Sep
Our first 2016 NHL Draft ranking list of the season is a top 50 list (top 30 free). Auston Matthews is our top ranked prospect as we enter the season. The late 97’ birthday prospect has been on scouts radars for quite some time and continues to impress. The Sarnia Sting’s Jacob Chychrun is the 2nd ranked player on our list. The huge D-man plays a complete game and only injuries have hindered him since entering the OHL. Patrick Laine from Finland completes our top three players on our list. We first saw Laine live at the Mac’s Midget tourney in Calgary. He has always been a staff fave.
Looking through our list it’s worth mentioning a few players. Logan Brown has all the tools to be drafted very high in June but we feel he needs to bring a lot more consistent effort to each shift.He had a very poor showing this summer in Calgary. Olli Juolevi has shown us great offensive instincts and begins the season way up our list. He is the 3rd of three London Knights ranked consecutively on our list. Sudbury’s Dmitri Sokolov can really shoot the puck, we will keep an eye on his fitness level this year. Pierre-Luc Dubois does a lot of things well. He is the type of player that coaches love having on their roster. Michael McLeod is beginning to show more consistency in his game. He showed flashes of greatness to us in the past, it’s beginning to happen more often. Alexander Nylander has joined McLeod in Mississauga, his game resembles his older brothers. Vitali Abramov isn’t very big but he has skill. He’s not afraid to go get his own pucks either. Samuel Girard is challenged in the size department, but he is super talented. Another undersized D-man is Victor Mete from London, he sits just outside our top 30. His skating is fantastic. Givani Smith made our top 30. He is a pain in the ass to play against and finished his season playing great hockey for Guelph last season. Markus Niemelainen will suit up in Saginaw this year. He really impressed us at the U17 in Sarnia but has regressed a bit in our viewings since. He sits outside our top 30 but has the tools to move up.
Filip Gustavsson enters the season as our top ranked goalie. It’s a tight battle for us in the goalie department. We like several goalies in our top 50. We think it will be interesting to watch goalies progress this season and see where they come out in the wash in June. We like quite a few other goalies who didn’t make our top 50 list.
As we begin the season we like the quality of the players and depth trickling into the late second round. It’s very early, but so far so good for the 2016 NHL Draft class.
2016 NHL Draft Top 50
| RANK | PLAYER | POS | 2015/2016 TEAM | HEIGHT | WEIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auston Matthews | C | Zurich (SUI) | 6' 2" | 194 |
| 2 | Jacob Chychrun | D | Sarnia (OHL) | 6' 2" | 214 |
| 3 | Patrik Laine | RW | Tappara Tampere(SM-liiga) | 6' 4" | 209 |
| 4 | Jesse Puljujärvi | RW | Kärpät (SM-liiga) | 6' 3" | 198 |
| 5 | Dante Fabbro | D | Penticton (BCHL) | 6' 1" | 189 |
| 6 | Matthew Tkachuk | LW | London (OHL) | 6' 1" | 194 |
| 7 | Max Jones | LW | London (OHL) | 6' 3" | 200 |
| 8 | Olli Juolevi | D | London (OHL) | 6' 2" | 182 |
| 9 | Dmitri Sokolov | C | Sudbury (OHL) | 6' 0" | 216 |
| 10 | Clayton Keller | C | USNTDP U18 | 5' 9" | 168 |
| 11 | Charles McAvoy | D | Boston U (NCAA) | 6' 0" | 206 |
| 12 | Kale Clague | D | Brandon (WHL) | 6' 0" | 178 |
| 13 | Mikhail Sergachyov | D | Windsor (OHL) | 6' 2" | 205 |
| 14 | Kieffer Bellows | C | USNTDP (USHL) | 6' 0" | 195 |
| 15 | Sam Steel | C | Regina (WHL) | 5' 11" | 175 |
| 16 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | C | Cape Breton (QMJHL) | 6' 3" | 202 |
| 17 | Tyson Jost | RW | Penticton (BCHL) | 5' 11" | 192 |
| 18 | Michael McLeod | C | Mississauga (OHL) | 6' 1" | 184 |
| 19 | Julien Gauthier | RW | Val-d'Or (QMJHL) | 6' 4" | 224 |
| 20 | Alexander Nylander | LW | Mississauga (OHL) | 6' 0" | 172 |
| 21 | Vitali Abramov | RW | Gatineau (QMJHL) | 5' 9" | 170 |
| 22 | Tyler Benson | LW | Vancouver (WHL) | 6' 0" | 196 |
| 23 | Jake Bean | D | Calgary Hitmen (WHL) | 6' 1" | 170 |
| 24 | Carl Grundström | LW | Modo Hockey (SHL) | 6' 0" | 189 |
| 25 | Brett Howden | LW | Moose Jaw (WHL) | 6' 3" | 190 |
| 26 | Samuel Girard | D | Shawinigan (QMJHL) | 5' 9" | 165 |
| 27 | Libor Hájek | D | Saskatoon (WHL) | 6' 1" | 198 |
| 28 | Givani Smith | RW | Guelph (OHL) | 6' 1" | 197 |
| 29 | German Rubtsov | C | Russia U18 (MHL) | 6' 1" | 174 |
| 30 | Logan Brown | C | Windsor (OHL) | 6' 6" | 218 |
Full top 50 available for applicable subscriptions
| RANK | PLAYER | POS | 2015/2016 TEAM | HEIGHT | WEIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | Vojtěch Budik | D | Prince Albert (WHL) | 6' 1" | 186 |
| 32 | Victor Mete | D | London (OHL) | 5' 10" | 165 |
| 33 | Markus Niemelainen | D | Saginaw (OHL) | 6' 4" | 190 |
| 34 | Rasmus Asplund | LW | Färjestad (SHL) | 5' 11" | 176 |
| 35 | Jacob Cederholm | D | HV71 J20 (SuperElit) | 6' 3" | 180 |
| 36 | Luke Green | D | Saint John (QMJHL) | 6' 1" | 186 |
| 37 | Dillon Dubé | C | Kelowna (WHL) | 5' 10" | 180 |
| 38 | Taylor Raddysh | RW | Erie (OHL) | 6' 2" | 198 |
| 39 | Tim Gettinger | LW | Soo (OHL) | 6'5" | 216 |
| 40 | Jonathan Dahlen | C | Timra | 5' 11" | 168 |
| 41 | Riley Tufte | LW | Fargo (USHL) | 6'5" | 210 |
| 42 | Max Lajoie | D | Swift Current (WHL) | 6' 1" | 183 |
| 43 | Filip Gustavsson | G | Lulea J20 (SWE) | 6' 2" | 185 |
| 44 | Tye Felhaber | C | Saginaw (OHL) | 5' 10" | 174 |
| 45 | Jacob Moverare | D | HV71 J20 (SuperElit) | 6' 1" | 185 |
| 46 | Chad Krys | D | USNTDP U18 | 5' 11" | 184 |
| 47 | Dylan Wells | G | Peterborough (OHL) | 6' 1" | 177 |
| 48 | Carter Hart | G | Everett (WHL) | 6' 0" | 165 |
| 49 | Michael Campoli | D | USNTDP U18 | 6' 2" | 190 |
| 50 | Alex DeBrincat | RW | Erie (OHL) | 5' 7" | 161 |