Jun
It was a great battle for our top spot this season between Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko, as close as we’ve seen in many years. The young U.S centerman held on to our number 1 spot, Hughes has been our number 1 ranked player for this draft class since our initial 2019 NHL draft rankings in June of 2018. Kakko had a remarkable season winning gold with Finland at the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship scoring the game winning goal and just recently at the World hockey Championship. We can’t stress enough how close that ranking was between those two players.
Bowen Byram is our top defenseman available in this draft class and 3rd overall in our ranking. Bowen really distanced himself from the rest of the pack with improved play the 2nd half of the season and in the playoffs. The Vancouver Giants star defenseman scored 34 goals and 87 points this year if you include both regular season and playoff games.
The 4-10 range in our rankings was extremely close all year. The USNDTP U-18 team has three players in that group (Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras and Matthew Boldy). We have two WHL players with Kirby Dach and one of our favourites all season long, Peyton Krebs. To finish our top-10 we have Russian winger Vasili Podkolzin and one of our biggest risers this season Moritz Seider from Germany who moves up from 11th in January to 12th in February and into our top 10 on our final ranking.
As always, our top 31 is available for free and our full rankings are included in our 2019 NHL Draft Black Book and our 2019 NHL Draft guide . Applicable members can login for their special pricing.
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | LEAGUE | BIRTH | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | POS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HUGHES, JACK | USA U-18 | NTDP | 14-May-2001 | 5' 10.25" | 168 lbs * | C |
| 2 | KAKKO, KAAPO | TPS | FINLAND | 13-Feb-2001 | 6' 2.25" | 194 lbs * | RW |
| 3 | BYRAM, BOWEN | VANCOUVER | WHL | 13-Jun-2001 | 6' 0.5" | 194 lbs * | D |
| 4 | TURCOTTE, ALEX | USA U-18 | NTDP | 26-Feb-2001 | 5' 11.0" | 189 lbs * | C |
| 5 | ZEGRAS, TREVOR | USA U-18 | NTDP | 20-Mar-2001 | 6' 0.0" | 166 lbs * | C |
| 6 | KREBS, PEYTON | KOOTENAY | WHL | 26-Jan-2001 | 5' 11.25" | 180 lbs * | C |
| 7 | PODKOLZIN, VASILI | SKA ST. PETERSBURG 2 | RUSSIA-JR. | 24-Jun-2001 | 6' 1.0" | 190 lbs | RW |
| 8 | DACH, KIRBY | SASKATOON | WHL | 21-Jan-2001 | 6' 3.5" | 199 lbs * | C |
| 9 | BOLDY, MATTHEW | USA U-18 | NTDP | 05-Apr-2001 | 6' 1.5" | 187 lbs * | LW |
| 10 | SEIDER, MORITZ | MANNHEIM | GERMANY | 06-Apr-2001 | 6' 3.5" | 183 lbs * | D |
| 11 | CAUFIELD, COLE | USA U-18 | NTDP | 02-Jan-2001 | 5' 7.25" | 163 lbs * | RW |
| 12 | YORK, CAMERON | USA U-18 | NTDP | 05-Jan-2001 | 5' 11.25" | 171 lbs * | D |
| 13 | SODERSTROM, VICTOR | BRYNAS | SWEDEN | 26-Feb-2001 | 5' 11.0" | 179 lbs * | D |
| 14 | COZENS, DYLAN | LETHBRIDGE | WHL | 09-Feb-2001 | 6' 3.0" | 181 lbs * | C |
| 15 | BRINK, BOBBY | SIOUX CITY | USHL | 08-Jul-2001 | 5' 8.25" | 159 lbs * | RW |
| 16 | HEINOLA, VILLE | LUKKO | FINLAND | 03-Feb-2001 | 5' 11.25" | 178 lbs * | D |
| 17 | NEWHOOK, ALEX | VICTORIA | BCHL | 28-Jan-2001 | 5' 10.25" | 195 lbs * | C |
| 18 | TOMASINO, PHILIP | NIAGARA | OHL | 28-Jul-2001 | 5' 11.75" | 178 lbs * | C |
| 19 | HARLEY, THOMAS | MISSISSAUGA | OHL | 19-Aug-2001 | 6' 3.0" | 188 lbs * | D |
| 20 | JOHNSON, RYAN | SIOUX FALLS | USHL | 24-Jul-2001 | 6' 0.0" | 173 lbs * | D |
| 21 | BROBERG, PHILIP | AIK | SWEDEN-2 | 25-Jun-2001 | 6' 2.75" | 199 lbs * | D |
| 22 | KOLYACHONOK, VLADISLAV | FLINT | OHL | 26-May-2001 | 6' 0.25" | 176 lbs * | D |
| 23 | HOGLANDER, NILS | ROGLE | SWEDEN | 20-Dec-2000 | 5' 9.0" | 185 lbs | LW |
| 24 | POULIN, SAMUEL | SHERBROOKE | QMJHL | 25-Feb-2001 | 6' 1.25" | 206 lbs * | RW |
| 25 | LAVOIE, RAPHAEL | HALIFAX | QMJHL | 25-Sep-2000 | 6' 3.5" | 191 lbs * | C |
| 26 | SUZUKI, RYAN | BARRIE | OHL | 28-May-2001 | 6' 0.25" | 178 lbs * | C |
| 27 | DOROFEYEV, PAVEL | MAGNITOGORSK 2 | RUSSIA-JR. | 26-Oct-2000 | 6' 1.0" | 167 lbs | LW |
| 28 | THOMSON, LASSI | KELOWNA | WHL | 24-Sep-2000 | 6' 0.0" | 188 lbs * | D |
| 29 | HELLESON, DREW | USA U-18 | NTDP | 26-Mar-2001 | 6' 2.25" | 181 lbs * | D |
| 30 | BJORNFOT, TOBIAS | DJURGARDEN JR. | SWEDEN-JR. | 06-Apr-2001 | 6' 0.0" | 202 lbs * | D |
| 31 | REES, JAMIESON | SARNIA | OHL | 26-Feb-2001 | 5' 10.0" | 173 lbs * | C |