curious, the following are the players who completely fell off the final rankings; Michal Cajcovsky, Derek Mathers, and John Chartrand.
- I have to say, I don't quite understand Nicklas Jensen and Seth Griffith falling, considering how well both played to close out the season. Jensen is having a monster playoffs for Oshawa, while Griffith earned himself a spot on Team Canada for the Under 18's.
- Definitely a little disappointed to not see Mitchell Theoret on the rankings. I'm sure you know I'm a fan. He'll definitely be considerably higher on my final list.
- Also MEGA surprised to not see Joshua Leivo on the list. Sure most people are only noticing him now in the playoffs, but he has actually been excellent the past few months. But CSS is usually a little bit behind on things like this (see the explanation above).
What are your thoughts on these rankings?
rankings dont mean a whole lot. im sure harrington will be drafted higher than most of the guys on this list... i can also see namestnikov being drafted later than his ranking. look how far fowler fell and how high skinner and hishon went last year.
ReplyDeletethey release so early because the nhl teams want an early list so as to compare it to their lists and see if they are missing something or not
ReplyDeleteyou might like this interview
http://oilersnation.com/2011/3/21/nation-radio-march-19-2011
stu percy should be much higher upon the rankings. a truly underrated defender who's value is hidden beneath his lack of flash.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with the consistently low ranking of Puempel? Nice to see the injury didn't drop him, but his talent plus what he's proven so far should be enough to see him much higher than that. Weird.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRE: Puempel
ReplyDeleteI heard the late E.J. McGuire talk on a radio show around the midterm release and he was asked about Puempel.
Basically, CSS was disappointed with his lack of leadership this year. They felt that Peterborough's poor season (at the time of the interview) and start could be attributed to Puempel's lack of ability to put the team on his back and be a consistent performer. I think that would help to explain CSS' consistently low ranking of Puempel.