There is lots of movement on the list of skaters in North America but there is no surprise at the top where
John Tavares is ranked #1. Seen here as he joined the London Knights last week, Tavares had a terrific WJC that answered a lot of questions scouts had.
Matt Duchene is now #2 on the list which is a bit of a eyebrow-raiser for me. Despite not playing in the WJC he moves ahead of
Jared Cowan (falls to #7) and is
still above
Evander Kane (#3) who has more points and
did play for Canada in the WJC.
Jordan Schroeder comes in at #4.
The top ranked defenceman in North America isn't Cowan or
Ryan Ellis or even Russian
Dmitri Kulikov... it's someone named
Simon Despres! Despres plays for the Saint John Sea Dogs in the QMJHL and I know zippo about him but will get educated tomorrow night on
The Pipeline Show as we are slated to welcome beat writer
Nathan White to the program.
Speaking of Ellis, he's rated the 15th best skater in N.A. and that's behind Chicago Steel blueliner
John Moore (8th).
A couple high school kids make a big impact on the list coming in at #14 and #16.
Chris Kreider is a 6'2 forward and
Zach Budish is an even bigger winger weighing in at 6.2" and 229 lbs.
The Brandon Wheat Kings are well represented at the top of the list with
Brayden Schenn #5 and
Scott Glennie #12. Glennie (pictured) is someone I think would be of interest to the Edmonton Oilers who I expect to be on the hunt for a scoring forward with above average size.
A few other guys fitting that category are Lethbridge Hurricanes forward
Carter Ashton #10 (6'4, 210 lbs.),
Zack Kassian #24 from Peterborough (6'2.5, 212 lbs.) and further down is Kamloops Blazers forward
Jimmy Bubnick (6'1.5, 190 lbs.).
The top rated forward available in the USHL is
Louis Leblanc, a Quebec-born product who plays for the Omaha Lancers this year and is committed to Harvard in the NCAA. He'll also join us tomorrow night on The Pipeline Show after recetnly being named a 2009 Draft Prospect Performer of the Week.
Some other local notables: Edmonton Oil Kings forward
Tomas Vincour obviously didn't have a WJC that impressed the scouts as he's tumbled from 1st round consideration all the way down to #79 on the list... Edmonton products rate well with
Dylan Olsen of the Camrose Kodiaks coming in at #23 and
Levko Koper from Spokane at #44... The top ranked Oil Kings property is actually
Philip Samuelsson of the Chicago Steel. The big blueliner is ranked #59 but has yet to officially committ to a NCAA program so a future with the Oil Kings (who drafted him back in 2007) is still possible...
I just received a copy of the 'Players to Watch List' that Central Scouting has (or is about to) released today. A quick glance through is at first a bit disappointing because it's rather short. Then again, because it's largely a Junior A and High School list, most of the big names aren't on it.
There is lots of movement on the list of skaters in North America but there is no surprise at the top where John Tavares is ranked #1. Seen here as he joined the London Knights last week, Tavares had a terrific WJC that answered a lot of questions scouts had.
NHL Central Scouting has released their mid-term rankings today and as always, it's a ton o'fun to go over the list and take note of the glaring errors the pro scouts have made - yes, tongue firmly planted in cheek.
The first thing I noticed when I looked at the new ranking was that Olivier Roy (left) was no longer the top rated goalie and in fact had dropped all the way to 4th. I'm not a scout and don't pretend to be one so I can't profess to say I know why he's fallen off but it is a bit of a surprise considering I hadn't heard anything to suggest that would happen.
The last one that jumps out at me is Jaroslav Janus all the way back at #18. By now everyone knows that he almost single handedly eliminated USA from the medal round at the 2009 WJC in Ottawa. I'll be stunned if Janus isn't one of the first ten goalies taken despite his age. He's now a proven performer in high pressure games and that will be something that sticks in the minds of the NHL teams on draft day. Clutch goaltending is worth its weight in gold and Janus checks in at just under 200 Lbs. (that's a lot of gold).
