Central Scouting's Top Rising Prospects
By Jay Levin
- Nashville Predators
NHL's Central Scouting department is a collection of the foremost experts in the league's annual Entry Player Draft. Each season Central Scouting releases three sets of rankings --- a preliminary list (usually around the start of the season), a mid-term list (usually shortly after the World Junior Championships), and a final list (usually around the start of the NHL playoffs).
In comparing the final rankings to the mid-term rankings, NashvillePredators.com has compiled three lists of Central Scouting's rising prospects heading into draft weekend.
| Largest Jumps, North American Skaters Within the Top-100 |
| Prospect, Pos |
Improvement |
Final Ranking |
| Ryan Sproul, D |
+70 |
54, from 124 |
| Keegan Lowe, D |
+63 |
88, from 151 |
| Andy Welinski, D |
+55 |
48, from 103 |
| Steven Fogarty, C |
+42 |
90, from 132 |
| Joel Edmundson, D |
+36 |
33, from 69 |
| Keevin Cutting, D |
+35 |
87, from 122 |
| Colin Smith, C |
+34 |
96, from 130 |
| Zac Larraza, LW |
+28 |
70, from 98 |
| Sam Grist, D |
+28 |
91, from 119 |
| Jonathan Racine, D |
+24 |
67, from 91 |
Entering the top-100 is key milestone for draft eligible prospects. While Central Scouting does not make any selections in the draft and has no authority of individual team draft boards, as a general rule of thumb, prospects ranked within the top-100 of Central Scouting's North American Skater list are highly likely to be selected at some point in the seven round draft this weekend. Once you add in goaltenders and European skaters, prospects ranked outside of the top-120 to 150 on Central Scouting's North American skater list become more long-shots and/or team preference decisions as to whether they will end up being selected this weekend.
| Largest Jumps, North American Skaters Within the Top-50 |
| Prospect, Pos |
Improvement |
Final Ranking |
| Andy Welinski, D |
+55 |
48, from 103 |
| Joel Edmundson, D |
+36 |
33, from 69 |
| Brett Ritchie, RW |
+21 |
36, from 57 |
| Alexander Khohklachev, LW |
+16 |
29, from 45 |
| Adam Clendening, D |
+16 |
45, from 61 |
| Jamieson Oleksiak, D |
+14 |
13, from 27 |
| Scott Oke, LW |
+14 |
44, from 58 |
| Stefan Noesen, RW |
+12 |
35, from 47 |
| Matt Nieto, LW |
+12 |
43, from 55 |
| Ryan Strome, C |
+11 |
8, from 19 |
Central Scouting's top-50 North American skaters generally have a high probability of being selected in the first two-to-three rounds of a draft year.
| Best Final Ranking Among Players Unranked in Midterm Rankings |
| Prospect, Pos |
Final Rank |
| Connor Murphy, D |
#25 North America Skater |
| Austin Wuthrich, RW |
#81 North America Skater |
| Justin Sefton, D |
#89 North America Skater |
| Joel Lowry, LW |
#95 North America Skater |
| Dylan Wruck, C |
#99 North America Skater |
| Harrison Ruopp, D |
#102 North America Skater |
| Edward Wittchow, D |
#111 North America Skater |
| Tyler Graovac, C |
#120 North America Skater |
| Magnus Hellberg, G |
#2 European Goalies |
| Nikita Kucherov, W |
#17 European Skater |
| Klas Dahlbeck, D |
#23 European Skater |
| Alexei Marchenko, D |
#25 European Skater |
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