Woll will fall in our rankings just like Goalies fall in the draft, but if he has a better year this coming season than last, he'll be in the top-5 when we do this again.
Johnsson, Nielsen, Rychel, Woll, Borgman to fill out #7-#11
Then i think you have to put Miro Aaltonen down because 44pts in 59gms in the KHL is nothing to sneeze at. He may well just be a 24 year old 2nd/3rd liner who happened to be playing in the KHL last year. Also, while everything i read and see suggests Borgman has the higher upside, Calle Rosen was brought in as a more NHL ready player with some real interesting scouting reports, so he also really should not fall out of the top #15, imo.
But with consideration to this current poll, and exceptionally tight race...
This is a really tough vote for me to decide on.
Nielsen
The offence is never in question. His defence was a tire fire to start the year. Somewhere along the way though, this began to change. I remember seeing an interview with the coaching staff that they had talked to Nielsen about the need to work on this, and they were happy about how receptive he was to teaching. His point production dried up in the back half of the season, but with it, his play on the ice got smarter too. It's not simply a matter of sheltered play that he quietly wrapped up the year at +7, to be among the team leaders in that stat, after being near the bottom of the team in the first half. That improved play gives me excitement towards this year. Still, he's not NHL ready by any means. This year is really critical.
Johnsson
He can skate, he can pass, he can shoot, he can play both ends of the ice. Last season was the acclimation year, and boy did he acclimate. He's NHL ready. He is an NHL player. Right now. ...but so is Leivo. I have serious doubts that Johnsson will make the team, even though he full well deserves to. There's a major logjam going on at the forward position right now, and while he's not small, he's just small enough that you can see Leivo or Rychel getting preference. It wouldn't be the worst thing if he played one more year in the minors, but if he becomes a victim, buried in the minors despite having earned his way up, i'll be mad. This guy needs to be playing for an NHL team SOMEWHERE, no later than October of 2018. Use him, or move him.