It’s been a long
time since we released our previous list for the 2017 NHL Draft on September
21st, part of the reason for that is simply the fact that we felt comfortable
enough with our list for the past few months without feeling the urge to make
major changes.
In the meantime a
few things have happened. Scouts in North America have been able to appreciate how good our previous #1
Nico Hischier really is. Central Scouting has moved Elias Pettersson (our ensuing
#1 since Nico started his North American season and therefore stopped being
eligible for our list) from a B rate in October to the #2 spot in Europe .
Timothy Liljegren
was diagnosed with mononucleosis the day after our September ranking was
released, leaving him sidelined for some time, while big forwards Kristian Vesalainen
and Klim Kostin have struggled to produce.
Even before their production
issues, we didn’t have Vesalainen that high in our list nor as a top 10 pick
overall and we didn’t have Kostin close to the top in the overall projection either.
Similarly, we have also already dropped Liljegren from
the top spot in Europe in September just before the news about
mono came out. In light of that diagnosis, even if his level of play this
season would suggest so, we’re now keen to wait a bit more before dropping
Liljegren any further, especially when not many other prospects made a case to
replace him in the 2nd spot of our list. Still, the Swede will probably need to
pick up his game in the second part of the season to retain a spot that is
basically the byproduct of what he showed last season.
Now, with the WJC
in the books an updated ranking is definitely due, no matter if injuries and
some performances have not really helped the process. Kostin is the other big
name whose draft season has been a struggle and unlike Liljegren he won’t have
any chance to redeem it after undergoing surgery last week on the shoulder that
reportedly has been bothering him for a while. We still have him in the same
tier as some of the prospects ranked ahead of him on our new list, but
healthier players like Necas and Heiskanen who were already enjoying a much
better season than him get the edge in the ranking.
Meanwhile, we’re
still waiting for the chance to see Russian goalie Daniil Tarasov play this
season, so the waiting game goes on with the hope to see him back 100% healthy
at some point before the final part of the season.
Our #1 Elias
Pettersson also missed time recently after a WJC where he didn’t have much luck
in terms of production. He didn’t play the bronze medal game after his head hit
the hard dash of the side boards as a result of a pretty hard bodycheck
suffered in the 3rd period against Canada Sweden
Among the few guys
that have improved their stock with us in recent months are Filip Chytil and
Alexei Lipanov. The latter sat just out of our September ranking and had a
strong WJAC in December. Chytil is a kid barely eligible for the 2017 NHL Draft
who seems to be coming into his own lately and who has been able to get quality
ice-time in the top Czech league.
Robin Salo who has
also been playing well domestically was an unexpected cut from Finland Finland Latvia
Rank |
Player |
Position |
Nation |
Ov. Rank Projection |
| 1. | Elias Pettersson | C/W | SWE | top 5 |
| 2. | Timothy Liljegren | D | SWE | top 10 |
| 3. | Martin Necas | C | CZE | top 10 |
| 4. | Miro Heiskanen | D | FIN | mid 1st |
| 5. | Marcus Davidsson | C/W | SWE | mid 1st |
| 6. | Klim Kostin | RW | RUS | mid 1st |
| 7. | Lias Andersson | C | SWE | 1st |
| 8. | Kristian Vesalainen | LW | FIN | 1st |
| 9. | Daniil Tarasov | G | RUS | 1st |
| 10. | Urho Vaakanainen | D | FIN | 1st |
| 11. | Ukko-P. Luukkonen | G | FIN | early 2nd |
| 12. | Robin Salo | D | FIN | early 2nd |
| 13. | Filip Chytil | C/W | CZE | 2nd |
| 14. | Alexei Lipanov | C | RUS | 2nd |
| 15. | Lukas Elvenes | RW | SWE | 2nd |
| 16. | Jesper Boqvist | C/W | SWE | 2nd |
| 17. | Jonas Rondbjerg | C/W | DEN | 3rd |
| 18. | Emil Bemstrom | C | SWE | 3rd |
| 19. | Joni Ikonen | C | FIN | 4th |
| 20. | Sebastian Walfridsson | D | SWE | 4th |
