Sunday, June 10, 2012

2012 NHL Draft Final Prospect Rankings:



Since I began personally attempting to evaluate and rank the players in the draft in 2007, this year's draft I have found to be the most difficult. Added to this was my ambition to extend my draft rankings further than I have ever attempted before. The result is a list that I'm less certain of, but more proud of for completing. I am not a scout, just a dedicated draft observer. I look forward to seeing most, if not all, of my ranked players being drafted, and watching them progress in their careers over the next several years

 This is not a mock draft. This is my evaluation of the prospects' potential overall impact on the game (in their prime) based on available information.

Here are my Top 90 Ranked 2012 NHL Draft Prospects:



1. Nail Yakupov - F



Yakupov is the only safe bet to score at a prolific rate. There may be others, but he looks like a lock to play that role.

2. Ryan Murray - D




Outstanding character player; poised to be a long time pro. Some concerns regarding offensive potential. Skates very well.

3. Morgan Rielly - D




Fleet-footed offensive defenceman, was injured most of the year. The lost development and viewings are areas of concern.

4. Alex Galchenyuk - F



Skilled two-way forward. Lost the season to injury. Similar concerns to Rielly.

5. Griffin Reinhart - D



Large mobile defender. Lacks a nasty edge most nights. Nice offensive up-side.

6. Teuvo Teravainen - F

Goal scoring Finnish forward.  Has proven he can already compete with men. Smallish.

7. Filip Forsberg - F

Two-way Swedish forward. Has a good shot, but didn't put up outstanding numbers. 

8. Mikhail Grigorenko - F

Skilled offensive center. Has improved his defense. Still improving his consistency.

9. Radek Faksa - F

Big, strong power forward. Put up good numbers.

10. Jacob Trouba - D

Big, physical two-way defenceman. Underrated offense.

11. Mathew Dumba - D

Physical, offensive defenceman. Height a concern, given his style of play.


12. Cody Ceci - D

13. Hampus Lindholm - D

14. Matthew Finn - D

15. Olli Maatta - D

16. Brendan Gaunce - F

17 Derrick Pouliot - D

18. Pontus Aberg - F

19. Zemgus Girgensons - F

20. Sebastian Collberg - F

21. Thomas Wilson - F

22. Slater Koekkoek - D

23. Dalton Thrower - D

24. Ville Pokka - D

25. Tomas Hertl - F

26. Stefan Matteau - F

27. Henrik Samuelsson - F

28. Nicolas Kerdiles - F

29. Andrei Vasilevski - G

30. Ludvig Bystrom - D

31. Damon Severson - D

32. Brady Skjei - D

33. Phillip Di Giuseppe - F

34. Colton Sissons - F

35. Michael Matheson - D

36. Patrick Sieloff - D

37. Jordan Schmaltz - D

38. Mikko Vainonen -D

39. Esa Lindell - D

40. Oscar Dansk - G

41. Andreas Athanasiou - F

42. Malcolm Suban - G

43. Martin Frk - F

44. Adam Pelech - D

45. Calle Anderson - D

46. Daniil Zharkov - F

47. Mark Jankowski - F

48. Tim Bozon - F

49.Anton Slepyshev - F

50. Mike Winther - F
51. Jarrod Maidens - F
52. Tomas Hyka - F
53. Scott Laughton - F
54. Gemel Smith - F
55. Lucas Sutter - F
56. Brian Hart - F
57. Emil Lundberg - F
58. Cristoval “Boo” Nieves - F
59. Nikolai Prokhorkin - F
60. Dillon Fournier - D
61. Devin Shore - F
62. Brady Vail - F
63. Matia Marcantuoni - F
64. Robbi Baillargeon - F
65. Charles Hudon - F
66. Chandler Stephenson - F
67. Steven Hodges - F
68. Ludvig Nilsson - F
69. Coda Gordon - F
70. Zach Stephan - F
71. Cody Corbett - D
72. Nikita Gusev - F
73. Jeremy Boyce-Rotevall - F
74. James Melindy - D
75. Matt Murray - G
76. Dylan Blujus - D
77. Brendan Leipsic - F
78. Nicklas Tikkinen - F/D
79. Brett Kulak - D
80. Valeri Vasilyev - D
81. Trevor Carrick - D
82. Raphael Bussieres - F
83. Brandon Whitney - G
84. Dane Fox - F
85. Scott Kosmachuk - F
86. Vyacheslav Osnovin - F
87. Ben Johnson - F
88. Erik Karlsson - F
89. Brian Cooper - D
90. Myles Bell - D

The following links will bring you to other mainstream draft ranking lists. These I found to be of some aid in helping me to construct my own list, especially regarding several of my selections beyond the top picks.

http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=9653
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=49649
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=58415
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=62636
http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1305
http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectbrowse.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/columnist/woodlief/story/2012-05-15/nhl-draft-may-red-line-report/55015670/1
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/columnist/woodlief/story/2012-06-06/nhl-draft-red-line-top-forwards/55421698/1
http://mckeenshockey.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1370685
http://theprospectreport.com/final-rankings/

I also highly recommend you buy and read The Hockey News Magazine's annual  "Draft Preview".

A special thanks to Dean Millard and Guy Flaming of The Pipeline Show on The Team 1260 AM and authors of the blog "Coming Down the Pipe" for their year-round content on prospects and draft eligible players. You can find their work below.

http://www.thepipelineshow.com/media_center.php
http://thepipelineshow.blogspot.ca/

Follow me on Twitter @KevinJamieson86

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