HockeyProspect.com top 31 for 2019 draft- Final Ranking.

[Mark Edwards]

@Mark Edwards Hey Mark, I saw your previous comments about Caufield. I was just talking to a few of my friends that I feel the old men’s club of the hockey universe will push him down from going top 10 (give or take a few spots). From your discussion with scouts, if you had to guess do you think he goes top 10? As a Vancouver and Philly fan I’d love him at pick 10/11. Thanks

I know both veteran and younger scouts who have him in the top 15 and in the 2nd round.

I don't do mocks because in some cases I'd be making picks wrong intentionally. It is fun for me to look at mocks though because sometimes they will have a player mocked to a team that I know a team hates - There was a mock a few years ago that I saw, that must've had about 12 players mocked to teams that I knew for fact had no time for the player.

Some years I know more than others. This year is trickier because the range of opinions is wide. That means I can know a team loves a player but an unexpected player could fall to them that I didn't (nor they) expect would reach them. This happened a few years ago. I went through my own mock of what i thought would happen and I would've bet big $ on a certain Team A drafting a certain player. Something happened and the team in front of them, Team B got a player that I (and they) didn't think would reach them. We lets just say that I would've lost $ because that also changed who was now available for Team A.

To answer (or more accurately not answer) your question, I'll say I don't know.

 

[Nabrules]

I know both veteran and younger scouts who have him in the top 15 and in the 2nd round.

I don't do mocks because in some cases I'd be making picks wrong intentionally. It is fun for me to look at mocks though because sometimes they will have a player mocked to a team that I know a team hates - There was a mock a few years ago that I saw, that must've had about 12 players mocked to teams that I knew for fact had no time for the player.

Some years I know more than others. This year is trickier because the range of opinions is wide. That means I can know a team loves a player but an unexpected player could fall to them that I didn't (nor they) expect would reach them. This happened a few years ago. I went through my own mock of what i thought would happen and I would've bet big $ on a certain Team A drafting a certain player. Something happened and the team in front of them, Team B got a player that I (and they) didn't think would reach them. We lets just say that I would've lost $ because that also changed who was now available for Team A.

To answer (or more accurately not answer) your question, I'll say I don't know.

Completely understandable! I get what you mean! Just last’s years draft I was shocked Dobson fell out of the top 10, even Wahlstrom to some extent!

Can’t wait for this years draft, gonna be fun to see where everyone ends up with so much variance!

Thanks a lot for the reply!

 

[elvisisalive]

Quick question, if Lavoie's consistency issues were addressed, and were no longer a concern, based on his ceiling, where do you think you might have ranked him. Ive seen some games where he was at his best, and came away very impressed

 

[Mark Edwards]

Quick question, if Lavoie's consistency issues were addressed, and were no longer a concern, based on his ceiling, where do you think you might have ranked him. Ive seen some games where he was at his best, and came away very impressed

Without consulting our guy in Quebec, Jérôme, who is a big Lavioe fan I'd guess he'd move into the top 20. I find it tough to answer because it's not reality. Magically erasing everything I know about him makes it challenging if that makes any sense. I'll leave it at that.

 

[My3Sons]

Without consulting our guy in Quebec, Jérôme, who is a big Lavioe fan I'd guess he'd move into the top 20. I find it tough to answer because it's not reality. Magically erasing everything I know about him makes it challenging if that makes any sense. I'll leave it at that.

You could adopt an alias - say Edward Marks - and leak the inside info you can’t release for fear of compromising your sources. We promise your secret identity will be safe here.

 

[elvisisalive]

Without consulting our guy in Quebec, Jérôme, who is a big Lavioe fan I'd guess he'd move into the top 20. I find it tough to answer because it's not reality. Magically erasing everything I know about him makes it challenging if that makes any sense. I'll leave it at that.

I wouldnt consider it magically erasing. he acknowledged the criticism about his consistancy, and said he worked hard on it thru the playoffs. his numbers were fantastic, and when i watched him live, thought he played very well. so my question was based on if you guys also saw the correction, and if so whether that carried any weight

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Who on your list do you rate (relatively) lowly and think they'll go much higher?

 

[Mark Edwards]

I wouldnt consider it magically erasing. he acknowledged the criticism about his consistancy, and said he worked hard on it thru the playoffs. his numbers were fantastic, and when i watched him live, thought he played very well. so my question was based on if you guys also saw the correction, and if so whether that carried any weight

We saw improvement, thats's why he cracked the top 31.

 

[elvisisalive]

We saw improvement, thats's why he cracked the top 31.

We saw improvement, thats's why he cracked the top 31.

Thank you, appreciate the response

 

[Mark Edwards]

Who on your list do you rate (relatively) lowly and think they'll go much higher?

Clarke (Ottawa) comes to mind. We have him 75th and a 'C' grade. That ranking probably makes him a 7th rounder at best for us. I actually like a lot about his game but in our meetings he kept being a guy getting bumped. I think he could possibly go as high as the 2nd round next Saturday.

Good example of a player I have some time for, but that might not even get drafted by us if we were a team. That's the reality of team lists.

 

[AmericanDream]

@Mark Edwards

as always, appreciate the hard work you guys/gals do.

I do find it refreshing that you guys are on here backing up your lists unlike many others, but from the 2018 list I just linked below, any player(s) already stand out to you that you guys got it either right or wrong?? I get that one year doesn't make a career, but either way is there anyone on this list that stands out to you that you felt has really held true or a player that really has not outside of the obvious top 3?

2018 NHL Draft Rankings - HockeyProspect.com - 2018 final rankings for those looking to see how Mark and his team look from their final rankings last year...

Thanks!

 

[Mark Edwards]

@Mark Edwards

as always, appreciate the hard work you guys/gals do.

I do find it refreshing that you guys are on here backing up your lists unlike many others, but from the 2018 list I just linked below, any player(s) already stand out to you that you guys got it either right or wrong?? I get that one year doesn't make a career, but either way is there anyone on this list that stands out to you that you felt has really held true or a player that really has not outside of the obvious top 3?

2018 NHL Draft Rankings - HockeyProspect.com - 2018 final rankings for those looking to see how Mark and his team look from their final rankings last year...

Thanks!

It's still very early but I'll make some very quick comments about a few players I saw this year that didn't exactly excite me.

Boqvist - He was not very good in my viewings. I was surprised how poorly he played. Was much better in the final two months but still not what I expected from him. I knew he wasn't a stud defensively but he struggled to defend much more than I expected.

Noel - I saw Oshawa a lot. This one didn't shock me because I saw poor games last year but we ranked him based on the upside shown in the good games rather than the poor showings. He had too many poor showings when I saw him this year.

Beaudin - Not that many viewings but for me he didn't play to where we ranked him. Long way to go and again, this was not nearly as many viewings as the other two players, but I was disappointed. He was great when I saw him last year.

 

[Tomas W]

Kakko should be #1

 

[jvr32]

Bought the book again this year and I like it, but I don't agree at all with some of the rankings for later round Russian prospects. Especially that Spiridonov ranking. Some of them are also too high imo. Nikolaev also was quite quickly dropped big time compared to last rankings. Seems to be an issue for those playing in Russia. Just my opinion.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

@Mark Edwards

as always, appreciate the hard work you guys/gals do.

I do find it refreshing that you guys are on here backing up your lists unlike many others, but from the 2018 list I just linked below, any player(s) already stand out to you that you guys got it either right or wrong?? I get that one year doesn't make a career, but either way is there anyone on this list that stands out to you that you felt has really held true or a player that really has not outside of the obvious top 3?

2018 NHL Draft Rankings - HockeyProspect.com - 2018 final rankings for those looking to see how Mark and his team look from their final rankings last year...

Thanks!

Glad Montreal didn't take Tkachuk, I am sure they are very happy with Kotkaniemi. Zadina was a pretty tall in that ranking. Dobson was ranked more where he should have gone. I still don't see Bernard-Docker on that list .
.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Regarding consistency, generally speaking, how long does it take for a player to show an improvement in his consistency or effort level before those concerns are put on the back burner? Does he need to show a general improvement throughout the year, a few months, or can a player just show a strong playoffs before scouts think the problem is behind him? And realistically, what are the odds that an inconsistent player will figure it out?

 

[Dotter]

If I buy the Platinum pass, do I get access to 2018 and 2017 PDF version black books?

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Kakko should be #1

The next reputable person to put him there will be the first

 

[JeromeHP]

If I buy the Platinum pass, do I get access to 2018 and 2017 PDF version black books?

Yes you do, here's the membership plans from our site Hockey Scouting Reports - Join Today!

 

[Tomas W]

The next reputable person to put him there will be the first

Im not?

 

[rt]

@Mark Edwards - I would be interested to learn more about what your group sees in Kaliyev that leads you to rank him outside the top 31. That’s later than I typically see him ranked. Does your group see the same negatives I’ve read elsewhere, but you put more stock into them? Or is there something different that you’re seeing?

 

[Scintillating10]

HockeyProspect.com has just released there brand new Black Book with their final rankings. Here are the top 10 and a link for the remaining 21.

1: Hughes
2: Kakko
3: Byram
4: Turcotte
5: Zegras
6: Krebs
7: Podkolzin
8: Dach
9: Boldy
10: Seider

2019 NHL Draft Rankings - HockeyProspect.com

Seider certainly jumped

 

[Mark Edwards]

Glad Montreal didn't take Tkachuk, I am sure they are very happy with Kotkaniemi. Zadina was a pretty tall in that ranking. Dobson was ranked more where he should have gone. I still don't see Bernard-Docker on that list .
.

Bernard-Docker was 38th.

Regarding consistency, generally speaking, how long does it take for a player to show an improvement in his consistency or effort level before those concerns are put on the back burner? Does he need to show a general improvement throughout the year, a few months, or can a player just show a strong playoffs before scouts think the problem is behind him? And realistically, what are the odds that an inconsistent player will figure it out?

Based on my experience during 19 years of coaching and now all these years scouting, zebras don't change their stripes. Now that said, I'll contradict that saying with sometimes I've seen players actually make adjustments/improvements to compete/consistency issues.

It's a difficult question to answer because I'd give a longer look/have more patience to players with more talent/higher upside.

@Mark Edwards - I would be interested to learn more about what your group sees in Kaliyev that leads you to rank him outside the top 31. That’s later than I typically see him ranked. Does your group see the same negatives I’ve read elsewhere, but you put more stock into them? Or is there something different that you’re seeing?

Don't know what you have read elsewhere. Short answer is we (and based on many conversations I've had, a ton of NHL scouts) have a problem with his compete.

Seider certainly jumped

We actually had him 12th in January and 11th in February so he only moved up one spot.

 

[rt]

Don't know what you have read elsewhere. Short answer is we (and based on many conversations I've had, a ton of NHL scouts) have a problem with his compete.

Basically that. Compete. Some folks seem to reference it and still rank him top fifteen. Others reference it and rank him bottom fifteen. Your group has him out do the first round, and you’ve mentioned it too. It’s interesting. Like everyone sees the the same thing but are variably swayed by it. I wonder if folks who have him ranked higher are less concerned with the compete or simply more impressed with the other mitigating elements?

 

[Mark Edwards]

Basically that. Compete. Some folks seem to reference it and still rank him top fifteen. Others reference it and rank him bottom fifteen. Your group has him out do the first round, and you’ve mentioned it too. It’s interesting. Like everyone sees the the same thing but are variably swayed by it. I wonder if folks who have him ranked higher are less concerned with the compete or simply more impressed with the other mitigating elements?

Not many scouts I spoke to were overly big fans. Bob seemed to talk to some of them.

A scout I spoke to within the past few days has been doing his digging around and thinks he might slip out of the 1st round. I think he'll hang on, but plenty of talk out there.

I actually heard a lot of good stuff from scouts doing their digging, if some of he stuff i heard happens they will surprise a lot of people.