
By JD Lagrange – Admittedly, I am not a NHL Draft expert. But with the Canadiens having the first overall pick, and my colleague Bob Trask enjoying talking about prospects, I have followed this year’s developments a lot more than usual. So I figured that I would see how I match up with the Draft experts around the NHL by publishing my very own Final and Only NHL Draft Rankings. This will give me something to look back on and to either laugh… or cry about.
Without further ado, here are my first round rankings. Height and weight from Elite Prospects:
RANK | PROSPECT | POSITION | HEIGHT | WEIGHT |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Juraj Slafkovsky | LW | 6’4″ | 218 |
2 | Shane Wright | C | 6’0″ | 198 |
3 | Logan Cooley | C | 5’10” | 181 |
4 | Simon Nemec | D | 6’1″ | 192 |
5 | David Jiricek | D | 6’3″ | 190 |
6 | Matthew Savoie | C | 5’9″ | 179 |
7 | Joakim Kemell | RW | 5’9″ | 176 |
8 | Jonathan Lekkerimäki | RW | 5’11” | 172 |
9 | Frank Nazar | C/RW | 5’10” | 181 |
10 | Cutter Gauthier | C/LW | 6’3″ | 201 |
11 | Danila Yurov | RW | 6’1″ | 179 |
12 | Brad Lambert | C/RW | 6’0″ | 183 |
13 | Kevin Korchinski | D | 6’2″ | 185 |
14 | Pavel Mintyukov | D | 6’1″ | 192 |
15 | Denton Mateychuk | D | 5’11” | 194 |
16 | Ivan Miroshnichenko | LW | 6’1″ | 185 |
17 | Marco Kasper | C | 6’2″ | 187 |
18 | Conor Geekie | C | 6’4″ | 205 |
19 | Liam Öhgren | LW | 6’1″ | 201 |
20 | Noah Östlund | C | 5’11” | 163 |
21 | Jiri Kulich | C | 6’0″ | 181 |
22 | Rutger McGroarty | C | 6’1″ | 205 |
23 | Jimmy Snuggerud | RW | 6’2″ | 185 |
24 | Isaac Howard | LW | 5’10” | 181 |
25 | Filip Mesar | RW/C | 5’10” | 174 |
26 | Jagger Firkus | RW | 5’10” | 154 |
27 | Ryan Chesley | D | 6’0″ | 201 |
28 | Owen Pickering | D | 6’5″ | 179 |
29 | Tristan Luneau | D | 6’2″ | 190 |
30 | Gleb Trikozov | RW | 6’1″ | 185 |
31 | Nathan Gaucher | C | 6’3″ | 207 |
32 | Calle Odelius | D | 6’0″ | 185 |
I picked Slafkovsky to go first overall for two reasons:
- To be different than the majority. It will either be a homerun or a strikeout; and,
- To get a reaction as the Wright extremists get very upset when you dare pump someone else’s tires.
Now the real question: how will it compare to those who spend hours upon hours watching videos, reading about prospects and sell us all on having the best rankings? I guess we’ll find out in just over a week.
More reading…
- July Key Dates – It Will Be Fast and Furious! by JD Lagrange
- A Tale of Two Drafts by Bob Trask
- “More Than 10 Teams Consider Slafkovsky As Their 1st Pick” by JD Lagrange
Good luck