This Top 5 is a ‘primer’ of the Top
20 ranking that we will release in the next few days. It will be our first
ranking of the season and the first update since the list we released in June
with the Blue Dispatch 2017 draft guide, when we had Rasmus Dahlin at #1,
Jesperi Kotkaniemi at #2 and Filip Zadina at #3.
For those who are not familiar yet
with our rankings, we point out once again that they pertain only to prospects
playing in Europe. This means Zadina (and Zavgorodny) will not appear anymore
in this season’s rankings.
The upcoming Top 20 will be the
first one for the 2018 draft to provide an overall assessment for the ranked
players.
We can already disclose Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin will receive a 1st overall projection. That was probably easy to predict, even more so considering we had him ahead of Svechnikov already before the start of the 2016/2017 season (Early look at Europe's best for the 2018 NHL Draft), when the Russian winger was still playing in Europe.
We can already disclose Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin will receive a 1st overall projection. That was probably easy to predict, even more so considering we had him ahead of Svechnikov already before the start of the 2016/2017 season (Early look at Europe's best for the 2018 NHL Draft), when the Russian winger was still playing in Europe.
Finnish forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi
didn’t have a sparkling performance at the Hlinka Memorial, but his early play
at the Liiga level this season confirmed our feelings about him being currently
the most promising forward in this European class.
Adam Boqvist is one of the main
risers of the start of the season. He has been on par with the high expectations
with the puck on his stick and his early play has also been encouraging with
reference to the shortcomings that were noticeable last season.
The last two spots of the top 5 remain
a close affair between Russian forward Grigori Denisenko and Swedish center Jacob
Olofsson.
Denisenko had the start of his
season slowed down by an injury suffered at the end of the first Russia game at
the Hlinka, but brings undeniable skills and we have been liking his
development through 2017.
Olofsson is a solid pro prospect who
recently scored his first goal at the senior level (Allsvenskan) for Timra
after shining as an underager at the U18 World Championships back in April.
Rank | Name | Position | Nation |
| 1. | Rasmus Dahlin | D | SWE |
| 2. | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | W/C | FIN |
| 3. | Adam Boqvist | D | SWE |
| 4. | Grigori Denisenko | LW | RUS |
| 5. | Jacob Olofsson | C | SWE |
