Viktor's 2018 NHL Draft Rankings 2.0

My 2nd draft rankings, and my 3rd and last one will be posted at the beginning of June. For this Ranking, I'm going do a Top 62 (2 Rounds) instead of the Top 50 that I did last time.

Find my 1st one here if you wanna see the differences from my December list.

1. Rasmus Dahlin D
2. Andrei Svechikov RW
3. Filip Zadina RW
4. Adam Boqvist D
5. Brady Tkachuk LW/C
6. Evan Bouchard D
7. Quinn Hughes D
8. Noah Dobson D
9. Oliver Wahlstrom RW/C
10. Ty Smith D
11. Joel Farabee LW
12. Joe Veleno C
13. Jesper Kotkaniemi C
14. Rasmus Kupari C
15. Akil Thomas C
16. Isac Lundestrom C
17. Bode Wilde D
18. Barrett Hayton C
19. Dominik Bokk LW
20. Serron Noel RW
21. Jett Woo D
22. Grigori Denisenko LW
23. Jared McIsaac D
24. Ryan McLeod C
25. Ryan Merkley D
26. Jacob Olofsson C
27. Mattias Samuelsson D
28. Filip Hallander C
29. Calen Addison D
30. Martin Kaut RW
31. K'Andre Miller D

32. Benoit-Olivier Groulx LW
33. Jack McBain C
34. Rasmus Sandin D
35. Alexander Alexeyev D
36. Vitali Kravtsov RW
37. Johnny Tychonick D
38. Jakub Lauko C
39. Riley Sutter RW
40. Alexander Khovanov C
41. Adam Ginning D
42. Jesse Ylonen RW
43. Blake McLaughlin C
44. Milos Roman C
45. Nils Lundkvist D
46. Albin Eriksson LW
47. Sean Durzi D
48. Ty Dellandrea C
49. Jonatan Berggren C
50. Nathan Dunkley C
51. Nicolas Beaudin D
52. Brendan Budy LW
53. Anderson MacDonald LW
54. Allan McShane C
55. Jakub Skarek G
56. Blade Jenkins C
57. Adam Samuelsson D
58. Nando Eggenberger LW
59. Patrick Giles C
60. Aidan Dudas C
61. Stanislav Demin D
62. Liam Foudy C

 

Why did Wahlstrom drop from 6th to 9th? Why do you think these other guys passed him?

 

Yep, the top 10 is pretty much exactly what mine is, swapping Dobson and Hughes. Can’t say I agree with many of the 2nd rounders, but not bad.

 

Liam Foudy has been on fire with 16 points in last 11 games after having only 16 in 45 with Thomas on the team. How far down the list is he after 62?

 

Not far down, probably early 3rd Rounder.

 

I believe that in this draft the Top 9 are the guys who I feel will be really good in the NHL so their rankings can be interchangeable. I just feel that defenders are a bit more important than wingers, but Wahlstrom could go earlier than 9 if a team needs a forward rather than a defender. Dobson, Hughes, Bouchard, all look like future Top 4 or even Top 2 defenders IMO, while Wahlstrom looks like a 25+ goal Top 6 winger. So it's basically positional wise, was the reason I felt putting the defenders higher than Wahlstrom. Still a fantastic prospect.

 

Thanks for posting this and sharing your thoughts, will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

 

surprised no kurashev in the 40's or 50's... he's my 2nd rd steal

 

Why is Veleno not a top 10 pick? Nils Lundkvist at 45 is also very questionable, I rank him as a top 30 player.

 

Neither Tkachuk nor Wahlstrom are centers, so not sure why you have them listed as winger/center. If I was GM, I would take Wahlstrom over Tkachuk.

 

See I always thought they were just wingers but wasn't 100% sure. Wahlstrom will probably be the better goal-scorer, but Tkachuk just looks like an excellent two-way forward, a guy who can do it all and can play any minutes you need him too. Whether you have him on your 1st Line, 2nd Line, or even 3rd Line he could probably produce on any.

 

Veleno is at #12 so just outside the Top 10, if you think he's better than Smith, and Farabee that's fine by me. I've heard alot of good things about Lundkvist so probably further down the road I might put him higher.

 

I watched both play for the NTDP for two years (I have season tickets). Neither ever played center there, Tkachuk has not played center this year in the NCAA, and I don't think either has the proper skills to convert to the position at this point.

As for comparisons, yes they are very different players. I just question Tkachuk's offensive skills and how productive he will be at the next level. When he played for the NTDP, there were many games where you barely noticed he was out there... unless it was because he was taking a bad penalty. I think he's a greater risk than Wahlstrom. I will say that Tkachuk did look better in the final half of his 2nd NTDP season, so he's still a decent prospect. I just think all the people putting him in the top 5 (and he's ranked that high a lot) are over rating him compared to others in this draft.

 

Two MacDonalds?
(53&58)

 

oh my god...

*Edited now, thanks for telling me that's pretty embarrassing lol