First, let me apologize for the little bit of a delay in this. Work has been a beast recently. Additionally, the writing was a little bit rushed, admittedly. Normally I can do a little more homework than I did here. And about a fifth of it was written with some sort of weird migraine/headache/body apocalypse thing I had going...so it's probably barely coherent at points. I'll try to do better than the next time...
I'll just handle some comments as best I can in order here...
- It didn't originally fall like that (re: Oleksiak at 6), found the Chiasson/Ritchie/Oleksiak triumvirate to be nearly inseparable. Oleksiak, at first, won out because he's the closest to being ready. But he's also my least favorite of all of the three (I know, I know...blasphemy). So after some internal discussion, I went with this setup. It's not truly an indictment of Oleksiak - a fine prospect certainly - it really is a product of this terrific stable of players.
- Re: 7.0 ratings. And I'm pretty conservative with ratings too...that's where the smart money is, after all. The only thing is that I'll give a little leeway especially near their draft year because that upside is less certain. Those boom or bust top-six players will probably get a 7.0D from me. In retrospect, I should have knocked Glennie down a point, but then he wouldn't have made the list at all and you all would have been so, so heartbroken...
- Re: Prospect #21. It's not very fun, but based on proximity and the grading he carried over from Colorado - it was potential waiver wire fodder Cameron Gaunce. Some mentioned Cole Ully and Niklas Hansson, they were also strongly considered. Sinitsyn was not considered, as this list is not worthy of his name.
- Start to get cautiously optimistic about Devin Shore. As a coach myself, I can't stress that "good things happen when he's out there" thing...semi-bold prediction: huge year, signs his entry-level deal after the season. One step at a time though, he's now a top-10 prospect in this organization - at least, according to me.
