2017 NHL Central Scouting Midterm Rankings

Past the halfway point of the season now, NHL Central Scouting has updated their rankings for 2017.

Here's a look at how the OHL players fared. A total of 68 were ranked. And of course, if you wanted to compare, here's my midseason top 50. Also, see below for my thoughts on the list.

Skaters:
1. Gabe Vilardi (3)
2. Owen Tippett (4)
3. Nic Hague (11)
4. Nick Suzuki (16)
5. Matthew Strome (19)
6. Isaac Ratcliffe (20)
7. Alex Formenton (24)
8. Conor Timmins (26)
9. Adam Ruzicka (27)
10. Robert Thomas (28)
11. Morgan Frost (29)
12. Nate Schnarr (32)
13. Jason Robertson (34)
14. Mackenzie Entwistle (35)
15. Ivan Lodnia (37)
16. Sasha Chmelevski (38)
17. Greg Meireles (39)
18. Noel Hoefenmayer (41)
19. Brady Lyle (53)
20. Eemeli Rasanen (57)
21. Adam Thilander (59)
22. Jonah Gadjovich (60)
23. Markus Phillips (63)
24. Zach Gallant (71)
25. Maksim Sushko (73)
26. Ryan McGrgeor (79)
27. Jack Studnicka (80)
28. Marian Studenic (86)
29. Jacob Paquette (90)
30. Austen Keating (92)
31. Cole Coskey (96)
32. Ben Jones (99)
33. Dylan Seitz (100)
34. Linus Nyman (102)
35. Dmitri Samorukov (122)
36. Shaw Boomhower (123)
37. Nick Deakin-Poot (135)
38. Sean Durzi (139)
39. Jacob Golden (143)
40. Ondrej Machala (147)
41. Kevin Hancock (148)
42. Anthony Demeo (161)
43. Albert Michnac (162)
44. Matyas Svoboda (166)
45. Nick Isaacson (168)
46. Matthew Philip (173)
47. Nick McHugh (176)
48. Zachary Roberts (180)
49. Macauley Carson (183)
50. Kirill Maksimov (185)
51. Fedor Gordeev (188)
52. Oliver Castleman (189)
53. Joseph Garreffa (191)
54. Cole Purboo (194)
55. Tom Hedberg (205)
56. Cole Fraser (206)
57. Elijah Roberts (208)
58. Nick Grima (209)
59. Luka Boka (211)

Goaltenders
1. Michael Dipietro (7)
2. Kyle Keyser (10)
3. Kaden Fulcher (12)
4. Matt Villalta (14)
5. Stephen Dhillon (19)
6. Jack McGrath (23)
7. Christian Propp (25)
8. Olivier Lafreniere (27)
9. Aidan Hughes (28)

If you're curious to see the full list, check it out here.

Here are my thoughts:

1. I have mentioned a few times about how much I like the depth of this year's OHL crop, despite lacking in sure fire first round talent. This list supports that. The OHL has only 2 players ranked inside the top 10 of North American players (20%), but they make up one third of the top 100 (roughly 33%). This is especially true when we look at the fact that the OHL has nearly half (44%) of the top 41. 

2. In comparison to my list, here are the biggest discrepancies:
I have higher:
Hayden Davis (+29...he wasn't ranked)
Daniil Vertiy (+21...he wasn't ranked)
Macauley Carson (+21)
Dmitri Samorukov (+16)
Jack Studnicka (+15)
Tom Hedberg (+14)
Nick Grima (+13) 
Liam Hawel (+12...he wasn't ranked) 
Jacob Paquette (+11) 
Reagan O'Grady (+11...he wasn't ranked)

I have lower:
Marian Studenic (-22...I don't have him ranked)
Noel Hoefenmayer (-17)
Maksim Sushko (-15)
Shaw Boomhower (-14...I don't have him ranked) 
Brady Lyle (-13) 
Nick Deakin-Poot (-13...I don't have him ranked)
Sean Durzi (-12...I don't have him ranked)
Jacob Golden (-11...I don't have him ranked)
Ondrej Machala (-10...I don't have him ranked)  
Conor Timmins (-9)
Alex Formenton (-8)
Nate Schnarr (-8) 

3. Yes...Michael Dipietro is the top ranked goaltender from the OHL (as he should be). But, he's also only ranked 7th among North American netminders. That's ludicrous IMO. Those 6 netminders that are ahead of him must be absolutely unreal because Dipietro is the best goaltending prospect that the OHL has produced since Malcolm Subban IMO (at least in terms of draft year performance and pedigree). They are obviously docking him for his lack of size, but if Alex Nedeljkovic can be a 2nd rounder, then Dipietro deserves to be in consideration for the first and that's not the 7th ranked goaltender available.

4. Kevin Hancock and Stephen Dhillon check in as the highest re-entry guys. Both deserving. Dhillon takes the cake as the top re-entry guy available from the OHL for me right now.