Zaddy Zads top120 draft rankings
Hijacking this thread because I wanted to post my own rankings but not start a new thread. So here it goes.
1. C Connor McDavid (Erie Otters, OHL)
2. C Jack Eichel (Boston University, NCAA)
3. LD Noah Hanifin (Boston College, NCAA)
4. C/RW Mitch Marner (London Knights, OHL)
5. LD Ivan Provorov (Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL)
6. C Mathew Barzal (Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL)
7. C Dylan Strome (Erie Otters, OHL)
8. RW Mikko Rantanen (TPS, Liiga)
9. C Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms, USHL)
10. LD Zach Werenski (Univ. of Michigan, NCAA)
11. C Pavel Zacha (Sarnia Sting, OHL)
12. RW/LW Denis Guryanov (Lada Togliatti, MHL)
13. LW Lawson Crouse (Kingston Frontenacs, OHL)
14. RW Timo Meier (Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL)
15. LD Thomas Chabot (Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL)
16. C/RW Nick Merkley (Kelowna Rockets, WHL)
17. RW Travis Konecny (Ottawa 67's, OHL)
18. RW Brock Boeser (Waterloo Black Hawks, USHL)
19. RW Daniel Sprong (Charlottetown Islanders, QMJHL)
20. LD Vince Dunn (Niagara IceDogs, OHL)
21. C/RW Jack Roslovic (USNTDP, USHL)
22. C/LW Anthony Beauvillier (Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL)
23. C Joel Eriksson Ek (Färjestad, SHL)
24. LW Yevgeni Svechnikov (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, QMJHL)
25. C Filip Chlapik (Charlottetown Islanders, QMJHL)
26. RD Jeremy Roy (Sherbrooke Phoenix, QMJHL)
27. LD Jakub Zboril (Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL)
28. C/RW Colin White (USNTDP, USHL)
29. RD Noah Juulsen (Everett Silvertips, WHL)
30. C Jansen Harkins (Prince George Cougars, WHL)
31. LD Jacob Larsson (Frölunda, SHL)
32. LW Jake DeBrusk (Swift Current Broncos, WHL)
33. RW Jeremy Bracco (USNTDP, USHL)
34. LD Travis Dermott (Erie Otters, OHL)
35. LW Paul Bittner (Portland Winterhawks, WHL)
36. LD Oliver Kylington (Färjestad, SHL)
37. G Ilya Samsonov (Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk, MHL)
38. RW Christian Fischer (USNTDP, USHL)
39. RD Nicolas Meloche (Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL)
40. C Mitchell Stephens (Saginaw Spirit, OHL)
41. RD Brandon Carlo (Tri-City Americans, WHL)
42. C Thomas Novak (Waterloo Black Hawks, USHL)
43. LD Mitchell Vande Sompel (Oshawa Generals, OHL)
44. RW/LW Jens Lööke (Brynäs, SHL)
45. LD Ryan Pilon (Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL)
46. C Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson (Omaha Lancers, USHL)
47. C Julius Nättinen (JYP, Liiga)
48. LW/RW Robin Kovacs (AIK, Allsvenskan)
49. RW Zachary Senyshyn (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL)
50. RW Nikita Korostelev (Sarnia Sting, OHL)
51. C Alexander Dergachyov (SKA St. Petersburg, MHL)
52. LD Parker Wotherspoon (Tri-City Americans, WHL)
53. RD Thomas Schemitsch (Owen Sound Attack, OHL)
54. LW/RW Roope Hintz (Ilves, Liiga)
55. G Mackenzie Blackwood (Barrie Colts, OHL)
56. LW Kirill Kaprizov (Mettalurg Novokuznetsk, KHL)
57. LD Jonas Siegenthaler (ZSC, NLA)
58. LW Erik Foley (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, USHL)
59. C Nicolas Roy (Chicoutimi Saguenéens, QMJHL)
60. LD Gabriel Carlsson (Linköping, SHL)
61. LW Dmytro Timashov (Quebec Remparts, QMJHL)
62. G Matej Tomek (Topeka RoadRunners, NAHL)
63. LD Guillaume Brisebois (Acadie-Bathurst Titan, QMJHL)
64. RD Rasmus Andersson (Barrie Colts, OHL)
65. RD Matthew Spencer (Peterborough Petes, OHL)
66. LW Graham Knott (Niagara IceDogs, OHL)
67. LW Ryan Gropp (Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL)
68. RD Jesper Lindgren (Modo, SHL)
69. G Daniel Vladar (HC Kladno, Czech)
70. LW Austin Wagner (Regina Pats, WHL)
71. LD Jeremy Lauzon (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, QMJHL)
72. G Callum Booth (Quebéc Remparts, QMJHL)
73. LW Jordan Greenway (USNTDP, USHL)
74. LD Brendan Guhle (Prince Albert Raiders, WHL)
75. LD Alexandre Carrier (Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL)
76. C Denis Malgin (ZSC, NLA)
77. RW Blake Speers (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL)
78. LW/RW Filip Ahl (HV71, SHL)
79. RW Kay Schweri (Sherbrooke Phoenix, QMJHL)
80. LW Adam Marsh (Saint John Sea Dogs, OHL)
81. LD Kyle Capobianco (Sudbury Wolves, OHL)
82. C Michael Spacek (HC Pardubice, Czech)
83. C Glenn Gawdin (Swift Current Broncos, WHL)
84. LW Yakov Trenin (Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL)
85. C Nathan Noel (Saint John Sea Dogs, OHL)
86. RD Erik Cernak (HC Kosice, Slovakia)
87. RD Loik Leveille (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, QMJHL)
88. C Adam Musil (Red Deer Rebels, WHL)
89. RW Conor Garland (Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL)
90. RD Gustav Bouramman (Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL)
91. RD Ethan Bear (Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL)
92. LW Dennis Yan (Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL)
93. LD Simon Bourque (Rimouski Oceanic, QMJHL)
94. C Kevin Stenlund (HV71, SHL)
95. C Gabriel Gagné (Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL)
96. LW/RW Radovan Bondra (HC Kosice, Slovakia)
97. C Anthony Cirelli (Oshawa Generals, OHL)
98. LD Dennis Gilbert (Chicago Steel, USHL)
99. G Veini Vehviläinen (JYP, Liiga)
100. C Anthony Richard (Val-d'Or Foreurs, QMJHL)
101. RW Cooper Marody (Sioux Falls Stampede, USHL)
102. RD Connor Hobbs (Regina Pats, WHL)
103. RW Dante Salituro (Ottawa 67's, OHL)
104. C/LW David Kase (Chomutov, Czech2)
105. RW Maxim Lazarev (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, QMJHL)
106. LD Sami Niku (JYP, Liiga)
107. LW Brendan Warren (USNTDP, USHL)
108. C Brad Morrison (Prince George Cougars, WHL)
109. RW Keegan Kolesar (Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL)
110. LW Andrew Mangiapane (Barrie Colts, OHL)
111. LW Jeremiah Addison (Ottawa 67's, OHL)
112. RD Vili Saarijärvi (Green Bay Gamblers, USHL)
113. D Vladislav Gavrikov (Lokomotiv, KHL)
114. C/LW Samuel Dove-McFalls (Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL)
115. RW Deven Sideroff (Kamloops Blazers, WHL)
116. G Felix Sandström (Brynäs, SHL)
117. LD Caleb Jones (USNTDP, USHL)
118. C Tyler Soy (Victoria Royals, WHL)
119. RW Sebastian Aho (Kärpät, Liiga)
120. LW Aleksi Saarela (Ässät, Liiga)
Some notes:
- Thought about bumping Hanifin down to 5 since I like Marner and Provorov more, but based on limited viewings (only saw him in WJC this year, before that U18's last spring) and consensus I let him be at #3.
- Strome at #7 is not a slight on him. I still consider him a very good prospect, I just like the others better. Barzal over Strome might seem weird but if the Barzal post-injury is anything close to the "real" Barzal I prefer him, mainly based on his way of both creating space with his skating and finding space. In todays tight-played NHL you need those guys. Also, I'll admit, I'm a sucker for players who are "dynamic".
- I feel very confident with my top18 (yes, with no Svechnikov there). After that it got extremely hard. I put Sprong at #19 based on ability even though I personally wouldn't take him there with his "me first"-personality. Also, as you can see, I'm very high on Dunn. I think scouts are not necessarily down on him but doesn't like him as much as I do thanks to having a slow start to the season, but he finished it just terrificly. Similar to Sanheim's rise last year.
- I'm also not that high on Zboril. I think he'll be a fine defender at the NHL level but he just does not have anything that excites me. He's good at a lot of things but doesn't have a specific skill that sticks out which makes it hard to project what sort of role he will have in the NHL. I think best case scenario he turns into something similar to Seabrook, which obviously would be awesome but I rather swing for the fences and try and get a potential #1 in Chabot or Roy.
- After ~62 or so my list becomes a bit of a mess. As one person there is only so much time to get viewings on all players, which is why I had a hard time differentiating guys from each other. So just because one guy is slightly lower than another guy does not mean he isn't just as good. Worth to note is that I also stopped being super picky about where I placed guys the longer I dragged on with the rankings, but I'm pretty confident in my tiers and I like the top100 overall. For the 101-120 range I just put a bunch of guys who I think should be there, they are not necessarily in a particular set of order.
I'll post a mock draft here shortly too.