HockeyProspect.com 2018 NHL Draft Black Book and Final Rankings

[Mark Edwards]

Tkachuk at 3 is interesting . Seems people either love him or hate him and have him closer to the bottom of the top 10 if they don't .

Any concerns Mark in your estimation that he doesn't have first line winger potential ? Whether it be his skating or shot, or offensive upside ?

No. In short, I think he's way more skilled than he gets credit for and makes players around him better.

The price is in USD or CAD ?

CAD on our website (print on amazon.com is in USD)

If you get the yearly platinum pass you have access to all previous material.

This is correct.

 

[DJB]

No. In short, I think he's way more skilled than he gets credit for and makes players around him better.t.

I concur. I believe in Tkachuk .

Thanks for the reply

 

[FinPanda]

Good job.

I really would like to see your early 2019 ranking but I won't pay 50 dollars for that, so I guess I need to wait..

 

[KMNRB]

Just wondering, is the coupon code 'hfboards19' only valid for the Black book but not for the Draft Guide? Is there a coupon code for the Draft Guide as well?

We've released our Black Book and Final rankings. Once again we will be offering a coupon for $5.00 off - just use coupon code hfboards19 at checkout.

Our final rankings have also been posted. I'll be checking back in here to talk rankings as soon as I get some free minutes.

"Another year of scouting is in the books and the 2018 NHL Draft is fast approaching. Entering the 2017/2018 season we knew there was a dynamic defenseman at the top of the draft and a skilled Russian forward who had a leg up on the number two spot. Once we started hitting the highways things began to evolve. Players like Noah Dobson, Martin Kaut, Dominik Bokk and Jay O’Brien, just to name a few, began to make their names more well known."

2018 NHL Draft Black Book

Rankings

 

[Zaddy]

Boqvist took a long time to rank. It was tight right from the 3-11 (especially 3-8 area) in the end I always tell our guys to imagine yourself on the draft floor with with a mortgage, a family to feed and one year left on your NHL team contract. I find that makes ranking the players a bit more real. Now attaching your name to the guy with two concussions, who's in a tight battle with other high end players gets more difficult to pull the trigger. I am a huge fan of Boqvist but when you attempt to make the draft real life it's not so easy to just throw the players u like anywhere on the list. This is a sample of conversations I have with NHL team scouts.

Kravtsov has ridiculous amount of skill. Going back to my answer about Boqvist, I wanted to talk to teams about their interviews with Kravtsov before I was willing to rank him as high as we did. I got great feedback and we ranked him way up there. I'm not predicting he goes that high but I can tell you based on some of my recent conversations with some scouts there is a lot of discussions about this player of late.

Albin is a big kid, smart and has skill. He doesn't play a nasty physical game but he uses his size well and competes hard. That's it in a nutshell.

Excellent answer, thank you for that.

One more question if I may: If Boqvist didn't have a concussion history, where would you rank him? Would he still be top5? How do you rate his on-ice performance this year?

 

[Mark Edwards]

Good job.

I really would like to see your early 2019 ranking but I won't pay 50 dollars for that, so I guess I need to wait..

I completely understand, our book isn't cheap. We need to price it that way in order to do the job properly though. Gas prices are not getting any cheaper where I travel and I'm not Platinum Elite at Marriott for nothing. lol I chuckled to myself yesterday at a guy on twitter chirping me that I need to travel east of Quebec. At one point this past year I had seen Halifax (3 hour flight) 8 times and Mississauga (20 min drive) 3 times. Now not all 8 of those Halifax games were in Halifax but you get my point.

Just wondering, is the coupon code 'hfboards19' only valid for the Black book but not for the Draft Guide? Is there a coupon code for the Draft Guide as well?

No it's only for the Black Book. We dropped the price to $34.99 with the new structure this year.

Excellent answer, thank you for that.

One more question if I may: If Boqvist didn't have a concussion history, where would you rank him? Would he still be top5? How do you rate his on-ice performance this year?

Probably would've battled it out for the 8 spot. Not so much liking him less as we started liking guys around him a bit more. Again, it was as tight in the top 3-8, 3-11 for us as I can remember.

I liked Boqvist at the combine. Nice kid.

 

[TB87]

We've released our Black Book and Final rankings. Once again we will be offering a coupon for $5.00 off - just use coupon code hfboards19 at checkout.

Our final rankings have also been posted. I'll be checking back in here to talk rankings as soon as I get some free minutes.

"Another year of scouting is in the books and the 2018 NHL Draft is fast approaching. Entering the 2017/2018 season we knew there was a dynamic defenseman at the top of the draft and a skilled Russian forward who had a leg up on the number two spot. Once we started hitting the highways things began to evolve. Players like Noah Dobson, Martin Kaut, Dominik Bokk and Jay O’Brien, just to name a few, began to make their names more well known."

2018 NHL Draft Black Book

Rankings

I really enjoyed your guys take in Nils Lunkdvist. He’s not talked about nearly enough as a 1st round talent. He’s really smart, a great skater, and he can move the puck exceptionally well. Just because he didn’t light it up offensively in the SHL doesn’t mean he doesn’t have offensive upside. He meets the 51% rule after all!

Which Swedes fit the 51% rule at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft?

 

[Frk It]

@Mark Edwards -- since he did not participate in the Combine or get measured from what I understand, can I ask where you got your height and weight measurements for Quinn Hughes from?

Was it from another source you have, or is it just a guess?

 

[Mark Edwards]

I really enjoyed your guys take in Nils Lunkdvist. He’s not talked about nearly enough as a 1st round talent. He’s really smart, a great skater, and he can move the puck exceptionally well. Just because he didn’t light it up offensively in the SHL doesn’t mean he doesn’t have offensive upside. He meets the 51% rule after all!

Which Swedes fit the 51% rule at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft?

He's a fave of mine. Looking forward to seeing who grabs him.

@Mark Edwards -- since he did not participate in the Combine or get measured from what I understand, can I ask where you got your height and weight measurements for Quinn Hughes from?

Was it from another source you have, or is it just a guess?

We used the updated combine data if they were there ( I got the exact info that was listed in inches sent to me - we converted it to the exact measurement rather than rounding it like was posted on the combine boards) and we used NHL CS Final measurements unless they were not listed by central. Central guys have always been helpful to me going back to E. J. McGuire days. (He was a great man by the way)

So to answer your question, it was not a guess. It was also marked with an * indicating verified by NHL CS.

 

[King'sPawn]

@MarkEdwards, sorry as I'm sure you get bombarded with questions; first of all, thank you for your hard work. I'm nose-deep in it as much as possible and making sure I don't get hit in traffic

I appreciate you sharing in the book how some scouts feel about Hughes declining to compete in the combine, but what I didn't see was any offer of an explanation from his end. Was there anything you heard about why he declined to compete in the combine that you are allowed (and willing) to share?

 

[NotProkofievian]

I'm another big fan of the Lundkvist ranking. He had a bit of a shaky U18's but by the end of the tournament was back to the Nils I know from Luleå.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I liked the anecdote on Fortier's great interview answer. I know you can't share what it was but was it a funny or introspective one that made it so great? He does sound like a super kid.

 

[S E P H]

You guys are becoming my favourite personally.

 

[ps241]

For those of you who haven't purchased the Black Book before I highly recommend it. This year that Jets traded their 1st round pick so the draft is less exciting for me but I am still going to get the black book to support Mark and his team for the legit thorough work they do getting to the rinks and scouting.

Best publication in the business IMO.

 

[Mark Edwards]

Print edition of our NHL Draft Black Book is now available on amazon

 

[Mark Edwards]

I liked the anecdote on Fortier's great interview answer. I know you can't share what it was but was it a funny or introspective one that made it so great? He does sound like a super kid.

Introspective would probably fit best but it went beyond that. Impressive kid.

For those of you who haven't purchased the Black Book before I highly recommend it. This year that Jets traded their 1st round pick so the draft is less exciting for me but I am still going to get the black book to support Mark and his team for the legit thorough work they do getting to the rinks and scouting.

Best publication in the business IMO.

Thanks for taking the time to write this and I appreciate you supporting our service.

 

[Maverick41]

For those of you who haven't purchased the Black Book before I highly recommend it. This year that Jets traded their 1st round pick so the draft is less exciting for me but I am still going to get the black book to support Mark and his team for the legit thorough work they do getting to the rinks and scouting.

Best publication in the business IMO.

If I don't like it I'll blame you for convincing me to give it a try.

Just kidding of course. I am really curious and looking forward to dig into this. I ordered the print version and it will take some time until it'll be delivered to me here in Germany, but I prefer physical books over digital ones.

 

[XXIV97]

I have a feeling that The Hockey Guy will probably be discussing some of your guys books. He loves reading hockey books and discussing them on his channel

 

[Iceman]

$55???

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

@Mark Edwards
I like your rankings. Thank you for posting and taking the time to respond. I am interested in a comparison of these two if possible.

18	HAYTON, BARRETT	SAULT STE. MARIE	OHL	6' 1.3"	190 lbs *	C
19	KUPARI, RASMUS	KARPAT	FINLAND	6' 1.5"	189 lbs *	C

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Mark Edwards]

$55???

We have a whopping two weeks to sell the book (not even when factoring in shipping to some people) and Amazon takes over half of that $55.00 - I wish I could make it more affordable for everyone.

@Mark Edwards
I like your rankings. Thank you for posting and taking the time to respond. I am interested in a comparison of these two if possible.

18	HAYTON, BARRETT	SAULT STE. MARIE	OHL	6' 1.3"	190 lbs *	C
19	KUPARI, RASMUS	KARPAT	FINLAND	6' 1.5"	189 lbs *	C

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Actually had a scout call and wake me up at 7:30 am this morning (It's kind of an inside joke thing with this particular scout, we constantly try to get under each others skin etc.. long story..if u knew the scout it would make more sense ) anyway, first thing out of his mouth after saying "A good scouting service would be awake by now and would've heard my first call" second thing was "You have Hayton too low." - He actually compared Hayton to Bo Horvat. We both spoke about his skating, his concern was him being caught by back pressure. We both think he has those Horvat like qualities, smart, aggressive and he competes. We both agreed on his great shot although he thinks he has more elite skill than I do and I think his skating isn't quite as weak as he does. Round about way to answer you question on Hayton. He told me he's a lock for top 10 FWIW.

Kupari (I didn't talk about him with the scout this morning) is extremely skilled but doesn't have the hockey sense that Hayton does. I love the skill and he can skate but the hockey IQ is why he slipped for us. I value Hockey IQ number one so that gives you an idea why he slipped just behind Hayton.

That's the Coles Notes version.

Thanks for the compliment and for purchasing.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

We have a whopping two weeks to sell the book (not even when factoring in shipping to some people) and Amazon takes over half of that $55.00 - I wish I could make it more affordable for everyone.



Actually had a scout call and wake me up at 7:30 am this morning (It's kind of an inside joke thing with this particular scout, we constantly try to get under each others skin etc.. long story..if u knew the scout it would make more sense ) anyway, first thing out of his mouth after saying "A good scouting service would be awake by now and would've heard my first call" was "You have Hayton too low." - He actually compared Hayton to Bo Horvat. We both spoke about his skating, his concern was him being caught by back pressure. We both think he has those Horvat like qualities, smart, aggressive and he competes. We both agreed on his great shot although he thinks he has more elite skill than I do and I think his skating isn't quite as weak as he does. Round about way to answer you question on Hayton. He told me he's a lock for top 10 FWIW.

Kupari (I didn't talk about him with the scout this morning) is extremely skilled but doesn't have the hockey sense that Hayton does. I love the skill and he can skate but the hockey IQ is why he slipped for us. I value Hockey IQ number one so that gives you an idea why he slipped just behind Hayton.

That's the Coles Notes version.

Thanks for the compliment and for purchasing.

Thank you!

 

[Iceman]

We have a whopping two weeks to sell the book (not even when factoring in shipping to some people) and Amazon takes over half of that $55.00 - I wish I could make it more affordable for everyone.

Jeez, Amazon takes HALF? That's crazy.

 

[Menwithouthat tricks]

I'll come back to answer questions and talk prospects when I have time later, but i wanted to answer this question.

We will have the NHL Draft Guide on our website tonight. It's $34.99 and is all 2018 NHL Draft content. no 2019 or 2020. Nothing in the Guide that isn't in the Black Book. Call it Black Book Light.

Print version will also be submitted to amazon tonight. It takes 48 hours or more to go live though.

I got the draft guide in PDF form and because of the Canadian/US currency translation, it was only $27, I remember last time I got the draft guide, prospects' write-ups were in ranking order, but now they're in alphabetical order, same as the Black Book. (I preferred them in ranking order, which made the draft guide easier to navigate, but at least the draft guide is back).

Other than the consensus top 9, many prospects are all over the place for other ranking services, so I spent up for this guide because I felt this guide employs more scouting resources and reflects the latest information (Combine results and late trends like Boqvist slipping). (Some in the top 9 sometimes slip to 10 or 11 when prospects like Kotkaniemi, Farabee, Veleno, Smith, and now Kravtsov sneak in, but anyone outside of the to 9 (starting with Ty Smith) can slip 10 or more spots depending on the guide)

 

[Der Jaeger]

@Mark Edwards

Great book, just purchased it again yesterday and can't wait until it comes in. I used it all year using the 2018 previews.

Some questions:

- McIsaac. Do you see him putting it all together as he gets older, or using his skating, power, skill to transition to a more defensive oriented player in the NHL? I see the latter.
- Drury. I think he rounds into a utility player who can slot anywhere you need him, a lot like his dad and uncle. Thoughts?
- What do you think of McBain?

Thanks!