Anthony Mauro
DraftBuzz Hockey
This is really a rather confusing comment. Red line is paid by NHL teams (and others) and are basically the only service that gives a true opinion on where they see prospects ranking, including their scouts personal prefereces, versus hedging their opinions when compared to the general consensus (although admittedly, Central scouting seems to do this pretty well). I find ISS and even McKeens tend to play catch-up with a player in their rankings (if they hadn't a player exceptionaly low or high compared to the rest of the scouting services, they'll gradually move closer to the median ranking).
The bottom line is if you saw team draft lists, you would be shocked at the variance in rankings. This is why players like Latendresse, Hudler and O'Sullivan drop to the 2nd round, while amateurs on these boards (like me) say things like "they will never drop past 12". It's comical sometimes.
I'm not saying Redline is any better than an other service, but it's an interesting comparison because it at least gives you a feel for a how an individual teams list might vary, where as the others are a little more main stream and rarely predict a major rise or fall.
My problem is not with Redline being different from the mainstream, and frankly I think that's perfectly normal in the business. But I cannot take them seriously when they routinely have such different, say, 8-10's. This month it's Hamill, Cole, McDonagh. Last month it was Esposito, Cherepanov, and Katic. In February it was
similar. January saw Petrecki ranked 9. December saw Petrecki, Hamill, and Korostin 7,8,and 9.
There's just too much movement to be genuine. If a team selects Petrecki at number eight, Redline pegged it regardless of their final ranking excluding him. If a team gambles on McDonagh they had him too. This is more than just player's switching spots as a result of their changing play in the season.