I do a top 30 before the season, Witch you'll be seeing now, I do a top 30 in Mid December so you can ask for that one legend and i'll pm it to you, I'll try to remember. Obviosly I do a final ranking at the end of the season. I'm a bit bias in my opinions on players, Here was my top 10 for 2003 before draft day.
1. Fleury 2. Zherdev 3. Horton 4. Michalek 5. Kastisyn 6. Couborn 7. Staal 8. Praise 9. Brown 10. Vanek
It's easy to see that the scouts didnt agree with me. I have seen all these players play on the list below, I'm a big fan of drafts, Thats my favroite day of the summer by far. I get all tapes from a family friend who is retired and lives just south of Thunder Bay. He travles and he's a big fan of Hockey as well, I have been doing these list since 2000, My biggest draft day victory I think was ranking Jeff Woywitka at 13th even though he was picked ver ylate in the first round by the Flyers...anywho...Heres my top 30 ranking of the moment.
1. Alexander "the Franchise" Ovechkin F 6-2/200 Moscow
No explination needed really, The guy has it all. I see him as the Russian Version of Joe Thorton and then some. He has it all! When it's all said and done he wont score as much as Ilya but I think he well mean more to his team.
2. Cam Barker D 6-3/210 Winnipeg He impresses me every time I recieve a tape of this guy. He's huge, he can play nasty, he has it all. He's a bit of a project. A team with a good devolopment system could crank out a dominant player here. He's a powerplay quaterback. I wouldnt want to be a goalie with his shot coming at me from the points. Offensivly gifted as Pitkanen and better on defense.
3. Rostislav Olesz F 6-2/205 Ostrava Not as talented as last years Czech star Michalek, but he does it all. He's going to be a 70 point getter in the NHL, He reminds me of Owen Nolan alot just with more speed. He goes to the net hard. He sticks up for teamates. Only have seen him play two times but he is a stud in the making.
4. Evgeni Malkin F 6-3/205 n/a He's big, he's talented, He played as well as Ovechkin in the U18 tournament. He's very skilled, he's a huge kid whose not completely filled out yet. He crashes the net as hard as anyone, He has all the skill to make him fancy, but thats not his game. He rather go threw you then around you. His offensive awareness is uncany. He doesnt hit much though. I wish he was more of a take it to the guy like Bertuzzi.
5. Rob Schremp F 6-0/200 Fulton Reminds me of Jason Spezza. Not as big but more talented I think. The kid has all the tools to be the go to guy on most NHL teams when he hits his prime. I dont like the Pre Madana crap though at all. I didnt like Spezza when he did it and I dont like it now. Although he'll get it together. I wouldnt be suprised to see him have another great season and be #2-4. He's the most pure skilled player in the draft. He doesnt pass it much, like Zherdev a puck hog, He'll get out of that once he touches the NHL believe me. He'll sign with his team after draft day and we'll be seeing him 2004-2005 season. He's very good.
6. Lauri Tukonen F 6-2/195 Hyvinkaa Out of all the players going for there status in the first round, Lauri plays in the toughest league. The closest thing to the NHL IMO in Europe. He is incredibly fast, Finish Flash fast. He is a fisher as well. He's got a nice fram, great balance. He excels at everything with the puck. Defense is starting to come around. If he drops out of the top 5 a steal IMO. He's going to be a slow coming prospect, but definitly underated.
7. Devan Dubnyk G 6-5/180 Regina The top goalie of the draft for me. He is huge, He's like Shean Burke, When he's on you basically can put a 0 on the scoreboard for the other team. He's a bit inconsitant. Lets in the easy goal against easier compition. I look forward to seeing him at the Worlds. Like Jiggy the only way you'll score on Dubnyk most of the time is if you get him moving. A goalie whose a bit raw but his upside is just so high. He's already dang good, he covers most of the net. Best goalie in the draft.
8. Adam Pineault F 6-3/200 Holyoke The Powerforward of the draft. He plays the powerforward game. Now lets make one thing clear, He's not as good as Horton,Bernier,Jessiman and Stewart. I see Pineault being a 2nd liner on a ok team. He's a sure fire pick though. He's going to be a guy who plays very well away from the puck and uses his frame to hit and put in around 50 points a year in the NHL. Watch Scott Thorton of the Sharks on one of his good days and thats what I see in Adam. I've seen Adam the most out of any prospect in the draft. To me he's a solid 2nd liner who well contribute points, but wont be a go to guy.
9. Evan McGrath F 6-1/180 Oakville solid size, He's not as big as Wolski. He's either going to make it or break it. He's a home run kind of pick. Although he works hard, good on his skates, so he could be a safe pick actually. But the reason a team well take him is becuase the kid can score. He has 1st line potential. Has great vision, Good on his skates, a hard shot thats realativly accurate. Good tape to tape passes. He reminds me of Jeff Friesen before the Devils made him into a defensive player.
10. Wes O'Neill D 6-3/200 Essex Big, Talented, Physical. Like Barker he does it all. He's not very offensive but he can make the play definitly. A good year could put him much higher then 10. He's just a tad risky. He has a temper problem. Takes dumb penalts...some times trys to go for the home run pass when it's not there and it cost him. But he's huge, He's talented, good skating ability, he likes to play physical...Complete package. Like Barker, still raw project.
11. Wojtek Wolski F 6-3/200 Zabze Could be the steal of the first round, A big and mean player, He has the skill to put in points in the NHL. Not very quick on his feet. He needs to work on that aspect. He can be lazy. But he has it all. Either you love him or you dont. I only have two taped games of him, One he dominated, the other he was non exsistant sp?
12. Kevin Mailhiot F 6-1/185 Granby
13. Drew Stafford F 6-2/200 Faribault
14. Ladislav Smid D 6-1/190 N/A
15. Jakub Sindel F 6-0/170 Prague
16. Marek Schwarz G 6-0/175 n/a
17. Johannes Salmonsson F 6-3/180 Uppsala
18. Konstantin Makarov F 5-11/195 Magnitogorsk
19. Mark Fistric D 6-3/220 Edmonton
20. Cory Schneider G 6-2/195 Marblehead
21. Andrej Meszaros D 6-2/190 n/a
22. Richard Demen-Willaume D 6-4/195 Asa
23. Mike Card D 6-1/195 Penticton
24. Roman Wick F 6-1/185 n/a
25. Kyle Chipchura F 6-1/195 Vimy
26. Enver Lisin F 6-1/180 n/a
27. Joe Barnes F 6-3/190 Winnipeg
28. Nikolai Lemtyugov F 6-1/175 n/a
29.lukas Kaspar F 6-2/190 N?A
30 Ryan Garlock
Steal of draft Dmitri Shitikov F 5-9/175 n/a
Solid 2nd rounder who could be the next Bergeron, Eric Hunter. Gotta get going. Feal free to ask questions about the guys I didnt detail, Or i'll just detail them all later.
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