(picture courtesy of reddeerrebels.com)
For those of you who haven't seen the latest rankings that were released on April 11th you can find the rankings here. Also, if you don't know what CSS is or what they do, they are essentially an organization that the NHL uses to rank 2011 draft prospects. Every year they divide their list into European and North American skaters/goalies at the request of NHL teams. So if Adam Larsson is rated first overall in Europe, it doesn't really have any impact on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins going first in North America.
Sure, their rankings may not be the best come draft day, but right now they allow NHL teams to key on certain players that are just entering the playoffs. You often see players like Jeffrey Skinner sky-rocket up because of playoff performances. It is up to NHL teams to make their own decisions if they are looking at playoff performance. I am going to quickly break down some things that I really like about the rankings as well as dislikes.
1. Michel Briere Trophy? Mike Bossy Trophy? Pffft. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Larsson are rated at the top players. Although I wouldn't be disappointed with Sean Couturier or Gabriel Landeskog with the Edmonton Oilers 1st overall pick, these two players have really seperated themselves from the rest of the pack. It is also worth noting that Jonathan Huberdeau could very well be in the mix with his outstanding numbers in the QMJHL. Having said this, I think having Sean Couturier ranked 6th behind Nathan Beaulieu is very unreasonable- at least according to this.
2. From Russia with no love. I'm not saying that Vladislav Namestnikov doesn't have a good chance to go ahead of Alexandr Khokhlachev but for him to be rated 11th while Koko is 29th is surprising to say the least. Namestnikov is a good player but I think he will be in the 20-40 range come June 24th. It should also be noted that Nikita Kucherov was the highest rated russian outside North America coming up at 17th in the European rankings.
3. Third times the charm? Benjamin Conz is still rated as the fourth best goaltender in Europe. He hasn't been drafted by now, is undersized and doesn't exactly have the greatest save percentage with a .905. I wouldn't be suprised to see Lars Volden and Frans Tuohimaa drafted while Conz is passed over again.
4. Gibson & Gibson. John Gibson and Christopher Gibson are the top two rated goaltenders this year. Not a particularly strong group of goaltenders this year but I think that if anyone is drafted early it is one of these two.
5. How Swede it is. I like that Jonas Brodin is still rated above Joel Armia, Oskar Klefbom and Jaskin. I think Brodin could be a top 15 pick in this years draft if a team likes him enough. Sure, he doesn't have the size that Armia has but he was very impressive in the SEL playoffs and has a mind for the game you can't teach. I'm also really interested in seeing who claims Max Friberg, Victor Berglind and Miika Salomaki go. A team might have a hidden gem in one of these three players. With Larsson and Landeskog in the top 5 as well, it should be a great day for Sweden.
6. Rewarding good players on great teams. It looks like a bunch of St.John seadogs are higher then they should be. Phillips, Beaulieu and Jurco are all in the top 20 in the North American Rankings. Ryan Tesnik is also rated 47th while Scott oke was rated 44th. It is also interested that on a stacked portland team that Baertschi was ranked 7th while Rattie was ranked 17th. I think both of these players are too high. Sure, they are great players but I would imagine that they both drop roughly 6-10 spots behind where they currently are due to their size.
7. No longer top ten. Brandon Saad was ranked 19th and David Musil at 38. If the Edmonton Oilers hold onto their 31st overall pick you would have to think that one of these guys would be an absolute steal. I could see either of these players selected in the top 15 of the draft if a team likes them enough. It should also be worth mentioning that they were both top 10 picks going into the year.
8. Whats the point? Apparently point totals don't matter much anymore. Stefan Noesen ranked at 35th in North American rankings is really low imo. He posted 34 goals, and 43 assists for 77 points in 68 games for Plymoth this year. Matt Puempel was also ranked 28th while posting 34 goals and 35 assists for 69 points in just 55 games this year.
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